Stephen Hill started skateboarding at age 8 with his brother Peter in Melbourne in the early 1970s. In their teenage years, they put together one of the early Australian sponsored skate teams, Sparx, were in the Nike skateboard team in 1979 and competed successfully in Australian skate titles. Along with their younger brother, Matt Hill, they began to import skateboards and associated equipment, eventually forming Hardcore Distribution, a company that later grew into Globe International. In the 1980s, the brothers promoted skateboarding in Australia, running demonstrations and tours featuring local and American skateboarders including Allen Losi, Mark Gonzales, Christian Hosoi, Tony Hawk, Lance Mountain, Jeff Phillips and Jason Lee. They also distributed Vision Streetwear and Airwalk shoes. Stephen and Peter wrote two books on skateboarding, The Skateboard Book: Blast! and Skate Hard. The design plans from those two books influenced the construction of Australian skateparks and ramps for the following decade. In 1987 the brothers were profiled on a segment on Australian skateboarding on 60 Minutes. In that same year, they co-founded an Australian skateboarding magazine, 540. Stephen and his brother were also early snowboarders in Australia and successfully lobbied for snowboarders' access to Australian snow fields. Stephen and Peter's private company, Globe, grew throughout the 1990s, and they also licensed major streetwear labels Mossimo, Stussy, Eckō Unltd., Freshjive, Split, Hardcore Jeans and Paul Frank Industries, along with creating their own propriety brands, including Mooks and M-ONE-11. In 2001, Stephen oversaw the public float of the company on the Australian Stock Exchange with his brothers, maintaining a large shareholding and subsequently appointed to the board as an executive director. Stephen remained actively involved in product development and brand creation, as well as development and positioning for the company as it expanded into North America, Europe and Asia. Along with his brothers, Stephen also founded Whyte House Entertainment, a multimedia company based in Australia and Los Angeles in 1997, where he acted as an executive producer on all titles produced. In 1999, Stephen produced Tic Tac 2 Heelflip: Australia’s Skateboarding History, which played at film festivals, broadcast on national television and was released on Home entertainment formats. Stephen was also an executive producer on Love the Beast, a feature documentary featuring Eric Bana released theatrically in Australia in 2009. Hill has most recently executive produced the award-winning surf short film Electric Blue Heaven Stephen was the founder of the Globe World Cup Skateboarding event, a professional skateboarding competition held annually in Melbourne at the Rod Laver Arena, which ran during February from 2002 through to 2006, along with the Gallaz Girls Street Jam series. The Hill brothers featured in the book, Unemployable: 30 Years of Hardcore, Skate and Street released for the 30th anniversary of the Globe and Hardcore companies in 2015.
Personal life
Along with his brother, Peter, Stephen Hill has been listed in BRW Rich 200 list since 2001. Stephen Hill lives in Melbourne and Fiji, and skates, surfs and snowboards regularly.
Filmography
1998 Canvas: The Skateboarding Documentary Executive Producer 2000/1 The Heist Executive Producer 2001 Opinion Executive Producer 2001 Tic Tac 2 Heelflip Producer 2001 Down and Out with the Dolls Executive Producer 2002 Globe World Cup Skateboarding 2002 ' Executive Producer 2003 The Globe World Cup Skateboarding Executive Producer 2004 AKA: Girl Surfer Executive Producer 2004 The Globe World Cup Skateboarding Executive Producer 2004 Somewhere, Anywhere, Everywhere Executive Producer 2004 ' Executive Producer 2005 Globe Wildcard Skateboarding Executive Producer 2005 The Globe World Cup Skateboarding Executive Producer 2005 What If? Executive Producer 2005 Globe WCT Fiji Executive Producer 2006 The Global Assault!!! Executive Producer 2006 Secret Machine Executive Producer 2006 2006 Globe WCT FIJI Executive Producer 2007 United by Fate 2 Executive Producer 2007 The Man Who Souled the World Executive Producer 2007 Money for Blood Executive Producer 2007 Inaugural Hobgood Challenge Executive Producer 2007 United by Fate 1 Executive Producer 2008 United by Fate 4 Executive Producer 2008 Slaughter at the Opera Executive Producer 2008 United by Fate 3 Executive Producer 2008 New Emissions of Light and Sound Producer 2009 Love the Beast Executive Producer 2009 2008 Globe Pro Fiji Executive Producer 2009 United by Fate 5 Executive Producer 2010 United by Fate 6 Executive Producer 2011 Year Zero Executive Producer 2012 Electric Blue Heaven Executive Producer 2014 Strange Rumblings in Shangri-LA Executive Producer
