Ed Templeton

Edward "Ed" Templeton (born July 28, 1972) is a professional skateboarder, skateboard company owner, and contemporary artist who, as of 2012, resides in Huntington Beach, California, United States (US).

Templeton is best known for founding the skateboard company, Toy Machine, a company that, as of January 2013, he continues to own and manage.

Templeton was born in Orange County, California, US, and began skateboarding in 1985, in his home town of Huntington Beach, with friend, Jason Lee. 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. 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.

Templeton was assigned professional status by New Deal Skateboards in 1990, a company that he left in 1992 to initiate the short-lived companies, "TV" and "Television" (both with professional skateboarder, Mike Vallely).

Following the demise of both TV and Television, Templeton founded—and, as of January 2013, is the sole owner of the company—Toy Machine in 1994, after skateboarding entrepreneur, Tod Swank, agreed to support the idea. 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.

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