Rupanjit Singh Bal (born January 26, 1990) is an Indian-Canadian

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 ...

, actor, director and comedian. Bal became famous for his comedic roles in videos produced by fellow Indo-Canadian comic and YouTuber

Jus Reign Jasmeet Singh Raina (born November 4, 1989), professionally known as Jus Reign, is a Canadian comedian and music artist of Indian descent. He is most prominently known as a YouTube personality, and one of Much Digital Studios' original creators. ...

, and parleyed that role into further acting work. He made his film debut as the main actor in the Punjabi film '' Haani''. He has directed many music videos for

Karan Aujla Jaskaran Singh Aujla (born 18 January 1997) is an Indian rapper, singer and songwriter based in Canada who is primarily associated with Punjabi music. He is known for his numerous tracks which have charted on the UK Asian chart published by th ...

Early life

Rupanjit Singh Bal was born on January 26, 1990, in

Amritsar Amritsar, also known as Ambarsar, is the second-List of cities in Punjab, India by population, largest city in the India, Indian state of Punjab, India, Punjab, after Ludhiana. Located in the Majha region, it is a major cultural, transportatio ...

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

, India, into a

Punjabi Punjabi, or Panjabi, most often refers to: * Something of, from, or related to Punjab, a region in India and Pakistan * Punjabi language * Punjabis, Punjabi people * Punjabi dialects and languages Punjabi may also refer to: * Punjabi (horse), a ...

Jatt Sikh Jat Sikh or Jatt Sikh (Gurmukhi: ਜੱਟ ਸਿੱਖ) is an ethnoreligious group, a subgroup of the Jat people whose traditional religion is Sikhism, originating from the Indian subcontinent. They are one of the dominant communities in Pun ...

family of the Bal clan. He and his family moved to Canada from India when he was starting grade 10. He was raised in

Brampton Brampton is a city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario, and the regional seat of the Regional Municipality of Peel. It is part of the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a List of municipalities in Ontario#L ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

. He received his earlier education from the Spring Dale School Amritsar and

Turner Fenton Secondary School Turner Fenton Secondary School is a high school in the Peel Region, located in Brampton, Ontario, operated by the Peel District School Board. Turner Fenton Secondary School's name is inherited from two schools that were later merged, which were n ...

in Brampton and graduated from the

University of Guelph The University of Guelph (abbreviated U of G) is a comprehensive Public university, public research university in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. It was established in 1964 after the amalgamation of Ontario Agricultural College (1874), the MacDonald I ...

, where he finished his degree in Criminology."From YouTube sensations to Punjabi movie stars"
''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

'', May 15, 2014.

Career

Bal was originally going to attend

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

but changed schools at the last minute. While attending

, Bal met fellow

Indo-Canadian Indian Canadians are Canadians who have ancestry from India. The term ''East Indian'' is sometimes used to avoid confusion with Indigenous groups. Categorically, Indian Canadians comprise a subgroup of South Asian Canadians which is a furthe ...

comedian,

and was invited to be in one of his YouTube videos. That first video was ''A-1 Shopping Cart Driving School'', and Bal impressed Jus Reign enough to be invited for a larger role in another video ''Desi Parents''. This was the first video where Bal appeared in character as Jus Reign's fictional mother. After two years of creating YouTube videos, Bal became an official YouTube Partner and began earning money from his videos. His YouTube fame was noticed by Punjabi music legend and actor Harbhajan Mann, who offered him a role in his Punjabi film ''Haani''. In a candid podcast interview with Amin Dhillon, Bal describes the moment he received the phone call from Mann. Originally Bal thought he was being pranked and hung up on the Mann. The transition from YouTube comedian to actor was difficult for Bal. He wasn't a trained actor and had never been on a film set before. Bal credits that film with giving him his acting training and he went on to star in his next Punjabi film ''22 g Tussi Ghaint Ho''. Bal also appeared in a few music videos, including

Mickey Singh Harmanjit "Mickey" Singh (born December 21, 1990) is an Indian-American singer, songwriter, producer, dancer, model and actor. He gained widespread popularity through his first mixtape of Punjabi and English music, ''Mick's Tape.'' It was release ...

's ''Body''. Nowadays he is working as a video director in Punjabi music industry and owns Rupan Bal Films company. He has made videos of famous artists such as

Deep Jandu Deep Jandu is a Canadian music producer, recording artist, composer and songwriter associated with Punjabi music. He is founder and CEO of the record label Royal Music Gang. Jandu released his debut album ''Nach'' in 2011. His song "Daru Daru" ...

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

and

Jazzy B Jaswinder Singh Bains (born 1 April 1970), better known by his stage name Jazzy B, is an Indo-Canadian singer and songwriter of Punjabi music, he has also worked in Indian films mainly Punjabi and Hindi. Early life and career Jazzy B was ...

. In 2017, he directed an MC SKULE educational music video, ''The F Word: Feminism''.

Filmography

As producer

Selected music videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bal, Rupan 1990 births Living people Indian emigrants to Canada Canadian people of Punjabi descent Canadian male actors of Indian descent Indian Sikhs Canadian Sikhs University of Guelph alumni People from Chandigarh Comedians from Ontario Canadian male comedians Indian male comedians