Ed Templeton

Ed Templeton (born July 28, 1972) is an American professional skateboarder, contemporary artist, and photographer.

He is the founder of the skateboard company, Toy Machine, a company that he continues to own and manage.

He is based in Huntington Beach, California.

He began skateboarding in 1985 in Huntington Beach, with friend, Jason Lee.

By luck, [professional skateboarder and company owner] Mark Gonzales lived here in 1987, so, ah, one of my first, probably the first pro I ever saw, or realized was a pro skateboarder, was Mark Gonzales.

I was in Sidewalk Surfer, the skate shop down here, and, that was on Main St., in Huntington Beach; we went in there to look at stickers, and there was a Skull Skates sticker which I fell in love with—I thought that was the coolest sticker ever ... so we followed him [Gonzales], ahh, back to his house, like stalkers, and, uh, and started skating the quarter-pipe [ramp] and he had disappeared, but then he came back down, did, like, a three, four-foot high "judo air" ... I remember being pretty floored, floored by that.

They both became vegetarian in 1990, vegan in 1991 and have not consumed meat or dairy products since.

Templeton has avoided alcohol for most of his life and does not smoke or use other recreational drugs.

Templeton became a professional skateboarder a month before graduating from high school signing with New Deal Skateboards in 1990.

While running Toy Machine in the mid-1990s, Templeton joined a now-defunct skate shoe brand named Sheep.

While sponsored by the company, Templeton released his first signature model shoe that was non-leather and entirely vegan.

Other riders on the team were Rick McCrank, Brian Anderson, Mike Manzoori (now a skateboard videographer), and Frank Hirata.

Templeton married his wife, Deanna Templeton, in 1991.

He left New Deal in 1992 to initiate two short-lived companies, "TV" and "Television" (both with professional skateboarder, Mike Vallely).

Following the demise of both TV and television, Templeton founded Toy Machine in 1994, after skateboarding entrepreneur Tod Swank agreed to support the idea.

Templeton was featured in the Sheep video, Life of Leisure, released in 1996.

Templeton joined other professional skateboarders, such as Andrew Reynolds, Aaron Suski, Chris Senn, and Erik Ellington, in the making of the company's second video This Is Skateboarding, released in 2002; Templeton's part is edited to a song by Butter 08, entitled "It's the Rage".

In a 2012 interview, Templeton explained the commencement of his fascination with skateboarding:

The first thing that I ever saw was a kid skating down the street and he ollied up a curb; that was, you know, the thing that got me started.

I thought that was the coolest thing ever, like, how could this guy just keep cruising down the street and not have to stop and pick up his board.

Templeton, who does all of the artwork for his brand, explained his discovery of skateboard art in a 2012 interview:

It wasn't until later that I realized he [Gonzales] did his own graphics.

And that's, that's the one thing that I would cite as one of my biggest influences, was learning about the pros that did their own skateboard graphics—that to me was a really ... cool idea, and kind of meant a lot to me as a kid, 'cause I thought ... the board I am potentially buying ... was made by the guy whose name's on that board.

He put his own artistic touch, or, or, his effort into that board.

It wasn't just some hired artist.

In November 2012, Templeton suffered a leg injury while participating in an Emerica demo that had the potential to end his career.

In 2012, along with numerous other team riders from the RVCA clothing brand, Templeton left RVCA and joined a newly started clothing brand named "eswic".

Templeton identified the following five skateboarders as his top five all-time influences: Gonzales, Rodney Mullen, Tony Hawk, Tony Alva, and Heath Kirchart.

In relation to skateboarding more generally, Templeton stated:

The same idea that got me interested in skating is still relevant today; through all the changes and years and whatever, I've always maintained that the only thing that is lame about skateboarding is the skateboarding industry.

We can look at all the industry changes, and the trends, and the videos, and X Games, and whatever, and think, start thinking, "Oh, skateboarding's different"; but that's not skateboarding at all.

As of January 2013, Toy Machine is distributed by Swank's Tum Yeto company —Tum Yeto also distributes the Dekline skate shoe brand, the Pig skate wheel brand, the Ruckus skate truck brand, and the Foundation skateboard deck brand.

In a January 2013 article, by Andrew Reilly for The Huffington Post, the ethos behind Toy Machine (or, the company's full name: "Toy Machine Bloodsucking Skateboard Co."), is described as, "an adverse reaction to the misrepresented and highly corporate images of skateboarding in popular culture", with Templeton sardonically referring to fans of the brand as "loyal pawns".

The company's popularity increased following inception, and tours—both domestic and international—followed.

As of January 2013, the company has released a total of eleven videos (including tour and promotional videos), and sponsors a team of eleven skateboarders, including Leo Romero, Thrasher magazine's "Skater of the Year" in 2010.

After the Sheep brand ended around the end of the twentieth century, Templeton became sponsored by the Emerica shoe company, a brand that was launched by Sole Technology, also responsible for the etnies and eS brands (as of January 2013, the latter is on a protracted hiatus).

Templeton used the time to prepare a photographic exhibition, later entitled "Memory Foam", that was opened in January 2013.

Templeton was inducted into the Skateboard Hall of Fame in 2016.

Templeton was born in Garden Grove, Orange County, California, USA.

His family lived in various places in Southern California before moving to Huntington Beach.