Brandon Cole ‘Bam’ Margera, a prominent figure in American reality television and movies, is known for his skills as a professional skateboarder and his involvement with MTV. Born and raised in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Margera earned his nickname ‘Bam’ from his childhood habit of colliding with walls. As his career flourished, he even legally changed his name to reflect this moniker. From a young age, Margera began creating amateur videos with his friends, showcasing their daring skateboard stunts and thrilling adventures. These videos eventually evolved into the independent series ‘CKY’. Margera’s success in this venture caught the attention of MTV, leading to his involvement in the popular show ‘Jackass’. With his growing popularity among young audiences, Margera went on to produce three ‘Jackass’ movies and star in other reality films such as ‘Bam’s Unholy Union’ and ‘Haggard’. Additionally, he hosted his own MTV show titled ‘Viva La Bam’. Margera’s creativity extends beyond the screen, as he is the creator of numerous independent reality movies and even owns his own bar called ‘The Note’. Furthermore, he has authored a book titled ‘Serious as Dog Dirt’, which offers a glimpse into his personal experiences through writings and pictures. Margera is also a member of the professional skateboarding team, the ‘Team Element’.
Quick Facts
- Also Known As: Brandon Cole Margera
- Age: 44 Years, 44 Year Old Males
- Family:
- Spouse/Ex-: Missy Rothstein
- Father: Phil Margera
- Mother: April Margera
- Siblings: Jess Margera
- Born Country: United States
- Quotes By Bam Margera
- Skateboarders
- Ancestry: German American, Italian American
- U.S. State: Pennsylvania
- City: West Chester, Pennsylvania
Childhood & Early Life
Bam Margera was born on 28 September 1979 in West Chester, Pennsylvania to Phil Margera and April Margera. He had a brother called Jess Margera and a famous nephew called Vincent Margera. He was nicknamed by his grandfather as ‘Bam’ as he had a habit of running into walls when he was three years old. He went to the East High School and was not much interested in going to school.
Career
Since he was an adolescent, Margera started to shoot amateur videos of himself and his friends skateboarding together, having a good time and doing dangerous stunts. These videos were later made into CKY video series. He released a lot of these CKY series independently. CKY is an abbreviated version of ‘Camp Kill Yourself’. These videos portrayed him as well as a bunch of his friends, Ryan Dunn, Brandon DiCamillo, Rake Yohn, Chris Raab, etc.
His CKY video series became very famous which eventually bagged him a role in the production by the famous editor from Big Brother, Jeff Tremaine, called MTV’S Jackass. Margera and Ryan Dunn became the main leads of the cast. After this Margera bagged the role in three ‘Jackass’ movies from 2002-2010 – ‘Jackass: The Movie’, ‘Jackass Number Two’ and ‘Jackass 3D’. These were a series of reality movies, an extension of the MTV’s Jackass.
After the huge popularity of ‘Jackass’, Margera was handed over his own MTV series called ‘Viva La Bam’, from 2003-2005. It was a spin off from MTV’s Jackass and had all of Margera’s friends and family casted in it. In 2003, Margera joined the ‘Team Element’, which is the demonstration team for the ‘Element Skateboards’. In the same year, he co-wrote, acted and directed the movie called ‘Haggard’. The show kept its initial theme alive and showed Margera and his friends doing various stunts and visited different locations for its shooting. It had a special episode called ‘Viva La Spring Break’.
In 2007, Margera was filmed for a reality movie called ‘Bam’s Unholy Union’ when he was to get married to his fiancée Melissa Rothstein. It showed him and his fiancée planning the wedding along with all the other crew members of the CKY. During the late 2000s, Margera appeared in one of the pornographic films by Gina Lynn called ‘The Fantasstic Whores 4’, which featured him in a non-sexual role. He also did ‘Nitro Circus’, which was a sports TV series.
Around the same time he opened his bar cum theatre called ‘The Note’ in West Chester, Pennsylvania. He also released a book that contains his private writings and pictures called ‘Serious as Dog Dirt’. He is an animated character in Tony Hawk’s video games and co-created a television series called ‘Bam’s World Domination’ and made a special appearance in ‘Loiter Squad’ in 2012.
Personal Life & Legacy
Margera was engaged to Jenn Rivell and she appeared alongside him in many episodes of ‘Viva La Bam’. Their relationship ended in 2005 and a year later Margera was in news for filing ‘Protection From Abuse’ after Rivell broke into his house. In 2006, Margera got engaged to Melissa ‘Missy’ Rothstein, who was a childhood friend of his. The couple appeared on ‘Bam’s Unholy Union’, a reality series showing the whole planning and execution of their wedding. The couple got divorced in 2012 after Margera was admitted into hospital when he fell sick after a four-day alcohol binging. They got divorced on the grounds that Missy got to know about his girlfriends in San Francisco and West Chester.
Trivia
Before getting divorced, Margera and Missy were living in separate cities and Missy saw him only once in a week. Margera went through legal procedure to change his name legally to ‘Bam’ from ‘Brandon’. Margera lives in a gothic themed house in Pennsylvania called ‘Castle Bam’.
Margera was attacked in front of his bar called ‘The Note’ with a baseball bat. The alleged attacker Elizabeth Ray claimed that she never attacked him although he used the ‘n-word’ to refer to her. Margera suffered from injuries while he was kayaking off a cliff. He is the creator of a weekly satellite radio show called ‘Bam Radio’. The show featured him with his CKY crew.