Veronica Jo Merrell-Burriss and Vanessa Jo Vaughn-Merrell (born August 6, 1996), known as the Merrell Twins, are American identical twin

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

s, actresses, producers, musicians, singers and songwriters.

Early years

The Merrell Twins are identical twin sisters born in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City, Missouri, abbreviated KC or KCMO, is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri by List of cities in Missouri, population and area. The city lies within Jackson County, Missouri, Jackson, Clay County, Missouri, Clay, and Pl ...

, on August 6, 1996, to Paul Merrell; a musician, one time youth pastor and video editor/producer/director, and Wendy Merrell; a former school administrator.Gomez, Patrick. They specialized in horseback riding and rodeo
"5 Things to Know About Jane the Virgin and YouTube's Merrell Twins"
''People''. December 13, 2015. Veronica "Roni" is 45 minutes older than Vanessa "Nessa". They grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, before moving to

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the eas ...

in June 2012 at nearly 16 years old to pursue a career in acting and filming for their YouTube channel. They also had a very short time with

Disney Channel Disney Channel is an American pay television television channel, channel that serves as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney Entertainment business segment of the Walt Disney Company ...

.Spangler, Todd
"Vanessa & Veronica Merrell: Twins Win Social Fans and Angle for TV Show"
''Variety''. June 21, 2016. Retrieved September 18, 2017.

Education

In 2015, the Merrell Twins enrolled in

California State University, Northridge California State University, Northridge (CSUN or Cal State Northridge), is a public university in the Northridge neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. With a total enrollment of 36,848 students (as of Fall 2024), it has the ...

. Veronica was studying screenwriting and Vanessa was studying TV production.

Career

The Merrell Twins launched their main

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel in late 2009, but they didn't take it seriously and upload videos to it consistently until around 2013. Their videos are produced and edited by their father, Paul Merrell. They often appear in

AwesomenessTV AwesomenessTV Holdings, LLC, often shortened to Awesomeness, is an American digital media and entertainment network company owned by Paramount Global. Established in July 2012 by Brian Robbins and Joe Davola, the company operated a network init ...

videos and had recurring roles on the television show ''

Jane the Virgin ''Jane the Virgin'' is an American romantic comedy-drama and satirical telenovela developed by Jennie Snyder Urman. The series premiered October 13, 2014, on The CW and concluded on July 31, 2019. It is a loose adaptation of the Venezuelan te ...

''. They appeared in the 2016 film ''The Standoff''. In 2016 at the 8th Shorty Awards, they won for

YouNow YouNow is an American live streaming broadcasting service where users stream their own live video content or interact with the video streams of other users in real time. The service is available on its website and on Android and iOS apps. As of ...

er of the Year."About Merrell Twins
Shortyawards.com. Retrieved September 18, 2017. They won a

Streamy Award The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are an awards show presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and wri ...

for Best Live Social Media in 2016. In 2017, they were nominated for Choice Female Web Star at the

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards were an annual awards show that aired on the Fox television network between 1999 and 2019. The awards, based on a popularity vote that could be overridden by the producerswho reserved the right to choose the winnerscovered ...

. In 2018, they were nominated for two

: Choice Female Web Star and Choice YouTuber. They won the 2018 Streamy Award in the Lifestyle category. In July 2018, the Merrell Twins released their clothing line, True IMG. The phrase 'true image' is derived from the meaning of Veronica's name, and its logo features a butterfly dotting the 'I' in IMG referring to the meaning of Vanessa's name in Greek. They were nominated in 2019 for Best YouTube Ensemble at the

11th Shorty Awards The 11th Shorty Awards were held on May 5, 2019, in New York City at the PlayStation Theater. The ceremony was hosted by American actress and comedian Kathy Griffin, along with a music performance by Tank and the Bangas. The event was live stream ...

. At the

2020 Kids' Choice Awards The 33rd Annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards ceremony (officially titled ''"Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards 2020: Celebrate Together"'') was held virtually on May 2, 2020, with Victoria Justice serving as host. It aired on Nickelodeon and i ...

, they were nominated for Favorite Female Social Star. In collaboration with AwesomenessTV, the twins launched ''Twin My Heart'', a

reality TV Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 199 ...

show aimed at finding love for one of the twins, Vanessa Merrell. The success of season one led to a second season being released in 2020 which revolved around two of the twins' best friends, Franny Arrieta and Nezza. The show was renewed further for a third season the following year revolving around TikTok star Nate Wyatt. They also produced and acted in three web shows called "Where is My Romeo?", "Prom Knight", and "Breaking into College". In the beginning of 2023, Vanessa and her husband John Vaughn, formed a music duo "ButterflyTiger" and released their debut single, "Love Me (Like You Do)" on February 24, 2023.

Personal lives

On December 27, 2021, Veronica married YouTuber Aaron Burriss. On January 27, 2023, Vanessa married musician John Vaughn. The twins have stated in at least a couple of videos that they are of

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, Irish,

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

and

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descent.

Filmography

: ''This filmography is of the twins as a duo.'' : ''This filmography is of Vanessa Merrell.''

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Merrell twins 1996 births 21st-century American actresses Actresses from Kansas City, Missouri American web series actresses Female musical duos Identical twin actresses Identical twin females Lifestyle YouTubers Living people Entertainers from Kansas City, Missouri Shorty Award winners Streamy Award winners Twin musical duos YouTubers from Missouri