Ryan Higa (born June 6, 1990), also known as nigahiga ( ), is an American internet personality. Best known for his comedy videos on YouTube, Higa began making YouTube videos in 2006 and was one of the most popular creators on the platform in its early years. His main YouTube channel, nigahiga, was the most subscribed channel on YouTube for 677 consecutive days from 2009 to 2011, an achievement that has only been surpassed by PewDiePie and T-Series. Higa was the first person to reach the milestones of 2 million and 3 million subscribers on YouTube. Higa launched a podcast in 2018 called Off the Pill, which has featured YouTubers and celebrities such as KevJumba, Andrew Yang, and Jeremy Lin. In 2020, Higa started streaming on Twitch, where he reacts to his past videos and broadcasts video game content, most notably in Valorant.

Higa has won a Shorty Award, has been named Forbes Top 30 Under 30, and has been nominated for three more Shorty Awards, six Streamy Awards, and five Teen Choice Awards.

Outside of his content on YouTube and Twitch, he has also published a memoir Ryan Higa's How to Write Good and appeared in feature films Tell Me How I Die (2016) and Finding 'Ohana (2021).

Early life 
Ryan Higa was born in Hilo, Hawaii, on June 6, 1990. He is of Okinawan descent, and has an older brother named Kyle. In his youth, Higa competed in judo and holds a black belt rank. He wrestled at Waiakea High School, from which he graduated in 2008.

Higa studied nuclear medicine at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, but later dropped out to create online videos.

YouTube career 
Higa and Sean Fujiyoshi began posting YouTube videos of themselves lip syncing to songs in mid-2006 while attending Waiakea High School. They quickly expanded beyond songs, with a variety of other comedic pieces. Occasional guest appearances were made by Tim Enos, Ryan Villaruel, Kyle Chun, and Tarynn Nago.

On Christmas Eve of 2008, Higa and Fujiyoshi's two most popular videos, How To Be Gangster and How To Be Emo, were removed due to copyright violations. On January 21, 2009, the nigahiga account was temporarily suspended and was required to remove more copyrighted videos. Because of this, nigahiga's lip syncing videos were all removed (with the exception of You're Beautiful, which was audio swapped), along with most of his other videos that included copyrighted music. Since then, Higa started composing the music himself. How to be Gangster and How to be Emo were put back on nigahiga's channel in late August 2009, only to be removed a few days later, along with How to be Ninja and How to be Nerd. In Spring 2010, How to be Ninja, How to be Gangster and How to be Emo were made public once more.

Ninja Melk, a 26-minute short film about ninjas, was released in August 2009. The plot revolves around a ninja master named Master Ching Ching sending his student Lapchung (played by Bryson Murata) to find a replacement, finding Higa and Fujiyoshi to catch the evil Bokchoy (Tim Enos) and his henchwoman, Gina (Tarynn Nago).

An independent 35-minute film he created with Wong Fu Productions called Agents of Secret Stuff was uploaded on the nigahiga channel on November 24, 2010. It features some other popular YouTube users as well as actors such as Aki Aleong. The film follows a teenage A.S.S. (Agent of Secret Stuff) (Higa) who goes undercover as a high school student to protect Taylor (Arden Cho) from the S.I.N.S. (Society Involving Not-So-Good Stuff). It included guest appearances from Ian and Anthony of Smosh, D-Trix, KassemG and Hiimrawn.

When Higa moved to Las Vegas to attend college, most of the nigahiga videos were solo efforts, usually featuring collaborations with other YouTube users. Since 2012, Higa has put together a production company, Ryan Higa Production Company (RHPC), which included Sean Fujiyoshi, that works together to make content for the nigahiga channel. In 2015, Higa's production company was based in a studio in Henderson, Nevada.

In 2016, Higa and other YouTubers and friends created the parody K-pop group Boys Generally Asian. In mid-2018, Fujiyoshi left the group as he was moving out of the area, specifically to Sacramento, California to live with his current girlfriend and to pursue his degree in engineering.

Channels 

The nigahiga YouTube channel was created on July 20, 2006, by Higa, Fujiyoshi, Enos, and Nago (known collectively as "The Yabo Crew"). By December 21, 2010, it had reached 3 million subscribers, the first channel to do so. Higa had claimed in the past that his channel name was derived from a combination of "Niga" (にが), which he had claimed means "rant" in Japanese, and his Okinawan last name, "Higa". However, he later revealed that his channel name was actually derived from a desire to encourage people to pronounce his surname correctly. He expressed regret that this may have backfired somewhat, but has refused to change the channel name over the years to avoid the implication that it was ever meant to encourage usage of the term nigga.

In 2011, he created a second channel, under the name HigaTV, where he posts video blogs and behind the scenes videos.

In 2012, Higa helped form the YOMYOMF Network, which hosts the online video-making talent competition, Internet Icon, of which he served alongside Christine Lakin and Timothy DeLaGhetto as main judges.

Boys Generally Asian 

In 2016, Ryan Higa created a K-pop band with David Choi, Philip Wang, Jun Sung Ahn and Justin Chon. It was called BgA, standing for Boys Generally Asian, deliberately inspired by the all-female band Girls Generation.
Their first song was called "Dong Saya Dae", which currently has over 16 million views on YouTube. The song was conceived as a general parody of all K-pop songs and featured joke lyrics, but unexpectedly peaked at no. 2 on the official iTunes K-pop charts. In 2017, BgA released their second song "Who's It Gonna Be", a more serious song than the first, though with the same basis of being a parody. This song went one better than the first, reaching no. 1 on the K-pop charts.

Film and television 
In 2008, Los Angeles based producer Richard Van Vleet offered to help them create their first feature-length film. The resulting film, Ryan and Sean's Not So Excellent Adventure, was directed by Richard Van Vleet and released on November 14, 2008. It was shown in sold out theaters in Hawaii and California. The DVD was released on July 14, 2009, in the United States. The film is about a down-on-his-luck movie producer, played by Michael Buckley, who is seeking out famous celebrities in order to make a hit movie in 30 days or risk being fired. He chooses Higa and Fujiyoshi after discovering the popularity of their YouTube videos. He invites them to Hollywood to make a movie. They accept the offer, and run into some amusing situations on the way.

Higa has also guest-starred on an episode of Supah Ninjas, playing DJ Elephant Head, a master plotter who uses his hypnotizing electronic music to make people fall asleep to commit robberies.

He appeared in the 2016 horror film Tell Me How I Die and in the 2021 Netflix film Finding 'Ohana.

Business ventures 
Victorious Inc. released the "TeeHee" app in April 2015. It was a community hub for fans of Ryan Higa and was monetized through "pre-roll ads, branded content, e-commerce, and in-app purchases." The service was shut down in April 2017.

Higa published his memoir, Ryan Higa's How to Write Good, in 2017.

Higa co-founded Ninja Melk, LLC in 2016 with Kathleen Hahn and Kyle Schroeder. Their titular energy drink launched in May 2019. The drink took three years to develop and is named after Higa's short film of the same name. Higa uploaded a stop motion short film onto the nigahiga YouTube channel on October 19, 2019, to promote the drink.

Personal life 
Higa endorsed Andrew Yang for the 2020 Democratic nomination for president. He identifies as an agnostic. He is diagnosed with ADHD.
Higa is a fan of the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Clippers.

Awards and nominations

Filmography

Film

Television

Web series

Discography

Singles

References

External links

 Nigahiga  Channel Website
 
 
 
 
 

1990 births
Living people
American agnostics
American male actors
American male judoka
American YouTubers
Comedy YouTubers
YouTube channels launched in 2006
Hawaii people of Okinawan descent
People from Hilo, Hawaii
Shorty Award winners
Surreal comedy
Twitch (service) streamers
University of Nevada, Las Vegas alumni
YouTube filmmakers
YouTube podcasters
YouTube vloggers
Number-one YouTube channels in subscribers
Hawaii Democrats
American Internet celebrities
YouTubers from Hawaii
People with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
American people with disabilities
Entertainers with disabilities
라이언 히가(Ryan Higa)는 1990년 6월 6일에 태어난 하와이섬 힐로 출신의 오키나와 일본계 미국인 유튜브 코미디언이다.
그의 유튜브 채널인 nigahiga에는 2019년 4월 현재 2100만명 이상의 구독자를 보유하고 있다. www.celebritynetworth.com에 의하면 그의 순자산금은 현재 이백만 USD이다.

배경 
아버지 웬들 히가와 어머니 루시 히가 사이에서 태어난 그는 5살 때부터 형인 카일과 함께 유도와 농구를 했었고 고등학교 때는 유도 검은띠를 받았다. 고등학교에서는 National Honor Society의 멤버였던 그는 친구들이랑 방과후 비디오 게임, 볼링과 영화를 즐겼다. 영화를 매우 좋아하던 라이언은 친구들과 영화관을 일주일에 두 번 정도 찾아갔는데 어느날 지루해서 집에서 직접 동영상을 찍어 봤다고 한다. 그 이후로 친구들이랑 자주 동영상을 찍었는데 동영상들에 대한 반응들이 무척 좋았고 2006년에 유튜브를 발견해 고등학교 동창인 숀 후지요시와 함께 유튜브 채널 nigahiga를 7월 20일에 시작하였다. 그는 현재 유튜브 (YouTube)에서 약 1700만(17,000,000) 명의 구독자를 보유하고 있다. 고등학교를 졸업한 그는 현재 UNLV에서 영화를 전공하고 있다.

니가히가(nigahiga) 
2006년 시작한 니가히가는 숀 후지요시, 팀 에노스, 태린 내고과 히가가 합쳐 만든 "Yabo Crew"의 채널이다. 그러나 히가가 대학을 위해 라스 베가스로 간 이후로 사실상 솔로 프로젝트가 되었고 현재는 다른 멤버들은 히가가 하와이에 있을 경우 연출한다. 니가히가는 처음에는 립싱크와 패러디 영상이 중심적으로 올라왔지만, 이후 how-to 시리즈로 세계적인 인기를 얻게 된다. How to be Ninja, How to be Gangster, How to be Emo, How to be Nerd 4개의 영상은 특히 조회가 많았지만, 모두 사용하는 음악의 저작권에 대한 위반으로 삭제되었다. 히가는 삭제된 4개의 영상들을 다시 올렸었지만 유튜브에 의해 다시 삭제되었다. 그 이후로 히가는 모든 영상들의 음악을 직접 작곡하고 제작했다. 유튜브에서 그들의 비디오의 총 재생 횟수는 5억회를 넘었으며, 2009년 8월 21일, 구독자수가 135만명에 이르러 그때까지 구독자수로 1위였던 프레드 피글혼을 제치고 구독자수가 제일 높은 채널이 되었다 (그리고 2011년에 RayWilliamJohnson에게 1위를 양보했어야 했지만 아직도 구독자수로는 제일 높은 유튜브 채널 중에 속한다). 2008년 11월 14일에는 감독Richard Van Vleet의 지원으로 제작되었던 첫 영화 "Ryan's and Sean's not so excellent adventure" 가 캘리포니아와 하와이의 영화관들에서 상영되었다. 이런 인기로 인해 라이언 히가는 제시카 알바와 캐시 워런의 페이지인 www.ibeatyou.com을 위해 동영상을 제작하기도 했다.

다른 프로젝트들 
히가는 2011년에 HigaTV라는 새로운 채널을 만들었다. 이 채널에서는 NG씬들이 올라오거나 다른 유튜브 배우들이랑 어울리면서 찍은 비디오 블로그들이 많이 올라오로 현재 400만이 넘는 구독자가 있다. 2012년에는 새로운 유튜브 스타들을 발굴하기 위한 캐스팅쇼  Internet Icon 을 만들기 위해 KevJumba, 체스터 시, 저스틴 린과 함께 YOMYOMF Network라는 새로운 채널을 공동 시작했고 첫주에 10만명이 넘는 구독자와 백만번이 넘개 시청되었다.

작품 목록 
라이언 히가의 작품들은 다양한 시리즈들로 나눌 수 있다

영화 
 Ryan's and Sean's Not So Excellent Adventure (2008)
 Ninja Melk (2009)
 Agent's of Secret Stuff (2010)

Movies In Minutes 
 Movies In Minutes: Titanic
 Movies In Minutes: The Grudge
 Movies In Minutes: Twilight
 Movies In Minutes: Harry Potter
 Movies In Minutes: X-Men Origins - Wolverine
 Movies In Minutes: Transformers: Revenge of the Household Objects
 Movies In Minutes: Saw 12
 Movies In Minutes: New Moon
 Movies In Minutes: Facebook The Movie
 Movies In Minutes: Never Say Never
 Movies In Minutes: Final Destination
 Movies In Minutes: Chronicle
 Movies In Minutes: Avengers

Off the Pill 
 Off the Pill: Stink People
 Off the Pill: Farts
 Off the Pill: Nosy People
 Off the Pill: 2009
 Off the Pill: Bieber Fever
 Off the Pill: Weird People
 Off the Pill: Rebecca Black (Friday)
 Off the Pill: Arrogant People
 Off the Pill: Feminist
 Off the Pill: Dancing
 Off the Pill: Christmas Spirit
 Off the Pill: Judgement
 Off the Pill: The Olympics

Dear Ryan 
 Dear Ryan: Defeating a Ninja
 Dear Ryan: Superhero
 Dear Ryan: Makeup Guro
 Dear Ryan: Lamp
 Dear Ryan: Basketball - Tubing Weather Lamp
 Dear Ryan: Are you a Liar?
 Dear Ryan: Extreme
 Dear Ryan: Epic Meal Time
 Dear Ryan: Can you open your Eyes?
 Dear Ryan: Clondike Bars
 Dear Ryan: Stop posting Videos!
 Dear Ryan: What does the Fox say?

Skitzo 
 Skitzo: Introductions
 Skitzo: The Halloween Story
 Skitzo: The PSA
 Skitzo: Valentine's Day
 Skitzo: Despicable Me
 Skitzo: Reunited
 Skitzo: Nose Scar

How to Be 
 How to be: Fruit Ninja
 How to be: Gangster
 How to be: Nerd
 How to be: UFC Fighter
 How to be: Youtube Celebrity
 How to spot a Pothead
 How to survive a Horror Movie

Subscribers! 
 1,000,000
 2,000,000
 3,000,000
 4,000,000
 5,000,000
 Just Wanted To Say
 Why Lamps?!

음악 

저작권 문제로 동영상이 유튜브에서 지속적으로 삭제되자 히가는 자신의 동영상에 필요한 음악을 직접 작곡하기 시작했고
뮤직 비디오도 찍기 시작했다

 Yank Dat Cameltoe!
 Sorry Fans, Blame My ADD
 So Damn Stupid!
 I Miss You Soulja Boy!
 The Ninja Glare
 Tweet Whore
 I'm a Chingstah!
 Like a Good Boy!
 Shed a Tear
 I'm Hardcore
 NIce Guys
 Christmas Swag
 Bromance
 Clenching my Booty
 The Handshake Song
 Coffee Shop Love
 Ignored

각주

외부 링크 
 
 

1990년 출생
살아있는 사람
미국의 유튜버
미국의 남자 희극인
미국의 인터넷 인물
힐로 출신
네바다 대학교 라스베이거스 동문
일본계 미국인
유튜브 다이아몬드 플레이 버튼 수상자
유튜브 브이로거