Adande Thorne (born July 10, 1980), better known by his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

username Swoozie (stylized as sWooZie), is a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

-American

personality, animator, comedian, and actor. As of November 2022, his YouTube channel has over 1.4 billion views. In 2015, he signed with the

Creative Artists Agency Creative Artists Agency LLC (CAA) is an American talent and sports agency based in Los Angeles, California. It is regarded as an influential company in the talent agency business and manages numerous clients. In March 2016, CAA had 1,800 emplo ...

. In January 2016, he was one of three people who interviewed President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

during a YouTube livestream. As a professional gamer, he competed in ''

Dead or Alive 4 is a 2005 fighting video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo for the Xbox 360. It is the fourth main entry in the '' Dead or Alive'' fighting series. The story of the game focuses on the continuing war between the Mugen Tenshin ...

'' for the Los Angeles Complexity in the

Championship Gaming Series The Championship Gaming Series was an international esports league based in the United States, with teams from several other countries. The CGS was preceded by the 2006 Championship Gaming Invitational, a television pilot featuring several fu ...

and the reality series ''

WCG Ultimate Gamer ''WCG Ultimate Gamer'' was a reality television program that aired on Syfy, sponsored by Samsung and the World Cyber Games (WCG). The show was hosted by Hannah Simone and co-hosted by Joel Gourdin. The first season began airing on March 10, 2009. ...

''.

Early life

Thorne was born in

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

and raised in

Diego Martin Diego Martin is a town and is the urban commercial center and capital of the Diego Martin region in Trinidad and Tobago. Its location in the region is just on the south eastern border, west of the capital city of Port of Spain and east of the t ...

, Trinidad. His parents both attended

Pace University Pace University is a private university with its main campus in New York City and secondary campuses in Westchester County, New York. It was established in 1906 by the brothers Homer St. Clair Pace and Charles A. Pace as a business school. Pace ...

. Two years after Thorne was born, his parents had a second child: his younger sister Njideka (deka). He and his family later moved to the United States. During middle school, Thorne attended a religious private school. Thorne transferred back to the public school system in the 10th grade, where he attended West Orange High School in

Winter Garden, Florida Winter Garden is a city west of Downtown Orlando in the western part of Orange County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its population was 46,051 as of 2019. History ...

, where he grew up. During this time, his friends called him "Swoosh" because of his preference for

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

clothing, whose logo was the

Swoosh The Swoosh is the logo of American sportswear designer and retailer Nike. Today, it has become one of the most recognizable brand logos in the world, and the most valuable, having a worth of $26 billion alone. Bill Bowerman and Phil Knight fou ...

. This nickname later morphed into "Swoozie". During high school, Thorne was employed at

Disney's Hollywood Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division. Based on a concept by M ...

in order to support his gaming hobby. He applied to

Ringling College of Art and Design Ringling College of Art and Design (RCAD) is a private art and design school in Sarasota, Florida. It was founded by Ludd M. Spivey as an art school in 1931 as a remote branch of Southern College but separated by 1933. History The origins of ...

(RCAD) and

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...

because of his interest in animation but was rejected from both.

Career

Gaming

After he worked at Disney, he was a lifeguard at Hard Rock Hotel. During this time, he became very successful at the video game

Dead or Alive 3 is a 2001 in video games, 2001 fighting game, fighting video game developed by Team Ninja and published by Tecmo for the Xbox (console), Xbox console as one of its launch titles. It is the third main entry in the ''Dead or Alive (franchise), Dea ...

and had garnered an online reputation. Because of his notoriety, Thorne was asked to compete in the Championship Gaming Series (CGS) by

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

. He was later drafted by the Los Angeles Complexity team and played for one season but remained on the show as an on-camera personality for season two. His work on the CGS got him work shoutcasting for various events and later got him cast in ''WCG Ultimate Gamer''.

YouTube

Thorne began uploading vlogs onto YouTube to keep his friend and co-workers updated about his travels while he was competing in CGS. Later, he and

YouTuber A YouTuber is an online personality and/or influencer who produces videos on the video-sharing platform YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006. Influence Influe ...

Michelle Phan Michelle Phan (born April 11, 1987) is an American beauty YouTuber. She is the founder and owner of the multimillion-dollar cosmetics line EM Cosmetics. Early life Michelle Phan was born on April 11, 1987, in Boston, Massachusetts. Both her pa ...

did a collaborative video, which propelled his subscriber count. They had become acquainted through a mutual acquaintance at RCAD, where Phan was attending. Because of this growth,

sent Thorne a $1600 gift-card to purchase camera equipment. Thorne ran the gaming YouTube channel "Press Start" with Phan, last active in December 2011 as of December 2020. In 2017, Thorne hosted the shoe design competition

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...

, ''Lace Up: The Ultimate Sneaker Challenge,'' on

YouTube Red YouTube Premium (formerly Music Key and YouTube Red) is a subscription service offered by the video platform YouTube. The service provides ad-free access to content across the service, as well as access to premium YouTube Originals programming ...

. As of November 2022, his YouTube channel sWooZie has over 1.40 billion views.

Acting

Thorne had a minor role in the film '' The Space Between Us'' (2017).

Personal life

Thorne's grandmother is

Chinese Trinidadian and Tobagonian Chinese Trinidadians and Tobagonians (sometimes Sino-Trinidadians and Tobagonians or Chinese Trinbagonians) are Trinidadians and Tobagonians of Han Chinese ancestry. The group includes people from Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Overseas Chinese w ...

. Thorne is a Christian.

Awards and nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorne, Adande American YouTubers People from Orlando, Florida Living people American esports players Fighting game players CompLexity Gaming players Trinidad and Tobago emigrants to the United States People from Diego Martin Streamy Award winners YouTube channels launched in 2006 YouTube animators 1980 births Articles containing video clips