Skateboarding Tony Hawk is a trailblazer in vertical, or "
vert", skateboarding, and remains one of the most iconic figures in the sport's history. He got his first skateboard at age nine, a gift from his older brother. Hawk would then begin to practice at the now-defunct Oasis Skatepark, where he began to attract attention by performing advanced maneuvers for his age. Then by the age of 12, he was already dominating amateur competitions across
California. Turning professional at just 14, Hawk quickly rose to the top; and signed with
Powell Peralta professional team where he gained fame for his performances in the popular
Bones Brigade videos. Hawks first ever professional victory came at the Del Mar Freestyle Contest – Pro Pool in 1982. As for Hawk’s skateboarding career itself by the time he reached 25 in 1993, he had won 49
contests. 1995 saw the first annual
X Games, where Hawk competed in two of the events and won a gold medal in the skateboard vert with a record score of 97.50 for a “perfect run.” Additionally, he won a silver medal in the park competition. Hawk returned for the second annual X Games the following year and won a silver in vert. However, the 1997 X Games went better for Hawk, as he would double gold in both the vert and double vert events., Netherlands) On June 27, 1999, at that years X Games Hawk became the first skateboarder to land a "
900", a trick involving the completion of two-and-a-half mid-air revolutions on a skateboard, in which he was successful on his twelfth attempt. After completing the trick, Hawk said, "This is the best day of my life." Hawk captured double gold at that years events in the vertical doubles and verts best trick. but Hawk continued to appear at the annual X Games winning his 7th gold medal at the event during the vert doubles in 2000. Hawk repeat as the vert doubles winner in 2001 and take home silver in the vert best trick. On June 27, 2016, at age 48, Hawk performed what he claimed would be his final 900. In a video posted on the
YouTube RIDE Channel, Hawk said, "Spencer was there on my first one, and now he was there on my last", after successfully landing a 900. Hawk was invited to US president
Barack Obama's June 2009 Father's Day celebration and skated in the hallways of the nearby
Old Executive Office Building on the White House grounds. This was the first time anyone had skateboarded on the White House grounds with permission from officials. In 2009, Hawk was inducted into the Skateboarding Hall of Fame at its inaugural ceremony. As of April 2020, Hawk is sponsored by Birdhouse,
Vans,
Independent,
Bones, and
Nixon. His current Pro model shoe is the Proto. Hawk was formerly sponsored by Theeve. In July 2021, Hawk briefly ended his competitive retirement to participate in the Vert Best Trick event at that year's X Games, finishing in fourth place out of nine competitors. Hawks most recent competition appearances came at the 2023 X Games in California, where he finished 9th in the vert best trick and a 7th place finish in the same event at X Games Japan.
Video game series A video game series based on Hawk's skateboarding, titled ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'', debuted in 1999. Since then, the series has spawned
18 titles so far, including ten main-series titles, four spin-offs, and four repackages. According to former
Activision CEO
Bobby Kotick, Hawk was offered $300,000 for the use of his name and likeness for the original ''
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater'' game, and that Hawk was living in his car due to financial issues. Hawk's role in the series was usurped by customizable player characters in later installments, but he has remained a prominent character. In the fifth game in the series,
Underground, Hawk is a minor
non-player character whom the player meets in
Tampa, Florida, and skates against. Impressed with the player's skills, Hawk grants them entry into a skate competition. He later appears in
Moscow to teach them the "360 Varial Heelflip Lien" move. Hawk and other skaters are briefly playable near the end of the game when they skate in a promotional video for the player's skate team, and in all gameplay modes except the story mode. He appeared as a kid in the
Backyard Sports game,
Backyard Skateboarding.
Film and television In 1986, Hawk was a featured skateboarder in the movie ''
Thrashin'. In 1987, Hawk made a brief appearance in the movie Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol with David Spade. In 1989, Hawk appeared as a skateboarder in Gleaming the Cube''. In 2002, he appeared in Neal H. Moritz's and Christopher Gilcrest's film
xXx playing the role of one of Xander Cage's stuntman friends. In 2004, Hawk played himself in the Australian skateboarding movie
Deck Dogz. In 2006, he made a cameo appearance in the film
Drake & Josh Go Hollywood as himself. Hawk also had a cameo in the movie
The New Guy, and appeared in
Jackass: The Movie, skateboarding in a fat suit with
Mat Hoffman and
Bam Margera, as well as in
Jackass Number Two skateboarding through an obstacle course. Hawk also appeared in the opening title sequences in
Jackass 3D and
Jackass Forever. He appeared in the film following the 2006
Gumball Rally,
3000 Miles, again with Bam Margera. Hawk also played the police officer who arrests
Ryan Dunn in the movie
Haggard: The Movie. Hawk made a brief cameo appearance in
Lords of Dogtown as an
astronaut, where he is shown comically falling off the skateboard as he is a "rookie". Hawk voiced himself in the 2006 animated movie
Tony Hawk in Boom Boom Sabotage, where he is kidnapped by circus freaks. Hawk was featured as an extra in the
"Weird Al" Yankovic music video "
Smells Like Nirvana". He can be seen sitting in the bleachers during the crowd sweep near
Dick Van Patten. Hawk also made a cameo appearance in the
Simple Plan music video for "
I'm Just a Kid", he can be seen, in a crowd, at a high school, watching kids skating. On television, Hawk was a guest on the Nickelodeon kid's show
Yo Gabba Gabba!. In 2001, he played himself in
Max Steel. Hawk also guest voiced on
The Simpsons episode "
Barting Over", where he played himself, along with fellow San Diegans
Blink-182. In the episode, Hawk lends Homer a new board from his brand where complete rookies are able to perform at the top levels. Hawk ends up having a comical play off with him after Homer begins to show him up. Tony Hawk appeared as himself in
MXC in a special "MXC Almost Live" episode in 2004. On the
PBS Kids show
Cyberchase, Hawk guest-starred as Slider's long-lost father Coop. In the
CSI: Miami episode "Game Over" he played a game programmer who was murdered. Hawk also played on
Fox's
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?. Hawk hosted
Cartoon Network's "Hall of Game" sports award show on February 25, 2011. Hawk was on
Take Two With Phineas and Ferb. Hawk appeared on the internet cooking show
Epic Meal Time on October 18, 2011, to celebrate the show's one-year anniversary, where he can be seen in the final scene eating a deep-fried
pizza cake. Hawk reappeared on another Epic Meal Time video on July 20, 2013, as a guest on the educational cooking show
Handle It. Hawk assisted
Harley Morenstein (Sauce Boss) in cooking egg rolls. The video features promotion for Hawk's own YouTube channel, RIDE Channel. He also guest-starred on the ABC comedy
Last Man Standing. He played himself in an episode of
Rocket Power. Hawk appeared in the TV series
Breaking In,
The High Fructose Adventures of Annoying Orange,
The Cleveland Show,
Sesame Street, and
So Random!. Hawk appeared in the movie
Parental Guidance as himself. In 2013, he and
Eric Koston appeared as reporters in an episode of
The Aquabats! Super Show!, another series by
Yo Gabba Gabba! creator and longtime friend of Hawk's,
Christian Jacobs. He also appeared in Disney's
Zeke and Luther as himself. In 2015, Hawk acted as a stunt double for
Will Ferrell during a skateboarding scene in the film
Daddy's Home. Hawk sustained an injury that required 10 stitches in his leg while filming the scene. In 2020, Hawk competed in
season three of
The Masked Singer as "Elephant". He was the first of Group B to be eliminated. In 2022, Hawk did a guest voice role in
The Casagrandes episode "Skaters Gonna Hate" where it was revealed that he had a history with Carlos Casagrande back when he operated as "Carlos X". That same year,
HBO released a documentary on him titled
Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off. Hawk worked with Laughing Dragon Studios to develop the animated series
Skatebirds. Hawk also served as a presenter at the
94th annual academy awards in March of 2022. On March 27, 2024, Hawk made an appearance on
AEW Dynamite in a pre-taped segment with
Darby Allin. In 2025 Hawk appeared as a special guest in an episode of
The Tiny Chef Show, along with doing a guest appearance in the
Big City Greens episode "Locked in/City Wayne" voicing the character Jagger.
Other ventures Hawk hosted a weekly radio show on
Sirius XM from 2004 to 2019 called "Tony Hawk's Demolition Radio". In 2021, Hawk partnered with fellow skateboarder and former SiriusXM host
Jason Ellis for the weekly podcast "Hawk vs. Wolf". In 2002, Hawk started a show tour featuring
freestyle motocross, skateboarding, and
BMX. It started in Las Vegas and went on to 31 cities around the U.S. and eventually to
Six Flags amusement parks. A series of amusement park rides known as
Tony Hawk's Big Spin were built in three
Six Flags parks in 2007 and 2008. The ride was originally billed as the "Tony Hawk experience" and was designed to have the look and feel of a giant red-and-black skatepark. It offered a full "extreme sports" experience, with monitors in the queue lines displaying highlights of the history of action sports and a large spinning Tony Hawk figure crowning the ride. In 2010, Six Flags cancelled its license and the rides were renamed to Pandemonium. The ride at
Six Flags Discovery Kingdom was moved to Six Flags Mexico in 2012. Additionally, a water park ride called Tony Hawk's Half pipe (renamed The Half pipe in 2011) was opened at
Six Flags America in
Bowie, Maryland. In February 2018,
New York magazine reported that Hawk was working with
Jeremy Burge to help design
Emojipedia's skateboard
emoji after the company's initial design was criticized by Hawk as "a skateboard you would buy at a department store in the '80s." The updated design was based on Hawk's own skateboard. Subsequent releases of the skateboard emoji from
Apple and
Samsung resemble Hawk's board (including 60mm wheels) despite no direct collaboration between Hawk and these companies. In 2021 Hawk founded the Vert Alert, a dedicated vertical skateboarding competition in
Salt Lake City, partnering with the Utah Sports Commission and Vans for a free two-day event including pro contests, amateur qualifiers, and a legends demo with skateboarders such as
Steve Caballero and
Andy Macdonald. In 2022, Hawk signed a contract with
Cleopatra Records, and released his first single, a cover of
The Jam's "
In the City", featuring punk rock supergroup
Punk Rock Karaoke. The single was released on July 22, 2022, with its B-side, a cover of
The Damned's "
Neat Neat Neat". In 2023, Hawk joined
Goldfinger on stage and sang "Superman" during their performances at
House of Blues and at the
When We Were Young Festival. He also performed "Superman" and a cover of
Agent Orange's "Bloodstains" with Australian band Birdman, during his tour
An Evening with Tony Hawk across Australia in January 2024. In 2025, Hawk opened Chick & Hawk in
Encinitas, CA. Chick & Hawk is a chicken sandwich restaurant that pays homage to skate culture. ==Contest victories==