Troye Sivan Mellet (born 5 June 1995), known professionally as Troye Sivan , is a South African-born Australian singer, songwriter, actor, and YouTube personality. As an actor, he played the younger version of the titular character in the 2009 X-Men film X-Men Origins: Wolverine and starred as the title character in the Spud film trilogy. Sivan also used to regularly make YouTube videos and, as of 2 April 2016, has over 4 million subscribers and over 241 million total views.
On 15 August 2014, Sivan released his first major-label EP, entitled TRXYE, which peaked at number 5 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The lead single from the EP, "Happy Little Pill", reached number 10 on the Australian charts. On 4 September 2015, Sivan released his second major-label EP, Wild. His debut studio album, Blue Neighbourhood, was released 4 December. Its first single, "Youth", become Sivan's first single to enter the top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at twenty-three.
His video, "The 'Boyfriend' Tag", with fellow vlogger Tyler Oakley earned them a Teen Choice Award in the "Choice Web Collaboration" category. In October 2014, Time named Sivan as one of the "25 Most Influential Teens of 2014".
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Personal life
Sivan was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, the son of Laurelle and Shaun Mellet. His family moved to Australia when he was two years old due to rising crime in South Africa. Sivan currently lives in Perth, Western Australia with his parents and three siblings Steele, Tyde and Sage. His father is a real estate agent and his mother is a homemaker. He is Jewish; his father was born to a Jewish family and his mother converted to Judaism. Sivan attended Carmel School until 2009 when he started distance education. Troye's middle name is "Sivan" and he embraced it as his stage name.
Sivan is openly gay. He came out publicly via a YouTube video on 7 August 2013. He came out to his family three years before his video was released. He lives with a mild form of Marfan syndrome.
Music
Sivan's musical beginnings first started when he sang at the 2006, 2007 and 2008 Channel Seven Perth Telethon. His 2006 performance included a duet with Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian. Sivan made it to the grand finals of StarSearch 2007. His debut EP, Dare to Dream, was released in June 2007. In February 2010, Sivan opened "We Are the World 25 for Haiti (YouTube Edition)", the collaborative music charity video produced by Lisa Lavie to help raise money for the victims of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. His most recent hit is "Youth," from his Blue Neighbourhood album that he released in 2015.
On 5 June 2013, Sivan was signed to EMI Australia, a Universal Music Australia label, but kept it a secret until a year later. On 15 August 2014 he released a five-song EP entitled TRXYE, led by its first single "Happy Little Pill", which was released on 25 July 2014. TRXYE debuted at No. 1 on iTunes in over 55 countries. The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 the following week, scoring Sivan his first Top 10 album. "Happy Little Pill" peaked at number 10 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments exceeding 35,000 copies. Sivan released his second major-label EP, Wild, on 4 September 2015. The EP was supported by a music video trilogy entitled Blue Neighbourhood, comprising the three songs "Wild", "Fools" and "Talk Me Down" and released from September 2015 to December 2015. Additionally, the EP served as an "introduction" to his album Blue Neighbourhood, which was released on 4 December 2015. Sivan supported his debut studio album Blue Neighbourhood and his EP Wild with his first tour, 2015's Troye Sivan Live. Sivan further supported his debut studio album with 2016's Blue Neighbourhood Tour and Suburbia Tour.
Music videos
Sivan's music videos frequently feature LGBTQ relationships between the characters. TRXYE's trilogy followed the narrative of two gay teenagers in a secret relationship while "Wild" featured Sivan with another male love interest. His music video for "Heaven ft. Betty Who" features footage of historical LGBTQ movements and couples, as well as sensual shots with him and an anonymous man with the running tagline "Without losing a piece of me, how do I get to Heaven?" and "If I'm losing a piece of me, maybe I don't want Heaven". The singer says these portrayals are important to him, especially when he considers his younger life when he remembers "such vivid memories of the few times I saw any type of LGBTQ relationship on TV or in music videos".
Acting
In 2007, Sivan starred as Oliver Twist in a production of Oliver! at the Regal Theatre. In 2008, Sivan was cast in a West Australian short film, Betrand the Terrible. In February 2008, Sivan was cast as young James Howlett in X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Sivan got the part after videos of his telethon performance were posted on YouTube, catching the attention of a Hollywood agent who contacted Sivan and asked him to send in an audition tape. Though Kodi Smit-McPhee was already cast for this role, he was unable to be a part of the film, due to his other film, The Road. In July 2009, he auditioned successfully for the lead role in Spud, a film adaptation of the 2005 novel by South African author John van de Ruit. Filming took place in South Africa from early March to mid-April 2010. The film was released in South Africa on 3 December 2010 and was later nominated for six SAFTAs, including a Best Lead Actor in a Feature Film nomination for Sivan.
Sivan appeared in the West Australian season of Samuel Beckett's absurdist play Waiting for Godot which opened on 28 May 2010. Sivan shared the role of "Boy" with Craig Hyde-Smith, alternating nights. In June 2012, Sivan returned to South Africa to film Spud 2: The Madness Continues, which was released in South Africa on 21 June 2013. Sivan also starred in the third film in the series, Spud 3: Learning to Fly, released on 28 November 2014.
On 30 August 2017, it was confirmed via Troye's twitter account that he is set to appear in the coming of age/coming out film Boy Erased, set to be released in 2018.
YouTube
In September 2012, Sivan began creating video blogs on the video sharing site YouTube, after having only sung on the site since 2007. At the time of posting his first vlog, Sivan had accumulated 27,000 subscribers in his five years since joining YouTube on 1 October 2007. As of April 2016, Sivan has over 4 million subscribers and over 243 million total views across his YouTube videos. His YouTube channel is the third most subscribed channel in Australia, after HowToBasic and Planet Dolan.
One of Sivan's most notable works on YouTube is a video he made with fellow YouTuber Tyler Oakley. Titled "The 'Boyfriend' Tag", the video earned them a Teen Choice Award in the "Choice Web Collaboration" category.
Sivan's music has been described as "layered electropop with constant tinges of EDM", as well as "youthful", "dreamy", and "mature". His baritone voice has been described as a "coffee-and-cream voice" as well as "sultry", "wounded" and "breathless". His work has been compared to Lorde's and Taylor Swift's.
