# Lucas Cruikshank

Lucas Alan Cruikshank (born August 29, 1993) is an American YouTuber and actor who created the character Fred Figglehorn and the associated Fred series for his channel on the video-hosting website YouTube in late 2006. These videos are centered on Fred Figglehorn, a fictional six-year-old who has a dysfunctional home life and "anger management issues".

## Early life

Lucas Alan Cruikshank was born on August 29, 1993, and raised in Columbus, Nebraska, where he attended Lakeview High School. He is the son of Molly Jeanne (née Duffy) and Dave Alan Cruikshank. He has five sisters and two brothers.

## Career
### Fred

Cruikshank, while testing character ideas, created the Fred character in a Halloween video, and uploaded it to a YouTube channel that he had started with his two cousins. Upon the success of Fred, he started a video series, and set up the Fred channel in April 2008. By April 2009, the channel had over one million subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to do so, and was the most-subscribed YouTube channel for a 318-day period from October 2008 to August 2009. In December 2009, Cruikshank filmed Fred: The Movie, which aired on Nickelodeon in September 2010. Nickelodeon created a franchise surrounding the character, and began producing the sequel in March 2011. Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred aired on October 22, 2011, also on Nickelodeon. In 2012, Fred: The Show, consisting of twenty-four 22-minute episodes, and a third movie called Fred 3: Camp Fred aired on Nickelodeon.

### Sponsorship and appearances

In the Fred series, Cruikshank promotes various products and movies. He is seen using a Zipit, as well as his own products and T-shirts. In addition to promoting his own movies and albums, Cruikshank has also promoted the movies City of Ember, Year One, and Adventures of Power, and the artist Kev Blaze, by featuring in his song "Watch How I Do This".
He made a guest appearance as both "Fred" and himself on Nickelodeon's iCarly in "iMeet Fred", which first aired on February 16, 2009.
Cruikshank appeared in the Hannah Montana episode "Come Fail Away", which aired December 6, 2009. He appeared at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards as well as the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards presenting awards to winners off-stage. In 2011, he appeared on the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards and in an episode of Supah Ninjas. In 2012 and 2013 he starred as the lead in the Nickelodeon television show Marvin Marvin, as an alien "teenage" boy adjusting to human life.

### Other YouTube work

Cruikshank was originally a part of JKL Productions, a group comprising twins Jon and Katie Smet and Lucas Cruikshank, their cousin. Cruikshank formally left the group and deleted his individual videos. In January 2009 he set up his own channel, called "lucas", in which he appeared as himself. Between 2013 and 2014, Cruikshank partnered with Jennifer Veal to produce a series of videos on the channel, which was renamed "Lucas and Jenny," adding to the duo's popularity. After Jenny left the channel in November 2014, Cruikshank reverted the channel name back to "lucas" and continued to release vlogs. In April 2019, Cruikshank's channel name was changed to "Lucas", and currently sees over 3 million subscribers as of 2020.
Cruikshank made an appearance on Brandon Rogers' Four Million Subscriber Freakout video after the latter gained four million subscribers as of June 2018.

## Personal life

Cruikshank came out publicly as gay in a YouTube video released August 20, 2013, saying, "I'm gay. I feel so weird saying it on camera. But my family and friends have known for like three years. I just haven't felt the need to announce it on the Internet." Cruikshank met his current boyfriend, Australian model Matthew Fawcus, "from afar" at a gay club, and the two were introduced by fellow YouTuber Kingsley. The pair have been dating since March 18, 2013.

## Filmography
### Internet

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2006–2014, 2020–2021 | Fred | Fred Figglehorn | |
| 2010 | Annoying Orange | Fred Figglehorn | Episode: "Fred" |
| 2012–2018 | YouTubers React | Himself | 13 episodes |
| 2013 | The Flipside | Henry | Episode: "Me, Myself and My Conscience" |
| 2023 | Shrek 2 Retold | Donkey | |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2009 | iCarly | Fred Figglehorn | Episode: "iMeet Fred" |
| 2009 | Hannah Montana | Kyle McIntyre | Episode: "Come Fail Away" |
| 2010 | Fred: The Movie | Fred Figglehorn / Derf Nrohelggif | Television film |
| 2011 | Supah Ninjas | Spencer / Kickbutt | Episode: "Kickbutt" |
| 2011 | Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred | Fred Figglehorn / Derf Nrohelggif / Judy | Television film |
| 2012 | Fred: The Show | Fred Figglehorn | Lead role |
| 2012–2013 | Marvin Marvin | Marvin Forman | Lead role |
| 2012 | Fred 3: Camp Fred | Fred Figglehorn | Television film |
| 2013 | Big Time Rush | Himself | Episode: "Big Time Cameo" |
| 2013 | Monsters vs. Aliens | Smarty | Voice; Episode: "Screaming Your Calls" |

## Discography
### Comedy albums

List of studio albums, with selected chart positions and certifications :
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions |
| Title | Album details | US Comedy | US Heat. | US Holiday |
| It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred | Released: November 10, 2009 Formats: Digital download Label: Independent | 8 | 24 | 13 |
| Who's Ready to Party? | Released: September 21, 2010 Formats: Digital download Label: Collective Records | 1 | 29 | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |||||

### Singles

List of singles, with selected chart positions :
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Peak chart positions | Album |
| Title | Year | US Comedy | US Holiday | Album |
| "Christmas Cash" | 2009 | 22 | 5 | It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred |
| "Christmas Is Creepy" | 2009 | 9 | 1 | It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred |
| "Fred's 12 Days of Christmas" | 2009 | — | 28 | It's Hackin' Christmas with Fred |
| "I Wanna Be a Celebrity" | 2010 | 11 | — | Who's Ready to Party |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory. |||||

### Other appearances

| Title | Year | Album |
| "All Night" (with Zhone and Fraxiom) | 2021 | Mutants Vol.6: Home |
| "The Climb" (with Molly Cruikshank) | 2022 | Best of Both Worldz |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Category | Award | Result |
| 2009 | Favorite User Generated Video | People's Choice Awards | Nominated |
| 2009 | Choice Web Star | Teen Choice Awards | Won |
| 2010 | Choice Web Star | Teen Choice Awards | Nominated |
| 2010 | Iconic Web Star | J-14 Teen Icon Awards | Nominated |
| 2013 | Favorite TV Actor | Kids' Choice Awards | Nominated |