Stoked: The Rise and Fall of Gator : How/Why Did Jason Lee end up being in this film?

Albeit briefly, then even mentioned him by name. Did he even skate? He wasn't even acting back then?!

Well, before he picked up acting in the mid90s jason lee was a professional skateboarder, belonging to the new generation of street skaters that took over from guys like gator in 89 or so. His part in Video Days (directed by Spike Jonze, incidentally) is legendary. He revived his old company, Stereo skateboards, a couple month ago, even has a couple of tricks in their new video Way Out East in case you are interested.

At the time, Jason Lee was becoming one of the most innovative skateboarders in the business. In the late 80's and early 90's, many skaters were starting to rebel from the mainstream companies such as Vision, Sims, Powell-Peralta, and other large companies. Due to the fact that most kids did not have access to a skatepark or ramp, street skating was becoming one of the most popular forms of skateboarding. The man who changed skateboarding was Steve Rocco. Rocco was a freestyle and street skater. He was fired by his company, Sims, and decided to start a small company called World Industries. Jason Lee was a part of the World Industries team. The brief clip of him was at an ASR Tradeshow in San Diego. Jason was amazing. He inspired a whole generation of skaters. I was in the skateboarding business for many years and I have been to several ASR Tradeshows. At ASR, companies showcase their new products and skaters to retailers. The clip is probably of Jason at the World Industries booth. Because of street skating and the upstart of many small companies by skaters, it led to the downfall of many top Pros, such as Gator, and their companies, like Vision. Anyways, to answer your question - yes Jason Lee was skating, and was soon to become a top Pro himself way before his acting career. Jason and Chris "Dune" Pastras started their own company called Stereo in the 90's. Jason still skates today, and very well I might add, along with his acting career. Sorry to be so long winded. - dave

You guys forgot to add that Lee also was a writer for Big Brother Mag, originated the move "360 flip", and had a deal as a skateboarder with Airwalk. He never even graduated high school; dropped out in 1989 to go pro.

Very well known pro-skateboarder, retired in 1996. Also appears as a skater in Sonic Youth's 100% video filmed in 1992 - well before his foray into acting.

Actually it was Rodney Mullen who invented the 360 flip. Lee was just one of the first guys to take the trick to the streets (and was filmed while doing it). Apart from that, are you sure he worked for big brother? Never heard about that.

That's right Mullen was the first to pull a 360 Flip, but he was also the first to pull it on the street, sorta. He was a freestyle skater and practiced in a parking lot so, technically, he was the first to do it near a street (i.e. he wasn't a vert skater or anything). Lee without a doubt made it popular.

Regarding World Industries although Lee spent a fair amout of time with the World team (closely related to the Blind team via owners) he was never officially a member. He was featured in some spots in World videos but never rode a World board.

As for Big Brother, Lee did write a series of articles for the magazine which I guess you could say is "working there," but if that is working there then hundreds of riders have worked for Big Brother over the years (by submitting trick tips and and tour journals to the mag).

Also, He and Tony Hawk were the first 2 skaters to get a pro model shoe.

EDIT- shoe with airwalk. woops forgot that part :/

Blind Video days and Jason Lee's part in that movie were unbelievable.. he was the $#IT back in the day.. he will always be a pro-skater first..

a skater who broke into acting..

Kinda like how steve berra married juliet lewis.. like WTF?

No, that would be Cab and Natas.

Dude, u ARE WAY WRONG!! Natas Kaupas and Steve Caballero had shoes before way before Jason Lee.

sorry forgot a part.. pro model shoe

What do you mean how/why? From seeing the archive footage you can see he was obviously in the skating scene at the time.

Perhaps a better question to ask would have been, why did Shepard Fairy end up in the movie?

well, he probably ended up in the film because a) he was part of the scene back then and b) stickler had worked with him before (on a documentary about fairey/obey the giant). he is responsible for the stoked poster design, btw.

When you say "part of the scene" do you mean he skated in competitions and hung out with Gator like all the other dudes featured in this movie? LoL :)

I don't know to what extent Fairey was involved in the "scene" back then. All I wanted to say is that he was/is a skater. In fact, he is featured as "artist, skater" and he talks about the impact gator had on him in the 80s.

Fairey had no business being in the documentary other than he was friends with the director.

My husband has every issue of Thrasher magazine from the mid 80's-early 90's
and Jason Lee is all over the place. He looks like he's about 12 in all the pictures.
He was a pretty big deal.

Jason Lee was one of my favourite skaters back in the day. It still blows my mind that he became a movie star. His "Foghorn Leghorn" deck was one of my first. I can't believe he gets more recognition for his parts in movies than as a pro skater and that someone wouldn't know he's a skater.

Lol, I was wondering the very same thing when I just watched the movie about Christian Hosoi (another skater whom I'd never heard of till I was board & caught his documentary on cable).

Jason Lee may have been a big deal to fellow skaters but the only skater to have real staying power & fame is Tony Hawk.

jesus. you're asking if jason lee was a skater?
you knew about gator but not jason lee?