YouTube superstar Ryan Higa hit the scene in 2006 when he began posting lip-syncing videos, but his online fame has blown up over the years. The Hawaiian-born Higa has morphed from a veritable unknown to an internet sensation, attracting millions of views per clip.
We dug a little deeper into this famous funny guy’s life and dug up some facts you may not know about Ryan Higa.
Black belt in Judo
Higa holds a black belt in Judo, and was a high school state champion in 2007, though it was a hard climb to the top. He hated judo in elementary school, and he was usually outranked by his older brother in competitions.
“I remember specifically hearing in a tournament, a man say, ‘This is the younger Higa, not the good one’. But I couldn’t even get mad because it was true.“
He’s a lot more confident these days. Ryan has appeared in various videos, of course, to showcase his serious skills.
He’ll never be on Dancing with the Stars
Though Higa lip-syncs in many of his videos, he revealed a big secret during an interview with the South China Morning Post, saying, “[I’d] love to [become the Asian Bieber] if I could sing, or had any musical talent I can’t dance, either.”
Despite his online popularity, Higa seems refreshingly humble. “I do a little bit of acting, but I wouldn’t call myself an actor. I have comedic things in my stuff, but I don’t consider myself a comedian. I’m just a YouTuber, I guess Just a personality.”
Not much of a scientist either
Higa hadn’t even left this home state of Hawaii until he attended college at the University of Las Vegas.
“I was doing nuclear med I didn’t like it. My first semester I switched to film major. YouTube helped make that decision for me.” “It wasn’t an easy choice though.“
His completely supportive mom added, “You just have to do what you want to do.” In a 2013 tweet, Higa said, “I love being a youtuber and doing what I’m doing, but sometimes I wonder what it’d be like if I stayed in college, graduated and became a cow.” Uh, okay?
It all started on VHS
Higa traces his video roots back to a simple VHS camcorder. If you’re under 18, a VHS tape is that thing your grandparents still watch movies on. Higa told HK Magazine, “For the very first video I ever made, I was told to film our family reunion, or something like that, and I had so much fun with it that I just kept doing it since then — probably since seventh grade.”
That simple act set off a chain of events that would eventually earn him a net worth of about two-million bucks. Eventually, his early tapes made it online “I didn’t start putting them on YouTube until ’06 or ’07, and the reason for that was because I wanted to share them with my family.”
Drama-free
In a YouTube video titled “Roast Yourself Challenge!” Higa talks about defusing online drama, bullying, and competition among YouTubers — there’s a lot of those three things on the internet. The clip was designed to turn the spotlight on yourself, highlighting your own flaws, instead of casting negativity on others.
“Let’s stop the drama! Stop making fun of people. Stop mocking and judging people and just take a long look at ourselves. And just tear ourselves a new one.”
While Higa may not have changed the world, his mission to bring less negativity to YouTube is admirable. You’ve seen online comments sections, right?
Horror movie star
In 2016, Higa tweeted, “I’ve always wanted to make a legit horror movie, even more so than comedy…I know a lot of you don’t like horror, but would you watch it?”
Sure enough, the trailer for Tell Me How I Die dropped shortly thereafter. The film documents the end result of a clinical drug trial performed on college students. The co-eds — who include Higa, Nathan Kress from iCarly, and Virginia Gardner from Project Almanac — experience “side effects” that show them their impending deaths.
Even scarier? Its user-review rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 39%. Fortunately for Higa, his nearly 19 million YouTube subscribers are a pretty good backup plan.