Ryan Higa is a known YouTube star, an actor and a comedian known by the name nigahiga that he uses as his stage name. His comedy videos he posts on YouTube have been viewed more than 3 billion times and he is amongst the most popular Youtubers.
His YouTube channel that he named “nigahiga” holds the record of the most subscribed channel in two consecutive years from 2009- 2011. The only channel that had the most subscribers longer than his was the channel owned by PewDiePie. In 2010, his channel was the first to grow over 3 million subscribers.
He can brag about the fact that his channel has over 20 million subs. This is more than most of the YouTubers. He owns this to the fact that he makes top quality content and spends a alot of time editing.
Early years
Ryan has roots in Japan, from the town of Okinawa to be precise. He was never ashamed of who he was and felt same as everyone else although he wasn’t from YouTube’s most popular country: America.
Ryan Higa was born on the 6th of June 1990, in a town named Hilo, Hawaii in United States.
He grew up alongside his older brother called Kyle with whom he is very close. It’s great that the two have a connection and were able to support each other.
His father is named Wendell and his mother is Luci. His mother Luci Higa is currently his manager and takes care of his business. They have a great connection and this meant a lot for him. He has total confidence in her skills and he knows that she will take care of his wealth.
As a kid, Ryan used to train judo and he has done it for a long period of time. He was excellent in it and has black belt in this sport. Many people used to tease him because he liked computers, but little did they know that he was also great in sports.
He went to Waiakea High School in his hometown town Hilo. There he got involved in wrestling. He graduated from high school in 2008.
Career development
He was a student at Waiakea High School when he got interested in YouTube. His good friend Sean Fujiyoshi talked him into opening a channel.
He was always telling Ryan that he is a very funny guy and that he could earn money by making content on YouTube, and he already had a love for video making.
In 2006, the two of them started uploading videos on YouTube. They found themselves in comedy genre. Back in the days, it was pure fun for them to create content and so they gave themselves into it.
They always invited guests to improve their videos, so Tarynn Nago, Kyle Chun and other Youtubers were very often guests here.
His channel emmersed with a very popular video titled “How To Be Emo”. The second most popular was “How To Be Gangster”. People always commented on his posts calling other people to see them and that’s the way he got his subscribers going up fast.
In 2008, they offended copyrights on Youtube and their channel was soon removed. They had to erase all their work which violated copyrights. This was heartbreaking for them and they had to start all over.
Ryan was so upset because of it that he started producing his own lyrics and music so he would never find himself in this position again.
Ryan relocated to Las Vegas in order to study at the University of Nevada. He was interested in the field of nuclear medicine. However, he never got over the fact that he could have been making music.
This meant that his following Youtube products were solo and that he stopped doing it with his friend. They both knew this was only for a short period of time and that they will collaborate again because they were very good friends.
He created his own production company “Ryan Higa Production Company” two years later. It was a big step, but he thought he was ready to do it.
The company welcomed back his friend Sean and the two of them started making comedy creations that got very popular on Youtube.
Ryan gathered his friends to make a “fake” K-pop group which was made for makong fun of that music. The group was named “Boys Generally Asian” and they started working together in 2016.
“Dong Saya Dae” was the first single they released and it was viewed for over 10 millions time on Youtube. He could not believe that people remembered him.
The second one was called “Who’s It Gonna Be” and it was released last year. It gathered the same number of views as the first one.
Why he called himself “nigahiga”? It is from a word „Niga“ which means „rant“ in Japanese and he mixed it with his surname Higa. People often think that he is implying to some racial slurs, but Ryan says that he never thought about that.
In 2011 he decided to open another channel named “HigaTV”. It soon became very popular and has a few million subscribers which is an awesome number.
Ryan is one of the co-founders of “YOMYOMF”, a new network released in 2012.
This network became known for the “Internet Icon” competition which involves content creators.
Ryan and Sean decided to ask help from Richard Van Vleet, a producer, in making their first movie. This was in 2008 and it was titled “Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure”. Van Vleet also directed it. After it premiered in Calofornia, it was also released on DVD.
Michael Buckley is one of the actors which appeared in this movie in the role of a producer who is pressured to make a hit film in just one month. The movie has a lot of comedy elements.
In 2010, they have released a movie “Agents of Secret Stuff” on their channel. Aki Aleong had one of the guest appearances in this movie produced by Wong Fu Productions.
Higa made appearances in other work, like his appearance in the “Supah Ninjas”. His role was the one of DJ Elephant Head, who essentially hypnotizes people to robb and gain wealth.
Ryan was also in a 2016 horror movie called “Tell Me How I Die”. It was a great opportunity for him to widen his fanbase because people that watched the movie later searched for him online.
This movie was directed by D.J. Viola and his other colleagues were Nathan Kress, Virginia Gardner and Kirby Bliss Blanton.
Personal life
He had a four year long relationship with a fellow youtuber Tarryn Nago and she often appeared in his videos.
In 2010 he shortly dated Andrea Thi after which he started hiding his private life. The fame became a bit too much and so he didn’t want to get his family and friends involved.
There were rumours that he dated Arden Cho, a beautiful model but they haven’t confirmed the realtionship. She also worked in a hit series called Teen Wolf and wishes to sing and create music later in life.
Quick summary
Full name: Ryan Higa
Date of birth: June 6, 1990
Birthplace: Hilo, Hawaii, The United States
Age: 28
Profession: Youtuber, actor, comedian
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 69 kgs
Net Worth: $10 milion