Mark Gonzales

Mark Gonzales (born June 1, 1968), also known as "Gonz", "the Gonz", and "the Godfather", is an American professional skateboarder and artist. A pioneer in the development of modern street skating, he is considered one of the first street-style skateboarders alongside Natas Kaupas. Gonzales and Kaupas are also credited with the first known boardslides on a handrail. Gonzales' pioneering influence on skateboarding has caused him to be known as the "God Father" of modern street skateboarding, and he was named the "Most Influential Skateboarder of All Time" by Transworld Skateboarding magazine in December 2011, where Gonzales was placed ahead of Tony Hawk (2nd) and Rodney Mullen (3rd).

Early life Gonzales was born in South Gate, California, Gonzales's first time ever skating was with his cousin's board at the age of 8.

Professional skateboarding Gonzales entered the skateboarding scene at the age of thirteen in South Gate, California, U.S. At the age of fifteen, Gonzales would come in to contact with Tommy Guerrero and Natas Kaupas who were developing their own styles of progressive street skating. Gonzales began pioneering a modern, innovative approach to skateboarding in a street context (subsequently dubbed "street skateboarding") His street skating actives included taking freestyle and vert tricks and employing them in a street context, developments which would end up causing Gonzales to be credited as one of the inventors of street skateboarding. He was featured on the cover of Thrasher magazine's November 1984 issue riding a board from the Alva company, his board sponsor at the time, while performing a trick known as a "beanplant".

Vision, Blind and ATM Click Shortly after his Thrasher magazine cover, Gonzales then joined the Vision skateboard team and entered his first contest as a professional in May 1985 at the 'Sacto Streetstyle Contest' held in Sacramento, California. Soon after turning pro, Gonzalez won the 1985 NSA Sure-Grip Beach Style contest held adjacent to the pier in Oceanside, California.

In 1989, Gonzales left Vision and co-founded Blind Skateboards with Steve Rocco. The company name was chosen as a slight on his former employer, Vision. Gonzales proceeded to further influence the progression of street skateboarding with the 1991 Blind Skateboards video Video Days Directed by Spike Jonze, Video Days is often credited as the most important skate video of all time. Starring Gonzales alongside Rudy Johnson, Jason Lee, Guy Mariano and Jordan Richter, Video Days paved the way for modern street skateboarding. Whilst at Blind, Gonzales also designed the original Blind Skateboards logo which is still used today.

Deluxe Distribution Under the Deluxe Distribution company, Gonzales skated for Real Skateboards and appeared in three of the company's videos: Kicked Out of Everywhere, Non Fiction, and Real to Reel. and, as of February 2016, Krooked is an operational company that has released four full-length videos.

In 2007, Gonzales appeared in the skateboarding video game EA Skate and filmed a commercial to promote the game's release.

Sponsorship As of 2013, Gonzales was sponsored by adidas, Krooked, Spitfire, Independent, and Supreme. In 2016, Gonzales joined the Pro-Tec skate team.

Influence In the summer of 1986 Gonzales performed an ollie from one wall down to another platform at Embarcadero Plaza in San Francisco, U.S. and the obstacle had been known as the "Gonz Gap" since his completion of the trick; the trick also helped to popularize The Embarcadero as a location for skateboarding. Gonzales was also the first person to ollie the Wallenberg Set, a four-block, nineteen feet-long, four feet-tall gap in San Francisco, California, US.

In reference to the early era of street skateboarding, professional skateboarder Mike Vallely stated in a 2007 interview: "At the time, the best street skaters in the world were Mark Gonzales, Jesse Martinez, Tommy Guerrero, who all three were Mexican kids, and Natas Kaupas, who was a Lithuanian dude that lived at the beach in Santa Monica." and the magazine selected him as the most influential skateboarder of all time (followed by Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen) in December 2011.

London-based art curator Emma Reeves has explained in an introduction that she wrote for Interview magazine: "He makes art all the time, and he has been making art in some form or another for almost as long as he has been skateboarding." In the same article Gonzales goes on to reveal that he likes creating "zines" the most, as "it is the most free thing to do. I can write anything and just put it in a zine, and then it's out there. It is like blogging but on paper.".

Gonzales was featured in the music video for the song "West Coast" by Jason Schwartzman's band, Coconut Records; the music video featured a sequence that was originally filmed in 1998 at the Stadtisches Museum, but was edited for the purpose of the music video with Gonzales' permission. Gonzales also directed and appears in the Coconut Records music video "Any Fun", alongside actress Chloë Sevigny and skateboarder Alex Olson.

Gonzales is also a published poet and author. His published body of work includes Social Problems, High Tech Poetry, Broken Dreams, and Broken Poems. Gonzales has revealed that he is constantly writing poetry. Gonzales has designed sculptures and paintings for Supreme's retail locations in New York (Manhattan), San Francisco, London, Paris, Tokyo (Shibuya), Nagoya, and Osaka.

Personal life As of 2024, Gonzales resides in Paris and New York City, with his wife, Tia, and their two children. Gummo (1997) – he appears in a scene in which he wrestles a chair Southlander (2003) Gonzales plays Vince, a good friend of the main character Beautiful Losers (2008) – a film about contemporary art and street culture (released on August 2, 2008) Jackass: Best and Last (2026) – he appears in a scene where Johnny Knoxville is electrocuted on an electric chair during a lie detector test. He can also be seen jumping over Zach Holmes with a skateboard off a ramp in the end credits. He also appears in the "Truth or Dare" bit, a deleted scene from the movie.

Videography

Gonzales also appeared in the 29th part of the web series 7 Day Weekend, produced by professional skateboarder Dustin Dollin—in the episode the pair skateboard, drink beer and converse while in France.