Brandon Novak

Brandon Thomas Novak (born 10 December 1978 ) is an American motivational speaker, author, and former professional skateboarder and "CKY crew" member.

He also had appearances in the Viva La Bam reality comedy series and the Jackass films.

Novak started skateboarding at 7 years old and was soon discovered by Tony Hawk.

He was the first skateboarder in the world to be sponsored by Gatorade at 14 years old.

At this same time, he was a professional skateboarder on the Powell Peralta Team, traveling the country with Bucky Lasek, Bam Margera, Tony Hawk, and others.

His substance abuse led to his quitting the team after being discovered by Mike Vallely and Hawk presented him with the option to quit or attend rehab which he chose to quit.

One notable radio appearance was on December 26, 2005, where Margera gave Novak $500 to hire two sex workers as a Christmas gift.

As Novak was having sex with the women live on air in the studio, SIRIUS Satellite Radio cut off the show.

This was significant as it was the first time SIRIUS had ever censored a program before.

Also in 2005, Novak arrived on the red carpet at the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards wearing nothing except a computer keyboard.

The night prior he had brought back girls to his hotel room and sometime in the night had thrown his clothes off the balcony.

Having no clothes for the VMA's, he decided on a keyboard.

A movie, also to be titled Dreamseller, was supposed to be in production in early 2007, but was stopped when Novak began using heroin again.

On the December 17, 2007 episode of Radio Bam, it was announced that the movie may be completed in the near future with Bam Margera starring as Novak in the film.

In 2008, Novak appeared in Bam Margera Presents: Where the#$&% Is Santa?, which featured Novak and several other cast members trying to find Santa Claus.

That same year, Novak appeared in a pornographic film by Gina Lynn called The Fantasstic Whores 4 with Margera while Margera had a "prominent, non-sex role".

He has also been featured on Howard Stern's Most Outrageous Moments for his appearance in a 2008 episode where he stripped naked and licked Richard Christy's anus for $280.

Novak, along with co-author and CKY filmographer Joe Frantz, authored his first book, titled Dreamseller, which is based on his life and experiences with heroin in Baltimore.

The book was published on October 18, 2008.

A paperback version of the book was released exactly a year after its original publishing on October 18, 2009.

In 2010, Novak appeared in Jackass 3D in multiple scenes.

Novak also had a more prominent role in the follow-up film Jackass 3.5, which was released in 2011.

In 2013–2014, Novak traveled around the world as the opening act for rock and roll band Fuckface Unstoppable.

Performing as "Pill" Collins, a spoof of Phil Collins, he would sing "In The Air Tonight" to open the shows.

He would be heavily intoxicated, known for coming out naked and spraying the crowd with wine.

Upon achieving sobriety in 2015, Novak returned to skateboarding.

In 2015, the idea of a movie was again floated, but Novak claimed that to secure funding they would have to approve Justin Bieber playing Novak, which they felt wasn't the right direction.

Production ceased again.

Before achieving sobriety in 2015, Novak struggled for over 20 years with addictions to heroin, cocaine, pain pills, benzodiazepines, and alcohol.

In 2018, Novak and Frantz released a graphic novel titled The Brandon Novak Chronicles: The Shocking True Addiction Stories of a Counter-Culture Icon.

He spent his 19th, 20th, 22nd, 23rd, 24th, 25th, 27th, 28th, 29th, 32nd, 33rd, 34th, and 35th birthdays in a jail or treatment center.

When Novak was 14, he was a professional skateboarder on the Powell Peralta Team, traveling the country with Bucky Lasek, Bam Margera, Tony Hawk, and others.

Despite his meteoric rise to success, his drug use was discovered by Mike Vallely and Tony Hawk presented him with the choice to leave the team or attend rehab for his "psychoactive substance abuse"; he elected to leave the team.

In 2020, he finally achieved his dream of creating a pro-deck with The Heart Supply (run by CEO and Founder of Element, Johnny Schillereff).

They released the Brandon Novak Heart Supply collection in June 2020.

In July 2021, Novak and fellow professional skateboarder Joey Jett released a short film of their journey to Barcelona titled "The Awakening" showcasing their skateboarding and journey.

Novak makes appearances in the CKY videos, Bam Margera's films Haggard and Minghags as well as Viva La Bam, Jackass Number Two, Jackass 2.5, Jackass 3D, Jackass 3.5, Bam's Unholy Union, and Bam's Bad Ass Game Show.

In Haggard, Novak plays a friendly drug dealer named Dooli, which was the real nickname of Novak's dealer in northwest Baltimore.

He appeared regularly on the SIRIUS Satellite Radio show Radio Bam.

Novak released a second book titled The Streets of Baltimore in 2020 (marking the five-year anniversary of his sobriety) which chronicles more of his struggle with addiction.