Anna Akana

Anna Akana
Born Anna Kay Akana
(1989-08-18) August 18, 1989[1]
Nationality American
Ethnicity Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Irish, German, Spanish, French, English[2][3]
Occupation Filmmaker, actress, producer
Years active 2010–present
Agent The Coronel Group
Website www.annaakana.com

Anna Kay Akana (born 1989) is an American filmmaker, producer, and actress. She is known for her YouTube channel which has over 1 million subscribers and over 100 million video views.[4]

Background

In February 2007, her 13-year-old sister committed suicide, and Akana saw laughter as a means of trying to move on with her life and therefore became a comedian.[5]

Career

YouTube videos

Akana creates both comedy and documentary YouTube videos.[6] In 2014, Akana was listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #72.[7]

Film and television

In 2011, Akana appeared in the TV series Awkward. In that same year, she also appeared as an extra in Katy Perry's Last Friday Night music video.[8]

In 2015 she appeared in the films Ant-Man and Kids vs Monsters.

Akana will star in a scripted video series to be distributed via Snapchat, entitled SnapperHero.[9] The series will be sponsored by AT&T.[9]

Akana will star with Sally Field in an indie comedy film Hello, My Name Is Doris, to be Michael Showalter.[10]

Awards

Akana was awarded the San Diego Asian Film Festival's first annual Digital Pioneer Award in 2014.[11]

Critical reactions

In reviewing her video Yellow Fever (a term for an Asian fetish) The Huffington Post wrote: "A step-by-step takedown of 'yellow fever' or the desire to date Asian women often accompanied by bizarre, offensive attempts to do so, could start the healing. Luckily for us, YouTuber Anna Akana was more than up to the video-making task."[12]

In reviewing her video How to Deal with a Breakup, MTV wrote: "In this sketch, comedian Anna Akana envisions the flurry of activity inside the cranial command center of a newly single dumpee."[13]

Deadline referred to Akana as "a prolific online creator whose channel boasts 60 million views and 900,000 subscribers, and last year wrote and starred in her own narrative feature Riley Rewind, scoring a none-too-shabby 20M views online."[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Facebook: Anna Akana". Facebook.
  2. ↑ "What is your nationality Anna?". Facebook. December 1, 2012.
  3. ↑ "Japanese Hawaiian Filipino etc". Twitter. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  4. ↑ "YouTube: Anna Akana". YouTube. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  5. ↑ "Surviving Suicide". GoodReads. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  6. ↑ "How Death Shed New Light on 'Riley Rewind' Actress Anna Akana’s Life". Mochi Magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  7. ↑ "The NMR Top 100 YouTube Channels: 75-51!". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  8. ↑ "Last Friday Night (2011)". IMBD. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  9. 1 2 Jarvey, Natalie (January 29, 2015). "AT&T Launches Scripted Series on Snapchat". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 23, 2015. The series, SnapperHero, will star YouTubers Anna Akana, Freddie Wong, Harley Morenstein and Jasmeet Singh alongside Snapchat celeb Shaun McBride, who will also serve as creative director.
  10. 1 2 Yamato, Jen (July 11, 2014). "'Hello, My Name Is Doris' Uploads YouTuber Anna Akana". Deadline. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  11. ↑ "Digital Pioneer Award". SDAFF. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  12. ↑ Matthews, Cate (July 29, 2014). "Here's What 'Yellow Fever' Really Means". The Huffington Post. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  13. ↑ Williott, Carl (April 29, 2015). "After A Breakup, Your Brain Basically Becomes An Episode Of '24'". MTV. Retrieved May 23, 2015.

External links

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