Bam Margera


Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass and subsequent films. He also created the spin-off shows Viva La Bam, Bam's Unholy Union, Bam's World Domination, and Bam's Bad Ass Game Show, and co-wrote and directed the films Haggard, and Minghags.
Since the mid-2000s, Margera has struggled with alcoholism and subsequent legal troubles. Following the death of childhood friend Ryan Dunn and the end of his television projects in 2011–12, Margera's drinking and drug use intensified. In 2020, he was fired from the production of Jackass Forever due to his drug and alcohol issues.

Early life and ''CKY'' videos

Margera was born on September 28, 1979, and raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania, the son of April and Phil Margera. He is the younger brother of rock musician Jess Margera and nephew of television personality Vincent "Don Vito" Margera. His grandfather nicknamed him "Bam Bam" at the age of three after noticing his habit of purposely running into walls; over time, that nickname was shortened to "Bam" by his schoolmates. Before their television fame, Margera's parents April and Phil worked as a hairdresser and baker, respectively.
Margera got his first video camera from his father in 1993 after he enrolled in a digital media class with childhood friend Chris Raab, where they also met future collaborators Art Webb, Brandon DiCamillo, and Ryan Dunn. They began shooting videos of Margera and his friends skateboarding and doing stunts, which eventually turned into the CKY video series. CKY stands for "Camp Kill Yourself", a name shared with his brother Jess Margera's band, CKY, which was named as a tribute to the film Sleepaway Camp.
In 1994, Margera dropped out of school after Chris Raab was expelled, but was homeschooled by his mother and received his GED. On September 21, 1995, Margera, his brother Jess, Dunn and Raab were involved in a serious car accident near their home town. In later interviews, Margera revealed that Raab had "forced him" to wear a seatbelt as the car was going nearly, and that this probably saved his life. Other than his brother Jess suffering a broken arm, none of the four were seriously injured.
Following years of recording and editing, Margera independently released the first CKY film, then titled CKY: Landspeed, in 1999. The film is a collection of stunts and pranks interspersed with skateboarding tricks and footage set to music by CKY. Subsequent releases of the film removed the Landspeed subtitle. In the following years, the sequels CKY2K, CKY3 and CKY4: The Latest and Greatest were released. These early videos feature many of Margera's friends, including Dunn, Raab, DiCamillo, Rake Yohn and Brandon Novak, who formed a loose collective known as the CKY crew. During this period, the videos and band projects were heavily interlinked, with two of the band's albums being unofficial soundtracks to the videos.

Career

Television and film

Following CKY's success, former Big Brother editor Jeff Tremaine noticed Margera's videos and drafted him into the team that would eventually become MTV's Jackass. Margera and Ryan Dunn became mainstays of the cast while other CKY crew members played supporting roles to various degrees. In the original series, several of the featured stunts were taken directly from the CKY videos. Margera went on to appear in Jackass: The Movie, Jackass Number Two, Jackass 2.5, Jackass 3D, and Jackass 3.5, with a minor appearance in Jackass Forever. Several skits in the first Jackass movie were CKY-style pieces filmed in and around West Chester, while similar scenes in the second movie were removed after the arrest and conviction of Margera's uncle Vincent Margera for inappropriately touching two minors.
After the Jackass series ended in 2002, Margera was given a follow-up, Viva La Bam, which ran for five seasons from 2003 to 2005. A mixture of stunts and reality, the show followed Margera and his crew as they performed various stunts and missions, but also offered insight into their daily lives. The show was primarily filmed in West Chester but also visited New Orleans, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Brazil, Finland, Mexico, Netherlands, France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Monaco, and Transylvania. In addition to the regular series, special episodes have included "Viva La Spring Break" and a "lost" episode included on the Viva La Bands CD, which was originally filmed in Iceland for the first season. A two-part special episode, "Viva La Spring Break", aired in 2006.
In 2003, Margera played himself in the movie Grind, which portrays four young men following a professional skateboarder from Chicago to California. The film contains numerous cameos by Jackass members, as well as many professional skateboarders and other celebrities. Upon release, it was met with generally unfavorable reviews from critics, but was rated much higher by the general public.
In 2007, Margera's engagement and wedding planning was filmed for Bam's Unholy Union as a follow-up to Viva la Bam. The show follows Margera, his then-fiancée Missy Rothstein, and their friends in the lead-up to their wedding. In 2008, Margera had a "prominent, non-sex role" in a pornographic film by Gina Lynn, The Fantasstic Whores 4, with Brandon Novak. In 2009, Margera appeared on Nitro Circus, and the following year Margera starred alongside Dunn and skateboarder Tim O'Connor in the one-off special Bam's World Domination on Spike TV, which showcased Margera and his friends' attempt to conquer an obstacle course race in the Tough Guy Competition, held in Staffordshire, England.
Image:Bam Margera Jackass 3D London Premiere 2.jpg|thumb|Margera at the Jackass 3D London premiere in 2010
In March 2016, Bam and his parents appeared on the VH1 reality television show Family Therapy with Dr. Jenn to address Bam's self-destructive behavior.

Skateboarding career

Margera started skateboarding at age 7, and by the time he entered high school it had developed into a full-time hobby. His brother Jess later described his abilities as "a natural talent" and noted that their parents had been very supportive of Margera's decision to go into skateboarding "from day one", and revealed that he used to travel with Bam to Love Park in Philadelphia as early as 1991, when they were 12 and 13 years old. In 1992, Margera got his first sponsorship from Fairman's Skate Shop and began appearing in skate videos. In 1994, Margera dropped out of high school to pursue a full-time skateboarding career.
Early in his professional career, Margera was sponsored by Toy Machine Skateboards, Speed Metal Bearings, Adio Footwear, Electric Sunglasses, Volcom, Landspeed Wheels, Destroyer Trucks, Destructo Trucks, and Fairman's Skateshop. In 2001, Margera became a member of Team Element, the demonstration team for Element Skateboards, which he remained affiliated with for the rest of his professional career.
In 2012, Margera was forced to put his skating career on hold due to bone spurs and worsening alcoholism. After a five-year hiatus, he returned to skateboarding casually, resulting in a renewed partnership with Element Skateboards to celebrate the brand's 25th anniversary in 2017, by re-releasing a series of ten of his most memorable deck designs. The boards were released weekly between September 6 and November 8, 2017; each deck is signed by Margera and limited to 50 units.
As of 2024, Margera is without any major sponsorships.

Independent films

Margera has written, produced and starred in three independent films as of 2024, with a fourth scheduled but on hold since 2017. He co-wrote, directed and starred in Haggard, an independent film based on real events in the life of his friend Ryan Dunn. Dunn played himself as the main character while Margera played "Valo", a character based on himself and elements of HIM singer and friend Ville Valo.
Margera also directed Minghags, formerly titled Kiss a Good Man's Ass. The film is a loose sequel to Haggard and features the "garbage juicer" invention from that film. Filming started April 5, 2007. On an episode of Radio Bam, Margera said that they were trying to make the movie PG-13 rated, but with the amount of swearing and a shot of nudity, an R rating could not be avoided. The first viewing of the rough version of the film was on August 7, 2007, at Sikes Hall. The movie was released straight to DVD in December 2008.
Also in December 2008, Margera released a Christmas-themed movie, Bam Margera Presents: Where the #$&% Is Santa?. The movie is about Bam and his friends going to the Arctic Circle in Finland on a quest to find Santa Claus. The film features Ville Valo from HIM, the Dudesons, Hanoi Rocks, and Mark the Bagger.
In January 2015, Margera announced that he had been working on an autobiographical documentary film which he hoped to premiere in the near future. The film will deal primarily with Margera's life after the death of his close friend and co-star, Ryan Dunn, who died in a car crash in 2011. According to Margera the film has been three years in the making, and will give viewers a glimpse into his childhood, career and rise to fame, while focusing mainly on his recovery from the death of Dunn. Musician Brent Hinds of the band Mastodon would play Dunn in what has been described as "dramatic fantasy interludes" that ties the film together while also re-enacting what Margera considers his "darkest moments" after Dunn's death. Hinds passed away in August 2025.
During a Facebook Q&A on December 7, 2015, Margera stated that the name of the film would change from I Need Time to Stay Useless to Earth Rocker and that it would be released February 2016. In a 2017 episode of Vice's Epicly Later'd, Margera stated that after working on the film for four years straight, sometimes for weeks at a time, he had reached the point where he had had enough of doing so. Margera stated that he had approximately eleven terabytes worth of video footage and that editing it down into a two-hour film was impossible. When asked if the project was on pause for the moment, he responded that it was.
As of 2026, the documentary remains unreleased, with no scheduled release date.