Johnny Knoxville

Knoxville was born Philip John Clapp in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 11, 1971, the son of Sunday school teacher Lemoyne (née Houck; 1938–2017) and car and tire salesman Philip Clapp (1935–2018). He has two older sisters. His cousin, singer-songwriter Roger Alan Wade, gave him a copy of Jack Kerouac's book On the Road. He credits this with sparking his interest in acting.

Knoxville attended South-Young High School (now South-Doyle High School) in Knoxville, where he played on the baseball team and was named All-Knoxville Interscholastic League Honorable Mention. He also played in the Knoxville Area All Star game as a pitcher. After graduating in 1989, he moved to California to become an actor. He began appearing in commercials and as an extra. When the breakthrough role 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.