Anna Akana

Anna Kay Napualani Akana[1] (born August 18, 1989) is an American YouTuber, actress, singer-songwriter, filmmaker, and author.

Anna Akana
Akana at VidCon Amsterdam in March 2018
Born	Anna Kay Napualani Akana August 18, 1989 Monterey County, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actress filmmaker producer comedian singer
YouTube information
Channel	AnnaAkana
Years active	2010–present
Genre	Music, mental health, comedy
Subscribers	2.7 million
Total views	331.3 million
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 1,000,000 subscribers
Updated: June 27, 2020
Website	annaakana.com

Early life, family and education

Akana's father was an officer in the United States Marine Corps, including during her childhood.[2] Her family moved every few years to a new state or country.[3] In a 2020 interview, she said that she loved Sailor Moon, Inuyasha and Ranma 1/2, expressing her surprise that her dad would make them watch Tenchi Muyo! with him because of its "perverted" nature.[4] She further stated that she loved shows like The Powerpuff Girls, animation in general, and anime, the latter especially because she spent "four years growing up in Japan."

On Valentine's Day 2007, Akana's 13-year-old sister, Kristina, died by suicide.[5] 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.[6] Akana has been vocal about her sister's suicide and is a strong advocate for suicide prevention. In 2013, Akana uploaded a YouTube video, "please don't kill yourself," in which she explains how it felt for her to have a family member die by suicide.[7] In that same year, she released a book Surviving Suicide which contains her journal entries from the two years after her sister's death.[8]

In October 2018, she came out as bisexual.[9]

Career

Akana first started performing comedy at age 19 but switched to YouTube video performances in 2011 after experiencing panic attacks and anxiety before going on stage.[6] She later resumed performing stand-up onstage.

YouTube

In 2014, Akana formed a comedy music duo, Cat Benatar, with fellow comedian and writer Megan Rosati.[10] (The duo's name is wordplay for the pop singer Pat Benatar.)

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 twelve short films, 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, and she has since continued to create short films.[14]

One of her short films, 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, Miss 2059, and released on Verizon's go90 app in June 2016, with a second season released in late 2017.[18][19][20][21][22]

Akana executive produced and starred as the lead role in the original comedy-drama web television series Youth & Consequences, created by Jason Ubaldi and released in March 2018 on YouTube Red. She is also the host of the web series Crash Course Business: Entrepreneurship beginning in August 2019.[23]

On October 10, 2019 she was featured in a 30 minute YouTube documentary created by SoulPancake in collaboration with Funny or Die wherein a variety of comedians discuss mental health called Laughing Matters.[24]

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.[25]

In 2015, she appeared in the films Ant-Man and Kids vs Monsters.

Akana starred in Snapper Hero, a scripted video series distributed via Snapchat.[26] The series was sponsored by AT&T.[26]

In 2016, Akana appeared alongside Sally Field in the indie comedy film Hello, My Name Is Doris, written by Michael Showalter.[27] That same year, she also appeared in a short Star Wars fan film, Hoshino[28] as well as the comedy film Dirty 30.

She has a recurring role in the Comedy Central show Corporate.[29]

She also has supporting roles as Gloria Sato in the Disney Channel show Big City Greens and Sasha Waybright in Amphibia.

In 2019, she announced on Ryan Higa's Off the Pill podcast to be part of the Netflix original Jupiter's Legacy.

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.[30]

Other ventures

In 2015, Akana released a clothing line, Ghost & Stars, which features several cat-themed designs as well as formal dresses, leggings, and a variety of T-shirts.[31]

In 2017, Akana's book So Much I Want to Tell You: Letters to My Little Sister was published. The book describes Akana's struggles and experiences growing up and offers advice to her late sister.[32]

In 2019, Akana transitioned from comedy into music, and upon so, released her debut single, "Intervention". Its music video was directed by Auden Bui.[33][34] She has since released two more music videos, one for "Pretty Girls Don't Cry" in July 2019 and "Not My Proudest Moment" in August. She continued to release music videos for songs named "Alone Together", "Disappointment" and "Let Me Go". Her debut album Casualty came out in October 2019.[35]

Critical reception

In reviewing her video, "Why Guys Like Asian Girls" (which references "Yellow Fever", a term for an Asian fetish)[36] Cate Matthews of 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."[37]

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."[38]

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."[27]

Filmography

Feature films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2013	Inappropriate Comedy	Student driver
2014	Here She Is	Miss Hawaii	Also writer
2015	Ant-Man	Writer
	Kids vs Monsters	Daisy
2016	Hello, My Name Is Doris	Blogger
	Dirty 30	Ashley Driscoll
2017	You Get Me	Lydia
2018	Next Gen	Ani	Voice role
2019	Go Back to China	Sasha Li
2019	Let It Snow	Kerry
2020	Hooking Up	Elizabeth
2021	So Much	TBA	Television film, pre-production

Television

Year	Title	Episode(s)	Role	Notes
2011	Awkward	"Knocker Nightmare"	Asian girl
2012	Shake It Up	"Made in Japan"	Tomoka
	The Beauty Inside	5 episodes	Alex #29
2013–2014	The Fosters	2 episodes	Lily
2016	Adam Ruins Everything	"Adam Ruins Shopping Malls"	Female Shopper
2017	Stitchers	7 episodes	Amanda Weston	Recurring Role
2018–2020	Corporate		Paige	Recurring Role
2018–present	Big City Greens	18 episodes	Gloria Sato, Ms. Cho	Voice role; recurring
2019–present	Amphibia	5 episodes	Sasha Waybright	Voice role; recurring
2020	Magical Girl Friendship Squad: Origins	6 Episodes	Daisy	Main role
	Into the Dark	"My Valentine"	Julie	guest star
	A Million Little Things	4 Episodes	Dakota	Recurring Role
	NCIS: Los Angeles	"Murder of Crows"	Rhea Moretti	Guest Star
2021	Jupiter's Legacy	4 Episodes	Raikou	Main role

Web series

Year	Title	Episode(s)	Role	Notes
2011	Breaking Los Angeles	9 episodes	Herself	Also producer
	10 Second Traumas	8 episodes	Various	Also a writer, executive producer and director
2012	Pointy Teeth	"Pilot"	Anna
2013	Riley Rewind	5 episodes	Riley Brown	Also writer and producer
	Runaway Thoughts Podcast	85 episodes[39]	Herself	Ran until May 14, 2014.[40] Co-host, also writer and producer,[41] partially lost media
2015	52 Ways to Break Up	"#24 and #25- Compare Notes"	Anna
	Command Center		Commander	Also writer and director
	Broken People	2 episodes	Pinches
	Last Moments of Relationships	"CRAZY DATING STORIES"	Fay
	Stunted		Nora
	Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures	Episode: "Art Attack"	The White Spirit
	Wrestling Isn't Wrestling		Batista	Short Film
	Adult Wednesday	2 episodes	-	Executive producer
	Rough Day		Detective Mah-jong	Also executive producer
	MisSpelled	"#HotlineWing"	Stella
	#Cybriety	"Neighbor Ellen"	Ellen
2016	Hipsters	3 episodes	Jane	Also director
	Tiny Feminists	"Linda"	Ms. Applebaum
	This Isn't Working	5 episodes	Nicole
	Transformers: Combiner Wars	4 episodes	Victorion	Voice role
	Single by 30	6 episodes	Grace
	12 Deadly Days	"Coffee Cups"	Judalina
	Go-Go Boy Interrupted	10 episodes	-	Co-producer
	Miss 2059	24 episodes	Victoria Young	Also creator, executive producer and director
2017	Drive Share	"Garbage Mommy"	Driver
	Search Bar	12 episodes	Various	Also creator, executive producer and director
2018	Youth & Consequences	8 episodes	Farrah	Also creator and executive producer

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Details
Casualty	Released: October 4, 2019 Format: Digital download, Streaming Label: JENGA Productions

Extended plays

Title	Details
No Longer Yours	Released: February 19, 2021 Format: Digital Download, Streaming Label: TBA

Singles

Title	Year	Album
"Intervention"	2019	Casualty
"Alone Together"
"Pretty Girls Don't Cry"
"Not My Proudest Moment"
"Disappointment"
"Let Me Go"
"Need You Now" (from "A Million Little Things: Season 2")	2020	N/A
"Everything's Gotta Change" (from "A Million Little Things: Season 2")		N/A
"Swim"		No Longer Yours
"Pink"
"Run"	2021

Promotional singles

Title	Year	Album
"Screw You"	2012	Non-album single
"Mad Love"
"Against The Darkness"
"Lost Dreams" (featuring Jesse Cale)	2013

Music videos

Title	Year	Director
"Screw You"	2012	Will Akana[42]
"Intervention	2019	Auden Bui[43]
"Alone Together"		Maggie Levin[44]
"Pretty Girls Don't Cry"		Maggie Levin[45]
"Not My Proudest Moment"		Jackson Adams[46]
"Disappointment"		Hazel Hayes[47]
"Let Me Go"		Auden Bui[48]
"Casualty"		[49]
"Bad News"		[50]
"Spoken For"		Auden Bui[51]
"Selfish"	2020	[52]
"Quicksand"		Kantu Lentz[53]
"Pick A Fight"		[54]
"Swim"		Anna Akana & Auden Bui[55]
"Pink"		[56]
"Run"	2021	Auden Bui[57]

Guest appearances

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

Awards

Year	Association	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2014	San Diego Asian Film Festival	Digital Pioneer		Won	[58]
2015	Streamy Awards	Best Actress	SnapperHero	Nominated	[59]
2018	Streamy Awards	Acting in a Drama	Youth & Consequences	Won	[60]
2019	46th Daytime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Digital Drama Series	Youth & Consequences	Nominated	[61]

References

1. "Annakay Napualani Akana, Born 08/18/1989 in California | CaliforniaBirthIndex.org". www.californiabirthindex.org. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
2. "My dad was right". YouTube. March 11, 2013. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
3. Luhar, Monica (November 13, 2015). "Anna Akana is 'Chasing Laughs' and Telling Stories". NBC News. Archived from the original on April 19, 2019. Retrieved April 3, 2019.
4. Akana, Anna (September 25, 2020). "Magical Girl Friendship Squad's Anna Akana on What Drew Her to the Show" (Online). Interviewed by Sam Stone. Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on September 25, 2020. Retrieved September 25, 2020.
5. "Surviving Suicide". GoodReads.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
6. Luhar, Monica (November 13, 2015). "Anna Akana is 'Chasing Laughs' and Telling Stories". NBC News. Archived from the original on March 12, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
7. Akana, Anna (September 27, 2013). "please don't kill yourself". YouTube. Archived from the original on March 11, 2016. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
8. Akana, Anna. "Surviving Suicide". GoodReads.com. Archived from the original on February 22, 2015. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
9. "Anna Akana opens up about bisexuality after coming out at the Streamy Awards". Metro. November 16, 2018. Archived from the original on June 7, 2020. Retrieved May 19, 2020.
10. "be uncomfortable". YouTube. March 14, 2014. Archived from the original on August 9, 2014. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
11. Yu, Tiffany. "How Death Shed New Light on 'Riley Rewind' Actress Anna Akana's Life". Mochi Magazine. Archived from the original on December 25, 2013. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
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20. Dry, Jude (June 20, 2016). "Watch: Exclusive Clip From New Form Digital's 'Miss 2059,' Starring Anna Akana". Archived from the original on August 24, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
21. "MISS 2059 | OFFICIAL TRAILER". go90. Archived from the original on August 28, 2016. Retrieved August 26, 2016.
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26. Jarvey, Natalie (January 29, 2015). "AT&T Launches Scripted Series on Snapchat". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on June 13, 2015. Retrieved May 23, 2015. The series, SnapperHero, stars YouTubers Anna Akana, Freddie Wong, Harley Morenstein, and Jasmeet Singh alongside Snapchat celeb Shaun McBride, who also served as creative director.
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45. "Anna Akana - Pretty Girls Don't Cry (Official Music Video)". YouTube. July 4, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
46. "Anna Akana - Not My Proudest Moment (Official Music Video)". YouTube. August 2, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
47. "Anna Akana - Disappointment (Official Music Video)". YouTube. September 6, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
48. "Anna Akana - Let Me Go (Official Music Video)". YouTube. September 20, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
49. "Anna Akana - Casualty (Official Music Video)". YouTube. October 4, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
50. "Anna Akana - Bad News (Official Music Video)". YouTube. October 25, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
51. "Anna Akana - Spoken For (Official Music Video)". YouTube. November 22, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
52. "Anna Akana - Selfish (Official Music Video)". YouTube. January 16, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
53. "Quicksand". YouTube. January 30, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
54. "Anna Akana Pick A Fight Official Music Video". YouTube. February 13, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
55. "Anna Akana - Swim (Official Music Video)". YouTube. August 21, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
56. "Anna Akana - Pink (Official Music Video)". YouTube. November 13, 2020. Retrieved December 7, 2020.
57. "Anna Akana - Run (Official Music Video)". YouTube. January 22, 2021. Retrieved January 28, 2021.
58. "Digital Pioneer Award". SDAFF. Archived from the original on December 21, 2014. Retrieved December 8, 2014.
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External links

• Official website
• Anna Akana at IMDb
• ghostandstars.com