Johnny Knoxville became both a beloved goofball and a lightning rod for controversy as soon as his signature TV show, Jackass, premiered on MTV in 2000. The show, which featured Knoxville and his friends executing a variety of stupid pranks and dangerous stunts, made an instant star of its hip, easygoing, developmentally arrested host, who was quickly signed on for a variety of film projects. However, its subject matter of foolish bicycle jumps, gross eating feats, and pepper spray testing drew the ire of concerned parents whose children were hurting themselves trying to imitate their hero.
Knoxville was born Philip John Clapp in Knoxville, TN, on March 11, 1971, son of a used car salesman. At age eight, the asthmatic suffered a simultaneous bout of flu, pneumonia, and bronchitis that nearly killed him. |
