Ryan Dunn

Dan Mitchell
Feb 7, 2022
1 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Ryan Matthew Dunn was born in Ohio on June 11th, 1977. After a brief period living in New York, he moved with his family to Pennsylvania.

There, he met Bam Margera — a friendship that would become one of the defining relationships of Ryan’s life. The two remained inseparable for decades.

Along with Bam and a close group of friends, Ryan helped create cKy (Camp Kill Yourself), a series of DIY stunt and skate videos that became underground hits. The cKy tapes would go on to inspire director Jeff Tremaine, who brought the crew into a new MTV project he was developing: Jackass.

Ryan became a core part of the Jackass family, appearing in all three TV seasons, all three films, and multiple spin‑offs including Viva La Bam.

Beyond stunts, Ryan was also an actor. He appeared in Haggard: The Movie, A Halfway House Christmas, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and several other projects. He also worked as a TV presenter, hosting shows such as Homewrecker and Proving Ground.

Ryan lived with Lyme disease and depression, struggles he spoke about openly.

On June 20th, 2011, Ryan and his friend Zachary Hartwell tragically died when Ryan’s car crashed into a tree.

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