Stacy Peralta
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Stacy Douglas Peralta (born October 15, 1957) is an American film director and entrepreneur. He was previously a professional
skateboarder Skateboarding is an action sport that involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard, as well as a recreational activity, an art form, an entertainment industry job, and a method of transportation. Originating in the United Stat ...
and surfer with the Zephyr Competition Team, also known as the Z-Boys, from Venice, California.


Early life

Peralta was born in
Venice, California Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States. Venice was founded by Abbot Kinney in 1905 as a seaside resort town. It was an independent city until 1926, whe ...
, of Mexican and Irish descent. At age 15, he began competing with the Z-Boys, a group sponsored by the surf shop Jeff Ho Surfboards and Zephyr Productions along with Perry Caravello. His second sponsor was Gordon and Smith. Peralta graduated from Venice High School in 1975.


Career


Skateboarding

Peralta circa 1976 At the age of 19, Peralta became the highest-ranked professional skateboarder. Soon after, he joined forces with manufacturer George Powell to form Powell Peralta, which would grow to be one of the most successful skateboard brands of the 1980s. With the financial backing of Powell-Peralta, Peralta formed the seminal Bones Brigade, a team composed of some of the best skaters at the time, many of whom revolutionized modern skateboarding.


Film work

In 1984, Peralta also directed and produced the first-ever skate video, the '' Bones Brigade Video Show''. Peralta is also credited in the 1985 movie ''
Real Genius ''Real Genius'' is a 1985 American science fiction comedy film directed by Martha Coolidge, written by Neal Israel, Pat Proft, and PJ Torokvei, and starring Val Kilmer and Gabriel Jarret. The film, set on the campus of Pacific Tech, a scie ...
'', playing the commander of a fictional space vehicle delivering a deadly laser blast to an unsuspecting criminal during the film's opening scene. Peralta served as the Second Unit Director and Skating Technical Advisor in the 1989 film, '' Gleaming the Cube'', directed by Graeme Clifford and starring Christian Slater. The movie featured a number of skateboarders from the Powell-Peralta team after screenplay writer Michael Tolkein became impressed with the skaters' abilities. As Peralta stated in 1987: " olkeinnever realized how into skating he would become. And he really has captured an authentic feel of what skating is about." In 1992, Peralta left Powell-Peralta to direct and produce for television full-time. His love of skateboarding manifested itself in '' Dogtown and Z-Boys'', a documentary film co-written with CR Stecyk III, regarding the legendary skateboard team known as the Z-Boys. The film, produced by Agi Orsi, reinforces the conviction that in the 1970s, much of the attention of the skateboarding media centered on Dogtown. ''Dogtown'' won Director's and Audience Awards for documentary at the 2001
Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...
. Peralta also directed '' Riding Giants'', a 2004 documentary of the history of modern
big wave surfing Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves that are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. The size of the board needed to successfully surf these w ...
and
tow-in surfing Tow-in surfing is a surfing technique which uses artificial assistance to allow the surfer to catch faster-moving waves than was traditionally possible when paddling by hand. Tow-in surfing was invented by surfers who wanted to catch big waves ...
. Following that, Peralta wrote the screenplay for the dramatic re-telling of the Dogtown days with ''
Lords of Dogtown ''Lords of Dogtown'' is a 2005 American biographical drama film that captures the rise of skateboarding culture in 1970s Santa Monica and Venice, California. Directed by Catherine Hardwicke and written by Stacy Peralta, a key figure in the ska ...
'' (2005). His 2008 documentary, '' Crips and Bloods: Made in America'' (2008), focuses on gang violence in South-Central Los Angeles. This film provides insights into the origins of the infamous
Crips The Crips are a primarily African-American alliance of street gangs that are based in the coastal regions of Southern California. Founded in Los Angeles, California, in 1969, mainly by Raymond Washington and Stanley Williams, the Crips ...
and
Bloods The Bloods are a primarily African Americans, African American street gang which was founded in Los Angeles, California. The gang is widely known for Crips–Bloods gang war, its rivalry with the Crips. It is identified by the red color worn ...
street gangs, and also offers a look at the social injustice in Los Angeles in the 1950s and '60s. In 2012, Peralta produced ''Bones Brigade: An Autobiography'', which chronicles the Powell-Peralta skateboarding team of the same name. It includes interviews with Rodney Mullen, Craig Stecyk,
Tony Hawk Anthony Frank Hawk (born May 12, 1968), nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the first docume ...
, Lance Mountain, Steve Caballero, and Peralta himself, among others. In 2008, Peralta directed a series of television commercials for
Burger King Burger King Corporation (BK, stylized in all caps) is an American multinational chain store, chain of hamburger fast food restaurants. Headquartered in Miami-Dade County, Florida, the company was founded in 1953 as Insta-Burger King, a Jacks ...
in which the
Greenlandic Inuit The Greenlandic Inuit or sometimes simply the Greenlandic are an ethnic group and nation Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous to Greenland, where they constitute the largest ethnic population. They share a common #History, ancestry, ...
,
Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...
ns of
Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...
and Hmong of
Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...
, known as "
Whopper The Whopper is the signature hamburger brand of international fast food restaurant chain Burger King, its Australian franchise Hungry Jack's, and BK Whopper Bar kiosks. Introduced in 1957 in response to the large burger size of a local resta ...
virgins" in the ads, were offered their first taste of a fast food hamburger and asked to compare Burger King's Whopper to
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Big Mac The Big Mac is a brand of hamburger sold by the international fast food restaurant chain McDonald's. It was introduced by a Greater Pittsburgh Region, Greater Pittsburgh area Franchising, franchisee in 1967 and expanded nationwide in 1968, and ...
. Peralta subsequently came under attack for what some deemed exploitation of native peoples. In 2003, Peralta's experience as an entrepreneur and skate video filmmaker was adapted for the video game ''
Tony Hawk's Underground ''Tony Hawk's Underground'' is a 2003 skateboarding video game and the fifth entry in the ''Tony Hawk's'' series, following ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4''. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision for the GameCube, PlayStation 2 ...
''. Peralta also did cameo work for the game in which he played himself. Divorced in the 1990s, Peralta had one son, pianist Austin Peralta, who died on November 21, 2012.


Filmography


Film


Video games


Television


References

* Hayes, Andrea. "Dogtown and Z-Boys: Teaching the Documentary". Screen Education 40 (2005): 84–87. Academic Search Premier. Web. May 7, 2013.


External links

*
Nonfiction Unlimited biographyInterview with the Palisadian-Post
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peralta, Stacy 1957 births American skateboarders American sportspeople of Mexican descent Living people People from Venice, Los Angeles Sundance Film Festival award winners American people of Irish descent Film directors from Los Angeles Skateboarders from Los Angeles Skateboarding video directors Venice High School (Los Angeles) alumni