Bam Margera, TV Personality / Skateboarder
- Born: 28 September 1979
- Birthplace: West Chester, Pennsylvania
- Best Known As: Skateboarding star of Jackass and Viva La Bam
- Nickname: Bam Bam
- Height: 5' 10" (1.78 m)
Name at birth: Brandon Cole Margera
Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera (born September 28, 1979) is the skateboarder star of Viva La Bam and member of the Jackass crew, both shows broadcasted by MTV. He makes his own skate videos known as the CKY quadrilogy, which is also the name of his brother Jess's heavy metal band (see CKY band). Bam's crew includes Ryan Dunn, Brandon DiCamillo, Rake Yohn, Raab Himself, his ever suffering parents, Phil and April, and his uncle Vincent Margera ("Don Vito"). Until early 2005, he was romantically linked to Jenn Rivell, his longtime girlfriend and fiancee.
Bam is also known to be a good friend of HIM's frontman, Ville Valo. Bam worked as a director for a few HIM videos. He even got heartagram tattoos, a symbol invented by Ville Valo.
Bam's sponsors include Element Skateboards, Spitfire Wheels, Adio Footwear, and Fairman's skate shop.
Bam directed and co-wrote (with Brandon DiCamillo) a film called Haggard, starring Bam and most of Bam's friends. The film is based on a true story about Ryan Dunn's ex-girlfriend and their adventures spying on her. Bam also has a small speaking part in the skater movie "Grind".
Bam was born and raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania, a southwestern suburb of Philadelphia. Before ascending to professional status, he could be found frequenting the local skate spots, performing at area fairgrounds, and loitering at Fairman's skate shop. The CKY Crew, when still in the area, often frequents the 15 North bar.
Like many celebrities, one of his pornographic home videos (with girlfriend Jenn Rivell) was leaked onto the internet. Unlike other celbrities however the video was originaly found as an easter egg on selected copies of his, CKY 4: Latest and Greatest DVD.
MTV once described Bam Margera as "a skate guru who's skidded face-first down the vert ramp one too many times." At first a professional skateboarder, Margera became a popular regular on the MTV series Jackass, in which Margera, co-star Johnny Knoxville and other goofy young men performed outrageous, dangerous and just plain dumb stunts for the camera. The series ran from 2000-2002 and spawned a 2002 feature film, Jackass: The Movie. In 2003 Margera began appearing in his own MTV series, Viva La Bam, which featured various staged stories and Jackass-style stunts taking place at the Margera family homestead in Pennsylvania. Margera also wrote, directed and starred in the 2003 film Haggard: The Movie and has directed a series of skate-and-stunt videos in the series known as CKY.
Margera's name is pronounced mar-JER-uh... CKY (or Camp Kill Yourself) is also the name of a band in which Margera's brother Jess plays drums; the band's music is closely associated with skateboarding... Skateboarder Tony Hawk has made cameo appearances in Margera's programs.
Bam Margera Trivia:
- Family: mom April, dad Phil, and brother Jess.
- Has been skateboarding since 1988.
- Brother of Jess Margera
- Son of Phil Margera and April Margera.
- His brother, Jess, plays drums in the band Camp Kill Yourself (cKy), whose music has appeared in numerous skate videos.
- Used the money he made from "Jackass" (2000) to make Haggard: The Movie (2003)
- Is of Italian descent.
- Became engaged to longtime girlfriend Jennifer Rivell on June 5, 2003, her 30th birthday
- Nephew of Vincent "Don Vito" Margera.
- Has broken up with longtime girlfriend/fiancée Jennifer Rivell [April 2005]
- Has an own production company called "Bam Margera Productions"
- He landed the loop in Phoenix, Arizona and became the 13th known skater to land it, and was the first street skater to successfully land it.
- Sponsors include Element Skateboards, Spitfire Wheels, Adio Footwear, Electric Visual, and Fairman's skate shop.
- Uses the heartagram symbol of the Finnish rock band HIM as the symbol for himself.
- His sponsors are Element, Adio, Volcom, Diakka, Elestric, Spitfire, Destroyer, Jone's Soda, Cky.
- Dropped out of high school in 11th grade, but later got GED.
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