Arif Zahir Lopes-Thrower (born April 15, 1994) is an American actor, musician, and

internet personality An Internet celebrity (also known as a social media influencer, social media personality, internet personality, or simply influencer) is a celebrity who has acquired or developed their fame and notability through the Internet. The rise of social m ...

. His YouTube channel, Azerrz, has over 7 million subscribers and features voice impressions of a plethora of celebrities and cartoon characters. Since 2020, Zahir has voiced Cleveland Brown on the television series '' Family Guy'', succeeding Mike Henry.

Early life and education

Zahir is of African-American and Cape Verdean descent and was born on April 15, 1994, in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and E ...

. He was partially raised in

New Bedford New Bedford (Massachusett: ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Native American pe ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...

where he attended Nativity Preparatory School and Keith Middle School before moving back to California in 2007. Zahir began doing voice impressions in middle school to impress his classmates. He originally made a YouTube channel in 2007 which focused on performing magic tricks. After doing so and finding success he started attending Hussian College's campus in Los Angeles. He later dropped out to spend more time focusing on his YouTube career.

Career

Zahir created his YouTube channel in 2012 but posted his first video in 2013. He started out by posting comedic sketches, gaming videos, and videos of himself performing voice impressions of both cartoon characters and real celebrities. Zahir garnered initial success through his voice impressions which he started doing in 2011. One of the first voices Zahir did was of Cleveland Brown who he would go on to voice several years later. Zahir landed his first acting role playing a character named Arif in the short film ''No One But Lydia.'' Starting in 2018, he became a recurring cast member on '' How It Should Have Ended'' voicing Black Panther / T'Challa. Through community challenges and his first viral hit with "Ted Plays Call of Duty" (which has over 20M+ views), Arif quickly grew his channel to over 6.5+ million subscribers and 650+ million views. He is also a rapper and singer and releases music under the moniker 4rif. He released his debut album ''At Last Sight'' on August 30, 2019. He followed it up with an EP called ''Go Gadget/Blues Clues'' which was released on April 29, 2020, in collaboration with rapper Dlngqnt. On June 26, 2020, Mike Henry, who had voiced Cleveland Brown since 1999, announced he was stepping down and believed a person of color should voice the role. On September 25, 2020, it was announced that Zahir would be voicing Cleveland starting in Season 20 of '' Family Guy''.

Filmography

Film

Video games

Music videos

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist List of singles as lead artist As featured artist List of singles as featured artist

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zahir, Arif 1994 births Living people American male film actors American male television actors American male voice actors American musicians of Cape Verdean descent Male actors from Berkeley, California Male actors from Massachusetts American male YouTubers Musicians from Berkeley, California People from New Bedford, Massachusetts Rappers from Massachusetts Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area West Coast hip hop musicians YouTube channels launched in 2007 YouTube channels launched in 2012 21st-century African-American people African-American male actors American comedy musicians American male pop singers American contemporary R&B singers American soul singers