Daniel "Danny" MacAskill is a Scottish trials cyclist, from

Dunvegan Dunvegan ( gd, Dùn Bheagain) is a village on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. It is famous for Dunvegan Castle, seat of the chief of Clan MacLeod. Dunvegan is within the parish of Duirinish, Skye, Duirinish, and Duirinish Parish Church is at Dunveg ...

on the

Isle of Skye The Isle of Skye, or simply Skye (; gd, An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or ; sco, Isle o Skye), is the largest and northernmost of the major islands in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The island's peninsulas radiate from a mountainous hub dominated b ...

. He works professionally as a street trials / mountain bike rider for Santa Cruz Bicycles. In April 2009, he released a five-minute street trials video to

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, filmed by his flatmate Dave Sowerby. This video gained widespread media attention, featuring stunts performed by MacAskill set to " The Funeral" by

Band of Horses Band of Horses is an American rock band formed in 2004 in Seattle, Washington. Led by singer-songwriter Ben Bridwell, who has served as the band's sole constant member throughout numerous line-up changes, the band's current line-up also incl ...

. As of April 2009, MacAskill had been practising several hours per day for more than 12 years. He gave up his job as a

mechanic A mechanic is an artisan, skilled tradesperson, or technician who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially cars. Duties Most mechanics specialize in a particular field, such as auto body mechanics, air conditioning and ...

so he could ride full-time and now lives in Glasgow. In June 2009, MacAskill appeared in the music video for

Doves Columbidae () is a bird family consisting of doves and pigeons. It is the only family in the order Columbiformes. These are stout-bodied birds with short necks and short slender bills that in some species feature fleshy ceres. They primarily ...

' single " Winter Hill". In September 2009, MacAskill was the focus of TV advert filmed by The Leith Agency on behalf of Scottish jobs website s1jobs.com. On 16 November 2010 MacAskill released a new video ''Way Back Home'' produced by Red Bull Media House. The video showcases locations around Scotland including

Edinburgh Castle Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock (Edinburgh), Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age, although the nature of the early settlement is unclear. ...

North Berwick North Berwick (; gd, Bearaig a Tuath) is a seaside town and former royal burgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is situated on the south shore of the Firth of Forth, approximately east-northeast of Edinburgh. North Berwick became a fashionable ...

, wartime bunkers on the island of Inchgarvie beneath the

Forth Bridge The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland (having been voted Scotland's greatest man-made wonder i ...

and the Cruachan Dam in the Scottish Highlands. In May 2011

Leica Camera Leica Camera AG () is a German company that manufactures cameras, optical lenses, photographic lenses, binoculars Binoculars or field glasses are two refracting telescopes mounted side-by-side and aligned to point in the same directio ...

released a ''Go Play'' promotional video featuring him doing tricks in the city of

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

. On 9 August 2011 Cut Media released a video named ''Industrial Revolutions'' directed by Stu Thomson. The video, set to " The Wolves" by

Ben Howard Benjamin John Howard (born 24 April 1987) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut EP ''Games in the Dark'' (2008) was followed by two more EPs, ''These Waters'' (2009) and '' Old Pine'' (2010). Signed to ...

, features MacAskill doing tricks in an abandoned Scottish iron works. It was created for Mike Christie's

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

documentary ''Concrete Circus''. In 2011 MacAskill, along with Inspired Bicycles, released his signature trials frame, the "Inspired Skye". In 2012, MacAskill performed the stunts for the movie ''

Premium Rush ''Premium Rush'' is a 2012 American action thriller film directed by David Koepp and written by Koepp and John Kamps. The film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Michael Shannon, Dania Ramirez, and Jamie Chung. It follows a bicycle messenger chased arou ...

''. MacAskill is currently managed by the German agency Rasoulution. In early May 2013, MacAskill was invited to

Taichung Taichung (, Wade–Giles: ''Tʻai²-chung¹'', pinyin: ''Táizhōng''), officially Taichung City, is a special municipality located in central Taiwan. Taichung has approximately 2.8 million residents and is the second most populous city of Ta ...

, Taiwan by a sponsorship partner, Lezyne, to film a riding video titled ''Danny MacAskill in Taiwan - powered by Lezyne''. In summer 2013, MacAskill published a trial biking project on YouTube called ''Imaginate'' which had been shot over 18 months produced by Mike Christie for Red Bull Media House and directed by Stu Thomson. In fewer than three weeks, the video had received over 4 million views (currently 90) . In May 2014, MacAskill released another video through Red Bull Media House called ''Epecuen'', which was shot on location in Epecuén, Argentina. The town has been submerged underwater since 1985 for most of the time, and the video opens with its only resident speaking about it. As of April 2016, the video has accumulated over 10 million views. In October 2014, MacAskill and long-term collaborator Stu Thomson of Cut Media released a film titled ''The Ridge''. It was filmed on his home island, the

, along the steep and rocky

Cuillin Ridge The Cuillin ( gd, An Cuiltheann) is a range of mostly jagged rocky mountains on the Isle of Skye in Scotland. The main Cuillin ridge is also called the Black Cuillin to distinguish it from the Red Cuillin ('), which lie to the east of Glen Sliga ...

. In the first 5 days, the video on YouTube garnered over 10 million views. The film was accompanied by a BBC Scotland programme ''Riding the Ridge'' that documented Danny and the Cut Media crew as they created the viral film. ''Cascadia'', also produced by Cut Media, appeared in November 2015. The video "Danny Macaskill's Gymnasium" was released on 7 January 2020, featuring I'm on My Way by

The Proclaimers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in ...

. In January 2021, Danny released the video "Danny MacAskill - The Slabs" featuring Danny riding down a 500-meter section of the remote Dubh Slabs which rise out from Loch Coruisk on the Isle of Skye, Scotland. The video was filmed in September 2020 when Scotland's

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

restrictions were temporarily eased and was released with the song "No Cars Go" by Arcade Fire. The video gained over a million views within 2 days of being released.

Filmography

References

External links

*
Imaginate
(7-minute film)
The making of s1jobs's TV advert featuring Danny MacAskill
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macaskill, Danny People from the Isle of Skye Scottish male cyclists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Mountain bike trials riders