Jason "Wee Man" Acuña might be the most recognizable member of the "Jackass" cast,
but this skateboarder's got some tricks you haven't seen – and some tacos you have to try.
Jason Acuña's father George served in the United States Army and was stationed in Germany when he
met and married Acuña's mother. The couple was transferred to a base in Pisa, Italy, while his
mother was pregnant. Though English is his first language, Acuña's mother taught him German as a
boy, and he remains fluent in the language. He told Steve-O on the Steve-O Wild Ride Podcast,
"You know when you're a kid, and you’re asking your mom, 'What's this?'
My mom would tell me in German, and I'd be like, 'No, not that funny language!'"
Eventually, Acuña would settle in southern California, where his father's family is from,
and as a preteen, he became heavily involved in the area's skateboarding culture.
When he was born, the delivering doctor noticed that Jason Acuña's head was large compared to the
rest of his body. Concerned that the baby might be hydrocephalic, the doctor ran tests and determined
that Acuña instead had a genetic condition known as achondroplasia, which causes dwarfism.
As a boy, Acuña's mother took him to an annual conference sponsored by the
support group Little People of America, thinking that he might enjoy meeting other
children with dwarfism. Acuña felt differently, however, telling The New York Times in 2022,
"I came back and I go, 'Mom, I don't want to go to these things anymore.'
I'm like, 'That's not what my life is about."
He compared the impulse to group people with dwarfism together to
the idea that a bald man should be friends with other bald men.
"He's a dude, he's a jogger, he wants to hang out with other joggers. Skateboarder,
hang out with skateboarders."
As a young skateboarder in Torrance, California, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Jason Acuña
began attracting attention. In his interview with The New York Times, he said he was already being
sponsored by local skate shops at age 14. At the time, the local Torrance skateboard company was
World Industries, and Acuña and his friends would try to score free merchandise at the
company warehouse. Opened in 1987 by professional skateboarders Steve Rocco and Rodney Mullen,
World Industries billed itself as the first skateboard company operated by and for skaters.
The story goes that Steve Rocco's brother Sal gave Acuña his nickname,
shouting "Hey everyone! Wee Man is here!" whenever Acuña would come around.
A few years later, World Industries' magazine Big Brother published a photo
spread featuring Acuña and printed the nickname. After that, Wee Man was his official stage name.
Much of the groundwork for what would one day become "Jackass"
was laid at Big Brother magazine, the publishing arm of World Industries.
Started by Steve Rocco in 1992, the magazine embraced its parent company's "for us, by us"
ethos and ran skateboarding interviews and photo spreads alongside features and humor
pieces that were unpolished, irreverent, and raunchy. In other words, it was…
"'Jackass' before 'Jackass.'"
Acuña got a job in the office by virtue of being local and hanging around so much
that editor and future "Jackass" director Jeff Tremaine finally just put him to work.
When Big Brother released its first video — a skateboarding
compilation — Acuña appeared on the box art covered in blue paint.
There is an egalitarian streak that runs through the two-plus decade run of "Jackass."
Everyone suffers on camera at some point, and everyone is the butt of the joke.
Over the years, many of Acuña's stunts and pranks have been no
different from the ones performed by Knoxville or the rest of the cast.
But many of his best and most memorable stunts came from the unique opportunities
afforded by his height. Acuña was often paired with cast member Preston Lacy,
as their two polar-opposite body types complement one another to comedic effect.
Because of his stature, Jason Acuña is the most recognized "Jackass"
cast member — even more so than Knoxville. His fame is inescapable, and he estimates that
he's been recognized on the street nearly every day since the show premiered in the year 2000.
Over the years, Acuña has avoided the tabloid attention that some of his castmates have faced.
In fact, he has discovered that the name "Wee Man" serves a useful role in delineating those
people who want to be his friend from those who simply want proximity to fame.
Speaking to Jenkem Magazine about romantic relationships, Acuña said,
"No chick has ever called me Wee Man that I've dated. I've also never dated a chick
that I noticed would call me Wee Man because it didn't feel like she was trying to date me."
So if he's not wasting it on the spoils of fame, what does Jason Acuña do with his money?
In 2008, he became an investor in the California-based Mexican restaurant
chain Chronic Tacos, opening a franchise in Redondo Beach called "Wee Man's Chronic Tacos."
The chain was a good fit for him, not just because of the rock and roll street art aesthetic of its
locations, but also as a connection to his father's family, which is of Mexican descent.
In 2012, Jason Acuña took a rare leading man role in the family Christmas comedy "Elf-Man."
When a little girl makes a wish on an old elf doll to bring her father home on Christmas Eve, a
magical elf, played by Acuña, appears to make the wish come true by morning, when Santa will bring
him back to the North Pole. Little do they know that the little girl's father has been kidnapped
by a group of thieves seeking his fantastic new invention. When the thieves attack the house, the
elf must defend the family by believing in himself and becoming the Christmas superhero Elf-Man.
The film was released direct to video and was not terribly well-received. The most positive review
might be this YouTube video featuring the children of Acuña's "Jackass" castmate Dave England.
"I thought it was really funny that the robbers were not very smart.
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