“Street Bike” Tommy Passemante is one of the most popular members of the legendary Nitro Circus, an action sports collective that has been thrilling audiences with bike, board, scooter, and wheelchair stunts for nearly 20 years. Passemante is the clown of the group, often relied upon to perform stunts that require far more bravery than they do skill. He got the nickname Street Bike Tommy after a simple stunt involving landing in a foam pit ended with him missing the pit and breaking both his legs. In 2020, he began co-hosting The Explosion Show, a Discovery Channel series that explores the satisfaction and science behind blowing things up.
Passemante hails from Maryland, USA. He was employed as a drywall fitter before making his Nitro Circus debut in 2005 with his infamous “Street Bike Tommy” stunt. At the time, Nitro Circus was still a collective of friends performing home-made stunts and releasing them on DVD. Their growing popularity saw them turn their exploits into a self-titled reality series for Fuel TV in 2006. By 2009, the show had been picked up by MTV, bringing Nitro Circus to mainstream audiences. In 2012, the show spawned a 3D movie, which featured guest stars like fellow daredevil Johnny Knoxville and Hollywood star Channing Tatum. The Nitro Circus boys were now stars, and Passemante also appeared in two Jackass movies and other shows such as MTV’s Ultimate Parkour Challenge.
Since then, Passemante and Nitro Circus have gone from strength to strength, winning nearly 1.5 million subscribers on YouTube and staging major live events like the Nitro World Games, which has been staged in both America and Europe.