Tony Hawk

Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968) is an American former professional skateboarder, entrepreneur and media personality. Besides being best known for the eponymous video game series he endorsed and starred in, he is also a famed vert skateboarder who completed the first documented 900 (a 2½-revolution—900 degrees—aerial spin) during the 1999 X-Games.

As a result of his rise to prominence beyond the skateboarding scene, he appeared in numerous film and television productions, mostly As Himself or in a role related to his occupation, though this could also be chalked up to him taking on the role of a de facto ambassador for the skateboarding community. Hawk also dabbled into music as well, having collaborated as a vocalist with some skate punk acts on YouTube; he himself admitted he's not much of a singing person, though he and his family has had some musical experience (Tony's sister was a backup singer for Michael Bolton and John Denver) and Tony himself played the violin as a child.

Tony Hawk provides examples of the following tropes:

As Himself: Most of his film appearances count as this.
Awesome McCoolname: And it's his real name, no less.
Badass Grandpa: While he has retired from professional skateboarding since 2003, he still skates casually in his mid-fifties.
The Cameo: Has had appeared in numerous media productions as a result of his mainstream celebrity status.
Hidden Depths:
- It was revealed that Hawk took up skateboarding as a way to channel his hyperactivity which his parents surprisingly supported despite the safety risks inherent to the sport. Tony's parents had him psychologically evaluated at school, and the results were that Tony was "gifted", as he was tested with an IQ of 144; while he did not exactly enjoy academics he was sufficiently skilled with mathematics that he'd help his classmates out with difficult schoolwork, and he stated in an interview about his intention to go to college and pursue a professional career as a math teacher.^[1]
- Tony described on ESPN that he was nerdy and into computers. He bought a Commodore 64 so he could play Skate or Die, and in the late 80s he had an Amiga 2000 with "3 meg RAM, 40 meg hard drive" and an "internal modem". He put his computer skills to good use when he acquired a Video Toaster system for editing skate videos, and when he and his family were in a dire financial situation in the early 90s he moonlighted as a video editor for various companies.
- As mentioned above he does have some musical proficiency, but he admits he's a non-singer and would prefer to consider it as an occasional stint at most. Some of his children did take on a musical career though, besides inheriting their father's occupation as a skater.
Nice Guy
Promoted Fanboy: Hawk revealed in an Instagram post that he gladly agreed to appear in Saturday Night Live as he is a fan of the show and grew up watching it since he was little.
- He also very briefly appeared as an extra in the music video for "Smells like Nirvana" by "Weird Al" Yankovic. In 2023 Hawk stated in a podcast episode that he listened to Weird Al a lot as a kid, singing "Another One Rides The Bus" more often than the Queen song it was based on.
Sobriquet: "Hawkman" or "Birdman".

Tony Hawk has performed in the following roles:

Films

1986: Thrasin as Pool Skater; also stunt double for Josh Brolin
1987: Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol as Skateboarder
1987: The Search for Animal Chin as himself
1989: Gleaming the Cube as Buddy
1999: Frezno Smooth as Business Executive
2001: Max Keeble's Big Move as himself
2002: The New Guy as himself
2002: xXx as Caddy Driver
2003: Haggard as Cop
2005: Lords of Dogtown as astronaut
2006: Tony Hawk in Boom Boom Sabotage as himself
2012: Parental Guidance as himself
2014: The Simpsons Take The Bowl as himself
2016: Slam as himself (voice)
2017: Sharknado 5: Global Swarming as The Hawk
2018: Sk 8 Dawg as himself
2020: Pretending I'm A Superman as himself (documentary)
2022: Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off as himself (documentary)
2022: Jackass 4.5 as himself

Television

1981: Captain Kangaroo as Skateboard Johnny
1999: Arli SS as himself
1999: Action as himself
2000: The Jersey as himself
2001: Max Steel as himself
2001: Rocket Power as himself
2002: What I Like About You as himself
2003: The Simpsons as himself
2004: Most Extreme Elimination Challenge as 'Geeks' Captain
2004: LAX as himself
2004: Complete Savages as himself
2005: CSI: Miami as Jake Sullivan
2005: Cyberchase as Coop
2008: The Suite Life of Zack & Cody as himself
2009: The Adventures Of Senor Toro as Skateboarder
2010: The Stay At Home Dad as himself
2010: Zeke and Luther as himself
2010: Cubed as himself
2010: The Cleveland Show as himself
2011: Kick Buttowski: Suburban Daredevil as Hush
2011: Take Two with Phineas and Ferb as himself
2012: Last Man Standing (2011) as himself
2012: Johnny Test as Host
2012: Breaking In as himself
2014: Rake as himself
2014: Video Game High School as himself
2015: Undateable as himself
2017: Trailer Park Boys Out Of The Park as himself
2018: Ballers as himself
2020: Betty as Skater
2022 onwards: The Loud House as Himself
- 2022: The Casagrandes
- 2023: The Really Loud House
2022: More Than A Celebrity as Guest Speaker
2022: Middlemost Post as Hawk Man
2023: Saturday Night Live as himself
2023: Canada's Got Talent as himself

↑ His late mother Nancy earned a doctorate degree at the age of 63.

[1] His late mother Nancy earned a doctorate degree at the age of 63.

[1]