Jesse James

Born: 1969 Birthplace: Lynnwood, California Best Known As: Motorcycle-building star of TV's Monster Garage As the muscular, tattooed chief gearhead of the reality TV show Monster Garage, Jesse James has chopped and welded a Lincoln Town Car into a custom fire truck and turned a Ford Mustang into a high-speed lawnmower. Monster Garage debuted on The Discovery Channel in 2002 and James began winning fans with his straight-talking, pit-bull-taming, motorcycle outlaw charisma. James had become fascinated with motorcycles as a child, and he opened his own shop, West Coast Choppers, in Long Beach, California in 1992. The company grew into a builder of super-high-end bikes with price tags of $100,000 and more. His choppers attracted celebrity customers like Shaquille O'Neal and Kid Rock, which in turn caught the eye of The Discovery Channel, which put him on the air in the 2001 special Motorcycle Mania. When that show was a hit with viewers, the series Monster Garage was born. James claims a family relationship to the 19th-century outlaw Jesse James; his great-great-grandfather was the outlaw's cousin. He married actress Sandra Bullock in 2005.