Shane Dawson

1988–2007: Early life

Dawson grew up in Long Beach, California, where he attended Lakewood High School. As a teenager, he was overweight and was mentally and psychically abused by his alcoholic father, (as well as Shane's mother) who eventually abandoned his family. He has two other older biological brothers, Jerid and Jacob Yaw. The siblings had a close relationship, and helped Dawson during these times. Additionally, his family was poor and he was often bullied for this. He has since lost 150 pounds (68 kg). He first became interested in making videos when he would turn in videos as school projects with his friends in high school. He is of Swedish, Dutch, Welsh, and English descent.

2008–10: YouTube channels

On March 10, 2008, Dawson made his first YouTube channel, called "ShaneDawsonTV". The earliest video that remains on the channel, "Hodini's Street Magic" was uploaded three months later. When he first began making videos, he worked at Jenny Craig along with his mother and brother, but was fired in August 2008 after he uploaded a video of himself pole dancing in the building he worked in. His mother, brother and about six other coworkers who appeared in the video also got fired after the company saw the video. In September, he uploaded a video called "Fred is Dead!", which has since received over 24 million views (as of September 2016), making it his most-viewed video to date. Dawson occasionally posts new videos on his channel "ShaneDawsonTV" (mainly short web films, music video parodies, film trailer parodies, and original music) and formerly posted other videos on his second channel "ShaneDawsonTV2", now called "Human Emoji" however the use of this channel has mostly been discontinued as of 2012. His third YouTube channel, Shane, is where he previously posted vlogs, and now posts original content Mondays through Fridays. He began using this channel in May 2010. Shane often collaborates with other YouTubers or appears in their videos, such as Joey Graceffa, BrittaniLouiseTaylor, TheFineBros, Trisha Paytas, iJustine (real name Justine Ezarik), Tyler Oakley, Miranda Sings (a character created by YouTuber, comedian, singer and actress Colleen Ballinger), Sawyer Hartman, Drew Monson and others. In November 2009, Dawson was featured on Attack of the Show!. In 2010, Forbes magazine named him their 25th most famous web celebrity.

2010–13: Television pilots and music career

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. 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). According to Dawson, there is some uncertainty involving the pilot, however it may be a TV show in the future. 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. 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.

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." 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 was in negotiations to direct a feature-length film. 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. The song was released on June 23, 2012, with the music video being released a week later. In October 2012, a film called Smiley was released to theaters starring Dawson. In December, Dawson released a new single entitled "Maybe This Christmas". On February 5, 2013, Dawson recorded a single titled "F**K Up". The song was released on YouTube and iTunes on March 30, 2013. On October 18, 2013, Dawson released a song entitled "Wanna Make Love To You", with Liam Horne. Dawson doesn't actually provide vocals to the song, but iTunes credits him as one of the artists.

2013–present: Shane and Friends, The Chair, and books

In June 2013, Dawson started a podcast entitled Shane and Friends. As of 2013, Dawson revealed that he is pitching a talk show and is continuing to pitch the series about him working at a weight loss center. On November 12, 2013, Dawson announced that he was developing the weight loss center project with Sony Pictures Television for NBC. The project has been titled Losin' It and, if picked up, will be a half-hour single camera comedy series focusing on a successful former-client at a weight loss center who decides to share his inspiration by becoming a consultant at the center, and subsequently becomes the manager by the end of his first day. Darlene Hunt, Will Gluck, Richie Schwartz, Lauren Schnipper, and Dawson will serve as executive producers for the project.

On April 4, 2014, Dawson announced that he had directed and starred in a comedy film in Pittsburgh earlier that year. The film, which was made on a budget of approximately $1 million, is expected to be released in September 2014. On June 26, he announced that the film would be titled Not Cool. It was part of a Starz original series called The Chair, in which two novice directors are given the same script and must each make their own film from it. People who watched both films then voted online to vote for the films. Not Cool competed against Anna Martemucci's Holidaysburg. Zachary Quinto, producer of The Chair, called Dawson's film "deeply offensive" and "tasteless", and that Dawson should not be making films at all, removing his name from the film in disgust. Dawson defended his film by saying that "I like the movie. The producers that I trust like the movie. The test audience liked the movie. I know I deserve to make a movie because I've been working my fucking ass off these last eight years on YouTube." Dawson won the competition, winning the $250,000 prize to work on another film project.

In December 2014, Dawson released a parody of Taylor Swift's song "Blank Space" on YouTube. This video was found to be in poor taste by her labels, Big Machine Records and Sony, who removed it, citing "copyright infringement". Dawson subsequently claimed that the parody was removed because Sony objected to the video's violent content. Typically in the United States, parodies are generally classified as fair use, as cited in Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, Inc.. The video was restored in February 2015.

In early 2015, Dawson released a memoir titled I Hate Myselfie: A Collection of Essays. The memoir was released by Atria Books/Keywords Press.

In July 2016, Dawson released another memoir entitled It Gets Worse: A Collection of Essays. It was released by Atria/Keywords Press, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.

Personal life

Dawson lives in Los Angeles, California with his boyfriend, Ryland Adams, his dog, Uno, and his cat, Cheeto.

Dawson also has body dysmorphic disorder. In July 2015, Dawson came out as bisexual in a video posted on Shane Dawson TV. This announcement also confirmed his separation with his now ex-girlfriend, Lisa Schwartz.

Major productions

Awards and nominations

Dawson has been nominated for various awards. 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 iJustine, 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.