Tyler Oakley

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Tyler Oakley
Tyler Oakley by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Oakley at VidCon 2014
Personal information
Born
Mathew Tyler Oakley

(1989-03-22) March 22, 1989 (age 35)
Jackson, Michigan, U.S.
Nationality American
YouTube information
Years active 2007–present
Subscribers 8 million subscribers
(March 2016)
Total views 559 million views
(March 2016)
Network BigFrame
Last updated: March 17, 2016

Mathew Tyler Oakley[1] (born March 22, 1989), known as Tyler Oakley, is an American YouTube and podcast personality, humorist, author and activist. Much of Oakley's activism has been dedicated to LGBT youth, LGBT rights, as well as social issues including healthcare, education, and the prevention of suicide among LGBT youth.[2][3] Oakley regularly posts material on various topics, including queer politics, pop culture and humor.[4][5][6]

Oakley began making videos in 2007; his first video Raindrops has received over 420,000 views on YouTube as of January 3, 2016.[7] Since uploading his first video in 2007[8] while a freshman at Michigan State University, his work of over 399 videos[9] has over 535,000,000 views and over 8,000,000 subscribers as of March 16, 2016.[10] Oakley, who is openly gay,[11] is a former member of the successful collaboration channel "5AwesomeGays," where he produced the Friday video for over three years.[2] He was featured in the 2014 Frontline investigative report, "Generation Like," a follow-up on how teenagers are "directly interacting with pop culture" to the 2001 report, "The Merchants of Cool."[12][13] SocialBlade, a website that rates YouTube and Instagram accounts, ranks his YouTube channel, as of August 16, 2015, with a grade "B+", subscriber rank of 109, video view rank at 1,129th, and a SocialBlade rating of 1,329th.[9] As of February 2016 he also has more than 5 million followers on Twitter and 6 million on Instagram.[2]

As of March 2013, Oakley co-hosted a weekly pop-culture news update – "Top That!" – with Becca Frucht for PopSugar until October 31 when he announced his departure.[14] From 2013–14, he performed the voice of Mr. McNeely in five episodes of the comedy web series The Most Popular Girls in School.[15] has hundreds of thousands of followers on Facebook and Tumblr.[10][13][16][17] In 2015, he released his first collection of humorous personal essays under the title Binge, via publishers Simon & Schuster.[18]

Personal life

Mathew Tyler Oakley[1] was born March 22, 1989 in Jackson, Michigan at Allegiance Health (then known as Foote Hospital) and has twelve siblings in total. When Oakley was a toddler, his parents divorced.[19]

When he was going into the sixth grade, Oakley moved to a new city and became involved in the arts (choir and drama in particular). During this time, Oakley also developed an eating disorder due to discomfort over his body image, which he describes as "going from one unhealthy way of living to another".[19] By the time Oakley went to high school he overcame his eating disorder with the help of his choir teacher.[19]

Oakley continued being involved in choir and drama while at high school. During his freshman year at high school (age 14), Tyler came out as gay.[19]

During Tyler's commencement ceremony, Oakley spoke of how "all the world's a stage". He then went to Michigan State University, where he studied communication, marketing and social media. This was when Oakley first became involved with YouTube, using the video sharing website as a way in which to communicate with his friend, with whom he had not been in touch.[19]

Social media

Oakley is an active member across many social media platforms.[2] A self-proclaimed "professional fangirl", he is a fan of Darren Criss from Glee, [5] along with Julie Chen of CBS's daytime talk show The Talk. He also sang Christmas carols on stage with English-Irish boy band One Direction and television presenter Jerry Springer.[20]

Oakley is also known for receiving attention from major celebrities and organizations, such as Liam Payne from One Direction, Chris Colfer from the television series Glee and the restaurant chain store Taco Bell, namely on social network Twitter after commenting on a their previous tweet or tweeting about them. Due to Oakley's success with social media and prominence among many social media platforms (particularly YouTube), he was also given the opportunity to meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House.[21] He also did a video with first lady Michelle Obama talking about education issues.[22]

Oakley attributes his success only in part with his accessibility as a young gay man, "It's not all about me being gay. It's kind of like an underlying theme for me [with gay life] sprinkled throughout the videos."[2] He sees Ellen DeGeneres as a role model, "She embodies what I want my experience to be and my influence to be, where it's a positive one, it's a happy one, it's not something about the bad parts of life or the downsides of a lot of things. She's using her influence for good, and everyone knows who she is, what she stands for, and that she is a lesbian."[2]

The Advocate in their 2014 "40 under 40: Emerging voices" say that, due to Oakley's presence on YouTube, he is the first openly gay person that many people have met.[2]

Live appearances

On screen, Oakley has done appearances on broadcasting platforms, having some that air on national TV. Oakley was seen on Insider Tonight, featuring co-hosts Kevin Frazier, and Thea Andrews. He has also recently interviewed live from the 2014 Kids Choice Awards red carpet, along with many other events that have him meeting and speaking to celebrities.

In 2014, Oakley premiered a live show tour, "Tyler Oakley's Slumber Party" featuring him in pajamas and doing skits, and interactive segments with the audience. His two initial shows in Chicago, and Royal Oak, Michigan in early October both sold out in 72 hours. In December 2014 seven dates, all on the East Coast, will make up the next leg of the tour which is expected to eventually go to 40 cities. Variety noted that the trend of "digital-native stars hitting the road for 'in-real-life' shows" has been increasing and Oakley had been a part of DigiTour's 2014 US Summer tour of YouTube and Vine personalities.[23]

It was announced that Oakley, alongside best friend Korey Kuhl, would be competing in the 28th season of The Amazing Race. [24] They finished in 3rd place.[citation needed]

Volunteering and charity

Oakley supports The Trevor Project, an organization for the prevention of suicide among LGBT youth.[2] He has interned with them in 2009 and since 2011 has co-hosted TrevorLIVE, the charity's annual red carpet event. In 2013 he raised $29,000 for his birthday in support of the Trevor Project having aimed to raise $24,000 (because it was his 24th birthday). In 2014, he raised $525,704 in a similar event, and in 2015 he similarly raised $532,224.[citation needed]

Awards and nominations

Year Nominated Award Result
2014 Himself Trevor Youth Innovator Award Won
2014 Himself OUT100 Readers' Choice Won
2014 Himself Young Hollywood Awards: Viral Superstar Nominated
2014 Himself Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star: Male Won
2014 "The Boyfriend Tag" with Troye Sivan Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Collaboration Won
2014 Himself 2014 Streamy Entertainer of the Year[25] Won
2014 2014 Streamy Activist Icon of the Year Won
2015 Psychobabble with Tyler Oakley & Korey Kuhl 10th Annual Podcast Awards: Best LGBTQ+ Podcast Won
2015 Himself MTV Fandom Awards: Social Superstar of the Year Nominated
2015 Himself Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star: Male Nominated
2015 Himself Teen Choice Award for Choice YouTuber Nominated
2015 Himself Streamy Awards: First Person Series Nominated
2015 Himself Streamy Awards: Social Good Campaign Nominated

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ "Young YouTube Partners: Finding Success as Entrepreneurs and Internet Stars", The Huffington Post December 31, 2012 , Alfonso Espina
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Tyler Oakley Is A Bigger Fangirl Than You", Huffington Post, February 02, 2013, Aja Romano
  6. ↑ "Tyler Oakley tells TCU audience how YouTube brought hate but also inspired him to fight it", March 5, 2012, Dallas Voice.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ "PopSugar," "Grumpy Cat, Kim Kardashian in Flats, and More — Your Pop Culture Cheat Sheet!" March 29, 2013
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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