Johnny Knoxville

Philip John Clapp, known professionally as Johnny Knoxville, is an American stunt performer, actor, producer, and screenwriter. Born on March 11, 1971, he is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality slapstick comedy stunt show Jackass, which originally ran from 2000 to 2001, and its subsequent film franchise. Knoxville is widely recognized as the de facto leader of the crew and for originating many of the show's ideas.

Knoxville was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, to Sunday school teacher Lemoyne Houck and tire salesman Philip Clapp, growing up with two older sisters. During his youth, he observed his father playing pranks on employees at his tire store. At age fourteen, receiving Jack Kerouac's book On the Road from his cousin Roger Alan Wade sparked his interest in acting. After graduating high school in 1989, he moved to California to pursue an acting career. He initially appeared in commercials and worked as an extra, including acting as Keanu Reeves's stand-in on Bram Stoker's Dracula. When major acting roles did not materialize, he began pitching article ideas to magazines, which led to pitching self-defense equipment testing to the skateboarding magazine Big Brother.

Knoxville's self-defense stunts were filmed for Big Brother video releases. Director Jeff Tremaine produced a pilot combining this footage with Bam Margera's videos, and alongside Spike Jonze, pitched the concept to networks, securing a deal with MTV. Knoxville starred in the original series and its feature film spin-offs, including Jackass: The Movie, Jackass Number Two, Jackass 2.5, Jackass 3D, Jackass 3.5, Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa, Jackass Forever, Jackass 4.5, and Jackass: Best and Last. Before Jackass debuted, the crew turned down an offer for weekly stunt performances on Saturday Night Live, though Knoxville later hosted an episode in 2005.

Beyond the Jackass franchise, Knoxville appeared in various film and television projects. His feature film roles include Men in Black II, Grand Theft Parsons, A Dirty Shame, Walking Tall, The Dukes of Hazzard, Daltry Calhoun, The Ringer, Lords of Dogtown, The Last Stand, and Skiptrace. He voiced Leonardo in the 2014 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and provided guest voices for shows including King of the Hill, Family Guy, and SpongeBob SquarePants. In 2022, he starred in the television series Reboot.

Knoxville expanded into production, co-founding Dickhouse Productions with Tremaine and Jonze to produce documentaries such as The Birth of Big Air and The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia. He later formed another production company, Hello Junior, signing a two-year deal with Paramount Pictures. Knoxville also participated in professional wrestling on WWE television, competing in the 2022 Royal Rumble and defeating Sami Zayn at WrestleMania 38.

In April 2024, Knoxville entered podcasting by co-hosting "Pretty Sure I Can Fly with Johnny Knoxville & Elna Baker," later hosting Jackass: The Podcast with Jeff Tremaine. In his personal life, Knoxville married Melanie Lynn Cates in 1995, with whom he has a daughter, prior to their divorce in 2008. He married Naomi Nelson in 2010, having a son and a daughter before filing for divorce in 2022. Knoxville married costume designer Emily Ting in November 2025.