Federico Hu (born 20 December), known online as PANDA BOI, is an Italian

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 ...

and

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 ...

. He is known for being the most-subscribed and most viewed

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

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, for being in the top 5 most subscribed Youtube channel in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, for being in the top 15 most subscribed individual YouTube channel worldwide and for being in the top 100 list of most subscribed YouTube channels globally. PANDA BOI created his Youtube Channel in 2020, where he began posting street interview content. He has created some of the most viral internet trends that inspired domestic and international creators. In 2024, Hu was listed in ''Fortune'' Italy's Top 25 Content Creators list. In May 2025, PANDA BOI was awarded the Grand Prix title a
WIBA Awards
during Cannes

Festival A festival is an event celebrated by a community and centering on some characteristic aspect or aspects of that community and its religion or cultures. It is often marked as a local or national holiday, Melā, mela, or Muslim holidays, eid. A ...

Early life and career

Hu was born in the

province of Milan The province of Milan () was a province in the Lombardy region of Italy. Its capital was the city of Milan. The area of the former province is highly urbanized, with more than 2,000 inhabitants/km2, the third-highest population density among Ital ...

to Chinese immigrant parents. He grew up in the neighbourhood of

Cinisello Balsamo Cinisello Balsamo (; ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) of about 75,200 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy, about northeast of Milan city center. Cinisello Balsamo borders the following municipalitie ...

in Italy. He briefly attended

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. The coll ...

in Los Angeles, California. He moved to London in 2018 to train at the

London School of Dramatic Art The London School of Dramatic Art is a drama school based in South Kensington in London that offers training for those intending to pursue a professional career in acting. The School The School was initially set up by actor Jake Taylor and cas ...

, graduating in July 2019. He began posting 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 ...

in 2020. After amassing nearly 12 million followers, he shifted his focus to YouTube. In August 2021, Hu released his book ''Panda Boi Hello English'' published by Italian book company Mondadori Electa. It was released only in Italy. In 2023, he released a mobile game entitled "Panda Boi Runner."

Recognition

At the beginning of 2022, Hu was among the top 50 most viewed YouTube channels worldwide for the week of January 23rd, placing at 27th. In 2023, Hu was featured in the Italian magazine ''Millionaire'' as the most subscribed YouTube channel in Italy. In May 2023, Hu's YouTube channel was the fifth most watched YouTube channel worldwide. In 2024, he was listed in ''Fortune'''s Italy Top 25 Content Creator. That same year, he entered the top 100 most subscribed YouTube channels worldwide, he also entered the top 50 most subscribed YouTube channels worldwide placing at 44th place. As of May 2025, Hu's channel is the most subscribed YouTube channel in Italy with over 58.6 million subscribers. Hu holds the Italian record for the fastest YouTube channel in Italy to reach one million subscribers. On 23 May 2025, Hu won the Grand Prix Title at Wiba Awards during the Cannes Film Festival. PANDA_BOI_diamond_play_button

Awards

Personal life

Hu was born in Italy and speaks fluent Italian. He also speaks English, Chinese, and Spanish. He moved temporarily to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

in 2021, and he moved back to Italy in January 2022, one month before the start of the

Russo-Ukraine War The Russo-Ukrainian War began in February 2014 and is ongoing. Following Ukraine's Revolution of Dignity, Russia occupied and annexed Crimea from Ukraine. It then supported Russian paramilitaries who began a war in the eastern Donbas re ...

. While in Ukraine, Hu met his girlfriend, Liudmyla. She remained in Ukraine after Hu returned to Italy. Once the war started, Hu drove 2000 km to bring her to Italy. His actions have been covered internationally by media from UK, Italy, and Germany. In 2025, Hu became an honorary citizen of

Liberland Liberland, also known as the Free Republic of Liberland, is a micronation promoted by Czech right-libertarian politician and activist Vít Jedlička, who began claiming in 2015 an uninhabited stretch of floodplain on the Croatian bank of the ...

References

External links

Official Panda Boi YouTube channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Federico 1996 births Living people Italian YouTubers Comedy YouTubers People from Milan Alumni of the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art