Bonifay was born in Pensacola, Florida. He became a professional wakeboarder in 1994. Parks took the wakeboarding world by storm as a 14-year-old, winning the X-Games in his first visit. He was a recurring star on MTV's extreme action sports show Nitro Circus. He is sponsored by Ronix, Fox, Red Bull, Spy, MasterCraft, and Performance Ski & Surf