Jon Paul Piques (born June 30, 1986), also known simply as Piques, is a Canadian

actor An actor (masculine/gender-neutral), or actress (feminine), is a person who portrays a character in a production. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. ...

, director,

internet celebrity An Internet celebrity, also referred to as an Internet personality, is an individual who has acquired or developed their fame and notability on the Internet. The growing popularity of social media provides a means for people to reach a large ...

and former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player. He has over 3 billion views on YouTube and over 11 million combined followers.

Career

Soccer career

Piques played as a goalkeeper during his youth and was scouted by

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

through his father's contacts at the Lisbon club. Sporting's officials wanted him to stay, but he was unable to as he was still in ninth grade. He finished up his school year and joined Sporting's

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. During his time there, he became close friends with

Miguel Veloso Miguel Luís Pinto Veloso (; born 11 May 1986) is a Portuguese former professional Association football, footballer. Mainly a defensive midfielder, he could also operate as an attacking left-back. He started his career with Sporting CP, for who ...

, and although they never played together,

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

. Piques was at Sporting for ten months, and FIFA rules determined that he had to return to Canada. He went back to Portugal after turning eighteen, to play for Beja and then for

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players who are under contract to a club but who do not regularly play in matches for the club's primary team. Reserve teams usually include players who are part of the larger first-team squad but ...

, before returning to Canada to play one season with the Montreal Impact. At Braga B, he was second-choice to

Eduardo Eduardo is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the male name Edward. Another version is Duarte. It may refer to: Association football * Dudu (footballer, born 1992) (Eduardo Pereira Rodrigues), Brazilian footballer * Eduardo (footballer, born 1 ...

and was a teammate of

Diego Costa Diego da Silva Costa (, ; born 7 October 1988) is a professional Association football, footballer who most recently played as a Striker (association football), striker for Campeonato Brasileiro Série A club Grêmio FBPA, Grêmio. Costa be ...

, both of whom would later play for Chelsea, Piques' favourite club. In 2007, he played with Montreal's reserve team

Trois-Rivières Attak Trois-Rivières Attak was a Canadian Association football, soccer team that played three seasons in the Canadian Soccer League. They formally served as a reserve and academy team for the USL First Division side Montreal Impact (1992–2011), Mont ...

in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

, where he won the

Open Canada Cup The Open Canada Cup was an annual knock-out cup competition in Canadian Soccer. The competition was first held during the 1998 season as the CPSL League Cup. It was organized by the Canadian Soccer League (formerly the Canadian Professional ...

. The following season, he played with division rivals the

Italia Shooters York Region Shooters is a Canadian soccer team, that plays in the Canadian Soccer League. The Shooters played their home games at the St. Joan of Arc Turf Field in the City of Vaughan, Ontario. The team's colours were blue and white, mirroring t ...

, where he won the International Division title.

Media career

Piques decided to change career paths and attended

Humber College The Humber College Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, rebranded as Humber Polytechnic since 2024, is a public Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, college in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1967, Humber has three mai ...

, majoring in marketing and sales. After college, Piques worked as a business insurance salesman, but later moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

following initial success on social media. Piques' breakthrough on social media was through

Vine A vine is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas, or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselves, for instance, when used in wicker work.Jackson; Benjamin; Da ...

, where he posted comedic videos on his way back and forth to his insurance job. Following his success on Vine, Piques expanded into

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. Many of Piques’ social media videos involve collaborations with other Vine stars such as Jerry Purpdrank, Amanda Cerny,

Lele Pons Eleonora "Lele" Pons Maronese ( ; born 25 June 1996) is an American and Venezuelan YouTuber, actress and singer. Pons came to prominence on Vine before the platform was shut down in 2016 where she was the most followed woman and the third most ...

, Max Jr and

King Bach Andrew Byron Bachelor (born June 26, 1988), better known by his stage name King Bach ( ), is a Canadian-American Internet comedian and actor who rose to fame on the now-defunct video sharing service Vine, on which he was the most-followed user w ...

. Piques was a featured speaker in the 2016

SXSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

festival in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, where he led the panel about the rise of social media in today's world. Piques shot his first pilot presentation in May 2016, which he wrote and is starring in for Playboy Digital. In 2018, Piques had a voice role in a six-part animated series ''Super Slackers'', directed by ''Simpsons'' director David Silverman. In 2019, he appeared in ''Airplane Mode'', a film featuring several internet celebrities and co-written by the Paul brothers. Some of the brands Piques has worked with include

T-Mobile T-Mobile is the brand of telecommunications by Deutsche Telekom Deutsche Telekom AG (, ; often just Telekom, DTAG or DT; stylised as ·T·) is a partially state-owned German telecommunications company headquartered in Bonn and the largest telec ...

Anheuser-Busch Anheuser-Busch Companies, LLC ( ) is an American brewing company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Since 2008, it has been wholly owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev SA/NV (AB InBev), now the world's largest brewing company, which owns multiple ...

and

TGI Fridays TGI Fridays Franchisor, LLC, doing business as TGI Fridays, is an American casual dining List of restaurant chains, restaurant chain focusing primarily on American cuisine. The restaurant's name stands for "Thank God It's Friday". TGI Fridays op ...

among others.

Personal life

Piques was raised in

Woodbridge, Ontario Woodbridge is a very large suburban community in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada, along the city's border with Toronto. It occupies the city's entire southwest quadrant, west of Ontario Highway 400, Highway 400, east of Ontario Highway 50, Highway 50, n ...

, Canada. He is of Italian and Portuguese descent.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Piques, Jon Paul 1986 births Living people People from Vaughan Soccer people from Ontario Canadian people of Italian descent Canadian people of Portuguese descent Canadian Internet celebrities Canadian men's soccer players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal S.C. Braga B players Humber College alumni Men's association football goalkeepers Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Trois-Rivières Attak players York Region Shooters players USL First Division players Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players 21st-century Canadian sportsmen