Dax Shepard likes to go really, really fast. He races fast motorcycles and faster cars, and as a boy, jumped off 65-foot bridges for weekend entertainment – it’s just what you do when you grow up poor in lake-rich Michigan. He didn’t have a death wish, just a desire to prove himself to himself, and maybe to any other male figures in the absence of his own father. He’s proven himself on the racetrack, and after years of struggle (as an actor, a dyslexic and an alcoholic), on the career track. This is a guy who tries like nobody’s business.
The star and – who knew? – writer of many comedy and action films is finding success and surprising happiness on the long-running Parenthood, a show he thought he’d made “the biggest mistake of my life” in taking. In this action-packed issue, Shepard takes on, well, issues: risk, recovery, relationships and how they’ve all impacted his life and career. He also shares the gifts of perspective, confidence and gratitude he’s learned from his parents and “current” wife Kristen Bell. It’s easy to say the guys with the biggest bikes have the most fragile egos, but under the screaming engines and leather jacket, we found one of the biggest hearts in Hollywood. Yes, we know all actors are just humans, but he’s one of the most human we’ve ever come across. Join us for a conversation so honest and revealing, we probably should’ve rented a couch. And also maybe some flame throwers and helmets.