BAM

Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera (born September 28, 1979 in West Chester, Pennsylvania) is a professional skateboarder, 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 currently resides in his large castle-type house, named Castle Bam. Margera 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 then successfully received his GED at the insistence of his parents, April Margera and Phil Margera. Bam got his start by making his own skateboarding videos, known as the cKy videos. Camp Kill Yourself (a.k.a cKy) is also the name of his brother Jess's rock band (see CKY). 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). 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 January 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. His weekly Sirius Satellite Radio show is called Radio Bam. Bam Margera also plays the keyboard in a band started by Bam Himself, and Brandon DiCamillo called Gnarkill. Gnarkill consists of Brandon DiCamillo, Bam Margera, Jess Margera, Rich Vose, and Matt Cole. 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 band HIM (Buried Alive By Love, The Sacrament, And Love Said No, and Solitary Man). He directed the music video for The 69 Eyes (Lost Boys) 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 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 Pro Skater 3, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4, Tony Hawk's Underground, 'Tony Hawk's Underground 2, Tony Hawk's American Wasteland, and the upcoming Tony Hawk's PIn 2006, Bam started on a new animated series for MTV slated to air in the summer. Bam also had two special episodes of Viva la Bam entitled "Viva La Spring Break". He also starred in Jackass: The Movie and its recently released sequel Jackass Number Two. 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!" Bam was 3 years old Margera owns his own record label; Filthy Note Records. He has signed Swedish hard rock band Vains of Jenna to it, and has produced their first video "Noones Gonna Do It For You". Bam is engaged to Melissa "Missy" Rothstein. He proposed to her in the King of Prussia Shopping Mall. The two are going to be tying the knot in October 2006. In the DVD commentary for Jackass: The Box Set, Margera said that Element Skateboards pays him two million dollars a year to wear their clothing. Bam is currently writing, producing, and directing his new feature film, a sequel to Haggard, titled Kiss a Good Man's Ass. The film will feature the "garbage juicer" invention shown in Haggard.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. He is good friends with Ville Valo, the lead singer of HIM, and Margera played a role in developing HIM's symbol, the heartagram