Joshua Kenneth Richards (born January 31, 2002) is a Canadian

social media personality A social media influencer, or simply influencer (also known as an online influencer), is a person who builds a grassroots online presence through engaging content such as photos, videos, and updates. This is done by using direct audience intera ...

and businessman. He is the CEO of CrossCheck Studios.

Early life

Richards was born on January 31, 2002, in Toronto, Ontario. He spent his early years in

Cobourg Cobourg ( ) is a town in the Canadian province of Ontario, located in Southern Ontario east of Toronto and east of Oshawa. It is the largest town in and seat of Northumberland County. Its nearest neighbour is Port Hope, to the west. It is ...

, a small Ontario town about an hour east of Toronto, before dropping out of high school and moving 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, ...

. He has 2 younger siblings.

Career

Richards has garnered a following of 25.7 million on

TikTok TikTok, known in mainland China and Hong Kong as Douyin (), is a social media and Short-form content, short-form online video platform owned by Chinese Internet company ByteDance. It hosts user-submitted videos, which may range in duration f ...

, 2.14 million on

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 ...

, 2.4 million on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

, and 6.1 million on

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

. His posts often include sports content, dancing, lip syncing, comedy, and video skits. He has acted in films including ''Brother's Keeper,'' ''Summertime Dropouts,'' and the upcoming ''Dream Scenario'' with Nicolas Cage and Noah Centineo. Richards is the co-founder of digital management company TalentX Entertainment. Subsequently, Richards signed a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording act (artist or group), where the act makes an audio recording (or series of recordings) for the label to sell and ...

with

Warner Records Warner Records Inc. (known as Warner Bros. Records Inc. until 2019) is an American record label. A subsidiary of Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division ...

and the first artist to sign with TalentX in July 2020. He is an investor, helping form a $15 million venture capital fund. Richards is also the co-founder of energy drink Ani Energy, and previously was the

chief strategy officer A chief strategy officer (CSO) is an executive that usually reports to the CEO and has primary responsibility for strategy formulation and management, including developing the corporate vision and strategy, overseeing strategic planning, and leadi ...

Triller The trillers are a group of passerine birds belonging to the cuckooshrike family Campephagidae partially making up the genus '' Lalage''. Their name come from the loud trilling calls of the males. There are about 12 species that usually exist i ...

. According to a

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...

report published in January 2022, Richards earned an estimated $5 million in 2021 from his numerous sponsorship deals and business endeavors, making him the fourth highest-earning TikTok personality. More recently, he and his production company CrossCheck Studios struck a first-look deal with

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

. He is a co-host of the BFFs (podcast), a

Barstool Sports Barstool Sports is an American blog website and digital media company headquartered in New York City that publishes sports journalism and pop culture-related content. It is owned by Dave Portnoy, who founded the company in 2003 in Milton, Massa ...

podcast, with

David Portnoy David Scott Portnoy (born March 22, 1977) is an American businessman and social media personality. He is the founder and owner of sports and popular culture company Barstool Sports. Early life Portnoy was born and raised in Swampscott, Massa ...

, and a former member of

Sway House The Sway House, also known as Sway LA or simply Sway, was a TikTok content house, consisting of influencers and internet personalities who resided together to produce content. Formed in January 2020, it was noted for its rivalry with The Hyp ...

. On May 7, 2025, the team of Josh Richards, Erik Anders Lang, and Brad Dalke won the third

Creator Classic The Creator Classic is a golf tournament conducted by the PGA Tour. It features various "Youtube golfers" and social media personalities such as Paige Spiranac and Grant Horvat. There have been three ''Creator Classics'' thus far, with more plan ...

, which was held at the

Philadelphia Cricket Club The Philadelphia Cricket Club, founded in 1854 in southeastern Pennsylvania, is the oldest country club in the United States. Its two locations are in Chestnut Hill and Flourtown, north-northwest of downtown Philadelphia. History Founde ...

Wissahickon, Philadelphia Wissahickon is a neighborhood in the section of Lower Northwest Philadelphia in the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Wissahickon is located adjacent to the neighborhoods of Roxborough and Manayunk, and it is bounded by the Wissahickon Vall ...

Personal life

He dated

Nessa Barrett Janesa Jaida "Nessa" Barrett (born August 6, 2002) is an American singer-songwriter and social media personality. She rose to prominence on TikTok and began uploading covers as a teenager, which led her to sign a recording contract with Warner ...

in 2019-2021. Their relationship ended on pretty bad terms, when she started dating his best friend

Jaden Hossler Jaden Isaiah Hossler (born February 8, 2001), known professionally as Jxdn (stylized in all lowercase and pronounced "Jaden"), is an American singer-songwriter and social media personality from Chattanooga, Tennessee. Hossler rose to prominence ...

. Richards is currently in a relationship with Gabi Moura.

Discography

*"Still Softish" feat. Bryce Hall (single, 2020) *"Smallest Man" with

Dave Portnoy David Scott Portnoy (born March 22, 1977) is an American businessman and social media personality. He is the founder and owner of sports and popular culture company Barstool Sports. Early life Portnoy was born and raised in Swampscott, Massa ...

(single, 2024)

References

External links