Iconic Photos of Johnny Knoxville Through The Years

Johnny Knoxville, the frontman and co-creator of the peak of sophomoric comedy, Jackass, has been going strong for years with crazier stunts and more demented pranks for the hit film and TV series and beyond. Here’s a glimpse of some of the best moments from Knoxville’s wild career.

Okay, this scene from Jackass: The Movie wasn’t actually golfing-focused at all. Knoxville, and other participants like Bam Margera, Brandon DiCamillo, and the late Ryan Dunn were more interested in crashing and getting airtime on golf carts, which was great to watch.

Before it was a hit movie franchise, Jackass aired on MTV for three short seasons, so it made sense to tap Knoxville as a presenter for several MTV awards shows on several occasions. He’s also been nominated for seven MTV Movie Awards for his contributions to movies like Jackass: The Movie, Bad Grandpa, The Dukes of Hazzard and Jackass Forever.

Knoxville and Steve-O were a huge part of the success of Jackass as they were down for some of the most bizarre and insane stunts of the whole franchise, including Steve-O getting launched in a porta-potty and Knoxville getting attacked by a bull. Oh and they’ve both done those stunts multiple times for different Jackass movies.

When presenting the award for Best Rap Video to Eminem at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, Knoxville decided to do something unpredictable per usual and stapled the winner’s card to Steve-O.

Knoxville did more than the usual press tours to promote Jackass: The Movie. MTV Films opened a car wash in New York City staffed by the whole cast as a funny guerilla marketing strategy.

Knoxville got the Saturday Night Live impersonation treatment back in 2002. You can still watch Erik McCormack’s performance as Knoxville in the sketch “Jackass: The Musical” here on the NBC website.

Knoxville at the Jackass: The Movie premiere afterparty with his castmates: (L-R) Dave England, Chris Pontius, Bam Margera, and the director Jeff Tremaine.

Knoxville and Dwayne Johnson (credited in this film as The Rock) both acted in the movie Walking Tall in 2004, which received mixed reviews.

Every Jackass movie starts with a deranged but impressively elaborate intro sequence, with this one being from Jackass: The Movie. The whole cast is loaded into a giant grocery cart going down an inadvisably steep hill, and they throw so much at them that you’ll notice new things upon repeat viewings. Each intro ends with Knoxville shouting his tagline, “Hi, I’m Johnny Knoxville, welcome to Jackass!” before the biggest stunt.

Knoxville has a decent acting resume to his name outside of Jackass, and has even worked with acclaimed directors including John Waters, known for his racy and transgressive indie films. This film, A Dirty Shame, was a sex satire that didn’t really land with critics or audiences, and its poor box office performance has made it difficult for Waters to direct another film since.

Just a few years after being impersonated, Knoxville came to Saturday Night Live to host the show in 2005. In this interview on The Drew Barrymore Show it was revealed that he was offered a chance to join the SNL cast while he was also filming the Jackass pilot for MTV. Knoxville ultimately decided to “bet on myself and bet on my friends,” instead of working on the prestigious and established show.

Knoxville was part of the film adaptation of the hit 80s TV show The Dukes of Hazzard alongside Seann William Scott and Jessica Simpson in her first acting role. The film seemed to divert pretty strongly from the source material and had a pretty negative reception upon its 2005 premiere.

Jeff Tremaine is the co-creator of Jackass along with Knoxville and the director Spike Jonze. Jonze has served as executive producer of the franchise while Tremaine has been in the director’s seat for pretty much all the filmed material. The Jackass series often gets a little meta by having the cast playing pranks on each other during the shoot, and Knoxville has gotten Tremaine good over the years.

For the premiere of his film Daltry Calhoun in 2005, Knoxville brought several members of the Jackass crew as well as… a jar of moonshine?

Knoxville poses with Steve-O and Ehren McGhehey at the Jackass: Number Two Hollywood premiere. Some of the best bits in this film were the intro that had the whole cast being chased by bulls, and an absolutely gnarly stunt where Steve-O puts a fish hook through his cheek and was then tossed into shark-infested waters attached to a rod.

Knoxville and several Jackass castmates performed in this spoof film National Lampoon’s TV: The Movie, with Steve-O and Preston Lacy also credited as some of the writers. It featured over 50 sketches riffing on hit TV shows at the time including Cribs, Miami Vice and Fear Factor. It’s cool to see the Jackass crew try something different, but this got a pretty overwhelmingly negative reception by the general public.

Knoxville has done the typical talk show circuit plenty of times, but was also a guest on this extremely short-lived MTV variety series Dogg after Dark. Rapper Snoop Dogg hosted this show, which premiered in February of 2009 and was canceled that March, pretty brutal.

Producer, star and director Jonze, Knoxville and Tremaine together for the Jackass 3D New York premiere at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.

Ehren McGhehey, or “Danger Ehren,” has put up with some brutal pranks and wild stunts through the years on Jackass, and even got tormented in an Operation-style game for a 2010 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.

Knoxville appeared on the hit British chat show alongside Doctor Who’s Catherine Tate and the legendary late comedian Joan Rivers. He shared stories about an insane injuries he got on set with hilarious input from the other guests in this clip.

Knoxville starred in a Jackass spinoff film Bad Grandpa in 2013, where he played his character Irving Zisman, a crass and accident prone 86-year-old. The format of the film was a road trip featuring a loose narrative connecting several hidden-camera pranks and stunts. It’s the first Jackass film to be nominated for an Oscar, picking up a nomination for Best Makeup and Hairstyling for the incredible techniques used to disguise Knoxville as a senior citizen.

Elvis & Nixon Premiere at the Tribeca Film FestivalDescription: Knoxville took on the real-life role of Elvis’ bodyguard Sonny West in the 2016 historical dramedy film Elvis & Nixon. The film adds an embellished backstory to an iconic photograph of Elvis Presley and Richard Nixon meeting in the Oval Office.

This 2018 film was based on the real-life New Jersey park Action Park which was known for safety violations and intoxicated staff. Action Point starred Knoxville, Jackass alum Chris Pontius and a full cast of park customers and employees, including the future Jackass Forever cast member Eric Manaka.

Knoxville has two kids, a son and daughter, with the director Naomi Nelson. They were married from 2010 to 2022, when Knoxville filed for divorce. He also has a daughter with Melanie Lynn Cates, who he was married to for eleven years from 1995 to 2007.

It had been over a decade since a Jackass film had come out, and the first trailer for its 2022 return was absolutely glorious. If you have been grossed out by Jackass in the past, you won’t be converted with Jackass Forever, but it brings some of the craziest stunts to the table with the cast members we love as well as newcomers to the crew.

Jackass Forever introduced us to Jasper Dolphin, Zach Holmes, Sean “Poopies” McInerney, Rachel Wolfson and Eric Manaka who all fit right into the chaotic and joyful dynamic of the show. Even if Knoxville and the old crew have to step back from Jackass one day, it’s great to see new blood handle the stunts and messed-up pranks just as well.