Bam Margera
Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera (born September 28, 1979) is a the da best SK*ER ever lolz!@!!!!!!!!professional skateboarder, actor, creator of the "CKY" skate/prank/stunt videos, and radio personality. He is also the star of Viva la Bam, and member of the Jackass crew. He was born in West Chester, Pennsylvania and went to East High School. He cites Raab Himself as his only reason for attending high school, and dropped out after Raab got expelled for smearing feces on a locker (as told in CKY). He was later forced to graduate high school by his mother.
The CKY Videos
Bam got his start by making his own skateboarding videos, known as the CKY quadrilogy. CKY is also the name of his brother Jess's heavy metal band (see CKY band). These early videos feature most of the CKY Crew, most notably Ryan Dunn, Brandon DiCamillo, Rake Yohn, Raab Himself, and Brandon Novak. His videos and television shows often include his long-suffering parents, Phil and April, his uncle Vincent Margera ("Don Vito"), and ex-fiancée Jenn Rivell (Margera broke off his engagement to Rivell in early 2005). Margera's television antics push the generally accepted boundaries of good taste by seeking to shock and offend. Because of this, he has many detractors who charge that he profits from the humiliation and misfortune of others.
Skateboarding career
Before becoming a professional skateboarder, he could be found frequenting the local skate spots, performing at area fairgrounds, and loitering at Fairman's skate shop.
As a professional skater in the summer of 2005, Margera successfully landed The Loop in Phoenix, Arizona. He became the 13th known skater to land it, and was the first street skater to successfully land it.
Other enterprises
His weekly Sirius Satellite Radio show is called Radio Bam.
Margera directed and co-wrote (with Brandon DiCamillo and Chris Aspite) a low-budget independent film called Haggard, starring himself and his friends, released in 2003. Margera also has a small speaking part in the skateboarding movie "Grind".
He also directed four music videos for the Finnish goth rock/love metal band HIM (Buried Alive By Love, The Sacrament, And Love Said No and Solitary Man).
Margera also appeared on Punk'd, in 2005. Ashton Kutcher 'trapped' Margera's Element team manager inside of a convenience store while staging an elaborate hold-up, complete with helicopters and weapon-wielding police officers. (The real LAPD SWAT team helped with this prank)
He has also been animated as a character into a number of pro-skateboarder Tony Hawk's video games. In fact, he is featured as a main character in Tony Hawk's Underground (1 and 2) and Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.
In 2006, Bam will start on a new animated series for MTV which will air sometime in the summer and will have two special episodes of Viva la Bam entitled Viva La Spring Break.
He will also be starring in the sequel to Jackass: The Movie, which will be released in September 2006.
Trivia
- Bam's name originates from his childhood when he would sometimes go crazy and run into walls, causing his grandfather to say "Bam, bam, bam, chill out! Bam!"
- "CKY" stands for "Camp Kill Yourself", a reference to the 1983 film Sleepaway Camp, a favourite of CKY band frontman Deron Miller. A 2006 sequel entitled Return to Sleepaway Camp will feature the CKY band members in cameo roles as camp counselors.
- Bam is a fan of, friend of, and occasional video director for HIM's frontman, Ville Valo. Bam has licensed the band's logo, the heartagram (a pentagram with two points curved to incorporate a heart symbol), for personal use. Bam has had himself tattooed with the heartagram.
- Bam became engaged to Missy Rothstein in early 2006. They've dated less than a year but they've known each other since 6th grade. They are planning to invite 300 people to their big blow-out bash in the Philadelphia area where they live.
- Margera says he popped the question to Rothstein while they were at Cartier inside the King of Prussia Shopping Mall. After the bride-to-be said yes, Margera says all of these bottles of champagne came out and they drank and had a great time.
- Bam owns 2 cats, Trouble and Mischief. He has personally claimed they're "The Best Ever!". They can sometimes be seen in scenes of Viva La Bam but are shown best in an episode of MTV Cribs that features "Castle Bam".
- In the DVD comentary for Jackass: The Box Set, Margera said that Element Skateboards pays him two million dollars a year, just for wearing their clothing.
- Bam is currently writing, producing, and directing his new feature film, a sequel to Haggard, titled Kiss a Good Man's Ass. He announced another film he is working on called The Dream Seller. The Dream Seller is a nickname for long-time friend and fellow skater Brandon Novak.
- Current episodes of Bam's show have shown him to own both a red 2003 Hummer H2 as well as a purple Lamborghini Gallardo and a Mercedes-Benz S55 AMG with a heartagram on the front instead of the Mercedes-Benz logo. A recent episode, however, showed the H2 being dropped off a cliff by Don Vito as revenge for constant torment. The Lamborghini has been modified with help from friend Billy Idol to include a sunroof (a rough rectangle crudely cut with a jigsaw). Bam bragged that his was the only vehicle of its kind with a sunroof. Since the end of filming on Viva La Bam, Bam has replaced the red H2 with a blue H2. Bam recently purchased a light blue Lamborghini Murciélago Roadster.
- He has a niece named Ava.
- Bam was in jail April 20, 2006 for bringing brass knuckles to LAX.