Né à Atlanta, GA aux Etats-Unis, Bobby Cookson n'aurait jamais imaginé une vie de cirque comme son avenir. Bobby a fait presque toutes les "choses normales" : base-ball, football, scoutisme, taekwondo, musique (voix, violon, mandoline et guitare). Il a obtenu une licence d'ingénierie mécanique au Georgia Institute of Technology en 2016. Son parcours au sein du cirque a commencé lors de sa dernière année de lycée, où il a trouvé un programme de cirque au département théâtre - c'est là qu'il a commencé la roue cyr, et le reste fait partie de l'histoire.
Bobby first performed on an international stage at age 18, and went on to become the 5-time US Cyr Wheel National Champion. Bobby then placed 5th at the IRV Cyr Wheel World Championships in 2013, and returned three years later to claim the bronze medal at the same World Championships in 2016. He graduated from the National Circus School of Montreal in 2020, specializing in cyr wheel and working with other disciplines such as juggling, aerial rope, banquine/partner acrobatics, ground acrobatics, and object manipulation because “you never know what discipline is going to be needed to create something”. After school, he became a co-founder of the collective ILO. He is always looking for ways to mix his two worlds of engineering and circus and is constantly trying new things to create the abstract worlds in his head. In his spare time, he likes to create imaginary friends from real life objects.