Anna Akana

Anna Akana
Born Anna Kay Akana
(1989-08-18) August 18, 1989
Nationality American
Occupation Filmmaker, actress, producer, comedian
Years active 2010–present
Agent The Coronel Group
Known for YouTube
Website Official website

Anna Kay Akana (born August 18, 1989) is an American filmmaker, producer, actress, comedian, and model. She is known for her YouTube channel, which has over 1.5 million subscribers and over 100 million video views.[1]

Early life

Anna Akana was born August 18, 1989 to William and Mia Akana.[2] Her ancestry is Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Irish, German, Spanish, French, and English.[3][4] Growing up, Akana's father was an officer in the United States Marine Corps.[5] Her family moved every few years to a new state or country with his job. As a result, Akana picked up several dialects and languages including Japanese and Spanish.

On Valentine's Day 2007, Akana's 13-year-old sister Kristina committed suicide.[6] Several months after her sister's death, Akana watched Margaret Cho perform on a Comedy Central special and laughed for the first time since the suicide. She began to see laughter as a means of trying to move on with her life and decided to seriously pursue comedy.[7] Akana is very vocal about her sister's suicide and is a strong advocate for suicide prevention. In 2013, Akana uploaded a YouTube video called "please don't kill yourself" where she explains what it feels like to have a family member commit suicide.[8] In that same year, she released a book called Surviving Suicide which contains her journal entries from the two years after her sister's death.[9]

Career

Akana first started performing comedy at the age of 19 but ended up switching her platform to YouTube in 2011 after experiencing massive panic attacks and anxiety before going on stage.[7] Akana has since resumed performing stand-up.

YouTube

In 2014, Akana formed a comedy music duo with fellow comedian and writer Megan Rosati called Cat Benatar.[10]

Akana creates both comedy and documentary YouTube videos.[11] In 2014, Akana was listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #72.[12] In that same year, Akana decided to focus more on her skills as a director and attempted to make one short film a month.[13] While she did not reach her goal of 12, she did make six short films which were received well by her YouTube audience. Akana starred in all of her short films and has starred in various other short films produced by other YouTube stars. Akana has since continued to create short films.[14]

One of her short films titled Miss Earth was partially financed by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard's production company New Form Digital. It was part of the 2014 Incubator, a series to showcase and produce original stories by YouTube Creators and filmmakers.[15][16][17] Miss Earth was later adapted into a web series retitled Miss 2059 and released on Verizon's go90 app in June 2016.[18][19][20][21]

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.[22]

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.[23] The series will be sponsored by AT&T.[23]

In 2016 Akana appeared alongside Sally Field in the indie comedy film Hello, My Name Is Doris, written by Michael Showalter.[24]

Other ventures

In 2015, Akana released a clothing line called Ghost & Stars. The clothing line features several cat-themed designs as well as formal dresses, leggings and a variety of T-shirts.[25]

Akana also hosts the podcast "Explain Things to Me" with fellow comedian Brad Gage where the two interview experts in various fields about their work.[26]

Filmography

Feature films

Year Title Role Notes
2013 Inappropriate Comedy Student driver Minor role
2015 Ant-Man Writer Minor role
Kids vs Monsters Daisy Supporting role
2016 Hello, My Name Is Doris Blogger Minor role
Dirty 30 Ashley Driscoll Supporting role
2017 You Get Me Lydia Supporting role

Television

Year Title Episode Role Notes
2011 Awkward "Knocker Nightmare" Asian girl Co-star
2012 Shake It Up "Made in Japan" Tomoka Co-star
2013–2014 The Fosters 2 episodes Lily Supporting role
2016 Adam Ruins Everything 1 episode Angry shopper Supporting role

Web series

Year Title Episode Role Notes
2015 Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures 5 episodes The White Spirit Recurring role
2016 Transformers: Combiner Wars Victorion

Music videos

Year Artist(s) Title Role
2011 Katy Perry "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" Extra

Awards

Year Association Category Nominated work Result
2014 San Diego Asian Film Festival Digital Pioneer[27] Won
2015 Streamy Awards Best Actress SnapperHero Nominated

Critical reactions

In reviewing her video "Why Guys Like Asian Girls" (which references "Yellow Fever", a term for an Asian fetish)[28] 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."[29]

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."[30]

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."[24]

References

  1. ↑ "YouTube: Anna Akana". YouTube. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  2. ↑ "Facebook: Anna Akana". Facebook.
  3. ↑ "What is your nationality Anna?". Facebook. December 1, 2012.
  4. ↑ "Japanese Hawaiian Filipino etc". Twitter. Retrieved August 8, 2015.
  5. ↑ "My dad was right". YouTube. March 11, 2013. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  6. ↑ "Surviving Suicide". GoodReads. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  7. 1 2 Luhar, Monica (November 13, 2015). "Anna Akana is 'Chasing Laughs' and Telling Stories". NBC News. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  8. ↑ Akana, Anna (September 27, 2013). "please don't kill yourself". YouTube. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  9. ↑ Akana, Anna. "Surviving Suicide". GoodReads. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  10. ↑ "be uncomfortable". YouTube. March 14, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  11. ↑ Yu, Tiffany. "How Death Shed New Light on 'Riley Rewind' Actress Anna Akana's Life". Mochi Magazine. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
  12. ↑ "The NMR Top 100 YouTube Channels: 75-51!". New Media Rockstars. Retrieved January 6, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Focus//Anna Akana". YouTube. February 7, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  14. ↑ "Anna Akana- Short films". annaakana.com. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
  15. ↑ "Incubator Series | New Form Digital". newformdigital.com. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  16. ↑ "Filmmaker Spotlights | New Form Digital". newformdigital.com. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  17. ↑ "New Form Digital Press Kit 2016" (PDF). 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  18. ↑ Spangler, Todd (September 25, 2015). "Verizon's Go90 Orders 6 Series from New Form Digital (Exclusive)". Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  19. ↑ Hamedy, Saba. "Anna Akana takes action in New Form Digital's 'Miss 2059'". Mashable. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  20. ↑ Dry, Jude (June 20, 2016). "Watch: Exclusive Clip From New Form Digital's 'Miss 2059,' Starring Anna Akana". Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  21. ↑ "MISS 2059 | OFFICIAL TRAILER". go90. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Last Friday Night (2011)". IMBD. Retrieved December 16, 2014.
  23. 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.
  24. 1 2 Yamato, Jen (July 11, 2014). "'Hello, My Name Is Doris' Uploads YouTuber Anna Akana". Deadline. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  25. ↑ "Ghost & Stars". Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  26. ↑ "Explain Things to Me". iTunes. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
  27. ↑ "Digital Pioneer Award". SDAFF. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
  28. ↑ Akana, Anna. "Why Guys Like Asian Girls". Youtube. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  29. ↑ Matthews, Cate (July 29, 2014). "Here's What 'Yellow Fever' Really Means". The Huffington Post. Retrieved May 23, 2015.
  30. ↑ 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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