Nyjah Huston facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Nyjah Huston

Huston in 2015
Personal information
Full name	Nyjah Imani Huston
Born	(1994-11-30) November 30, 1994 (age 30) Davis, California, U.S.
Occupation	Skateboarder and DJ
Years active	2000–present
Height	5 feet 10 inches (1.78 m)
Weight	165 pounds (75 kg)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Skateboarding
Position	Goofy-footed
Rank	6th
Turned pro	2005
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	3rd (2024)
Medal record Men's street skateboarding Representing the  United States Olympic Games Bronze 2024 Paris Street World Championships Gold 2010 Street Gold 2012 Newark Street Gold 2014 Newark Street Gold 2017 Los Angeles Street Gold 2018 Rio de Janeiro Street Gold 2019 São Paulo Street Silver 2011 Newark Street Silver 2013 Newark Street Silver 2015 Chicago Street Silver 2016 Los Angeles Street Silver 2020 Rome Street Summer X Games Gold 2011 Los Angeles Street Gold 2012 Los Angeles Real Street Gold 2013 Los Angeles Street Gold 2013 Barcelona Street Gold 2013 Foz do Iguaçu Street Gold 2014 Austin Street Gold 2015 Austin Street Gold 2016 Oslo Street Gold 2018 Minneapolis Street Gold 2018 Sydney Street Gold 2019 Shanghai Street Gold 2019 Minneapolis Street Best Trick Gold 2024 Ventura Street Best Trick Silver 2009 Los Angeles Street Silver 2010 Los Angeles Street Silver 2016 Austin Street Silver 2019 Minneapolis Street Bronze 2012 Los Angeles Street Bronze 2017 Minneapolis Street Bronze 2023 California Street Best Trick

Nyjah Imani Huston (/ˈnaɪʒə ˈhjuːstən/ nye-ZHƏ-_-HEW-stən; born November 30, 1994) is an American professional skateboarder. With numerous sponsorships and competition prize winnings, Huston is one of the highest paid skateboarders in the world. Huston won gold medals at the SLS Super Crown World Championship in 2014, 2017, 2019, and 2024, and has won 15 gold medals at the X Games since 2011. Huston won his first Olympic medal, a bronze, in the 2024 Olympic men's street event at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France.

Nyjah is widely regarded as one of the greatest skateboarders of all time. He is also widely regarded as the greatest contest street skateboarder of all time.

Early life

Huston was born in Davis, California. Raised in a strict Rastafarian lifestyle by his father Adeyemi, Huston and his siblings were vegans and were homeschooled by their mother Kelle. Adeyemi was a skateboarder and made his son start skating when Nyjah was only five years old. Huston had stated that his father was very controlling and wanted Nyjah to skate every day. In 2004, his parents purchased an indoor skate park in nearby Woodland, California to allow Huston more practice time. In 2006, his father abruptly decided to move to Puerto Rico with his family, causing problems with Huston's board sponsor Element Skateboards because he was unable to participate in demos. While in Puerto Rico, Huston's parents separated and his mother moved back to California with Nyjah's siblings. Because Adeyemi was his manager and videographer at the time, Huston stayed with his father in Puerto Rico and did not see his mother for a year. When Kelle was granted full custody upon divorcing Adeyemi, Huston moved back to live with his mother and siblings.

Skateboarding career

Huston first garnered attention when he signed a sponsorship deal with Element Skateboards and joined their team. During his debut era with the company, Huston appeared in numerous Element video productions, such as both volumes of the Elementality series, and competed in high-profile contests, such as the Dew tour and the Vans Downtown Showdown. However, Huston eventually launched his own skateboard deck company, I&I, in 2009 after he parted ways with Element in 2008; Huston was an amateur skateboarder at the time of his departure.

Between 2010 and 2020 Huston finished in the top 2 of the Street Skateboarding World Championships every year, winning 6 gold medals and 4 silver medals in this time. He has also seen much success in the street classification at the X Games, in which he has won 12 gold medals since 2011. This competition success is largely the reason that Huston is one of the wealthiest professional skateboarders in the world; his net worth of 2022 is $12 million. In addition to his competitive success, Huston is also known for his technical ability and style on a skateboard.

Aside from his success in competition, Huston has also been featured in several popular skateboarding videos, including his own video parts in the series "Elementality" and "Rise and Shine". He has also collaborated with several major skateboarding brands, including Element Skateboards, Nike SB, and DC Shoes.

I&I was a short-lived company and operated for approximately two years with a team that consisted of Huston, Richard Jefferson, and Anthony Williams. During the period of the company's existence, a number of magazine advertisements were published and an online promotional video that featured the three team members was released. The primary aesthetic influence of the brand was Rastafari and the I&I logo incorporated the pan-African colors of red, yellow, and green.

Following the closure of I&I, Huston returned to Element and released a solo video production entitled Rise & Shine in 2011—the video was available for purchase on the iTunes website and later received the "Best Video Part" award from the Transworld Skateboarding magazine. During this stage of Huston's career, the skateboarder also joined the DC Shoes company as a team rider, following a significant period of time without a shoe sponsor—an unusual occurrence for a professional skateboarder with the degree of exposure that Huston had attracted. In response to the DC Shoes announcement, Huston explained that "I think it was all a buildup of things over the past year. DC has always been my top choice for a shoe sponsor but I think it took this past year for them to see what I've accomplished and how I did in the contests and my video part and all that for it to finally come through."

Following Huston's decision to skateboard for DC Shoes, other DC team riders expressed their perspectives in online promotional material produced by the shoe company. Long-term DC team rider Josh Kalis stated in the introductory video for Huston (also featuring Mike Mo Capaldi), "And then there's this other dude out there, literally buying shoes from a skate shop. He could get shoes from anybody that he wanted, but he was buying DCs." Capaldi expressed his opinion on Huston in the same video, stating his belief that Huston is "probably the best skateboarder I've ever seen—he does everything in, like, two tries."

After Huston's gold medal victory at the 2013 X Games Street League contest in Barcelona, Spain in mid-May, Transworld SKATEboarding magazine announced that no other skateboarder has won a greater amount of prize money. On the final night of May 2013, the DC Shoes Co. held a launch event for the first signature model skate shoe of Huston's career at the Roosevelt Hotel in Los Angeles, California, U.S., with Pete Rock in the role of DJ. The model is named the "Nyjah Huston Signature Shoe" and the promotional advertisement features Huston executing a trick at set of stairs at Hollywood High School in Los Angeles, U.S.

An announcement on June 25, 2013, revealed that, due to a rib injury, Huston was unable to compete in the Street League contest at the Munich X Games in late June 2013. Huston's mother Kelle Huston reported that her son "bruised and scraped the right side of his torso" in a skateboarding accident, but an article from the Street League website stated that Huston would be fit to compete in the next contest round in July 2013 in Portland, Oregon. Also in 2013, Huston made a statement to Thrasher Magazine in which he questioned the appropriateness of female skateboarders. He later apologized for his remarks.

Huston was added to the competition lineup for the 2013 Kimberley Diamond Cup in South Africa, held from September 28 to 29. Huston won the Kimberley Diamond Cup and the one million rand cash prize.

Huston qualified for the United States Olympic Team in the Street Skateboarding discipline for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics - the first year for skateboarding at the Olympics. He qualified for the Olympic final out of his heat (heat 3), but did not win any medal. After high scores in his runs and landing the first of five best trick attempts, Huston subsequently fell four times in a row to finish seventh. In his return at the 2024 Paris Olympics, Huston managed to get the bronze.

Sponsorship

As of January 2021, Huston is sponsored by Nike SB, Diamond Supply Co., Ricta Wheels, Thrasher Magazine, Monster Energy, SoWellCBD.fr, Doritos, Mob Grip, Mountain Dew, flatbread Neapolitan pizzeria, Urban Plates and Adapt Technology. As of January 2021, Nyjah Huston stated via social media that he is no longer with Element Skateboards. In June 2021, Huston launched his own skateboard brand, Disorder Skateboards.

Awards

Huston won the inaugural "Kentucky Unbridled Spirit Award for Action Sports" in 2006.

At Transworld SKATEboarding magazine's 2012 awards event, Huston's performance was given the headline "Nyjah Huston Cleans Up at Annual Transworld Skate Awards" by the Yahoo! Sports website. Huston won three awards at the event: "Best Video Part" (for Huston's Rise & Shine video release), "New Era Readers' Choice" (the only award chosen solely by the readers of the magazine and Transworld website), and "Best Street".

Huston has been nominated several times for Thrasher Magazine’s prestigious "Skater Of The Year" (SOTY) award.

Video game appearances

Huston is a featured character in the video games Tony Hawk's Project 8, Tony Hawk's Proving Ground, Tony Hawk: Ride, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD, and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5.

Huston also appears in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 + 2, a remake of both Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 1 & Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 by Vicarious Visions, released in September 2020.

In July 2020 Huston collaborated with Play'n GO to develop his own branded game Nyjah Huston Skate for Gold. It is one of the first skateboarding-themed games to be released by the online gambling industry.

Philanthropy

In 2008, Huston and his mother Kelle founded the charity organization Let It Flow, which aimed to provide clean, safe, and accessible water to communities in need. Following their personal experiences in Puerto Rico, the pair started by selling reusable water bottles at a local farmers market and, as of December 2012, the organization builds clean-water wells, fixes wells that are inoperable, and builds sanitation stations for people in urgent need of clean water. Let It Flow built its first sanitation station in Ethiopia. As of August 2024, Let It Flow appears to no longer be active.

Personal life

Family

Following his return to Element, Huston revealed that his father's controlling behavior had led to estrangement, further explaining that his father refused to return video footage of Huston's skateboarding following the separation. He no longer adheres to a strict Rastafarian lifestyle, cut off his dreadlocks and has identified hip hop as his favorite musical genre to listen to.

Residence

As of December 2019, Huston lives in Laguna Beach, California.

Competition history

Year	Competition	Venue	Rank	Event	Notes
2004	... Am	Costa Mesa, California	4	Street	N/A
				Best Trick	Small Rail
				Best Trick	Big Rail
2005	Tampa Am	Tampa, Florida		Street	N/A
	K.R.3.A.M. Am	San Juan, Puerto Rico		Street	N/A
	West 49 Canadian Open	Toronto, Ontario	4	Street	N/A
2006	Global Assault	Melbourne, Australia		Street	N/A
	Dew Action Sports Tour Right Guard Open	Denver, Colorado		Park	N/A
	Dew Action Sports Tour Panasonic Open	Louisville, Kentucky		Park	N/A
	Dew Action Sports Tour Vans Invitational	Portland, Oregon	4	Street	N/A
	X Games XII	Los Angeles, California	8	Street	N/A
	Vans Downtown Showdown	Los Angeles, California		Best Trick	Stair
2007	éS Game of SKATE	San Diego, California		Street	N/A
	etnies Goofy vs Regular	Lake Forest, California		Street	Goofy Team
	X Games XIII	Los Angeles, California	11	Street	N/A
2008	Maloof Money Cup	Costa Mesa, California		Street	N/A
	X Games XIV	Los Angeles, California	8	Street	N/A
2009	Maloof Money Cup	Costa Mesa, California		Street	N/A
	X Games XV	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
2010	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida		Street	N/A
	Maloof Money Cup	Costa Mesa, California		Street	N/A
	SLS World Tour	Glendale, Arizona		Street	N/A
		Ontario, California		Street	N/A
		Las Vegas, Nevada		Street	N/A
	X Games XVI	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
2011	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida		Street	N/A
	SLS World Tour	Seattle, Washington		Street	N/A
		Kansas City, Missouri		Street	N/A
		Glendale, Arizona		Street	N/A
	SLS Championship	Newark, New Jersey		Street	N/A
	X Games XVII	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
2012	SLS World Tour	Kansas City, Missouri		Street	N/A
		Ontario, California		Street	N/A
		Glendale, Arizona	4	Street	N/A
	SLS Championship	Newark, New Jersey		Street	N/A
	X Games XVIII	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
2013	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida		Street	N/A
				Best Trick	N/A
	X Games Foz do Iguaçu 2013	Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil		Street	N/A
	X Games Barcelona 2013	Barcelona, Spain		Street	N/A
	X Games Los Angeles 2013	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
	SLS World Tour	Kansas City, Missouri		Street	N/A
		Portland, Oregon	8	Street	N/A
		Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
	SLS Super Crown Championship	Newark, New Jersey		Street	N/A
	Kimberley Diamond Cup	Kimberley, South Africa		Street	N/A
2014	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida		Street	N/A
	SLS Pro Open	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
	X Games Austin 2014	Austin, Texas		Street	N/A
	SLS Nike SB World Tour	Chicago, Illinois		Street	N/A
		Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
	SLS Super Crown World Championship	Newark, New Jersey		Street	N/A
2015	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida		Street	N/A
	SLS Pro Open	Barcelona, Spain		Street	N/A
	X Games Austin 2015	Austin, Texas		Street	N/A
	SLS World Tour	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
		Newark, New Jersey		Street	N/A
	SLS Super Crown World Championship	Chicago, Illinois		Street	N/A
	Kimberley Diamond Cup	Kimberley, South Africa		Street	N/A
2016	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida	4	Street	N/A
	X Games Oslo 2016	Oslo, Norway		Street	N/A
	Red Bull Hart Lines	Detroit, Michigan		Street	N/A
	SLS Pro Open	Barcelona, Spain		Street	N/A
	X Games Austin 2016	Austin, Texas		Street	N/A
	SLS World Tour	Munich, Germany		Street	N/A
		Newark, New Jersey		Street	N/A
	SLS Super Crown World Championship	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
2017	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida	5	Street	N/A
	Red Bull Hart Lines	Detroit, Michigan		Street	N/A
	SLS Pro Open	Barcelona, Spain		Street	N/A
	Dew Tour	Long Beach, California		Street	N/A
	SLS World Tour	Munich, Germany		Street	N/A
		Chicago, Illinois	4	Street	N/A
	SLS Super Crown World Championship	Los Angeles, California		Street	N/A
	X Games Minneapolis 2017	Minneapolis, Minnesota		Street	N/A
2018	SLS Pro Open	Los Angeles, California	4	Street	N/A
		Huntington Beach, California	7	Street	N/A
	X Games Minneapolis 2018	Minneapolis, Minnesota		Street	N/A
	X Games Sydney 2018	Sydney, Australia		Street	N/A
	SLS World Championship	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil		Street	N/A
2019	X Games Shanghai 2019	Shanghai, China		Street	N/A
	Dew Tour	Long Beach, California	7	Street	N/A
	SLS Pro Tour	Los Angeles, California	8	Street	N/A
	X Games Minneapolis 2019	Minneapolis, Minnesota		Street	N/A
				Street Best Trick	N/A
	SLS World Tour	London, United Kingdom		Street	N/A
	SLS World Championship	São Paulo, Brazil		Street	N/A
2021	Dew Tour	Des Moines, Iowa		Street	Olympics qualifier
	Street Skateboarding World Championships	Rome, Italy		Street	Olympics qualifier
	Summer Olympics	Tokyo, Japan	7	Street	N/A
	SLS Championship Tour	Salt Lake City, Utah		Street	N/A
		Lake Havasu, Arizona		Street	N/A
	SLS Super Crown World Championships	Jacksonville, Florida		Street	N/A
2022	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida	5	Street	N/A
	X Games Southern California 2022	Southern California		Street Best Trick	N/A
			5	Street	N/A
			10	Real Street Best Trick	N/A
	Street Skateboarding World Championships	Rome, Italy		Street	N/A
2023	Tampa Pro	Tampa, Florida	9	Street	N/A
	X Games California 2023	Southern California	4	Street	N/A
				Street Best Trick	N/A
2024	X Games Ventura 2024	Ventura, California		Street	N/A
				Street Best Trick	N/A
	Summer Olympics	Paris, France		Street	N/A

Videography

• Element Kids: Tricks (2005)
• Element: Elementality Volume 1 (2005)
• Element: Brent Atchley Pro Debut Video (2006)
• Globe: The Global Assault (2006)
• Element: Elementality Volume 2 (2006)
• eS: eSpecial (2007)
• Element: This Is My Element (2007)
• Silver: Silver In Barcelona (2008)
• Thrasher: Double Rock (2009)
• Element: Rise & Shine (2011)
• Rap Video by The Game (featuring Chris Brown, Tyga, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne): Celebration (2012)
• Cameo Kid Ink ft. Chris Brown - Show Me (2014)
• DC Shoes: Nyjah - Fade to Black (2014)
• Thrasher: OMFG (2015)
• Most Expensivest: "Snacks on Snacks on Snacks" 2 Chaniz ft. Nyjah Huston (2018)
• Thrasher: "King of The Road" - Season 3 (2018)
• Nike: Til Death (2018)
• Monster Energy: NYJAH HUSTON | Aspire - Inspire: Ep 05 (2021)
• Savage Fenty Show Vol.3 (2021)
• Disorder Skateboards' "DISRUPTION" Video (2022)
• Monster Euro Tour – Episode 1 (2022)
• Disorder Skateboards: Shine On (2022)
• Nike: Need That (2022)

See also

In Spanish: Nyjah Huston para niños