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Philip John Clapp (born March 11, 1971), known professionally as Johnny Knoxville, is an American stunt performer, actor, producer and writer. He is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass, which aired for five seasons (including lost tapes) from 2000 to 2001. A year later, Knoxville and his co-stars returned for the first installment in the Jackass film series, with a second and third installment released in 2006 and 2010, respectively. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013), the first film in the series with a storyline, saw him star as his Jackass character Irving Zisman. Jackass Forever was released in 2022; it is said to be his final installment of the Jackass franchise.

Knoxville has had acting roles in films such as Men in Black II (2002), A Dirty Shame and Walking Tall (both 2004), The Dukes of Hazzard, The Ringer, and a cameo role as a sleazy corporate president of a skateboard company in Lords of Dogtown (all 2005), The Last Stand (2013), Skiptrace (2016), and the television series Reboot (2022). He also voiced Leonardo in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2014).

Early life
Knoxville was born Philip John Clapp ("P.J.") in Knoxville, Tennessee. His father, Philip (1935–2018), was a tire and car salesman, and his mother, Lemoyne Clapp (née Houck; 1938–2017), taught Sunday school. He has two older sisters.

Knoxville credits a copy of Jack Kerouac's On the Road, given to him by his cousin, singer-songwriter Roger Alan Wade, with giving him the acting bug.

Knoxville attended South-Doyle High School in Knoxville. While in high school, he played on the baseball team where he was named All-Knoxville Interscholastic League Honorable Mention and played in the Knoxville Area All Star game as a pitcher. After graduating in 1989, he moved to California to become an actor. In the beginning, Knoxville appeared mostly in commercials and made several minor appearances as an extra.

When the "big break" he sought eluded him, he decided to create his own opportunities by writing and pitching article ideas to various magazines. An idea to test self-defense equipment on himself captured the interest of Jeff Tremaine's skateboarding magazine Big Brother, and the stunts were filmed and included in Big Brother's "Number Two" video.