| Johnny Knoxville | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Philip John Clapp |
| Born | March 11 1971 Knoxville, Tennessee  |
| Other name(s) | PJ |
| Spouse(s) | Melanie Lynn Clapp (1995 - 2007) 1 child |
| Official site | Absolutjackass.net |
Philip John Clapp (born March 11, 1971 in Knoxville, Tennessee), better known as Johnny Knoxville, is an American comic actor and daredevil. He has been featured in a number of films, but is best known as the co-creator and principal star of the MTV series Jackass and its subsequent films.
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Personal life
Knoxville has one daughter named Madison. She can be seen in the credits for Jackass Number Two. On February 1, 2007, Knoxville and his wife of twelve years, Melanie, filed for legal separation. Shortly afterwards, they filed for divorce.[1] They were married on May 15, 1995.
Career
After graduating from South-Young High School in 1989 in Knoxville, he moved to California to become an actor, and at first appeared in commercials and as an extra. Not getting the big break he had hoped for, he began writing and pitching article ideas to various magazines. He also attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts on a scholarship, but dropped out within two weeks. An idea to test self-defense equipment on himself was picked up by the Jeff Tremaine-helmed skateboarding magazine Big Brother, and the stunts were filmed and included in Big Brother's Number Two video. Knoxville's antics became a staple for Big Brother, whose colorful cast of contributors also included Chris Pontius, Steve-O and Dave England.
Jackass
Eventually, Knoxville, Tremaine, Sean Cliver and Dave Carnie produced a pilot that used Big Brother footage along with footage from Bam Margera's CKY videos, and with help from Tremaine's friend, film director Spike Jonze, they pitched a series to various networks. A deal was made with MTV and Jackass was born. Knoxville also participated in the Gumball 3000 for Jackass along with co-stars Steve-O and Chris Pontius and Jackass director Jeff Tremaine and producer Dimitry Elyashkevich. Prior to Jackass landing on MTV, Knoxville and company turned down an offer from Saturday Night Live to perform similar stunts for the show on a weekly basis (Knoxville eventually did host SNL in 2005).
Film & television roles
Knoxville has been in several feature films. Among his most high-profile roles was opposite Seann William Scott in Jay Chandrasekhar's adaptation of The Dukes of Hazzard. He has also worked with director John Waters in A Dirty Shame and starred in Daltry Calhoun, written and directed by Katrina Holden Bronson and produced by Quentin Tarantino. In The Ringer, Knoxville was cast as an able-bodied office worker who joins the Special Olympics to pay for a surgical operation on his gardener. He played a two-headed alien in Men in Black II, which also starred Will Smith. He also starred in the movie Lords of Dogtown as "Topper Burks", made a minor appearance in the 2000 movie Coyote Ugly, and was featured as a guest voice on an episode of King of the Hill. Knoxville appeared as a supporting character to The Rock in the 2004 remake of Walking Tall. Knoxville is slated to appear in the John Madden-directed adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, Killshot. Knoxville guest-starred in a Season 3 episode "Prank Wars" on Viva La Bam, in which he and Ryan Dunn trashed Bam Margera's Hummer, among other pranks.
Filmography
- Desert Blues (1995) - Bob
- Coyote Ugly (2000) - College Guy (uncredited)
- Life Without Dick (2001) - Dick Rasmusson
- Don't Try This At Home: The Steve-O Video (2001) - Himself
- Big Trouble (2002) - Eddie Leadbetter
- Deuces Wild (2002) - Vinnie Fish
- Men in Black II (2002) - Scrad/Charlie
- Jackass: The Movie (2002) - Himself/Irving Zisman
- Grand Theft Parsons (2003) - Phil Kaufman
- Walking Tall (2004) - Ray Templeton
- A Dirty Shame (2004) - Ray Ray Perkins
- Lords of Dogtown (2005) - Topper Burks
- The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) - Luke Duke
- The Devils Rejects (2005)- Cop (uncredited)
- Daltry Calhoun (2005) - Daltry Calhoun
- The Ringer (2005) - Steve Barker (Jeffy Dahmor)
- Jackass: Number Two (2006) - Himself/Irving Zisman
- Jackass 2.5 (2007) - Himself
Upcoming:
References
External links
- Official Jackass site
- Johnny Knoxville at the Internet Movie Database
- Interview with IGN.com. Johnny Knoxville reveals what scares him
| Jackass | |
|---|---|
| Main Cast | Johnny Knoxville | Bam Margera | Steve-O | Chris Pontius | Ryan Dunn | Jason "Wee Man" Acuña Preston Lacy | Dave England | Ehren McGhehey |
| Supporting Cast | Brandon DiCamillo | Ted "Rake Yohn" Webb | Chris "Raab Himself" Raab | Phil Margera | April Margera Manny Puig |
| Crew | Jeff Tremaine | Spike Jonze | Dimitry Elyashkevich | Rick Kosick | Lance Bangs |
| Television shows | Jackass | Wildboyz | Viva La Bam | Homewrecker | Blastazoid | Bam's Unholy Union | Dr. Steve-O |
| Films | Jackass: The Movie | Jackass Number Two | Jackass 3 |
| Miscellaneous | Big Brother | Corona | Jackass 2.5 | Jackass: The Game | CKY Crew | CKY Videos | Haggard: The Movie Don't Try This At Home: The Steve-O Video |
