Johnny Knoxville

Knoxville moved to California to become an actor, and at first appeared in commercials and as an extra, but he soon fell back on writing. A pitch he made to several magazines—an idea to test self-defense equipment on himself—was picked up by the Jeff Tremaine-helmed skateboarding magazine Big Brother, and the stunts were filmed and included in Big Brother's "Number Two" video. Knoxville's antics became a staple of Big Brother, whose colorful cast of contributors also included Chris Pontius, Steve-O, and Dave England. Eventually Knoxville, Tremaine, Sean Cliver, and Dave Carnie produced a pilot that used Big Brother footage along with footage from Bam Margera's CKY videos, and with help from Tremaine's friend and film director Spike Jonze, they pitched a series to various networks. A deal was made with MTV and Jackass was born.