Johnny Knoxville

Johnny Knoxville is an American actor, stunt performer, and comedian whose three-decade career has been most-defined by his creation of the MTV reality-stunt series Jackass (2000–2002) and its film franchise. He was born Philip John Clapp Jr. on March 11, 1971, in Knoxville, Tennessee — the namesake of his stage name Johnny Knoxville. He attended the California State University at Long Beach briefly before pursuing acting in his early twenties.

His moment came when he proposed to Big Brother magazine that he would test self-defense weapons on himself — including being shot at point-blank range in a bulletproof vest. The 1996 magazine article and accompanying video segment generated substantial cult attention, leading to the 2000 launch of MTV's Jackass with his collaborators Spike Jonze, Jeff Tremaine, and the Jackass cast (Bam Margera, Steve-O, Chris Pontius, Ryan Dunn, Wee Man, Preston Lacy, Dave England, and others).

The Jackass MTV series ran for 25 episodes across three seasons (2000–2002) and became one of the most-controversial and most-watched American reality-TV programs of the early 2000s. The series's combination of self-inflicted physical comedy, stunts, and pranks — frequently with substantial real injury — shaped early-2000s American comedy and reality-TV aesthetics.

The post-MTV Jackass film franchise has produced four feature films across two decades: Jackass: The Movie (2002), Jackass Number Two (2006), Jackass 3D (2010), and the Jackass Forever (2022). The films have collectively grossed over $370 million worldwide and have made Knoxville one of the most-iconic American stunt-comedy figures of the 21st century. His parallel film career has included substantial supporting roles in Men in Black II (2002), The Dukes of Hazzard (2005), Walking Tall (2004), and the Bad Grandpa (2013).

His name Johnny is the English short form of John, from the Hebrew Yochanan meaning "Yahweh is gracious." Johnny has been continuously among the most-popular American boys' names for decades.