Johnny Knoxville
Knoxville in 2010
Born	Philip John Clapp (1971-03-11) March 11, 1971 (age 53) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupations	Actor stunt performer producer writer
Years active	1992–present
Spouses	Melanie Cates ​ ​ (m. 1995; div. 2008)​ Naomi Nelson ​ ​ (m. 2010; sep. 2022)​
Children	3
Relatives	Roger Alan Wade (cousin)

Philip John Clapp (born March 11, 1971^[1]), better known as Johnny Knoxville, is an American stunt performer, actor, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass (2000–2001) and its subsequent movies.

Following the conclusion of Jackass, Knoxville and his co-stars returned for the first installment in the Jackass film series, with a second and third installment released in 2006 and 2010. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013), the first film in the series to feature a storyline, saw him star as his Jackass character Irving Zisman. The fourth installment, Jackass Forever, was released in 2022.

Knoxville has had acting roles in films such as Men in Black II (2002), A Dirty Shame and Walking Tall (both 2004), The Dukes of Hazzard, The Ringer, and a cameo role as a sleazy corporate president of a skateboard company in Lords of Dogtown (all 2005), The Last Stand (2013), Skiptrace (2016), and the television series Reboot (2022). He also voiced Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).

Early life

Knoxville was born Philip John Clapp in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 11, 1971,^[2][3] the son of Sunday school teacher Lemoyne (née Houck; 1938–2017) and car and tire salesman Philip Clapp (1935–2018).^[4][5][6] He has two older sisters.^[7] His cousin, singer-songwriter Roger Alan Wade, gave him a copy of Jack Kerouac's book On the Road. He credits this with sparking his interest in acting.^[8][9]

Knoxville attended South-Young High School (now South-Doyle High School) in Knoxville, where he played on the baseball team and was named All-Knoxville Interscholastic League Honorable Mention. He also played in the Knoxville Area All Star game as a pitcher.^[10][11] After graduating in 1989, he moved to California to become an actor. He began appearing in commercials and as an extra.^[12] When the breakthrough role he sought eluded him, he decided to create his own opportunities by writing and pitching article ideas to various magazines. An idea to test self-defense equipment on himself captured the interest of Jeff Tremaine's skateboarding magazine Big Brother, and the stunts were filmed and included in Big Brother's "Number Two" video.

Career

Jackass

Knoxville is responsible for many of the ideas in Jackass, and is often seen as the de facto leader of the crew.^[13] The show is directed by Jeff Tremaine, who produced a pilot that used footage from Big Brother and Bam Margera's CKY videos.

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.^[14] He starred in Jackass: The Movie, Jackass Number Two, Jackass 2.5, Jackass 3D (which marked the 10th anniversary of the franchise), Jackass 3.5, Jackass Forever, and Jackass 4.5.

Knoxville also participated in the Gumball 3000 for Jackass along with co-stars Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Jackass director Jeff Tremaine, and cinematographer Dimitry Elyashkevich. Prior to Jackass premiering on MTV, Knoxville and company turned down an offer to perform their stunts for Saturday Night Live on a weekly basis,^[15] though Knoxville later hosted a 2005 episode of the show.

Acting

Knoxville has been in several feature films, such as The Dukes of Hazzard and playing a two-headed alien in the 2002 film Men in Black II. Knoxville also worked with John Waters in A Dirty Shame in 2004, and appeared as a supporting character to The Rock in Walking Tall in the same year.

He starred in Katrina Holden Bronson's Daltry Calhoun in 2005, and in The Ringer as an office worker who pretends to be disabled and joins the Special Olympics to pay for surgery for his office's janitor. He 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 two episodes of King of the Hill.

Knoxville appeared in the John Madden-directed adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, Killshot, however, his character was subsequently removed from the final cut of the film. He guest-starred in a season 3 episode "Prank Wars" on Viva La Bam, in which he and Ryan Dunn trashed Bam Margera's Hummer and performed other pranks. He voiced himself in an episode of Family Guy. He co-produced The Dudesons in America and the now-canceled Nitro Circus on MTV.

In 2010, Knoxville hosted a three-part online video for Palladium Boots titled Detroit Lives. The videos focus on the resurgence of creativity in Detroit. Knoxville guest-starred as the voice of Johnny Krill, an extreme sports enthusiast, in "Extreme Spots", a 2012 episode of SpongeBob SquarePants. Knoxville voiced Leonardo in the 2014 film, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles^[16] but did not appear in the sequel, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows.^[17]

Production credits

Knoxville has a production company called Dickhouse Productions, which he owns and operates with Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jonze of the Jackass franchise.^[18] Dickhouse's projects include The Birth of Big Air (2010), a documentary about Mat Hoffman that was part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series, and The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2010), both of which have been picked up by Tribeca Films.^[19]

In May 2014, Knoxville (along with Jackass Executive Producer/H.M.F.I.C. Derek Freda) formally announced the formation of a new production company called 'Hello Junior', which will continue Knoxville's now-longstanding relationship with Paramount Pictures, who have signed an exclusive two-year first-look deal with Knoxville and 'Hello Junior' in the wake of the massive success of Bad Grandpa in late 2013. Knoxville was quoted as saying, "I am over the damn moon about continuing an amazing partnership with Paramount Pictures. I have many more films to make and bones to break. I am glad I will be doing it for Paramount."^[20]

Professional wrestling

Knoxville, as with the Jackass crew, has been involved with the professional wrestling promotion WWE. On the October 13, 2008, episode of Raw, Knoxville made his WWE television debut feuding with The Great Khali.^[21] Knoxville later appeared as the guest star on the October 4, 2010, episode of Raw in Wichita, Kansas.^[22]

On January 1, 2022, at WWE's Day 1 pay-per-view, Knoxville announced he would be at the Royal Rumble pay-per-view as a participant in the event's signature namesake match.^[23] His entry was confirmed on the January 7 episode of SmackDown while simultaneously starting a feud with Sami Zayn. He entered the Royal Rumble at number 9 and was eliminated by Zayn.^[24] Knoxville then returned on the February 25 episode of SmackDown and challenged Zayn for the WWE Intercontinental Championship that the latter won the week prior, but Knoxville got rejected and was attacked by Zayn. The following week, Knoxville distracted Zayn during his match with Ricochet, allowing the latter to win the championship from him. Later that same night, Zayn challenged Knoxville to a match at WrestleMania 38 to which Knoxville accepted, and the match was stipulated as an Anything Goes match, wherein on Night 2 of that event, he won the match against Zayn with the help of Jackass members Chris Pontius, Wee Man, director Jeff Tremaine, and new members Jasper Dolphin and his father Compston "Dark Shark" Wilson.^[25]

Personal life

Knoxville married Melanie Lynn Cates on May 15, 1995. Their daughter was born on January 4, 1996.^[26] She can be heard in the credits for Jackass Number Two, is seen in "The Making of Jackass Two" on the special features on the DVD, and was seen punching Tremaine with a boxing glove in the credits of Jackass 3D. After 11 years of marriage, Knoxville and Cates separated in July 2006. Knoxville filed for divorce on July 3, 2007.^[26] The marriage legally ended in March 2008,^[27] with final divorce arrangements settled in July 2009.^[28]

On February 4, 2009, Knoxville explained on The Howard Stern Show that he tore his urethra during a stunt for Jackass Presents: Mat Hoffman's Tribute to Evel Knievel, describing how he had to flush it twice daily.^[29] He said this was done by "sticking a tube into [his] penis all the way up to [his] bladder", a practice known as urinary catheterization. He said the process prevented scar tissue from forming^[30] and performed the procedure "twice a day for three and a half years" after the injury.^[31]

In December 2009, Knoxville's girlfriend Naomi Nelson gave birth to their son.^[32] Knoxville and Nelson married on September 24, 2010.^[33] Nelson gave birth to their second child together, a daughter, in October 2011.^[34] On June 17, 2022, it was reported that Knoxville had filed for divorce.^[35]

While filming the prank show The Prank Panel in December 2022, Knoxville was sued by handyman Khalil Khan, who alleged that he was subjected to a "terrifying ordeal" after signing up for a job on TaskRabbit.^[36][37] He was sued again in May 2024 for allegedly tazing a segment producer during the filming of The Prank Panel.^[38]

Filmography

Feature films

Television

Video games

Music videos

Web series

References