Manny Puig, also known as Sharkman or the real-life Aqua Man, is one year older today.
Manny was born in Cuba in 1954, where he lived only briefly before he and his mother immigrated to Florida while he was still just a child. Whilst residing in Florida Manny would become fascinated with nature and wildlife, especially with alligators, which he learnt to wrestle underwater whilst still in his teens.
In the late 90s Manny begun to move his career in wildlife expertise into the world of entertainment, when he landed a gig as a videographer of dangerous underwater animals with soon-to-be friends Meghan Heaney-Grier and Mark Rackley. Around this time Manny was also getting work as an animal handler on film sets and generally getting around town due to his reputation for going above and beyond when dealing with dangerous critters, and eventually with the combined experience of his animal handling and Meghan and Mark's film-making experience, the three started their own company production company, Extreme Encounters.
Through Extreme Encounters Manny was then picked up by the Jackass crew, who brought him in as an animal handler and expert when planning animal-based stunts, most likely as Manny's own disregard for human safety around dangerous animals correlated very well with theirs. Following the end of Jackass, Manny was then brought back for Wildboyz, where he himself also took part in some stunts this time, including one in which he let a snapping turtle bite his finger.
Not content to just star in other people's work, Manny also created his own film, Ultimate Predator, which documented him getting up close and personal with many vicious critters, most notably sharks. The film also had cameos from a number of the Jackass alumni.
Manny has been fairly lucky in regards to injuries given the work he does, however he is missing his middle finger on his left hand, after it had to be amputated following a rattlesnake bite in 2011.
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