White stands 5' 8.5" (1.73 m) tall. He rides regular stance, twelve and negative three degrees on his snowboard. He is known for his shock of red hair, for which he has become known as "The Flying Tomato," or Il Pomodoro Volante in Italy where he is also popular. But according to Rolling Stone, "he used to embrace it, even wearing headbands with a flying-tomato logo, but he has grown tired of it."Rolling Stone writer (2006). "Shaun White: Attack of the Flying Tomato"Rolling Stone (accessed July 12, 2006)
White was born with a congenital heart defect known as tetralogy of Fallot,(2006). Shuan White BIO NBCOlympics.com (accessed July 31, 2006) and had two cardiac surgeries before the age of 5. White's older brother, Jesse, got into skateboarding at the nearby Encinitas YMCA, which sported a vert ramp. Eager to follow, Shaun also learned to skateboard.Cave, Steve (2006). Shaun White ProfileAbout.com (accessed July 13, 2006)
White first began snowboarding at the age of 6. He went to June Mountain in California with his family, and his older brother was trying his hand at snowboarding. Again, Shaun soon followed, but was told that he was too young to take snowboarding lessons. Instead, his father learned and then taught White. In order to slow White down, his mother told him that he could only board backwards, or switch. This actually furthered his career by forcing him to be skilled at both boarding methods.
White has been a participant in the winter X-Games, where he has medaled every year since 2002. As of 2006, his medal count currently totals 8 (6 gold, 2 silver) in the winter X-Games, including the first four-peat by a male athlete in one discipline, the slopestyle.
White won also a gold medal in the men's halfpipe while representing the United States at the 2006 Winter Olympics. He scored a 46.8 out of 50 on his first run. It was not beaten by any other boarder, ensuring him the gold before his final run.
Several months after he had first started snowboarding, White also began skateboarding. He turned pro in skateboarding in 2003 at the age of 16. His first pro competition win was in 2005 at the Panasonic Open of the Dew Action Sports Tour. He won first place in the 2006 Dew Action Sports Tour's Right Guard Open in Skate Vert.
Shaun White has been working with Tony Hawk since an early age and derives his inspiration from him and many other vert skaters. Hawk first met with Shaun at the age of nine while snowboarding.
At the 2005 and 2006 X-Games, Shaun attempted the 1080, which is one half-rotation more than a 900. He is the only skater to attempt the trick in competition, and has yet to land it.
Recently, White's movie, The White Album (a nod to the album of the same name by The Beatles), a snowboarding and skateboarding movie, debuted. He has also started his own clothing line in partnership with Burton called "The White Collection."
White has appeared as himself in the Rocket Power special "The Big Day," playing the moderator of a skating contest, where the winner would get to train with him for two weeks. White also appeared on Punk'd on his 19th birthday but MTV did not air the prank until December 5, 2005.
White also made an appearance as part of Pepsi's Dew Action Sports Tour, and in November 2004 was the Grand Marshal for NASCAR's fourth leg of the Grand Slam, the Mountain Dew Southern 500 in Darlington, SC. He has also appeared in Sony's commercial for the PSP.
On February 13, 2006, video game developerUbisoft announced that they would be working with White on a snowboarding video game featuring Mike Shin to be released in 2007. White also starred in "First Descent," a documentary based upon the amazing but sometimes controversial evolution and growth of snowboarding. The movie was filmed in the snowy mountains of Alaska. Shaun starred in the film alongside snowboarding champions including Hannah Teter, the Women's 2006 Gold Medalist at the halfpipe in the Torino, Italy Olympics.http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/News/Info.aspx?nId=3776
He currently appears In the new HP Pavilion Notebook laptop Internet commericals.
