Rachel Wolfson on Breaking Into Jackass as the Franchise's Sole Female Cast Member

Rachel Wolfson made history when she joined the Jackass roster in 2022, becoming the first and only woman in the group's core cast. She's now part of the franchise's swan song with Jackass: Best and Last.

The 39-year-old comedian was just a teenager when Jackass debuted on MTV. That early exposure to the show's anarchic humor shaped her own comedic sensibilities, eventually leading to a direct connection with Johnny Knoxville himself.

In a recent conversation with Rolling Stone, Wolfson detailed the unlikely path that brought her into the Jackass fold. The breakthrough moment came in 2020 when she posted a comedy bit that went viral. In the clip, she riffed on a personal detail: her mother was the judge who presided over O.J. Simpson's case. Wolfson's joke played with the irony of this connection, drawing laughs from the premise.

That viral moment apparently caught Knoxville's eye. He reached out via direct message with a simple request: "Hey, what's your number? I want to ask you about something."

"He calls me, and it's really him on the phone. I was like, this doesn't seem real," Wolfson recalled to Rolling Stone. Knoxville was exploring a 20th anniversary celebration for the franchise, which would eventually materialize as Jackass Forever.

What followed was an unconventional audition process. "I went in for a meeting soon after, and the meeting was like five minutes — clearly we all have ADHD, because it was just like, 'Would you want to come play with us?'" she explained. "I didn't know I was auditioning, essentially — this is my first real Hollywood experience. So I came in for, like, a two-day test shoot, and then they kept contacting me to come back."

Jackass: Best and Last is currently playing in theaters.