Jesus "Halfanimal" Villa, who grew up in Lake Elsinore, achieved a Guinness World Records mark when he performed 20 consecutive back flips across 100 yards in 21 seconds on jumping stilts. The trip to Cleveland for the back-flip record was sponsored by Planet Hollywood Casino and Villa's friend and actress Pamela Anderson. "Jesus is one of my best and dearest friends. I met him backstage at the Cirque du Soleil's 'Zumanity' about seven or eight years ago.
At age 16, Villa, who grew up in Lake Elsinore and attended Lake Elsinore High School, cleaned a gymnasium in Irvine in exchange for training privileges. Auditions were being held in the gym for Cirque du Soleil performers and Villa was invited.
After two years, Cirque du Soleil contacted him in 1998 and asked him to join. He was given a plane ticket to Canada, Cirque du Soleil's main base. He trained in Russia and China and rehearsed for nine months.

He opened in the Cirque's production of "La Nuoba" in Orlando, Fla., as a featured artistic acrobat and performed there for three years.He then portrayed the lead character in Cirque's production of "Zumanity" in 2003. He spent eight years with Cirque du Soleil.

Villa also performed with P. Diddy, Usher and Gwen Stefani, and has been featured on A&E with Criss Angel. He also has worked on commercials and recently completed shooting a music video with Jennifer Lopez.

Villa is currently negotiating to perform in the opening ceremonies at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.