Star Facts
- Johnny has lent his voice to two episodes of King of the Hill and one episode of Family Guy
- Johnny’s real name is Philip John Clapp
- His cousin is country music singer Roger Alan Wade, whose songs have been used in Jackass
- Johnny suffers from asthma
Philip John Clapp Quotes
Hi, I'm Johnny Knoxville, and we're about to test my rocket skates…
Biography:
Ridiculously hot Jackass hunk Johnny was born Philip John Clapp. Obviously, that’s not the kind of name that’ll land you any leading roles so Phil adopted the stagename Johnny Knoxville, after the town he was born in.
Aged 18, Johnny headed to LA to try and make it as an actor. Landing the usual bit parts in commercials and work as an extra, he wanted more. He decided to write instead, pitching ideas to magazines until one stuck – testing self-defense equipment on himself. Unbelievably, this premise would eventually lead to a multimillion dollar global franchise.
Skateboard magazine Big Brother loved the idea. The magazine’s editor and his pal Spike Jonze wanted to turn Johnny’s idea into a TV show. Roping in Bam Margera, Wee Man, Steve-O, Ryan Dunn and Chris Pontius, Jackass was born. Major TV channels then fought over the rights to show grown men doing incredibly dangerous, painful and outright dumb stuff to each other. MTV won. Johnny was a star.
As well as the TV series, Johnny’s starred in three Jackass films. His fame brought him the kind of movie roles he’d been looking for in the first place, landing leads in comedies like Grand Theft Parsons, The Dukes of Hazzard, and seemingly anything else with a vaguely Southern flavour.
Johnny was married for eleven years to Melanie Lynn, having one daughter, Madison in 1996. He remarried in September 2010 to Naomi Nelson, and the couple have a son, the impressively named Rocko Akira Clapp.