John Rodney Mullen (born August 17, 1966) is an American professional skateboarder, whose speciality is freestyle and street skateboarding. Widely considered as the godfather of modern street skating, Mullen is credited for inventing numerous tricks such as the flatground ollie, kickflip, heelflip, impossible, and 360-flip, which has since become an essential part of a skater's repertoire.
Mullen dominated the freestyle scene in the 1980s, winning 34 out of 35 freestyle contests during that decade, later transitioning to street skating when freestyle went out of fashion. He was also part of the famed Bones Brigade skateboard team, whose other members including Tony Hawk were also influential in their own right. Mullen later gained mainstream popularity in the Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of video games starting with the second game, though ironically enough Rodney never showed interest in playing the game at all, though he did provide a lot of creative input in getting his tricks right and was reportedly quite interested in the behind-the-scenes side of things, especially considering his engineering background and interest in technology.
Filmography
Films
- 2022: Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off - Himself (HBO Documentary)
- 2017: Dryvrs - Skateboarder
- 2017: Rodney Mullen: Liminal - Himself
- 2015: Motivation 2: The Chris Cole Story - Himself
- 2014: Gracias Skateboarding Volumen Uno - Himself
- 2013: Secret Life of Walter Mitty - Stunt skater (Stunt double for Ben Stiller)
- 2012: Bones Brigade: An Autobiography - Himself
- 2004: Tony Hawk's Secret Skatepark Tour - Himself (Documentary)
- 2004: Almost: Almost: Round Three - Himself (Documentary)
- 2002: Rodney Mullen: From the Ground Up - Himself (Documentary)
- 1999: Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song: Round 2 - Himself (Documentary)
- 1998: Canvas: The Skateboarding Documentary - Himself (Documentary)
- 1997: Rodney Mullen vs. Daewon Song - Himself (Documentary)
- 1995: Second Hand Smoke - Himself (Documentary)
- 1993: Virtual Reality - Himself
- 1992: The Questionable Video - Himself
- 1989: Gleaming the Cube - stunt skater (Stunt double for actor Christian Slater)
- 1989: Rubbish Heap - Himself
- 1988: Public Domain - Himself (Documentary)
- 1987: The Search for Animal Chin - Himself
- 1985: Future Primitive - Himself
- 1984: The Bones Brigade Video Show - Himself
- 1982: Skateboarding in the Eighties - Himself
Video Games
- 2000: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2
- 2001: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3
- 2002: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
- 2003: Tony Hawk's Underground
- 2004: Tony Hawk's Underground 2
- 2005: Tony Hawk's American Wasteland
- 2006: Tony Hawk's Project 8
- 2007: Tony Hawk's Proving Ground
- 2009: Tony Hawk: Ride
- 2012: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD
- 2019: Ghost Recon Breakpoint - Jace Skell (Rodney's first and so far only non-skating acting role)
- 2020: Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2 - Remake of the first two Tony Hawk games
- 2022: Rodney Mullen's Skatrix - augmented reality app for iOS and Android; also the first non-Tony Hawk skating game appearance by Mullen
Books
- 2000: The Mutt: How to Skateboard and Not Kill Yourself
