Johnny Knoxville

Philip John Clapp (born March 11, 1971), better known by his stage name Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian, daredevil, and screenwriter. He has been featured in a number of films, but is perhaps best known as the co-creator and principal star of the MTV reality series Jackass.Knoxville was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Lemoyne and Philip Clapp, who was a car salesman.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. 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.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, Chris Pontius, 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 starring opposite Seann William Scott in Jay Chandrasekhar's adaptation of The Dukes of Hazzard. He starred in all three of the Jackass movies, Jackass: The Movie and Jackass Number Two, and Jackass 3D, which marked the 10th anniversary of the franchise, which started in 2000. 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 intellectually abled office worker who joins the Special Olympics to pay for a surgical operation for the office's janitor. 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 two episodes of King of the Hill. Knoxville appeared as a supporting character to The Rock in the 2004 remake of Walking Tall.

Knoxville appeared in the John Madden-directed adaptation of Elmore Leonard's novel, Killshot. 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, among other pranks. He also voiced himself in an episode of Family Guy. Knoxville also co-produces The Dudesons in America and the now-canceled Nitro Circus on MTV. In 2010, Knoxville hosted a 3-part online video for Palladium Boots titled "Detroit Lives." The videos focus on the resurgence of creativity in Detroit. Knoxville has a production company called Dickhouse Productions, which he owns and operates with Jeff Tremaine and Spike Jonze of the Jackass franchise. Dickhouse projects include The Birth of Big Air (2010), a documentary about Mat Hoffman, and The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia (2010), both of which have been picked up by Tribeca Films. Knoxville married Melanie Lynn Clapp on May 15, 1995. They have a daughter, Madison(born 1996). His daughter can be heard in the credits for Jackass Number Two and seen in "The Making of Jackass Two" on the special features on the DVD. After 11 years of marriage, the couple separated in July 2006.

Knoxville filed for divorce on July 3, 2007. The marriage was legally ended in March 2008, with final divorce arrangements settled in July 2009. The former couple share joint custody of their daughter. On August 18, 2009, Knoxville announced that he and his girlfriend Naomi Nelson were expecting a baby. Nelson gave birth to a son, Rocko Akira Clapp, on December 20, 2009 in Los Angeles. Knoxville and Nelson married on September 24, 2010. Knoxville is expecting another child in the fall 2011 with wife, Naomi. On January 15, 2009 at the Los Angeles International Airport security workers discovered an inert grenade in his carry-on; he was detained and was cited for carrying a prohibited item into the airport. He was released following the investigation when it was determined that the item was a prop from a commercial, and that an assistant had packed his bag for him. On February 4, 2009, Knoxville explained on The Howard Stern Show how he tore his urethra during a stunt for Nitro Circus explaining how he had to flush it twice daily. He said this was done by sticking a tube into his penis all the way up to his bladder (10–11 inches). Knoxville said the process prevented scar tissue from forming.