Stories of triumph over adversity are always an inspiration and for Terry Kennedy it just keeps getting better and better.

The Long Beach skater, also known as “Compton Ass Terry” didn’t have the best start in life when aged just five years old his father left, and ten years later his mother died.

He grew up in Long Beach which he says was a hard thing to do as there are so many gangs, but the likeable African American always wanted better for himself and with his new TV show Being Terry Kennedy debuting last night it looks like he’s managed just that.

Kennedy has been a skate celebrity for a few years, the twenty-five-year old also featuring in Viva La Bam with Jackass’ Bam Margera and Snoop Dogg’s Drop it like it’s hot video.

His rise from gang life to celebrity has not been easy however and he was shot twice in June 2005, in the jaw and forearm while leaving a party in Long Beach. He made a full recovery and has since, as always, kept on smiling.

In an interview with ESPN on the subject of his TV show Terry says, “I’m tapping on family, my skateboarding career, music and me being a young, up and coming mogul.”

And when asked why he felt Being Terry Kennedy will be a success where other skateboarding legends have failed he replied, “I’m going to be honest; my story can’t come across soft. Everything I’ve been through in life … that’s something I want to teach everybody in my city and inner cities around the country and in my African American culture, to not be scared of who you are. If I was scared of who I was as a person never have friends like Andrew Reynolds, I’d never be a skateboarder, nothing would’ve ever happened for me. That’s why I wanted to do the TV show, to show I come from the same situation or worse as many African Americans and I was able to prevail because I stayed true to what I believe in.”

Check out Being Terry Kennedy for yourself and let us know what you think.

Celebrities who have starred in a reality TV show include Jessica Simpson, Kim Kardashian and Kendra Wilkinson.

Release Date: April 15th, 2011.

Preview: The story is in flashback as the 93 year old Jacob Jankowski recalls his hay days (when he was 23, played by Robert Pattinson) when adversity prompted him to quit his University exams and board a night train which turns out to be a circus train. Being a trained vet, he is hired by the circus owner Uncle Al and soon bumps into a dwarf Walter, his dog Queenie and a paralysed old man Camel who become his accomplices.

The chief animal trainer is August (essayed by Christopher Waltz) who is callous and cruel and ill-treats his animals including Rosie, an elephant. Jacob, in the course of time, falls for August’s wife Marlene (portrayed by the charming Reese Witherspoon) and raises the suspicion of August who eventually beats both Jacob and Marlene. As the film moves, Marlene leaves August and stays at a hotel and soon develops a sexual relationship with Jacob eventually carrying his baby.