Johnny Knoxville

Johnny Knoxville
Birth name	Philip John Clapp
Born	March 11 1971 (age 38) Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Other name(s)	PJ
Official site	Absolutjackass.net

Johnny Knoxville (born Philip John Clapp on March 11, 1971 in Knoxville, Tennessee) is an American comic actor and daredevil. Knoxville 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.

Career overview

He started doing stunts in pre school where he developed a reputation for being the class clown. He is reported to have swung nude on a rope.

After graduating from South-Doyle High School (class of 1989) in Knoxville, Tennessee, Knoxville moved to California to become an actor, and at first appeared in commercials and as an extra. Not finding the Hollywood big break he had hoped for, he began writing and pitching article ideas to various magazines.

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, as well as 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 do similar stunts for them on a weekly basis. (Knoxville eventually did host SNL in 2005.)

Other credits

Knoxville has been in several feature films. Among his most high-profile roles:

• He starred with 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 a sexy, 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 is currently slated to appear in the John Madden-directed adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, Killshot.
• Knoxville also starred in the skating, dare devil ride "Lords Of Dogtown" as Topper Burks.
• He was featured as a guest voice on an episode of King of the Hill.
• He guest-starred in an episode of Viva La Bam in which he and Ryan Dunn trashed Bam's Hummer.
• Knoxville also has an uncredited appearance in the 2000 movie "Coyote Ugly."
• Knoxville appeared as a supporting character to The Rock in the 2004 remake of Walking Tall

Family and personal life

Knoxville has a daughter named Madison (born in 1996), whose name is tattooed on his chest over his heart. They both can be seen in the credits for Jackass Number Two. On February 1, 2007, Knoxville and his wife of 11 years, Melanie, filed for legal separation. Shortly afterwards, they filed for divorce.^[1]

Knoxville is 6'1" (1.85 m) tall.^[2][3]

He is the cousin of singer-songwriter Roger Alan Wade.

He is friends with heavyweight fighter Eric "Butterbean" Esch. At the Larry Holmes v. Butterbean fight in 2002, he autographed fight promoter Frank Azzalina's model - daughter Stephanie Amaya's evening gown. Knoxville was able to make friends with two of his heroes, Johnny Cash, and Hunter S. Thompson before their respective deaths, even buying a cabin and other possessions from Cash.

He is also known overseas, and was voted the 48th greatest sex symbol in a poll by viewers of Channel 4, a British TV station.^[4]

Filmography

• Desert Blues (1995) - Bob
• Coyote Ugly (2000) - College Guy
• Life Without Dick (2001) - Dick Rasmusson
• Don't Try This At Home: The Steve-O Video (2001)
• 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
• Jackass: Number Two (2006) - Himself/Irving Zisman

Upcoming:

• Killshot (2007) - Ferris Britton
• Hawaiian Dick (2007) - Byrd

References

Wikipedia information about Johnny Knoxville This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Johnny Knoxville". It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). Help contribute to Americola and edit this article.