PewDiePie

He was born to Lotta Kristine Johanna (née Hellstrand, born 1958) and Ulf Christian Kjellberg (born 1957), and grew up with his older sister, Fanny.

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg (, ; born 24 October 1989), better known as PewDiePie, is a Swedish YouTuber known for his comedic videos.

Kjellberg's popularity on YouTube and extensive media coverage has made him one of the most noted online personalities and content creators.

He has been portrayed in the media as a figurehead for YouTube, especially in the genre of gaming.

Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg was born on 24 October 1989 in Gothenburg, where he was also raised.

Kjellberg originally registered a YouTube account under the name "Pewdie" in December 2006; he explained that "pew" represents the sound of lasers and "die" refers to dying.

Born and raised in Gothenburg, Kjellberg registered his YouTube channel "PewDiePie" in 2010, primarily posting Let's Play videos of horror and action video games.

Kjellberg's content was already noted for its polarizing reception among general audiences online, but in the late 2010s, it became more controversial and attracted increased media scrutiny.

His mother, a former chief information officer (CIO), was named the 2010 CIO of the Year in Sweden.

His father is a corporate executive.

During his childhood, Kjellberg was interested in art and has detailed that he would draw popular video game characters such as Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog, as well as play video games on his Super Nintendo Entertainment System, such as Star Fox and Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest.

During high school, he frequently played video games in his bedroom and would skip classes to join at an Internet café with friends.

During his last year of high school, he bought a computer with the money he made selling artwork through his grandmother's gallery.

After initially forgetting the password to this account, he registered the "PewDiePie" YouTube channel on 29 April 2010.

Following his exit from Chalmers, his parents refused to financially support him, so he funded his early videos by working as a harbor captain, selling prints of his Photoshop art, and working at a hot dog stand.

Kjellberg stated that the ability to make videos was more important to him than a prestigious career.

Five years later, Kjellberg recalled, "I knew people were big at other types of videos, but there was no one big in gaming, and I didn't know you could make money out of it. It was never like a career that I could just quit college to pursue. It was just something I loved to do."

In his early years as a YouTube creator, Kjellberg focused on video game commentaries, most notably of horror and action video games.

Some of his earliest videos featured commentaries of mainstream video games including Minecraft and Call of Duty, although he was particularly noted for his Let's Plays of Amnesia: The Dark Descent and its related mods.

On these videos, Kjellberg has stated "I was so shy back then," and added, "It was so weird to me, sitting alone in a room talking into a microphone. That was unheard of back at the time. No one really did it."

Kjellberg's oldest video available for viewing is titled "Minecraft Multiplayer Fun".

Uploaded on 2 October 2010, the video is noted for containing mainly Swedish commentary from Kjellberg, rather than the English language he would later employ in his videos.

The video has amassed over 21 million video views as of August 2022.

Kjellberg then went on to pursue a degree in industrial engineering and management at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, but left the university in 2011.

Starting on 2 September 2011, he also began posting weekly vlogs under the title of Fridays with PewDiePie.

His channel gained a substantial following and was one of the fastest growing channels in 2012 and 2013, before becoming the most-subscribed on YouTube on 15 August 2013.

From 29 December 2014 to 14 February 2017, Kjellberg's channel was also the most-viewed on the platform.

During this period, his content shifted focus from Let's Plays and diversified to include vlogs, comedy shorts, formatted shows, and music videos.

In 2016, Time magazine named him as one of the world's 100 most influential people.

While it has been reported that he left Chalmers to focus on his YouTube career, Kjellberg clarified in 2017 that he had left due to a lack of interest in his course of study.

He further expressed that, in general, leaving university to pursue a YouTube career would be "fucking stupid".

Kjellberg has also discussed an enjoyment of Adobe Photoshop, wanting to work on photo manipulation art using the program rather than be in school.

Following this passion after he departed from Chalmers, he entered Photoshop contests and almost earned an apprenticeship at a prominent Scandinavian advertising agency.

He was also interested in creating content on YouTube; after not earning the apprenticeship, he sold limited edition prints of his photoshopped images to purchase a computer to work on YouTube videos.

In 2019, following a public competition with Indian record label T-Series, Kjellberg was overtaken as the most-subscribed YouTube channel.

Kjellberg also became more reserved online, uploading less consistently and taking frequent breaks from Internet use.

He eventually semi-retired from YouTube, choosing to upload less frequently for his enjoyment rather than as a career.

Meanwhile, in his personal life, he moved to Japan with his wife, Italian Internet personality Marzia.

With over 111 million subscribers and 29.2 billion views, his channel still ranks as one of the most-subscribed and viewed on YouTube.

His popularity online has been noted to boost sales for the video games he plays, and has allowed him to stir support for charity fundraising drives.