Lisa Donovan (born June 11, 1980) is an American former

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 ...

r. She is a founder of Zappin Productions, a production company that specialized in

viral video Viral videos are video, videos that become popular through viral phenomenon, a viral process of Internet sharing, primarily through video sharing websites such as YouTube as well as social media and email.Lu Jiang, Yajie Miao, Yi Yang, ZhenZhon ...

s, as well as the founder and CEO of ''The Pattern'', an astrology-based personality app. Donovan began her career as one of YouTube's earliest content creators and was subsequently one of the co-founders of

Maker Studios Maker(s) or The Maker(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Maker'' (film), a 1997 American drama film * Maker Studios, now part of Disney Digital Network, an American multi-channel TV network *''Makers'', a 2014 British documentary seri ...

, a YouTube video network which was purchased in 2015 by

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was founded on October 16 ...

for $675M. The network was absorbed by Disney in 2017 to become

Disney Digital Network Disney Digital Network was an American multi-channel network located in Culver City, California. It was originally the successor to Maker Studios, co-founded by Lisa Donovan, Danny Zappin, Scott Katz, Kassem Gharaibeh, Shay Carl, Rawn Eric ...

Early life

Donovan grew up in

Scarsdale, New York Scarsdale is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The Town of Scarsdale is coterminous municipality, coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate ...

. She was a student at the

University of Colorado at Boulder The University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder, CU, or Colorado) is a Public university, public research university in Boulder, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1876, five months before Colorado became a Federated state, state, it is the fla ...

before moving to

Los Angeles, California 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, ...

Career

YouTube

Donovan made her first YouTube channel in September 2005 and uploaded her first video, "Introducing LisaNova," a reel of facial clips in black-and-white accompanied by the

Charles Aznavour Charles Aznavour ( ; ; ; born Shahnur Vaghinak Aznavourian; 22 May 1924 – 1 October 2018) was a Armenians in France, French singer and songwriter of Armenian descent. Aznavour was known for his distinctive vibrato tenor voice: clear and ringi ...

song ''Non, je n'ai rien oublié'', to YouTube on June 7, 2006. She has parodied a number of celebrities and public figures; her impersonation of

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, and author who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 Republican vice presidential nomi ...

was praised in ''

Wired Wired may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * ''Wired'' (Jeff Beck album), 1976 * ''Wired'' (Hugh Cornwell album), 1993 * ''Wired'' (Mallory Knox album), 2017 * "Wired", a song by Prism from their album '' Beat Street'' * "Wired ...

'' as "ruthlessly hilarious", and in 2008

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American lawyer and political activist involved in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. He is a Perennial candidate, perennial presidential candidate. His 1965 book '' ...

made a guest appearance in one of the skits. In 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 ...

'' magazine article, YouTube founder

Chad Hurley Chad Meredith Hurley (born January 24, 1977) is an American webmaster and businessman who serves as the advisor and former chief executive officer (CEO) of YouTube. He also co-founded MixBit, a since closed video sharing service. In October 2006 ...

highlighted Donovan's success as an example of the changing paradigm of entertainment. Donovan is also a co-creator of the popular YouTube channel 'The Game Station', which led to her co-founding the YouTube network

Acting

Donovan was one of the first YouTube content creators to cross over to mainstream Hollywood when she was cast on ''

MADtv ''Mad TV'' (stylized as ''MADtv'') is an American sketch comedy television series created by David Salzman, Fax Bahr, and Adam Small. Loosely based on the humor magazine '' Mad'', ''Mad TVs pre-taped satirical sketches were primarily parodie ...

'' in 2006. She debuted in a spoof of ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' is an American first-run syndicated talk show that was hosted by Ellen DeGeneres. The show ran for nineteen seasons from September 8, 2003, to May 26, 2022, in which it broadcast 3,339 episodes. It was produced by ...

'', where she played

Salma Hayek Salma Valgarma Hayek Pinault ( , ; ; born September 2, 1966) is a Mexican and American actress and film producer. She began her career in Mexico with starring roles in the telenovela ''Teresa (1989 TV series), Teresa'' (1989–1991) as well a ...

, the producer of the ABC comedy ''

Ugly Betty ''Ugly Betty'' is an American comedy-drama television series developed by Silvio Horta, which aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from September 28, 2006, to April 14, 2010. It is based on the Colombian telenovela ''Yo soy Betty, la fea' ...

'', and

Rosie O'Donnell Roseann O'Donnell (born March 21, 1962) is an American talk show host, comedian, and actress. She began her comedy career as a teenager and received her breakthrough on the television series ''Star Search'' in 1984. After a series of television ...

. The episode aired on February 17, 2007. After signing a contract and only appearing in four episodes of ''MADtv'', she left the following season. In 2015, she played the role of the flight attendant in Jeremy Garelick's '' The Wedding Ringer''.

Maker Studios

Donovan co-founded and served as a board member for

, a

multi-channel network A multi-channel network (MCN) is an organization that works with video platforms to offer assistance to channel owners in areas such as "product, programming, funding, cross-promotion, partner management, digital rights management, monetizati ...

. Maker Studios was sold to

in 2014.

The Pattern

Donovan is the founder and CEO of The Pattern, an astrology-based personality app. In 2021, Donovan announced that The Pattern intends to launch a dating product called Connect.

References

External links

*
LisaNova
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:Donovan, Lisa 1980 births Living people American businesspeople American people of Guernsey descent University of Colorado Boulder alumni Maker Studios people Scarsdale High School alumni American sketch comedians American web series actresses 21st-century American actresses American businesspeople in the online media industry YouTube channels launched in 2005 YouTube channels launched in 2006 21st-century American comedians Cultural depictions of Sarah Palin Comedians from New York (state) American women comedians YouTubers from New York (state)