Rob Dyrdek

Robert Stanley Dyrdek (born June 28, 1974) is an American professional skateboarder, actor, entrepreneur, producer, and reality TV star. He is best known for his roles in the reality shows Rob & Big, Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, and Ridiculousness. He also is the creator of the animated series Wild Grinders, in which he voices the series' main character, Lil Rob.

In 2014, Dyrdek was labeled as one of the 'Most influential skateboarders of all-time' by FoxWeekly.

Dyrdek was born on June 28, 1974, in Kettering, Ohio to Gene and Patty Dyrdek. Dyrdek was involved in sports as a child and began skateboarding at the age of eleven when he received his first skateboard from professional skateboarder Neil Blender. Of his early interest in the sport, Dyrdek has stated, "I was a pretty driven young man. I was so focused on becoming a pro skateboarder. I would sit in school and think about all the tricks I was going to do, then I’d get out of school and skate until they made me come inside."

Alien Workshop

At the age of twelve, Dyrdek acquired sponsorship from the same company that Blender was a team member of and began his skateboarding career. A few years later, Dyrdek and Blender quit their board sponsor and created Alien Workshop—Dyrdek’s current skateboard deck sponsor and a company that he now owns. At the age of sixteen, Dyrdek decided to forgo his senior year of high school and instead moved to Southern California to continue with his professional skate career.

DC Shoes

Soon after moving to California, Dyrdek began to ride for Droors Clothing, a company that was then transformed into DC Shoes. Both Droors and DC were founded with the involvement of highly regarded skateboarder Danny Way and, in the lead-up period for the release of the 2012 Way documentary Waiting For Lightning, Dyrdek revealed: "I swear to you ... that I was on DC for, like, two years before Danny [Way] finally knew who I was ... I'm on DC with him—it's his company!"

Sponsors

Dyrdek is sponsored by DC Shoes, Alien Workshop, Silver Trucks (a company that he helped establish in 2003), and Monster Energy.

Dyrdek is the founder of the Street League Skateboarding (SLS) skateboard competition enterprise and the series has grown from a domestic to an international event.

Dyrdek first starred in the MTV reality series, Rob & Big (aired November 2006 to April 2008), with his best friend and bodyguard Christopher "Big Black" Boykin, as well as his cousin, Chris "Drama" Pfaff, and friend Rashawn "Bam Bam" Davis. After three seasons Boykin chose to leave the show when his longtime girlfriend had a baby.

In 2008, Dyrdek appeared in the film Righteous Kill, playing the character of Rambo alongside Robert de Niro and Al Pacino.

In February 2009, Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, featuring Dyrdek, Pfaff, and his Dyrdek Enterprise staff, was first aired. The "Fantasy Factory" is a converted warehouse where Dyrdek runs his many entrepreneurial ventures. It also features a large indoor skate plaza, Dyrdek personal office, a foam pit, and numerous basketball hoops. He also built a "hands of God" music studio for his cousin Pfaff inside the factory. During the course of the first season, he also opened his first SafeSpot SkateSpot with the sponsorship of Carl's Jr. At the grand opening, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa rode with Dyrdek on the world's largest skateboard. Fantasy Factory aired a total of six seasons, with the season finale airing on March 13, 2014. The show mainly featured a cast of Dyrdek, Chris Pfaff, Boykin, Scott Pfaff, Chanel West Coast, and Sterling Brim.

Dyrdek was also featured in the video games skate., and Skate 2 (which also featured Boykin). During the days of Rob & Big, the two were featured in an episode where they were actually going to the EA building to shoot for the game. In Skate 2, the player is able to purchase an early version of the Fantasy Factory on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store as an add-on, allowing the player to skate within the factory premises.

Dyrdek made a movie entitled Street Dreams in 2009.

In 2011, Dyrdek appeared in Jackass 3.5, in a scene with Johnny Knoxville. Later that year, on August 29, 2011, Dyrdek started another show with the MTV network, called Ridiculousness, where he comments on internet videos that are mainly extreme sport mishaps. Dyrdek hosts this show alongside two friends, Chanel West Coast and Sterling Brim.

In 2012, Dyrdek was on the TV show Punk'd—Justin Bieber tried to execute a prank on Dyrdek and failed. Dyrdek was also featured in the 2012 documentary, Waiting for Lightning, about his friend and fellow skater Danny Way.

Dyrdek set twenty-one separate Guinness World Records for skateboarding as part of his former show Rob & Big. Big Black also set two eating records on the show: most bananas eaten in one minute and the most number of powdered donuts eaten in three minutes.

As part of the Fantasy Factory series, Dyrdek set the record for the largest skateboard (according to the Guinness World Records website, it is listed as the "Longest Skateboard in the World"), but, according to the "World Records Academy" website, this was broken in 2010.

Dyrdek's personal bests—some of which have since been surpassed—include:

• Longest 50-50 rail grind: 100 feet 5.75 inches (30.62 m) (2007, WR)
• Longest board slide: 100 feet 5.75 inches (30.62 m) (2007, WR)
• Highest skateboard ramp jump into water: 10 feet 8 inches (3.29 m) (2007, WR)
• Farthest reverse ramp jump by a car: 89 feet 3.25 inches (27.21 m) (2014, WR)

During his time with DC, Dyrdek began his exploration of entrepreneurship through shoe design and this led Dyrdek to launch various short-lived companies, including a hip hop record label and a skate shop. Dyrdek continued to pursue such ventures and, as of 2013, Dyrdek's properties include Wild Grinders (an animated series on the Nickelodeon network), Street League Skateboarding (SLS), The Rob Dyrdek Foundation, and Megahorse Racing. In addition, Dyrdek has partnerships with various brands, such as Bill My Parents, ISX(TM) (Instant Scoring Experience), and DTA Rogue Status (with musician Travis Barker).

Wild Grinders, a fictional cartoon skate crew, is Dyrdek's venture into toys based on him and his group of childhood skateboarding friends. The line consists of six characters.

Dyrdek also created the iSX, Instant Scoring Experience, which he hopes will revolutionize the way skate competitions are held. He is the creator of the Street League Skateboarding - a professional skateboarding contest.

Dyrdek also has a TAG Body Spray scent called Make Moves. A fraction of the profit will go to his charity organization, The Rob Dyrdek Foundation.

Dyrdek has also partnered with Chevrolet for the launch of the new Chevy Sonic. As part of the launch campaign, he performed a "kickflip" with a Sonic (a full 360-degree rotation of the vehicle) over the world's largest skateboard (on record), which he also created. He performed the stunt at Six Flags Magic Mountain.

Dyrdek founded this foundation in 2003. This foundation builds legal skate parks for skateboarders in their communities. This cause is close to Dyrdek because of the ties he has with being a professional skateboarder. Practicing this sport is hard for most people because street skating is illegal in most communities and these communities often do not have legal skate parks available. Dyrdek believes that "the skate plaza is essential to the future of skateboarding."

Dyrdek has one sister, Denise. His cousins Christopher "Drama" Pfaff and Scott "Big Cat" Pfaff are featured in Rob and Big and Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory. He also has two bulldogs named Meaty and Beefy.

Dyrdek became an ordained minister through the Universal Life Church in order to perform his sister's wedding in December 2011. The ceremony, which was featured in an episode of Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory, took place at the Fantasy Factory in Los Angeles. He became engaged to his girlfriend Bryiana Noelle Flores two months before his 41st birthday on April 26, 2015, after proposing to her at Disneyland. The couple has two children.