Steven He O'Byrne (born 31 December 1996), known professionally as Steven He, is a Chinese-born Irish actor, comedian, social media personality, and pianist based in United States. Primarily known for his satirical comedy sketches on YouTube and TikTok, he rose to prominence in the 2020s through his portrayal of a fictionalised version of his father, whose personality parodies East Asian parenting stereotypes, and popularising the phrase "emotional damage".[1]
Steven He | |||||||||||||
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| Born | Steven He O'Byrne 31 December 1996 | ||||||||||||
| Nationality | China, Ireland | ||||||||||||
| Education | Regent's University London Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater, New York | ||||||||||||
| Occupation(s) | Actor comedian pianist Internet celebrity | ||||||||||||
YouTube information | |||||||||||||
| Channels | |||||||||||||
| Years active | 2019–now | ||||||||||||
| Genre | Comedy sketch | ||||||||||||
| Subscribers | 12 million (main channel) 13.2 million (channels merged)[a] | ||||||||||||
| Total views | 2.99 billion (main channel) 3.42 billion (channels merged)[b] | ||||||||||||
| Associated acts | Uncle Roger Nathan Doan TwoSetViolin Daniel Thrasher | ||||||||||||
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Last updated: 3 April 2024 | |||||||||||||
Biography edit
Steven He was born on 31 December 1996, in Shenzhen, China, where he lived until the age of 8. He moved to Ireland in 2004 and continued to travel between both China and Ireland. He moved to West Covina, California, intending to become an actor and YouTuber.
Steven He started his YouTube channel in 2019. Before this, He was known for performing short comedy skits on TikTok.[2] Since then, he became known for the Internet meme "emotional damage", a catchphrase that went viral after the release of his YouTube video, 'When "Asian" is a difficulty mode'.[3] In 2020, he appeared on the sitcom Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens with Awkwafina.[4] He also starred in the dramedy series, Groundbreaking.[5] In 2023 he started the Ginormo! series on YouTube.[6]
He owns and uploads videos to three YouTube channels: his eponymous channel Steven He, Steven He Live, and Steven He Shorts.[3]
Filmography edit
Film & TV shows edit
- Schemers
- The Writer
- Sloppy
- Awkwafına Is Nora from Queens
- Dinosaur World
- Identity Theft
- Hello Au Revoir
- If Shark Tank Was Asian
- A Father's Son
- Groundbreaking
- Ginormo!
Awards edit
| Year | Award | Date | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 2022 Winner Septimius Award | 8 June 2022 | Best Content Creator | Won | [7] |
| 2023 | Show Awards | 27 August 2023 | Scripted Series | Won | [8] |
See also edit
Notes edit
- ^ Subscribers are grouped by channel:
10.7 million (Steven He)
466 thousand (Steven He Live)
1.76 million (Steven He Shorts)
291 thousand (Steven He官方中文頻道) - ^ View totals are grouped by channel:
2.25 billion (Steven He)
23.98 million (Steven He Live)
309.77 million (Steven He Shorts)
57.14 million (Steven He官方中文頻道)
References edit
- ^ Wu, Julie (12 May 2022). "Celebrating AAPI Influencers Who Are Following Their Passions". Yahoo Life. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ Salkowitz, Rob (20 April 2022). "YouTube Comedy Star Steven He Is Definitely Not A Failure". Forbes.com.
- ^ a b "Creators On The Rise: Steven He got 3,000 rejections as an actor. So he decided to catch the studios' attention by going viral on youtube." Tubefilter. 23 March 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2023.
- ^ "'Easy, Medium, Hard and Asian': The origins of the viral 'emotional damage' TikTok meme". Yahoo News. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
- ^ "Press Release: Groundbreaking TV Series Re-frames Hollywood Portrayal of Archaeologists | Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology". 23 February 2022. Retrieved 27 July 2023.
- ^ Ginormo! is a YouTube-based show made by Steven He and Ken Mok, featuring: Kallmekris and more YouTube
- ^ "PAST NOMINEES – Septimius Awards". septimiusawards.com. Retrieved 16 March 2024.
- ^ "13th Annual Winners". streamys.org. Retrieved 16 March 2024.