Corbin Harris is an Australian former professional skateboarder, television host, producer, designer and sports business leader from Cronulla, Sydney. His career spans professional competition, international broadcasting, clothing and skateboard design, luxury fashion, brand consulting and athlete management.

Harris found his place in skateboarding as a teenager at Sydney’s Vert X indoor skatepark. His early career included riding for the Bent team in the late 1990s. He went on to become a two time Australian champion, win an X Games bronze medal and turn professional for Element Skateboards, with his own signature boards. His sponsors included Nike SB and Red Bull, and his career took him around the world alongside some of skateboarding’s most influential names, including Tony Hawk and Steve Caballero.

While still skating professionally, Harris developed a television career in internationally. He hosted his own FUEL TV shows, Corbin Presents and POP Gun, and expanded into broadcasting for FOX Sports, ESPN, NBC and Red Bull. His credits include X Games hosting, commentary and analysis, NBC’s Red Bull Signature Series and Nitro World Games. ESPN’s broadcast announcements document both skateboard play by play duties and a snowboard broadcasting credit at X Games Aspen.

His presenting work has also included MTV Awards red carpet coverage, Formula One interviews and international live events. He continues to host X Games and Rockstar Open, and in 2026 co-hosted the first US KASSO event in Long Beach. Away from the microphone, his work includes producing and developing television and branded content. He is credited as director of the Rune Glifberg episode of Golden Goose’s The Dreamers’ Way, released in 2024.

Harris is also the author of Corbin Harris’ Ultimate Guide to Skateboarding, published by HarperCollins. His creative work includes clothing collections, signature skateboard graphics and a limited edition deck collaboration with Westfield. He was lead skate consultant for MADE Sydney’s recreation of San Francisco’s Hubba Hideout and appeared alongside Tony Hawk at Semi Permanent in 2014 to discuss the development of Hawk’s brand. His fashion credits also include guest editing the men’s annual edition of Shop Til You Drop.

Today, Harris is a partner and Head of Global Skateboarding at The Familie. His work combines athlete representation, sponsorship negotiations, brand partnerships and long term career development. Athletes he works with include Tom Schaar, Keegan Palmer, Kieran Woolley and Mia Kretzer. Drawing on his experience as both a competitor and broadcaster, he helps athletes build opportunities across sport, media, fashion and business.

• Luxury fashion is a major part of Harris’s business career. From 2020, he oversaw sports for Golden Goose, bringing his experience in professional sport, media and athlete management into the luxury brand market. His work connected sport with fashion through athlete partnerships, creative projects and storytelling. His Golden Goose creative credits include directing the Rune Glifberg episode of The Dreamers’ Way and involvement in projects including Cory’s Way. This work builds on a longstanding interest in clothing and design, developed through his own collections, signature skateboard graphics and collaborations across art and retail. Beyond commercial work, Skate Australia appointed him to its high performance skateboarding committee in 2021, and he was named as a skateboarding representative in the working group overseeing its subsequent high performance review.

Your life as a skateboarder

I first found skateboarding when I was about six years old. My brother had a Lance Mountain Powell Peralta board, and I jumped on it a few times, but it didn’t really click. I couldn’t get the mechanics of it, and I wasn’t particularly drawn to it at that age.

By the time I was 13 or 14, I was doing pretty much every sport I could: rugby league, rugby union, A grade tennis, volleyball and surfing. Then an indoor skatepark called Vert X opened down the street, and it completely blew my mind. I remember thinking it was the coolest fucking thing in the world.

I didn’t need waves or a whole team to make something happen. I could pick up my board and go skate. If I wanted to get better, that was on me. But I also had a group of mates around me who I could laugh with, learn from and push myself alongside. That combination was a massive part of why I loved it.

The freedom was another big thing. I could wear what I wanted, skate how I wanted and be as creative as I wanted. Everyone had their own style. That really connected with me, and it’s been part of who I am ever since.

Over the years, I became Australian champion twice, won an X Games medal, wrote a book on how to skateboard and turned pro for Element Skateboards. Turning pro for Element was a huge milestone for me. I travelled and skated with guys like Matt Mumford, Peter Hewitt and Jake Duncombe, and later, after moving to America, Steve Caballero and Tony Hawk. It took me on incredible skate tours and led to some pretty wild experiences, including doing the Gumball Rally across Europe multiple times.

Skating also gave me a way into design. I’ve created clothing collections with different brands and had input into the graphics and design of my own professional skateboards. I’ve always loved being involved in that process and seeing an idea become something you can actually wear or ride.

That has carried through into the other work I do. I spent 15 years in television, hosting, producing and developing shows, and now I help oversee athletes’ careers. There’s a creative side to that too. You’re understanding what someone wants to achieve and helping put the right people and opportunities together to get them there. My work has grown beyond skateboarding into other action sports, golf and even working with chefs.

I still get to host X Games, Rockstar Open and work on projects with Red Bull Media House. All of that came from picking up a skateboard and finding something I loved. I couldn’t have imagined where it would take me, but I’m grateful I’ve been able to keep that connection while finding new ways to use what skating taught me. I wouldn’t change it for the world.

How was your dad involved with your skating?

Dad was heavily involved from the beginning. We were only in our early teens, so we couldn’t get to most places ourselves. This was before social media, and hardly any of us had phones. I might have been getting a Nokia 5110 around then, but getting anywhere was still down to Mum and Dad.

Dad had a Toyota Tarago, and he’d pile all the boys in, usually five or six of my mates, and take us skating on the weekends. We’d go out to Penrith, up to the Central Coast, down to the South Coast, or wherever there was a contest. He’d take us, then hang out in the corner of the skatepark, smoking a cigarette and watching.

He was definitely one of those cool dads. Anything remotely cool about me, if there’s any at all, comes from him. He was calm, he surfed and skated, and he was a bit of a smart arse too. That was Dad.

He gave us the chance to get out there and do what we loved. At that age, having someone willing to spend their weekends driving you and all your mates around made a huge difference.

Both Mum and Dad supported anything I wanted to do from day one. Looking back, that was massive. It’s something I’ll carry with me and hopefully pass on to my own family one day, as well as my nieces, nephews and goddaughter. Having that encouragement and the freedom to give things a go was a pretty great way to grow up. Another crazy fact: Dad was sponsored by Manta and stood up on a body board like Danny Kim from Hawaii and won the Australia titles at D’bah but got disqualified cause he didn’t lay down.

What did your dad’s art mean to you growing up, and how was it influenced by Australian culture and wildlife?

Dad always had a strong connection to the ocean and nature. For as long as I can remember, that was part of our lives. We always had animals around. There were usually two or three dogs in the house, and we always had a bird that could talk. One was called Squeaks. At one of our older houses, Dad had a huge pigeon enclosure and flew pigeons for years.

So much of what we did revolved around the ocean. We’d go on surf trips to Byron Bay or Coffs Harbour, rent a house with another family and spend our days at the beach. Dad would be out surfing with us the whole time. If someone wanted to go for a surf, he’d go too. Even when he wasn’t in the water, he was happy with his toes in the sand, watching us surf, swim or carry on. He just liked being there with us.

For me, art was a chance to slow down. Going to a gallery or a show was always a calm, happy experience, and I still feel that way today. Mum, Dad and I would walk around together and take it all in. We’d laugh at some paintings, and there were things we didn’t understand, but we enjoyed seeing what people were making and how they saw the world. It opened our minds.

Art was one of Dad’s great loves right up until he passed away. He loved getting into the studio, learning about different artists and reading about their lives. There was always something he was interested in or working on.

He didn’t travel overseas a lot, but he’d lived in Alice Springs and spent time in the Northern Territory. Australian landscapes, the ocean and wildlife were a huge part of his world. He had that ’70s surf, hippie vibe about him, and his love of nature comes through in his paintings.

The cassowary painting in this collection is one of around 20 works he made on absolutely massive canvases. Through that series, he looked at wildlife from different countries and species that were dying out. He wanted to shine a light on what was happening, and painting was his way of expressing how he felt about it.

Dad had National Geographic books around from my earliest memories right through to the end of his life. He cared about wildlife and about giving something back, rather than always taking from the world. Looking after the things around us was important to him, and he instilled that in us.

When I look at his work now, I see so much of the person we grew up with. The animals, the ocean and his interest in the world were all things we knew about Dad, and they’re there in the paintings too.

How was your dad an inspiration to your family?

I think Dad’s free spirit and his connection to wildlife, art and surfing were what made him who he was. He followed the things he loved, and he also had this really gentle, present side to him.

When you connected with Dad, he could make you feel like there was absolutely no one else in the room. He truly listened. He wasn’t distracted or thinking about the next thing. He was right there with you.

That wasn’t just something we experienced as a family. So many people were lucky enough to have that relationship with him. He had a way of making people feel comfortable and giving them the time to be themselves.

That’s something I really admire about him. Giving someone your full attention sounds simple, but people remember how that feels. It’s a quality of Dad’s that will always stay with us, and something I want to carry into my own relationships.

How did the loss of your father shape this collaboration with The Sauce Basics?

When The Sauce first approached me about 12 months ago, the collaboration was going to be between me and them. I’m friends with Heath, Jay, Samone and the crew there, so we already had that connection. But I was dealing with multiple losses in 2025, and I didn’t have much creative energy. I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired or sure what I wanted to say.

Somewhere in the middle of everything, I thought about bringing Dad’s artwork into it. Design and clothing have been a real passion of mine since the early 2000s, around the time I first went to New York. This felt like a really natural way to bring my love of garments together with his art.

It also gave the project a purpose that meant something to me. I could keep Dad’s name alive and moving forward, and share artwork that a lot of people had never seen.

Dad was an extremely talented artist. I know he was, and I think people will see that in his work. He just didn’t get the recognition he deserved. Being able to give more people the chance to see what he created means a lot.

It’s something special for our friends and family, but, selfishly, it’s also been something really nice to do for Mum and me. Everyone I brought into the project knew both of my parents. That includes Alex, who shot the incredible photographs, and Eric Bragg, who we made a really fun video with. Having those people involved made it feel personal. We could have a laugh, enjoy making it and keep it within the family, so to speak.

Dad was there at the beginning, driving me and my mates to skateparks and supporting what I wanted to do. That eventually led me into clothing and design. Now I get to use that part of my life to share something he created. There’s something pretty special about that for me.

The whole thing is a nod to Dad and how incredible he was, because he was fucking phenomenal.

I’m excited for people to see the photographs and video, see my family involved and get their hands on the collection. We’ve put a lot into the quality of the pieces: a hoodie, a crew neck, a T-shirt and two hats. I want them to be pieces people love wearing, and hopefully they’ll connect with Dad’s artwork and want to know a bit more about him too.

There’s so much more of his work to share, so who knows? Maybe this is the first of more collaborations to come.