Johnny Knoxville

Johnny Knoxville

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Birth name: Philip John Clapp
Date of birth: 11 March 1971
Place of birth: Knoxville, Tennessee, USA
Nickname: Johnny Jackass, PJ, JJ Knoxville
Height: 6′ 1″ (1.85 m) 
Spouse: Melanie Lynn Cates (15 May 1995 – 20 March 2008) (divorced) 1 child

Famous Quote: “People think by challenging me they’re going to show they’re tough. But I’m not tough. Decent drinker. Not such a bad kisser. But not a great fighter. I just love that spirit that makes people do things that they probably shouldn’t. It’s a real primal thing, watching someone get hurt. It’s funny and accessible. You can tell it’s good if you light it and a blue flame comes up; that means it’s good moonshine and it won’t make you go blind.”

Contact Address and Autograph: Addresses and fan mail information

Johnny Knoxville
Creative Artists Agency
2000 Avenue of the Stars
Los Angeles, CA 90067, USA 

Biography:  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. A tall, dark-haired and conventionally attractive performer who jump-started his career on a program that was anything but conventional. “Jackass” (MTV, 2000-01) creator, host and star Johnny Knoxville (so named for his Tennessee hometown) took the daredevil’s path to fame. 

A practical joker from his early childhood, Knoxville (then known as P.J. Clapp) took the leap from faking a report card to show all Fs (unlike his real honors-worthy grades) and spreading rumors of his own social disease (with a little help from his own father) to allowing himself to be purposely hit by a car and testing the dependability of a bulletproof vest by shooting himself with a .38. Knoxville sought to make a living from his unfathomable pranks and approached Big Brother magazine editor Jeff Tremaine in an effort to land a job writing a column about his wacky stunts. 

Instead Tremaine convinced the daredevil to videotape his antics, which appeared in all their glory on the “Big Brother Video Trilogy”, an underground cult hit. As word spread of Knoxville’s strange pastime, more commercial venues showed an interest; reportedly he was offered a spot on “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) and was the object of a bidding war between Comedy Central and MTV.

Knoxville credits a copy of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road given to him by his cousin, country singer/songwriter Roger Alan Wade, with giving him the acting bug. 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.

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).

Knoxville has been in several feature films, most notably was starring 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 for his gardener. He played a two-headed alien in Men in Black II. 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. His also guest-starred on the pilot of the show Unhitched.

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.

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. Knoxville nabbed his most high-profile role to date when he was tapped, along with Seann William Scott, to play a modern day incarnation of Luke and Bo Duke, respectively, in the dumb but occasionally amusing big screen version of “The Dukes of Hazzard” (2005), though both actors were overshadowed by the hype surrounding the acting debut of Jessica Simpson–Knoxville in particular received more press for his alleged romance with the singer than he did for his performance in the film (the stars, both married, vehemently denied a relationship). 

Attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in Pasadena, California. At age of eight had flu, pneumonia and bronchitis all at same time and nearly died. Suffers from asthma. His dad sells used cars. Was writing for a skateboarding magazine called Big Brother when he did a story about self-defense equipment, which he tried on himself while Jeff Tremaine (editor for Big Brother) filmed it. These led to the Big Brother Videos Shit, Number Two, and Boob, which paved the way for Land Speed, CKY2K, and CKY3K. The CKY videos later became the first episodes of “Jackass” (2000).

Grew up in southern Knoxville, Tennessee. His ex-wife Melanie is from Texas and is a clothing designer. They have a daughter named Madison, born in 1996. There was a bidding war between Comedy Central and MTV over Johnny. MTV won, thus “Jackass” (2000) was born. Offered a spot on “Saturday Night Live” (1975), but turned it down. Later, on May 7, 2005, he hosted the show. Was knocked unconscious 3 times during making of Jackass: The Movie (2002). Won his role in Grand Theft Parsons (2003) after Hugh Jackman had to drop out due to prior commitments. Has a scar on his head from getting a punch from professional heavyweight boxer “Butterbean” during a segment of Jackass: The Movie (2002).

Has his own production company, Dickhouse Productions, which co-produces most of his productions (e.g. Jackass). Attended South-Young High School in Knoxville, Tennessee. Has worked with actor David Koechner on three different films: Life Without Dick (2002), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) and Daltry Calhoun (2005). Was listed as a potential nominee on the 2006 Razzie Award nominating ballot. He was suggested in the Worst Actor category for his roles in the films Daltry Calhoun (2005), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005) and The Ringer (2005), however, he failed to receive a nomination.

Is an avid Johnny Cash fan. 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. 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.

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