Mathew Tyler Oakley (born March 22, 1989) is an American YouTuber, actor, activist and author. Much of Oakley's activism has been dedicated to

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

youth,

LGBT rights Rights affecting lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people vary greatly by country or jurisdiction—encompassing everything from the legal recognition of same-sex marriage to the death penalty for homosexuality. Notably, , ...

, as well as social issues including health care, education, and the prevention of suicide among LGBT youth. Oakley regularly posts material on various topics, including pop culture and humor. Since uploading his first video in 2007 while a freshman at

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, his channel has over 683 million views, and, at his peak, over 8 million subscribers. Oakley, who is openly gay, is a former member of the successful collaboration channel "5AwesomeGays", where he produced the Friday video for over three years. He was featured in the 2014 '' Frontline'' investigative report "Generation Like", a follow-up on how teenagers are "directly interacting with

pop culture Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' ...

" to the 2001 report, "The Merchants of Cool". SocialBlade, a website that rates YouTube and Instagram accounts, ranks his YouTube channel, , with a grade "B", subscriber rank of 1,434th, video view rank at 7,022nd, and a SocialBlade rating of 345,254th. he also had more than 5.6 million followers on Twitter and 5.6 million on Instagram. From March to October 2013, Oakley co-hosted a weekly pop-culture news update – "Top That!" – with Becca Frucht for PopSugar. From 2013 to 2014, he performed the voice of Mr. McNeely in five episodes of the comedy web series ''

The Most Popular Girls in School ''The Most Popular Girls in School'' (abbreviated ''MPGIS'') is an American adult stop-motion animated comedy web series that debuted on YouTube on May 1, 2012. Created by Mark Cope and Carlo Moss, the series animates Barbie, Ken and other fash ...

''. He has hundreds of thousands of followers on

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin ...

and

Tumblr Tumblr (stylized as tumblr; pronounced "tumbler") is an American microblogging and social networking website founded by David Karp in 2007 and currently owned by Automattic. The service allows users to post multimedia and other content to a ...

. In 2015, he released his first collection of humorous personal essays under the title ''Binge'', via publishers

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest pub ...

. Oakley was the host of ''The Tyler Oakley Show'', which aired weekly on

Ellen DeGeneres Ellen Lee DeGeneres ( ; born January 26, 1958) is an American comedian, television host, actress, writer, and producer. She starred in the sitcom '' Ellen'' from 1994 to 1998, which earned her a Primetime Emmy Award for " The Puppy Episode". S ...

' ellentube platform. In 2017, he was named in ''Forbes'' "30 Under 30".

Early life

Mathew Tyler Oakley was born on March 22, 1989, in

Jackson, Michigan Jackson is the only city and county seat of Jackson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 33,534, down from 36,316 at the 2000 census. Located along Interstate 94 and U.S. Route 127, it is approx ...

. He has twelve siblings. When he was an infant, his parents divorced. When in the sixth grade, Oakley moved to Okemos, and became involved in choir and drama. As a teenager, he had

bulimia nervosa Bulimia nervosa, also known as simply bulimia, is an eating disorder characterized by binge eating followed by purging or fasting, and excessive concern with body shape and weight. The aim of this activity is to expel the body of calories eaten ...

. Oakley graduated with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

in communication, marketing and social media from

. While at college, he fell into a short depression after a breakup with a long-term boyfriend. Oakley admits he considered suicide in this time. His college years were also when he first became involved with

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...

, using the video sharing website to communicate with his high school friends, who were attending different schools.

Career

Social media

Oakley is an active member across many social media platforms. A self-proclaimed "professional

fangirl A fan or fanatic, sometimes also termed an aficionado or enthusiast, is a person who exhibits strong interest or admiration for something or somebody, such as a celebrity, a sport, a sports team, a genre, a politician, a book, a movie, ...

", he is a fan of Darren Criss from ''

Glee Glee means delight, a form of happiness. Glee may also refer to: * Glee (music), a type of English choral music * ''Glee'' (TV series), an American musical comedy-drama TV series, and related media created by Ryan Murphy * ''Glee'' (Bran Van 30 ...

'', along with

Julie Chen Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * Julie (1956 film), ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * Julie (1975 film), ''Julie'' (1975 film) ...

of CBS's daytime talk show '' The Talk''. He also sang Christmas carols on stage with English-Irish boy band

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gro ...

and television presenter

Jerry Springer Gerald Norman Springer (born February 13, 1944) is a British-American broadcaster, journalist, actor, producer, former lawyer, and politician. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Jerry Springer'' between September 30, 1991 and July 26, 2018, an ...

. Oakley is known for receiving attention from major celebrities and organizations, such as

Liam Payne Liam James Payne (born 29 August 1993) is an English singer. He rose to fame as a member of the boy band One Direction. Payne made his debut as a singer in 2008 when he auditioned for the British television series '' The X Factor''. After bei ...

from One Direction,

Chris Colfer Christopher Paul Colfer (born May 27, 1990) is an American actor, singer, and author. He gained international recognition for his portrayal of Kurt Hummel on the television musical ''Glee'' (2009–2015). Colfer's portrayal of Kurt received cri ...

from the television series ''Glee'' and the

restaurant chain A chain store or retail chain is a retail outlet in which several locations share a brand, central management and standardized business practices. They have come to dominate the retail and dining markets and many service categories, in many pa ...

store

Taco Bell Taco Bell is an American-based chain of fast food restaurants founded in 1962 by Glen Bell (1923–2010) in Downey, California. Taco Bell is a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. The restaurants serve a variety of Mexican-inspired foods, incl ...

, namely on social network

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

after commenting on a previous tweet of theirs or tweeting about them. Due to Oakley's success with social media and prominence among many social media platforms (particularly YouTube), he was given the opportunity to meet U.S. President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

. He did a video with First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

talking about education issues. Oakley attributes his success only in part to his accessibility as a young

gay man ''Gay'' is a term that Terminology of homosexuality, primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to Gay men, ...

. "It's not all about me being gay. It's kind of like an underlying theme for me ith gay lifesprinkled throughout the videos." He sees

as a

role model A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselve ...

: "She embodies what I want my experience to be and my influence to be, where it's a positive one, it's a happy one, it's not something about the bad parts of life or the downsides of a lot of things. She's using her influence for good, and everyone knows who she is, what she stands for, and that she is a lesbian." ''

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

'' in their 2014 "40 under 40: Emerging voices" say that, due to Oakley's presence on YouTube, he is the first openly gay person that many people have met. Oakley is considered one of the world's leading Celebrity influencers, having an Influencer Score of 99 from the influencer marketing software

Klear Klear (stylized as "klear") is an American rock band based in Western New York. The band's debut and second album was produced by Goo Goo Dolls bassist Robby Takac and released on Takac's independent record label. Background The band's members ...

. In December 2020, Oakley announced he was taking an indefinite hiatus from making Youtube videos.

Acting

Oakley appeared on the YouTube Red (now YouTube Premium) show '' Escape the Night with Joey Graceffa'', appearing as "The Thespian" for 10 episodes (Season 2).

Live appearances

In 2014, Oakley premiered a live show tour, "Tyler Oakley's Slumber Party", featuring him in pajamas and doing skits, and interactive segments with the audience. His two initial shows in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = List of sovereign states, Count ...

and in

Royal Oak, Michigan Royal Oak is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. An inner-ring suburb of Detroit, Royal Oak is about north of Detroit's city limits. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 57,236. Royal Oak is located along ...

in early October both sold out in 72 hours. In December 2014, seven dates, all on the East Coast, made up the next leg of the tour, which was expected to eventually go to 40 cities. ''Variety'' noted that the trend of "digital-native stars hitting the road for 'in-real-life' shows" had been increasing. Oakley had been a part of DigiTour's 2014 US Summer tour of YouTube and

Vine A vine ( Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") 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 thems ...

personalities.

Podcast

Oakley has a podcast called ''Psychobabble'' with his best friend, Korey Kuhl. It launched in 2014 and as of 2022 has had over 350 episodes.

Television

On screen, Oakley has done appearances on broadcasting platforms, with some airing on national TV. He was seen on '' Insider Tonight'', featuring co-hosts Kevin Frazier and Thea Andrews. He has interviewed live from the 2014 '' Kids Choice Awards'' red carpet, along with many other events that have him meeting and speaking to celebrities. Oakley, alongside best friend Korey Kuhl, competed in the 28th season of ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

'', which aired in 2016. They finished in 3rd place. The two also participated in the 31st season of the show, which began airing on April 17, 2019. They finished in 2nd place. In 2018, Oakley also appeared on the tenth episode of the tenth season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...

'', where he was paired with

Monét X Change Monét X Change (born February 19, 1990), stage name of Kevin A. Bertin, is an American drag queen, singer, podcaster, and reality television personality. She is known for competing on the tenth season of '' RuPaul's Drag Race'' (2018), on whic ...

for a makeover challenge.

Volunteering and charity

Oakley supports

The Trevor Project The Trevor Project is an American nonprofit organization founded in 1998. Focused on suicide prevention efforts among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth, they offer a toll-free telephone number where ...

, an organization for the prevention of suicide among LGBT youth. He interned with them in 2009, and since 2011 has co-hosted TrevorLIVE, the charity's annual red carpet event. In 2013 he raised $29,000 for his birthday in support of the Trevor Project having aimed to raise $24,000 (because it was his 24th birthday). In 2014, he raised $525,704 in a similar event, and in 2015 he raised $532,224.

Bibliography

* ''Binge'' (2015)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

*
Tyler Oakley's official Wattpad profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Tyler 1989 births 21st-century American male actors 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers American bloggers American male bloggers American male non-fiction writers American podcasters American YouTubers Big Frame people American gay actors Gay entertainers American gay writers LGBT YouTubers LGBT memoirists LGBT people from Michigan LGBT rights activists from the United States Living people American male YouTubers Male actors from Michigan Michigan State University alumni People from Jackson, Michigan People from Okemos, Michigan Streamy Award winners The Amazing Race (American TV series) contestants Twitch (service) streamers Video bloggers Writers from Michigan YouTube channels launched in 2007 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people