Steve-O biography

Synopsis

Early Life

Born Stephen Glover on June 13, 1974, in London, England. The son of a business executive, Steve-O moved around a lot as a kid. He lived in England, Brazil and the United States before he reached high school. Having to start over in new schools frequently led Steve-O to become a class joker of sorts to get attention and win acceptance. Before long, he started chronicling some of his activities.

Using his father's video camera, Steve-O filmed his skateboarding antics. "Soon it dawned on me I wasn't that great at skateboarding. So I put down the skateboard and just kept going with the camera." He continued to record his efforts throughout his school years. After graduating from high school, Steve-O spent a year at University of Miami. He wasn't interested in what the university had to offer, and he decided to drop out. Steve-O then enrolled at the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College.

In 1997, Steve-O graduated from clown college and ended up working for a flea-market circus. He filmed some of his stunts during this time and sent out videos of his work. One video ended up in the hands of producer and director Jeff Tremaine. Tremaine added Steve-O to a stunt-based reality show he was developing with Johnny Knoxville. The show, known as Jackass, debuted on MTV in 2000 and featured a group of young men accomplishing outrageous, and often painful, feats. Steve-O was shown stapling parts of his body together in one show, and sticking his head in a fish tank to bob for jellyfish in another act.

Career Breakthoughs

Steve-O took his wild stunts on the road in 2002 for his Don't Try This at Home tour. That same year, he appeared in the first of several Jackass films. Steve-O had developed enough of a following at this point to star in his own Jackass spin-off. He and fellow Jackass cohort Chris Pontius teamed up for the animal-themed stunt show Wildboyz. The series lasted for four seasons.

By 2006, however, Steve-O seemed to be struggling both personally and professionally. He starred in the short-lived reality show Dr. Steve-O, but it proved to be a dud with critics and viewers. Off-screen, Steve-O seemed to be unraveling. He had a serious substance abuse problem and ended up getting arrested in 2008 for cocaine possession. After pleading guilty to the charge, Steve-O avoided a jail sentence by entering rehabilitation. He also had such extreme psychological issues that his friends conducted an intervention to get him into treatment. Steve-O spent time at a mental health facility.

By the following year, Steve-O had pulled himself together. He took on a new kind of challenge by appearing on the hit celebrity program Dancing with the Stars. Despite having no prior dancing experience, Steve-O managed to stay in the competition for six weeks. He also shared the dark days of his addiction and his struggle for sobriety in the MTV documentary Steve-O: Demise and Rise, which aired in 2009.