Alex Goyette (born October 5, 1988) is an American

film director A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles and techniques to communicate ideas. Writers produce different forms of literary art and creative writing such as novels, short stories, books, poetry, travelogues, p ...

, producer,

actor An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), li ...

, and

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, 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 ...

personality. He is the writer/director of '' Expelled'', a comedy which ranked #1 worldwide on iTunes during its December 2014 release. Goyette studied film at

Cal State Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge) is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. With a total enrollment of 38,551 students (as of Fall 2021), it has the second largest un ...

, and created his sketch comedy

channel on April 17, 2011. The channel's videos have been viewed 13 million times.

Background

Goyette was born on October 5, 1988 to a French father and a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese mother. Goyette lived on

Mercer Island Mercer Island is a city in King County, Washington, United States, located on an island of the same name in the southern portion of Lake Washington. Mercer Island is in the Seattle metropolitan area, with Seattle to its west and Bellevue to it ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

for the majority of his young life. Goyette began creating films and videos at the age of eleven, when he first created a parody of ''

Saving Private Ryan ''Saving Private Ryan'' is a 1998 American epic war film directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Robert Rodat. Set during the Battle of Normandy in World War II, the film is known for its graphic portrayal of war, especially its depictio ...

''. At the age of 15 he wrote his first feature film "The Safe" and began shooting it during his sophomore year of high school. In 2007, Goyette moved to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to pursue his dream and career in filmmaking. Goyette attended

Orange Coast College Orange Coast College (OCC) is a public community college in Costa Mesa in Orange County, California. It was founded in 1947, with its first classes opening in the fall of 1948. It provides Associate of Art and Associate of Science degrees, cert ...

before transferring to Cal State Northridge where he studied from 2009 to 2012 and earned his

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree in Cinematography and Film/Video Production. Goyette is

agnostic Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

YouTube

Goyette created his channel, JouleTheif, on April 17, 2011. Goyette would upload several viral videos on the channel. The videos would accumulate 5.3 million views by July 25, 2013. Goyette also influenced Matthew Fredrick, also known as Matthias, and winner of the second season of ''

Internet Icon ''Internet Icon'' is an online video-making talent competition (described as "''American Idol''-esque") that premiered on the YOMYOMF YouTube channel on June 12, 2012. The show was a competition between groups to see who can be "the next internet ...

'', to join YouTube. The two would go on to frequently collaborate with each other, and both went on to be part of the AwesomenessTV Network.

AwesomenessTV

While on YouTube, Goyette would appear on and work with

AwesomenessTV Awesomeness (abbreviation of AwesomenessTV) is an American-based film and television studio as well as a multi-channel based multilingual television network owned by Paramount Digital Studios, a division of Paramount Global. Established in June ...

, a YouTube channel funded by YouTube's original channel program. On his channel, Goyette directed, produced, wrote, and starred in a fake trailer centered around the Waldo character. Goyette's video ''Waldo The Movie -Trailer Parody D' gave him the opportunity to have a pitch meeting with

Brian Robbins Brian Levine (born November 22, 1963), known professionally as Brian Robbins, is an American film executive, actor, and filmmaker who is the current President and Chief Executive Officer of Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon. He also serves as C ...

and Joe Davola of AwesomenessTV. The most viewed video he appeared in featured him dress up as an

Apple Store The Apple Store is a chain of Retail, retail stores owned and operated by Apple Inc. The stores sell various Apple products, including Macintosh, Mac personal computers, iPhone smartphones, iPad tablet computers, Apple Watch smartwatches, Apple ...

employee, and drop boxes filled with items, in front of people waiting outside an Apple Store on the release day of the

iPhone 5 The iPhone 5 is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is the 6th generation iPhone, succeeding both the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S, and preceding both the iPhone 5S and 5C. It was formally unveiled as part of a press e ...

, giving the illusion that Goyette had broken several iPhones. The video would go on to earn over 5.7 million views and be covered by ''

Today Today (archaically to-day) may refer to: * Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now'' * Current era, present * The current calendar date Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...

''. Goyette has worked on other videos with Awesomeness, and has uploaded other prank videos as well. Goyette directed and wrote a series, ''Expelled'', for the network, starring

Nathan Kress Nathan Karl Kress (born November 18, 1992) is an American actor and director. Kress began his career at the age of four, notably appearing in several television commercials and providing the voices of Easy and Tough Pup in the comedy-drama film ...

and Teala Dunn, as part of AwesomenessTV's plan to introduce new series under

DreamWorks Animation DreamWorks Animation LLC (DWA, also known as DreamWorks Animation Studios and simply known as DreamWorks) is an American animation studio that produces animated films and television programs and is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, a division ...

''Internet Icon''

In 2013, Goyette used his fake Waldo trailer video as a submission video for the second season of the

YOMYOMF YOMYOMF, whose name is an acronym for "You Offend ME, You Offend My FAMILY," is a YouTube channel aggregating talent from various performers. Even though the YOMYOMF Network is an Asian American pop culture channel, the channel is intended to sho ...

web series, ''

''. The video earned him a spot in the top 10 of the competition. He was eliminated after being accused by Ryan Higa of copying an idea for "Amy's Will", although he claimed to never have seen the video. Goyette placed fifth in the competition.

Overview of ''Internet Icon''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goyette, Alex 1988 births American agnostics American directors American people of Canadian descent American people of Japanese descent American YouTubers Businesspeople from Los Angeles California State University, Northridge alumni Film producers from California Internet Icon Living people Mercer Island High School alumni Orange Coast College alumni Place of birth missing (living people)