Jerry Hsu facts for kids
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Asian Elvis |
| Nationality | American |
| Born | December 17, 1981 San Jose, California, U.S. |
| Residence | San Jose, California, U.S. |
| Height | 5 ft 7 in |
| Sport | |
| Country | U.S. |
Jerry Hsu (born December 17, 1981) is a Taiwanese-American skateboarder, photographer and owner/operator of the skate company "Sci-Fi Fantasy".
Contents
Early life
As of 2007, Hsu's family home remains located in San Jose, California, United States (U.S.). Hsu's family is originally from Taiwan, and his parents speak both English and Mandarin Chinese. Hsu explained in 2010 that his Chinese-language fluency is akin to a "third grader."
Hsu started skateboarding in the early 1990s and he explained what he was attracted by in a 2013 interview: "I remember the reason I started skating was because I saw these kids with green hair and big pants and they looked so stupid, and I wanted to be that." His mother brought home a discarded concrete parking block during his early period of skateboarding and he later regarded the gesture as "very thoughtful."
Professional skateboarding
Hsu's first skateboard deck sponsor was Maple, where he was a team member alongside Johnson, who facilitated his recruitment, Louie Barletta, Chad Bartie, and Chad Knight, among others. After he joined Maple, Hsu appeared in a promotional video for the northern California retail outlet NC Board Shop's clothing line, called "NC Clothing," alongside other sponsored riders, such as Gershon Mosely and Pancho Moler. Released in 1996, Montage runs for a duration of 30 minutes and also indicates that Hsu was sponsored by a brand named "Sutters" at the time.
The first Maple advertisement announcing Hsu's professional status with the brand was published in 1999, when he was 17 years old, and featured the tag line: "Not another brick in the wall." Hsu appeared in the 1999 Maple video Black Cat, which also featured Johnson and Barletta.
Although he was not yet a professional for Osiris, Hsu appeared in the 1999 Osiris video The Storm. His video part garnered attention for a never-before-seen trick that became known as a "Storm flip”, in which the skateboarder performs a "nollie backside 180 kickflip”, and while still in midair, adds a "late front-foot kickflip" before landing on the ground (a nollie trick is executed at the front end of the skateboard). In a May 2013 interview, Hsu explained that he is still asked to perform the trick on a frequent basis, but he tries not to perform Storm flips, as they are "too busy" and he feels embarrassed.
In 2003, Hsu joined the Ricta skateboard wheel.
The Vice web video series "Epicly Later'd" published its "Jerry Hsu" episode in May 2007, which is hosted and created by Hsu's friend Patrick O'dell, who was previously a staff photographer at Thrasher Magazine. Hsu received attention after the episode was released, as Hsu shows O'dell his family home—including footage of his parents—and VHS footage of Hsu skateboarding at the age of 13 years, leading O'dell to use the description "child prodigy."
Hsu released his first signature shoe with Emerica, the "Hsu" (including a lowtop variation that was released at a later stage, named the "Hsu Low"), in 2008. Hsu was then sponsored by the MOB skateboard griptape brand in early 2010.
Hsu followed up his first Emerica shoe with the "Hsu 2 Fusion" in 2011, which is a mid-top design that incorporates the Sole Technology invention, "STI Fusion Technology" (Sole Technology is the parent company of Emerica). Hsu explained in a corresponding promotional video that he prefers the mid-top design because it provides him with ankle protection.
The fourth TMA video, Bonus Round, was released in 2009 and also featured other enjoi riders, such as Caswell Berry, Nestor Judkins and Clark Hassler. The following year, Hsu then appeared in his first-ever Emerica full-length video, Stay Gold, for which he skated solely in switch stance during a period in which he sustained significant injuries.
On November 12, 2013, a video was published on the Crailtap YouTube channel, the official channel of the Girl Distribution Company, in which Hsu is officially revealed as the new professional for Chocolate Skateboards, a sub-brand of Girl. Hsu explained in an interview why he wanted to join the Chocolate team: "It’s a family. When I walk into Rick [Howard]’s office and there are printouts of graphics on the floor and he’s hand picking them, I know this is where I wanna be."
In the summer of 2017 Jerry started a clothing company, "Sci-Fi Fantasy," selling out multiple limited releases within hours in early 2018. According to him it is his primary source of income as he has no sponsors for skateboarding by October 2018 when Hsu stepped away from traditional skateboarding sponsors.
Jerry left Chocolate Skateboards in September 2017. In March 2018 his long term shoe sponsor Emerica ended its business relationship with Hsu.
Video games
Hsu is a playable character in the Skate video game franchise—Skate (2007), Skate 2 (2008) and Skate 3 (2010)—developed by the Electronic Arts (EA) and Black Box companies. Hsu was selected to film his own introduction for the first installment, and then appeared in the cinematic trailers for all three games.
Photography
Hsu's photography career has gradually developed since the commencement of his professional skateboarding career. Hsu contributes work to Vice magazine and, in September 2010, he exhibited a body of photographic work at the Steinsland Berliner Gallery in Stockholm, Sweden under the title "Vatican Gold," alongside Ed Templeton, Kevin Long and Jonnie Craig.
Hsu's photography project "Table For One" was published as a zine of the same name in January 2013. Sold by San Jose's Seeing Things Gallery, the zine documents Hsu's obsession with people who eat by themselves and a corresponding Tumblr blog, also of the same name, remains online as of November 2014. Grape Magazine described the "Table For One" as Hsu's "ode to being alone."
The Killing Season, Hsu's first-ever photography book was released as a limited edition product (150 copies) in March 2013 by SPA, a publishing company owned by Hsu's friend. The book is based on a Vietnam skateboarding trip, in which a group traveled from the north to the south of the country on mopeds. A video of the trip was released on the SkateBoarder magazine website in mid-2012.
The opening of Hsu's solo photographic exhibition "The Observable Universe" occurred in Los Angeles, California, U.S. on July 2, 2013. The exhibition was held at the Family Bookstore and consisted of eleven curated photographs.
Emerica asked Hsu to curate a photography book for the DVD release of the 2013 video Made. Released in September 2013, the 80-page book features Hsu's own photographs, as well as those he obtained from other photographers, including Templeton, Mike Burnett and Brian Gaberman. Hsu then released a zine of photographs (limited to 300 copies) taken of the people who photograph him as a professional skateboarder, titled "Our Moment Together," in October 2013 through Deadbeat Club.
Awards and accolades
Hsu won the "Best Video Part" award at the 2007 Transworld Skateboarding awards in addition to the "Readers' Choice" award.
Professional skateboarder Jimmy Cao selected Hsu's Black Cat video part for Thrasher Magazine's "Classics" series. Cao introduced the video by saying: "I picked Jerry's part, because he's got good style, sick trick selection, and he's just fun to watch." The magazine called the part "gnarly."
Personal life
Due to the physical toll of his skateboarding, Hsu identified photography as a vocation that he would like to eventually transition into. In 2013, Hsu explained that his body is "constantly thrashed" and admitted that he is "broken." In 2011, on "Epicly Later'd," Hsu's mother expressed her opinion of Hsu's skateboarding career: "Well I'm happy for him, as I said. This is his job, not mine..."
