Shane

Shane Lee Yaw (born July 19, 1988) know by his stage name Shane Dawson is an American YouTube actor, comedian, musician, and video maker. Dawson is known for making comedy videos featuring many recurring characters (such as Shananay, Ned the Nerd, S. Deezy, Mom, Aunt Hilda, Fruitlupe and recently Amy), impersonations (such as Paris Hilton, Miley Cyrus and Sarah Palin), and spoofs of popular music videos and television shows. Most of his major productions are done with the help Lauren Schnipper a producer who has done numerous other productions.

As of August 2013, his main YouTube channel is the 33rd most subscribed channel. Dawson has since expanded on YouTube by adding his second channel (109th most subscribed) where he formerly posted video blogs. He additionally operates a "Vlog channel" (98th most subscribed). In March 2012, Dawson began pursuing a music career. He has since released four singles.

1988–2007: Early life
Dawson grew up in Long Beach, California, where he attended Lakewood High School. As a teenager, he was largely overweight and was beaten by his alcoholic abusive father, who eventually abandoned his family. Additionally, his family was poor and he was often bullied because of this. He has since lost 150 lb. He first became interested in making videos when he would turn in videos as school projects with his friends in high school. He is of Swedish, Dutch, Welsh, and English descent.

2008–10: YouTube channels
On March 10, 2008, Dawson made his first YouTube channel, called ShaneDawsonTV. The earliest video that remains on the channel, “Hodini’s Street Magic” was uploaded three months later. When he first began making videos, he worked at Jenny Craig, Inc. along with his mother and brother, but was fired in August 2008 after he uploaded a video of himself pole dancing in the building he worked in. His mother, brother and about 6 other coworkers who appeared in the video also got fired after the company saw the video. In September, he uploaded a video called “Fred is Dead!”, which has since received over 23 million views (as of September 2013), making it his most-viewed video. Dawson posts new videos on his main channel, ShaneDawsonTV, every Saturday (now every Friday) and formerly posted other videos on his second channel, ShaneDawsonTV2, however the use of this channel has mostly been discontinued as of 2013. His third YouTube channel, Shane, is where he posts vlogs directly from his iPhone every day. He began using this channel in May 2010. Shane often collaborates with other YouTubers or appears in their videos, such as Joey Graceffa, BrittaniLouiseTaylor, TheFineBros, JoeNationTV, and iJustine. In November 2009, Dawson was featured on Attack of the Show! In 2010, Forbes magazine named him their 25th most famous web celebrity.

2010–12: Television pilots and music career
On August 11, 2010, Dawson announced that he was in the making of a 30-minute pilot which he will call SD High. Previously, the funding he needed for the pilot was provided by digital media group Take180 after he helped them out with acting in their own videos. The pilot is based on two previous videos which Dawson uploaded to his main channel in Summer 2010. In his previous videos, the story centers around a teenage boy in school, and his interactions with the other characters. The pilot was due to be released towards the end of September 2010 on his main YouTube Channel, however Dawson later announced that he had been contacted by a television studio to produce the pilot for their TV channel(s). According to Dawson, there is some uncertainty involving the pilot, however it may be a TV show in the future. On March 26, 2011, Dawson uploaded a video to YouTube explaining to his audience that he's working with Happy Madison Productions, Sony Pictures, and some other YouTubers including TheFineBros and BrittaniLouiseTaylor to create the television show. The video contains an explanation from Dawson about what he's working on, and a 'mock trailer', made up of clips from previous episodes on his YouTube channel, which was made to pitch the show. Dawson eventually withdrew from the SD High pilot, however in January 2013, Dawson revealed that production on ''SD High’’ had restarted. ''

In January 2012, Dawson stated in a video that he was now working on a new television show, which would be semi-based on his life working at a Weight Loss center. He stated that he would be pitching the show soon, and that he was "really excited" for it, and stated the show was "kind of like Arrested Development, but - not." On May 16, 2012, Dawson revealed in a vlog that he was working on a comedy-horror film, explaining that he wanted to write "something like a teen comedy", however that the film would be "scary and fun". Dawson revealed in November 2012 that he was in negotiations to direct a feature-length film. In 2012, Dawson revealed in a vlog that he was working on a music project. In March 2012, Dawson revealed that his debut mainstream single, SUPERLUV! would be released that month. The song was released on March 31, 2012 on iTunes, with an accompanying music video debuting on his YouTube channel on the same day. The song managed to chart at 87 in Ireland, 16 on the UK Indie Chart, 163 on the UK Singles Chart and reached the 28th spot on the US iTunes Pop Chart.

On May 8, 2012, Dawson revealed in a video that he has begun working on his next original song, which is tentatively titled The Vacation Song. He previewed about 10 seconds of the "rough edit" of the song, and stated that he was going to change the mood of the song, saying, "Right now, it's a little too happy, because it's a break up song. I want it to be more like Kelly Clarkson's Since U Been Gone." He stated that the song would "hopefully" be released by the beginning of June 2012. The song was released on June 23, 2012, with the music video being released a week later. In October 2012, a film called Smiley was released to theaters starring Dawson. In December, Dawson released a new single entitled “Maybe this Christmas”. On February 5, 2013, Dawson recorded a single titled "Fuck Up". The song was released on YouTube and iTunes on March 30, 2013.

2013–present: Shane and Friends and film and television work
In June 2013, Dawson started a podcast entitled ‘’Shane and Friends’’. As of 2013, Dawson revealed that he is pitching a talk show and is continuing to pitch the series about him working at a weight loss center. On November 12, 2013, Dawson announced that he was developing the weight loss center project with Sony Pictures Television for NBC. The project has been titled Losin' It and, if picked-up, will be a half-hour single camera comedy series focusing on a successful former-client at a weight loss center who decides to share his inspiration by becoming a consultant at the weight loss center, and subsequently becomes the manager by the end of his first day. Darlene Hunt, Will Gluck, Richie Schwartz, Lauren Schnipper, and Dawson will serve as executive producers for the project. A script for a pilot episode has been ordered. If the pilot is produced and approved, the series would likely premiere during the 2014–15 American television broadcast season.

On April 4, 2014, Dawson announced that he had filmed a comedy film in Pittsburgh earlier that year that he both directed and starred in. The film, which was made on a budget of approximately $1 million, is expected to be released in September 2014. On June 26, he announce that the film will be titled Not Cool.

Personal life
Dawson has four dogs, Miley, Charlie, Chocolate and Unicorn (or Corny) as well as two cats, Muffins and Snoop. They often appear in his videos. He currently resides in Hollywood, California with girlfriend and fellow YouTube personality, Lisa Schwartz. His mother often appears in his content.

Major productions

 * Hot Teens Gone Wild on Degrassi! Part 1 - November 21, 2009 (11-minute long special)
 * Hot Teens Go Wild on Degrassi! Part 2 - March 6, 2010 (12-minute long special)
 * SD High: School Dance Disaster - July 3, 2010 (SD High Episode 1) (8-minute long special)
 * SD High: High School Drama - July 31, 2010 (SD High Episode 2) (9-minute long special)
 * Haunted House Party - October 30, 2010 (Interactive Halloween special)
 * Shane Dawson's Love Story - December 18, 2010 (10-minute long Christmas special)
 * SD High: Teens Gone Wild - March 26, 2011 (SD High Episode 3) (7-minute long special)
 * Friends 4Ever - October 29, 2011 (22-minute long Halloween short film)
 * How Shananay Stole Christmas - December 17, 2011 (15-minute long Christmas special)
 * Shane & Friends Halloween Special - October 20, 2012 (7-minute long Halloween special)
 * Emo Love Story - May 3rd, 2013 (11-Minute long special)

Film
{| class="wikitable sortable" ! Year ! Title ! Role ! Note
 * 2012
 * Smiley
 * Binder
 * Film debut
 * 2014
 * Not Cool
 * Scott
 * Directoral debut film
 * Scott
 * Directoral debut film

Singles
''Note: These are only songs Shane has released officially to iTunes as singles. He has also released song parodies and a set of ringtones on iTunes, also available to download as tracks.''

Awards and nominations
Dawson has been nominated for various awards. On August 9, 2010, Dawson won the award for Choice Web Star at the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. Although the category was not featured at the awards show, Dawson stated in a video that he posted to YouTube the next day that "It was just great to be nominated and at the show itself". The nominees for that category included fellow YouTubers iJustine, Charles Trippy, Lucas Cruikshank, best known for his Fred character, and singer Greyson Chance. Dawson was nominated for Choice Web Star in the 2011 Teen Choice Awards, but lost to Rebecca Black.