Kevin Wu (born June 12, 1990) is an American former
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
Influent ...
best known under the username KevJumba. The ''
San Francisco Chronicle
The ''San Francisco Chronicle'' is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of Northern California. It was founded in 1865 as ''The Daily Dramatic Chronicle'' by teenage brothers Charles de Young and M. H. de Young, Michael H. de ...
''
's
Jeff Yang
Jeff Yang () (born ) is an American writer, journalist, businessman, and business/media consultant who writes the ''Tao Jones'' column for ''The Wall Street Journal''. Previously, he was the "Asian Pop" columnist at the ''San Francisco Chronicle' ...
has noted that Wu is not a comedian in the conventional sense but that by "just talking
eis, well, pretty hilarious" due to his
deadpan
Deadpan, dry humour, or dry-wit humour is the deliberate display of emotional neutrality or no emotion, commonly as a form of comedic delivery to contrast with the ridiculousness or absurdity of the subject matter. The delivery is meant to be blun ...
vocal delivery, animated facial expressions and tendency toward unexpected digressions.
Wu previously appeared on
The CW Television Network
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
's short-lived ''
Online Nation'' and co-starred with
Jessica Lee Rose
Jessica Lee Rose (born April 26, 1987) is an American-New Zealand actress who first gained popularity after playing the role of ''lonelygirl15'', a fictional teenage homeschooled character named Bree who appeared in YouTube video blogs, beginn ...
and
Philip DeFranco
Philip James DeFranco (born Philip James Franchini Jr.; born December 1, 1985), commonly known by his online nickname PhillyD, is an American YouTube personality. He is best known for ''The Philip DeFranco Show'', a news commentary show centered ...
in ''Hooking Up'' from HBOLabs (the online arm of
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
) in 2008.
In 2010, Wu and his father, Michael, competed as a team on the
17th season of ''
The Amazing Race
''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...
'', placing seventh out of eleven teams.
In 2014, Wu starred in
crime drama
Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and combine ...
film ''
Revenge of the Green Dragons'' (executive produced by
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese ( , ; born November 17, 1942) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor. Scorsese emerged as one of the major figures of the New Hollywood era. He is the recipient of List of awards and nominatio ...
).
In 2013, Wu ceased production of YouTube content. In 2016, Wu returned for a brief period of time on social media. In November 2020, Wu created an account on
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...
, originally titled cybermuse.
Background
Wu was born on June 12, 1990, in
Houston
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
.
His father, Michael Wu, a Taiwanese immigrant, is a
computer engineer
Computer engineering (CoE or CpE) is a branch of electrical engineering and computer science that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers ...
. Wu graduated from
Clements High School
William P. Clements High School, more commonly known as Clements High School, is a public high school in First Colony and in Sugar Land within the U.S. state of Texas that is named after former Texas governor Bill Clements, and is a part of the ...
in
Sugar Land, Texas
Sugar Land is the largest city in Fort Bend County, Texas, United States, located in the southwestern part of the metropolitan area. Located about southwest of downtown Houston, Sugar Land is a populous suburban municipality centered around th ...
in 2008 and attended the
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis (UC Davis, UCD, or Davis) is a public land-grant research university near Davis, California. Named a Public Ivy, it is the northernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The institut ...
for two years before dropping out.
He was living in downtown Los Angeles while in the entertainment business but later relocated back to Houston.
Wu was severely injured in a car crash in June 2015.
In May 2019, Wu completed his bachelor's degree in psychology at the
University of Houston
The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...
.
YouTube career
Wu was known for posting humorous videos on YouTube. When Wu's "I Have to Deal With Stereotypes" video was featured on YouTube's home page, his number of viewers began to increase. In this video, Wu talks about stereotypes he has to deal with as an Asian-American. He tries to disprove his cheapness by bragging about the recent purchase of a "brand new, top-of-the-line,
TI-84 calculator". He acknowledges that this might make him nerdy but dismisses this stereotype too as he does not "make all A's...in school today
emade a B+." He is then greeted by a voice that was supposed to be his mother calling him a loser and accusing him of dishonoring their family. Wu goes on to say he can prove his predominant social life with the constant ringing of his cell phone. At this point, his phone indeed rings, he answers it, and the voice on the other end to Wu's disappointment says, "Hey, why did you tell me to call you?" Wu has collaborated with fellow YouTube comedian Christine Gambito (
HappySlip
Christine Gambito (born August 16, 1976 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, United States), better known by her screen name HappySlip, is an American Internet personality, actress, and comedian. She maintained one of the most-subscribed-to channels on Y ...
), making five videos with her.
Following his video, "Butthash Hero", Wu introduced his father, PapaJumba, onto his YouTube channel, and his father made several appearances in candid video clips taken by his son. Responding to Wu's father's growing popularity among viewers, his father made a debut in "I Love My Dad", and has been featured alongside his son many times since.
Background
Wu began uploading videos onto Youtube during his junior year of high school.
On February 26, 2008, the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' compared the web series ''
Quarterlife
''Quarterlife'' (stylized as ''quarterlife'') is an American web series, also briefly an NBC television series in 2008, created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creators of '' Thirtysomething'' and ''Once and Again'', and producers of ...
''
's viewership to Wu's. At the time Wu was a "semi-well known YouTube blogger" and had received 450,000 views for a video describing how he broke his shin.
Quarterlife
''Quarterlife'' (stylized as ''quarterlife'') is an American web series, also briefly an NBC television series in 2008, created by Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creators of '' Thirtysomething'' and ''Once and Again'', and producers of ...
, which had been picked up by
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
, had received only 100,000 views on MySpace and 50,000 views on YouTube. By May 29, 2008, Wu had become one of three
East Asians
East Asian people (East Asians) are the people from East Asia, which consists of China, Taiwan, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, and South Korea. The total population of all countries within this region is estimated to be 1.677 billion and 21% of t ...
under the age of 21 to be in the top five of YouTube's all-time most subscribed users with 187,000 subscribers and more than 5.9 million views. By June 5, 2008, he had become the number one subscribed comedian on YouTube, and third most subscribed uploader overall.
Wu's videos have received replies from
Ella Koon
Ella Koon Yun-na (born 9 July 1979) is a former Hong Kong Cantopop singer and semi-retired actress.
Biography
Ella Koon was born in the French Polynesian island of Tahiti, and is of Hakka descent. She was raised in Hong Kong and attended high sc ...
,
Jessica Alba
Jessica Marie Alba ( ; born April 28, 1981) is an American actress and businesswoman. She began her television and movie appearances at age 13 in '' Camp Nowhere'' and '' The Secret World of Alex Mack'' (1994), and rose to prominence at age 19 ...
, and
Baron Davis
Baron Walter Louis Davis (born April 13, 1979) is an American former professional basketball player who is a studio analyst for the '' NBA on TNT''. He was a two-time NBA All-Star, made the All-NBA Third Team in 2004, and twice led the NBA in ...
.
In 2008, Davis created a "longest stare" contest for ibeatyou.com, a site that he and Alba's husband Cash Warren co-founded. The contest began with Davis challenging Wu, who then challenged Alba, who responded to the challenge. In 2011, Wu began performing with Yesterday, Today, Forever (YTF) along with other YouTube personalities. The group performed their first concert on October 9, 2011 in
Honolulu, Hawaii
Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...
. In June 2012, Wu began starring in YouTube videos on a new channel called
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 ...
. He stars in his own series titled ''KevJumba Takes All''.
As of September 27, 2013, KevJumba has remained inactive with no new uploads to the channel.
As of August 2014, Wu had more than 3,000,000 subscribers and more than 350 million combined views on the videos in his main
channel
Channel, channels, channeling, etc., may refer to:
Geography
* Channel (geography), in physical geography, a landform consisting of the outline (banks) of the path of a narrow body of water.
Australia
* Channel Country, region of outback Austral ...
. His combined video views total over 343.9 million. In early 2016, Wu privatized his videos on the KevJumba account, disabling all content to the public. However, the 35 videos on Wu's JumbaFund channel are still public. The privatized videos were later released again back to the public. He eventually uploaded two new videos titled "Hope." and "YOUTH REPRESENT" LIVE (Internet Power!)" in March 2017.
''Funemployed''
The web series ''Funemployed'', launched in the summer of 2010, stars Wu and Philip Wang of
Wong Fu Productions
Wong Fu Productions is an American filmmaking group founded by Wesley Chan (born April 27, 1984), Ted Fu (born October 26, 1981), and Philip Wang (born October 28, 1984). The trio met at the University of California, San Diego in 2004 and prod ...
and includes other notable YouTube stars such as
Nigahiga
Ryan Higa (born June 6, 1990), also known as nigahiga ( ), is an American Internet personality. Best known for his comedy videos on YouTube, Higa began making YouTube videos in 2006 and was one of the most popular creators on the platform in it ...
,
David Choi
David Choi (born March 22, 1986) is a South Korean-born American musician, YouTuber, and a member of parody K-pop group BgA based in Los Angeles. He has worked with companies such as Kellogg's, Starburst, the American Cancer Society, General ...
,
Kina Grannis
Kina Kasuya Grannis (born August 4, 1985) is an American guitarist, singer and YouTuber. Grannis was the winner of the 2008 Doritos Crash the Super Bowl contest, earning a recording contract with Interscope Records and having her music video ...
, and
Chester See. With the large number of fans, this series quickly took off and became a hit, reaching 500,000 viewers in only a few weeks. The series focuses on two good friends named Kyle (Wu) and Jason (Philip Wang), and how they are dealing with unemployment after Jason is laid off at work. Kyle is characterized as the typical laid back guy, who comes off as somewhat of a slacker, while Jason is characterized as the more studious hard worker of the two. The two eventually come up with an idea of how to make money, believing that YouTube is the key, an allusion to Wu's and Wang's real life success with YouTube videos. ''Funemployed'' eventually came to an end on July 27, 2010, with their last episode entitled, "Gave it a Shot". There were a total of eleven episodes.
JumbaFund
Wu launched the JumbaFund Youtube channel in 2009 with the mission of donating all of its earnings to a charity that viewers suggested.
Wu mentions this in his video and always records himself donating all the profits to the charity in order to show the viewers that his JumbaFund charity is not used for anything but to donate to the needy.
In 2011, Wu was invited by the nonprofit The Supply to teach English in
Nairobi
Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...
, Kenya. Wu uploaded the videos from his trip onto the Jumbafund channel upon his return to the US and donated over $5,000 in ad revenue to The Supply. The nonprofit in turn used the funds to finance the construction of the then titled "Jumba Lenana Academy" secondary school in the Lenana neighborhood where Wu volunteered. Jumbafund, up until this point, donated to various charities, such as the
Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...
and
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. However, in February 2012, Wu has stated that he will dedicate the channel's annual revenue entirely to completing the Jumba Lenana Academy. The school was finished in 2013 and renamed "KevJumba High School". Jumbafund ended up donating more than $50,000 to the construction of the school and Wu has expressed his intent to continue covering the facility's operational costs.
After YouTube
On April 21, 2016, Wu resurfaced on social media after an almost three-year absence as he made a blog titled "Monk.College". Wu said on his blog that he left YouTube so he could meditate (having taken an interest in
transcendental meditation
Transcendental Meditation (TM) is a form of silent mantra meditation advocated by the Transcendental Meditation movement. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi created the technique in India in the mid-1950s. Advocates of TM claim that the technique promotes a ...
) and go to college. According to his blog, Wu currently resides in
Houston, Texas
Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
. In August 2016, Wu privatized "Monk.College" for unspecified reasons.
In March 2017, Wu made his first public appearance at Youth Represent the World Concert in
Stafford, Texas
Stafford is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, in the metropolitan area. The city is mostly in Fort Bend County, with a small part in Harris County. As of the 2020 census, Stafford's population was 17,666, down from 17,693 at the 2010 census.
H ...
, and opened up about his car accident to the public for the first time. After another three-year hiatus, Wu started streaming on Twitch. Wu hosted the
Twitch
Twitch may refer to:
Biology
* Muscle contraction
** Convulsion, rapid and repeated muscle contraction and relaxation
** Fasciculation, a small, local, involuntary muscle contraction
** Myoclonic twitch, a jerk usually caused by sudden muscle co ...
livestream portion of the annual music festival
Head in the Clouds in 2021 and 2022.
Other works
In 2007, Wu appeared on
The CW
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
's short-lived ''
Online Nation''. ''Online Nation'' compiled an hour of
web clips, broadcast them during primetime, lasting four episodes. Wu, along with other popular YouTube personalities, is also paid to broadcast a streaming show on BlogTV. He has been a member of BlogTV since March 29, 2008, and as of November 2, 2008, he had produced 70 live and 23 recorded shows with over 300,000 viewers of the live show and 100,000 viewers of the recorded shows.
As of October 2008, Wu starred with
Jessica Rose
Jessica Lee Rose (born April 26, 1987) is an American-New Zealand actress who first gained popularity after playing the role of ''lonelygirl15'', a fictional teenage homeschooled character named Bree who appeared in YouTube video blogs, beginni ...
and
Phillip DeFranco in ''Hooking Up'' from HBOLabs (the online arm of
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
), a scripted 10-episode web-based series. ''Hooking Up'' is set at a fictional university where the students spend most of their time emailing and twittering, but still manage to miscommunicate. It is his first work on a scripted production. Guest appearances on ''Hooking Up'' will be made by
Kevin Nalty
Kevin 'Nalts' Nalty (born May 12, 1969 in New Orleans, Louisiana) is an American Internet personality and marketer better known under his YouTube username Nalts. Nalts began on YouTube as one of the top-20 most-viewed comedy channels, and collab ...
,
Michael Buckley, and other internet celebrities. The entire cast of ''Hooking Up'' is composed of YouTube
video bloggers
A video blog or video log, sometimes shortened to vlog (), is a form of blog for which the medium is video. Vlog entries often combine embedded video (or a video link) with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded i ...
in the hope of attracting a young, internet knowledgeable audience. By the show's second day on YouTube, it had received more than 450,000 views. According to NewTeeVee.com, an evolving consensus is that for an online video to be a hit, somewhere between 100,000 and one million views are needed, giving ''Hooking Up'' a strong start.
Maria Russo of the ''Los Angeles Times'' felt that Wu was better looking than star DeFranco and wondered why Wu plays the "tired role of the East Asian friend who helps the white guy get the chicks,"
while Bobbie Johnson of ''The Guardian'' said that many web surfers had "scoffed at what they see as a cynical attempt to cash in."
On October 2, 2011, Wu hosted "Flicks" on
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...
during an airing of ''
Around the World in 80 Days
''Around the World in Eighty Days'' (french: link=no, Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours) is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employe ...
''. Wu has also announced he would be starring in the independent film ''Rock Jocks'' with Justin Chon, Felicia Day, and Gerry Bedknob, which was released in 2012.
In 2011, Wu sponsored
Brian Wong
Brian Wong (born April 14, 1991) is a Canadian Internet entrepreneur. In 2010, Wong co-founded Kiip (pronounced "keep"), a company offering a mobile app rewards platform through which computer game players would receive real-world rewards from ...
in the
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and hi ...
K&N Pro Series West
The ARCA Menards Series West, formerly the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, NASCAR AutoZone West Series, NASCAR Winston West Series and NASCAR Camping World West Series, is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racin ...
, who raced a car with Wu's paint scheme in the Casino Arizona 125 at
Phoenix International Raceway
Phoenix Raceway is a 1-mile, low-banked tri-oval race track located in Avondale, Arizona, near Phoenix. The motorsport track opened in 1964 and currently hosts two NASCAR race weekends annually including the final championship race since 2020. P ...
.
Wu was honored by
East West Players
East West Players is an Asian American theatre organization in Los Angeles, founded in 1965. As the nation's first professional Asian American theatre organization, East West Players continues to produce works and educational programs that give v ...
, the oldest
Asian Pacific American (APA) theatre company in the United States,
for helping to increase the presence of APA's in the arts and entertainment at their 47th Visionary Award in 2013.
Tim Dang
Timothy Dang is an American actor and theatre director originally from Hawaii of Asian origin. He served as the artistic director at the Asian American theatre company, East West Players (EWP), in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, California until 20 ...
, the Producing Artistic Director of East West Players at the time, called Wu "a great example of the 'next generation' taking the lead to raise the visibility of Asian Americans through new media and the art of comedy."
''The Amazing Race''
In May and June 2010, Wu participated with his father in filming for the
17th season of ''
The Amazing Race
''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...
'', an American reality television game show. Upon this announcement, it was also the first time his dad's name, Michael, was revealed, which was kept anonymous since his debut. Wu officially announced his participation on Facebook on September 1, and on YouTube a week later.
The season premiered on September 26, 2010. Michael and Kevin's best placement was a third-place finish in
Leg 2 and Leg 6. Their worst placement was a last place finish (9th) in
Leg 3, a non-elimination leg. They ended up in seventh place and were eliminated in
Leg 7 after being issued two 30-minute penalties for using a cab to travel between tasks on the leg when they were instructed to walk; another team had also issued a similar penalty and checked in after them, but only had one half-hour penalty, resulting in Kevin and Michael's elimination.
''Hang Loose''
Wu began working on a film with
Dante Basco
Dante R. Basco (born August 29, 1975) is an American film, television and voice actor. He is best known for his role as Rufio, the leader of the Lost Boys in Steven Spielberg's ''Hook'', and Julian Lee in '' Fakin' da Funk'', and for his many vo ...
and Kinetic Films LLC in late 2011. In December 2012, Wu released his first full-length feature film, ''Hang Loose''.
''Hang Loose'' is a comedy in which Wu, who stars as himself, goes to Hawaii for his sister's wedding but finds himself on a misadventure with his future brother-in-law (played by Dante Basco) that changes his life.
Other notable actors in the film include frequent collaborator
Justin Chon
Justin Jitae Chon (born May 29, 1981) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has directed three films, ''Gook'' (2017), '' Ms. Purple'' (2019), & ''Blue Bayou'' (2021). He is also known for portraying Eric Yorkie in '' The Twilight Saga'' film ...
as the main antagonist, BJ.
Filmography
* ''Hang Loose'' (2012)
* ''Rock Jocks'' (2012)
* ''
Revenge of the Green Dragons'' (2014)
* ''Man Up'' (2015)
See also
*
History of the Chinese Americans in Houston
The Houston area population includes a large number of people with Chinese ancestral backgrounds. According to the American Community Survey, as of 2013, Greater Houston (Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown metropolitan area) has 72,320 residents of Chine ...
References
External links
KevJumbaat
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 ...
*
{{authority control
1990 births
Living people
American male comedians
21st-century American comedians
American male actors of Taiwanese descent
American Buddhists
Converts to Buddhism
People from Galveston, Texas
People from Sugar Land, Texas
The Amazing Race (American TV series) contestants
YouTube channels
YouTubers from Texas
American male actors of Chinese descent
University of California, Davis alumni
University of Houston alumni
American male YouTubers
Twitch (service) streamers