Shane Dawson
Dawson in June 2012.
Born	Shane Lee Yaw (1988-07-19) July 19, 1988 (age 24) Long Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation	YouTube actor, comedian, musician, and video maker
Years active	2008–present
Known for	Sketch comedy, vlogging
Website
www.shanedawsontv.com

Shane Lee Dawson (born July 19, 1988) is an American YouTube actor, comedian, musician, and video maker. Dawson is known for making comedy videos featuring many recurring characters (such as Shananay, Ned the Nerd, S. Deezy, Mom, Aunt Hilda, and Fruitlupe), impersonations (such as Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus and Sarah Palin), and spoofs of popular music videos and television shows. As of April 2013, his main YouTube channel is the 27th most subscribed channel.^[1][2][3] Dawson has since expanded on YouTube by adding his second channel (twelfth most subscribed)^[1] where he posts video blogs and the series "Ask Shane", which moved to his main channel February 26, 2011.^[4]

Dawson's career began when he and several friends would turn in videos instead of homework in high school. Dawson's first videos on YouTube were old assignments that he turned in during high school.^[5][6]

In November 2009, Dawson was featured on Attack of the Show!^[7] In 2010, Forbes magazine named him their 25th most famous web celebrity.^[8]

Dawson's debut mainstream single (third overall), SUPERLUV! was released on March 31, 2012,^[9] followed by his fourth single "The Vacation Song", which was released on June 23, 2012. His fifth single and first Christmas song, "Maybe This Christmas" was released on December 8, 2012.^[10]

Personal life

Dawson grew up in Long Beach, California, where he attended Lakewood High School.^[11] Dawson has revealed in a video, that as a teenager he was over-weight and would get bullied a lot, as well as being beaten by his alcoholic father, who then abandoned the family. He has since lost 150 pounds. Shane has four dogs, Miley, Charlie, Chocolate and Unicorn as well as two cats, Muffins and Snoop. They often appear in his videos. He used to work in Jenny Craig, Inc. along with his mother and brother, but was fired after he uploaded a video of himself pole dancing in the building he worked in. His mother, brother and about 6 other coworkers who appeared in the video also got fired after the company saw the video.^[12] In a video he said he is a virgin, and plans to stay one until he is married as he believes strongly in sex after marriage.^[13]

Dawson currently resides in Sherman Oaks, California.^[14]

YouTube channels

Dawson posts new videos on his main channel, ShaneDawsonTV, every Saturday and video blogs on his second channel, ShaneDawsonTV2, throughout the week.^[15] Every Monday, posted on his second channel, he also has an "Ask Shane" webseries where he answers questions from his viewers. This series is similar to a previous web series, "Viewer Orgy Party", which currently only airs approximately once a month. His third YouTube channel, Shane, is where he posts unedited videos directly from his iPhone. He began using this channel in May, 2010. Starting in 2012 Shane had announced he would be making daily blogs (video blog) on his iPhone channel. He has also begun a new series called "Shane and Friends" on his main channel which he does once every month. This series includes him giving advice and talking as basically all his characters. Shane often collaborates with other YouTubers or appears in their videos, such as BrittaniLouiseTaylor, TheFineBros, JoeNationTV, and ijustine.

In August 2010, he announced that he was going to write a television pilot and post it on his main channel, featuring himself and his characters from previous videos, about him in high school.

Television and film projects

On August 11, 2010, Dawson announced that he was in the making of a 30-minute pilot which he will call SD High. Previously, the funding he needed for the pilot was provided by digital media group Take180 after he helped them out with acting in their own videos.^[16] The pilot is based on two previous videos which Dawson uploaded to his main channel in Summer 2010. In his previous videos, the story centers around a teenage boy in school, and his interactions with the other characters. The pilot was due to be released towards the end of September 2010 on his main YouTube Channel, however Dawson later announced that he had been contacted by a television studio to produce the pilot for their TV channel(s).^[17] According to Dawson, there is some uncertainty involving the pilot, however it may be a TV show in the future.^[18] On March 26, 2011, Dawson uploaded a video to YouTube explaining to his audience that he's working with Happy Madison Productions, Sony Pictures, and some other YouTubers including TheFineBros and BrittaniLouiseTaylor to create the television show.^[19] The video contains an explanation from Dawson about what he's working on, and a 'mock trailer', made up of clips from previous episodes on his YouTube channel, which was made to pitch the show. Dawson eventually withdrew from the SD High pilot, however in January 2013, Dawson revealed that production on SD High had restarted,^[20]

In January 2012, Dawson stated in a video that he was now working on a new television show, which would be semi-based on his life working at a Weight Loss center. He stated that he would be pitching the show soon, and that he was "really excited" for it, and stated the show was "kind of like Arrested Development, but - not."^[21] On May 16, 2012, Dawson revealed in a vlog that he was working on a comedy-horror film, explaining that he wanted to write "something like a teen comedy", however that the film would be "scary and fun". Dawson revealed in November 2012 that he will direct a feature-length film in 2013.^[22] In October 2012 a film called Smiley was released to theaters starring Dawson.

Music projects

In 2012, Dawson revealed in a vlog that he was working on a music project. In March 2012, Dawson revealed that his debut mainstream single, SUPERLUV! would be released that month. The song was released on March 31, 2012 on iTunes, with an accompanying music video debuting on his YouTube channel on the same day. The song managed to chart at 87 in Ireland, 16 on the UK Indie Chart, 163 on the UK Singles Chart and reached the 28th spot on the US iTunes Pop Chart.

On May 8, 2012, Dawson revealed in a video that he has begun working on his next original song, which is tentatively titled The Vacation Song. He previewed about 10 seconds of the "rough edit" of the song, and stated that he was going to change the mood of the song, saying, "Right now, it's a little too happy, because it's a break up song. I want it to be more like Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone." He stated that the song would "hopefully" be released by the beginning of June 2012.^[23] The song was released on June 23, 2012, with the music video being released a week later.

On February 5, 2013, Dawson recorded a single titled "Fuck Up".^[24] The song was released on YouTube and iTunes on March 30, 2013.^[25]

Major productions

• Hot Teens Gone Wild on Degrassi! Part 1 - November 21, 2009 (11-minute long special)
• Hot Teens Go Wild on Degrassi! Part 2 - March 6, 2010 (12-minute long special)
• SD High: School Dance Disaster - July 3, 2010 (SD High Episode 1) (8-minute long special)
• SD High: High School Drama - July 31, 2010 (SD High Episode 2) (9-minute long special)
• Haunted House Party - October 30, 2010 (Interactive Halloween special)
• Shane Dawson's Love Story - December 18, 2010 (10-minute long Christmas special)
• SD High: Teens Gone Wild - March 26, 2011 (SD High Episode 3) (7-minute long special)
• Friends 4Ever - October 29, 2011 (22-minute long Halloween short film)
• How Shananay Stole Christmas - December 17, 2011 (15-minute long Christmas special)
• Shane & Friends Halloween Special - October 20, 2012 (7-minute long Halloween special)

Discography

Singles

Note: These are only songs Shane has released officially to iTunes as singles. He has also released a set of ringtones on iTunes, also available to download as tracks, and he releases all his parodies free on a media sharing website.

Awards and nominations

Dawson has been nominated for various awards.^[26] On August 9, 2010, Dawson won the award for Choice Web Star at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. Although the category was not featured at the awards show, Dawson stated in a video that he posted to YouTube the next day that "It was just great to be nominated and at the show itself". The nominees for that category included fellow YouTubers Justine Ezarik, Charles Trippy, Lucas Cruikshank, best known for his Fred character, and singer Greyson Chance. Dawson was nominated for Choice Web Star in the 2011 Teen Choice Awards, but lost to Rebecca Black.

References

External links

• Shane Dawson at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Website
• ShaneDawsonTV, Shane Dawson's YouTube channel