“We’ll Give You Guys a Stunt Bump”: Only in His First Movie Ever, Tony Hawk Learned How to Earn a Little Extra With Off-Camera Acting

With his astounding innovations on the skateboard, a young guy came into the limelight in the 80s. The kid kept working hard on his skills and the sport he loved until becoming a legend of the sport. Yes! While the ace skateboarder Tony Hawk won several trophies and titles for his sporting skills, he changed the future of the sport with his entrepreneurship as well.

Amongst many other things Hawk did with skateboards, performing as a stuntman in movies was one of them. At a very early stage in his competition years, he doubled for David Spade, in a 1987 movie called ‘Police Academy 4‘. Moreover, this was his first job in movies. In an old interview, Hawk disclosed how he got extra money in that movie.

Tony Hawk knows how to extract money

Since Tony Hawk began skateboarding at a very young age, he became a specialist in his early teen years. Notably, he also worked as a body double for several films. But at the same, Hawk used another skill of his trade which yet had to come out on a big level.

He displayed his amazing business sense, and his excellent social skills with some off-screen acting to earn some extra bucks. In the 2019 interview, Tony revealed, “So during this shoot, if we came to a stunt like that, we learned early on that if we acted nervous about the stunt, then they would give us extra money.”

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He continued, “So they said, ‘We will give you guys a stunt bomb’. And then, so we would come upon that like, ah man, I don’t know, and they’re like, ‘Okay we’ll give you guys each 200 bucks extra’.”

Tony Hawk’s contribution to the skateboarding world

Skateboarding wasn’t a mainstream sport, especially at the time when Hawk began his journey. Skate parks weren’t even a thing back then and if there were, they were closed down. And the skateboarders had to skate either on private property or public property. Tony said, “That’s when it got at the height, the sort of friction between skaters and cops.”  

From situations like that, now Hawk owns a skateboarding accessories company ‘Birdhouse Skateboards’. Moreover, he has made several skate parks under the ‘Skatepark Project‘. And has earned billions through his popular video game called ‘Tony Hawk Pro Skater’. The skating legend transformed the public’s interest with his innovative ideas regarding the sport, and now it is one of the Olympic sports.

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From earning a few extra bucks with his acting skills to becoming an owner of a multi-billion dollar industry, Tony Hawk has changed the world of skateboarding.

What is your opinion of Hawk’s struggle to succeed in a sport which was not in the limelight back then?