Brandon "Bam" Margera (/mɑːrˈdʒɛərə/ mar-JAIR-ə; born September 28, 1979) 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 sequels. He also created the Jackass 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. He first entered rehab in 2009, but left after four days and has since had at least seven subsequent attempts at rehab without completing the program. 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, but between 2015 and 2017, he remained sober for nearly two years. 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, 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 hair dresser and accountant 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 childhood friend 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 nearly killed in a 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 100mph, 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 bands albums being unofficial soundtracks to the videos.
