Juan Pablo Martínez-Zurita Arellano (born 29 March 1996), commonly known as Juanpa Zurita, is a Mexican internet personality, actor and model. He became known in 2013 through making comedy videos on the

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 ...

app. Later, he diversified his activities by publishing vlogs and entertainment videos on the

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 ...

platform, and most recently he started his own water company in the middle of a drought, exploiting the resources of his own country. He created various campaigns in favor of humanitarian aid, in one of which he raised 25 million

Mexican peso The Mexican peso (Currency symbol, symbol: $; ISO 4217, currency code: MXN; also abbreviated Mex$ to distinguish it from peso, other peso-denominated currencies; referred to as the peso, Mexican peso, or colloquially varo) is the official curre ...

s through donations to make houses to several victims of an earthquake in Mexico City, in September 2017. In 2016, he began modelling for fashion brands including

Pull&Bear Pull&Bear () is a Spanish clothing and accessories retailer based in Narón, Province of A Coruña, A Coruña, Galicia (Spain), Galicia, founded in 1991. It is part of Inditex, owner of Zara (retailer), Zara and Bershka brands. History The cha ...

Louis Vuitton Louis Vuitton Malletier SAS, commonly known as Louis Vuitton (, ), is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house and company founded in 1854 by Louis Vuitton (designer), Louis Vuitton. The label's LV monogram appears on most of its products, ...

Dolce & Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian Luxury goods, luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, ...

and

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer. In 1968, he launched the company that later became Calvin Klein. In addition to clothing, he has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewellery. ...

. In 2015, he was chosen for the first time as "icon of the year" by

MTV Latin America MTV is a Latin American pay television network that was launched on 1 October 1993 as the Hispanic American version of MTV. It is owned by Paramount Networks Americas, a subsidiary of Paramount Global. The channel broadcasts music videos as ...

. He has acted in secondary roles in short films. In 2018, he played the role of Alex Basteri the Luis Miguel's brother in the ''

Luis Miguel Luis Miguel Gallego Basteri (; born 19 April 1970) is a Mexican singer and record producer. Born in Puerto Rico to an Italian mother and a Spanish father, he is often referred to as Honorific nicknames in popular music, ''El Sol de Mexico'' ...

'' TV series. He has 25.5 million followers 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 ...

, more than 10 million on

, six million on

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 ...

, and five 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 ...

. In 2017, he was on the

Forbes 30 Under 30 ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30 is a set of lists published annually by ''Forbes'' magazine since 2011 consisting of 30 notable people under 30 years old in various industries. The American list consists of 600 people, with 30 selected in each of 20 sect ...

list of people in Hollywood and the entertainment industry.

Early life

Juan Pablo Martínez-Zurita was born on 29 March 1996, in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, to Fernando Martínez-Zurita Reed and Teresa Arellano. He has two brothers and one sister: Fernando Zurita, Andrés Zurita, Paola Zurita. His family moved to the United States during his youth following his father's appointment as a political counselor at the Mexican Embassy in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

Zurita now lives in

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 posted his first Vine on 11 June 2013, which was named "''That dog killed chuck norris and was after me.''" This first short video featuring his dog, Puca, received thousands of views in a few days. His subsequent vines were often created with his brother, Andrés Zurita.

Career

Zurita began his career as a content creator on his

account, which attracted followers from around the world. He published content in both Spanish and English. When the Vine application closed in 2017, he had more than 1.8 million followers. He continued his online presence through his Instagram account, where he has more than 25 million followers, and created a

channel with videos almost exclusively in Spanish.

Modeling

Zurita began modelling in 2016, being the frequent image of the firm

in its events, as a model and as a guest artist in the openings of the new sites of the Inditex brand or in the launch of new collections of men's clothing. Later, in October of that same year, he was photographed to promote

in Mexico. In 2017 he collaborated in the Paris fashion show with

, paraded for

on the

Fashion Week A fashion week is a week-long fashion industry event where fashion designers, brands, or "houses" display their latest collections in runway fashion shows to buyers and the media which influences upcoming fashion trends for the current and appro ...

runway in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and appeared on the cover of the July–August 2017 edition of ''GQ Italia'' with Luka Sabbat, Austin Mahone and Rafferty Law.

Acting

Juanpa Zurita has participated in some audiovisual projects, films and TV series. In May 2017

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

announced that it would make a series about the life of

, with Juanpa Zurita playing Alex, the singer's brother.

TV appearances

On 3 June 2017 Juan Pablo Zurita and

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 ...

hosted the 2017 MTV Millennial Awards at the

Palacio de los Deportes Palacio de los Deportes () is an indoor arena located in Mexico City, Mexico. It is within the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City complex, near the Mexico City International Airport and in front of the Estadio GNP Seguros, in which sports and arti ...

. It was broadcast on 4 June 2017 throughout

. During the ceremony, he was named 'Digital Icon of the Year'. In 2020, Zurita joined the cast of season 4 Mexican singing competition, Pequeños Gigantes as a judge. On 23 October 2020, it was announced that Zurita would be the host of

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

's ''

The Substitute ''The Substitute'' is a 1996 American action thriller film directed by Robert Mandel and starring Tom Berenger, Ernie Hudson, Marc Anthony, William Forsythe, Raymond Cruz and Luis Guzmán. It was filmed at Miami Senior High School. Pl ...

'' in its second season.

Business

In March 2018 he became a partner in the Mexican alternative fashion brand Acapella and reached an agreement with the Spanish accessories firm Hawkers. According to some media, Juan Pablo Zurita earnings exceeds or is close to one million dollars per year.

Other activities

In March 2017, Juan Pablo Zurita, Chakabars, Jérôme Jarre,

Casey Neistat Casey Owen Neistat (; born March 25, 1981) is an American YouTube personality, filmmaker, vlogger and co-founder of the multimedia company Beme, which was later acquired by CNN. In 2018, he founded ''368'', a creative space for creators to ...

and

Ben Stiller Benjamin Edward Meara Stiller (born November 30, 1965) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. Known for his blend of slapstick humor and sharp wit, Stiller rose to fame through comedies such as ''There's Something About Mary'' (1998), ' ...

campaigned against famine in

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. The movement, called ''Love Army For Somalia'', has collected more than 2 million dollars. In May, Juan Pablo Zurita went to Somalia, with a plane lent by

Turkish Airlines Turkish Airlines (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Türk Hava Yolları''), or legally Türk Hava Yolları Anonim Ortaklığı, is the flag carrier of Turkey. , it operates scheduled services to 352 destinations (including cargo) in Europe, Asia, Oce ...

, in order to distribute the food bought with the money collected by the ''Love Army'', to Somali families.

Filmography

Nominations and awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zurita, Juan.Pablo 1996 births Living people Entertainers from Mexico City Mexican emigrants to the United States Vine (service) celebrities Mexican YouTubers Prank YouTubers