Bam Margera

Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera (born September 28, 1979) is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker.

Margera was born on September 28, 1979, the son of April and Phil Margera.

He is the younger brother of rock musician Jess Margera and nephew of television personality Vincent "Don Vito" Margera.

His grandfather nicknamed him "Bam Bam" at the age of three after noticing his habit of purposely running into walls; over time, that nickname was shortened to "Bam" by his schoolmates.

Before their television fame, Margera's parents April and Phil worked as a hairdresser and baker respectively.

Margera got his first video camera from his father in 1993 after he enrolled in a digital media class with childhood friend Chris Raab, where they also met future collaborators Art Webb, Brandon DiCamillo, and Ryan Dunn.

They began shooting videos of Margera and his friends skateboarding and doing stunts, which eventually turned into the CKY video series.

CKY stands for "Camp Kill Yourself", a name shared with his brother Jess Margera's band, CKY, which was named as a tribute to the film Sleepaway Camp.

In 1994, Margera dropped out of school after childhood friend Chris Raab was expelled, but was homeschooled by his mother and received his GED.

On September 21, 1995, Margera, his brother Jess, Dunn and Raab were nearly killed in a car accident near their home town.

In later interviews, Margera revealed that Raab had "forced him" to wear a seatbelt as the car was going nearly 100mph, and that this probably saved his life.

Other than his brother Jess suffering a broken arm, none of the four were seriously injured.

Following years of recording and editing, Margera independently released the first CKY film, then titled CKY: Landspeed, in 1999.

The film is a collection of stunts and pranks interspersed with skateboarding tricks and footage set to music by CKY.

Subsequent releases of the film removed the Landspeed Subtitle.

In the following years, the sequels CKY2K, CKY3 and CKY4: The Latest and Greatest were released.

These early videos feature many of Margera's friends, including Dunn, Raab, DiCamillo, Rake Yohn and Brandon Novak, who formed a loose collective known as the CKY crew.

During this period, the videos and band projects were heavily interlinked, with two of the bands albums being unofficial soundtracks to the videos.

Following CKY's success, former Big Brother editor Jeff Tremaine noticed Margera's videos and drafted him into the team that would eventually become MTV's Jackass.

Margera and Ryan Dunn became mainstays of the cast while other CKY crew members played supporting roles to various degrees.

In the original series, several of the features stunts were taken directly from the CKY videos.

Margera went on to appear in Jackass: The Movie, Jackass Number Two, Jackass 2.5, Jackass 3D and Jackass 3.5, with a minor appearance in Jackass Forever.

Several skits in the first Jackass movie were CKY-style pieces filmed in and around West Chester, while similar scenes in the second movie were removed after the arrest and conviction of Margera's uncle Vincent Margera inappropriately touching two minors.

He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass and subsequent sequels.

He also created the Jackass spin-off shows Viva La Bam, Bam's Unholy Union, Bam's World Domination, and Bam's Bad Ass Game Show, and co-wrote and directed the films Haggard and Minghags.

Since the mid-2000s, Margera has struggled with alcoholism and subsequent legal troubles.

After the Jackass series ended in 2002, Margera was given a follow-up, Viva La Bam, which ran for five seasons from 2003 to 2005.

A mixture of stunts and reality, the show followed Margera and his crew as they performed various stunts and missions, but also offered insight into their daily lives.

The show was primarily filmed in West Chester but also visited New Orleans, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Brazil, Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, and Transylvania.

In addition to the regular series, special episodes have included "Viva La Spring Break" and a "lost" episode included on the Viva La Bands CD, which was originally filmed in Iceland for the first season.

In 2003, Margera played himself in the movie Grind, which portrays four young men following a professional skateboarder from Chicago to California.

The film contains numerous cameos by Jackass members, as well as many professional skateboarders and other celebrities.

Upon release, it was met with generally unfavorable reviews from critics, but was rated much higher by the general public.

In 2007, Margera's engagement and wedding planning was filmed for Bam's Unholy Union as a follow-up to Viva la Bam.

The show follows Margera, his then-fiancée Missy Rothstein, and their friends in the lead-up to their wedding.

In 2008, Margera had a "prominent, non-sex role" in a pornographic film by Gina Lynn, The Fantasstic Whores 4, with Brandon Novak.

He first entered rehab in 2009 but left after four days and has since had at least seven subsequent attempts at rehab without completing the program.

In 2009, Margera appeared on Nitro Circus, and the following year Margera starred alongside Dunn and skateboarder Tim O'Connor in the one-off special Bam's World Domination on Spike TV, which showcased Margera and his friends' attempt to conquer an obstacle course race in the Tough Guy Competition, held in Staffordshire, England.

Following the death of childhood friend Ryan Dunn and the end of his television projects in 2011–12, Margera's drinking and drug use intensified, but between 2015 and 2017, he remained sober for nearly two years.

In 2020, he was fired from the production of Jackass Forever due to his drug and alcohol issues.