Steve-O Biography

Fast Facts

• Was homeless for several years after dropping out of the University of Miami in 1993
• Beat out thousands of other candidates for a spot in one of the final classes to graduate from the Ringling Bros
• and Barnum & Bailey Clown College
• After graduating from clown college in 1997, had steady jobs as a clown on cruise ships and, later, in the Hanneford Family Circus in 1999 and 2000
• Nominated, along with cast mates Johnny Knoxville, Bam Margera and Chris Pontius, for Best On-Screen Team at the 2002 MTV Movie Awards for his performance in Jackass: The Movie
• Known for his outrageous stunts, including "The Goldfish Trick" (swallows a live goldfish and regurgitates it, still alive, into a goldfish bowl) and "Wasabi Snooters" (inhales wasabi through his nose)
• Though he lives for performing dangerous stunts, after a near-mauling by a lioness while filming a 2004 commercial for Nintendo, Steve-O said, "That could have been the closest this boy's ever come to death
• " Participated in the 2009 season of Dancing With the Stars
• That same year, took part in the MTV program, Steve-O: Demise & Rise, which focused on his substance-abuse problems
• In 2010, set himself ablaze while promoting Jackass 3D on Howard Stern's radio show
• His 2011 memoir, Professional Idiot, touched on his entertainment successes and personal excesses
• One of his promotions of the book involved raising funds to help domestic-violence shelters accommodate victims' pets