Lilly Singh

Lilly Singh (born September 26, 1988) is a Canadian YouTuber, comedian, talk show host, writer, and actress, who initially gained fame on social media under the pseudonym IISuperwomanII. Born and raised in Scarborough, Ontario, Singh began making YouTube videos in 2010. By 2017, she was ranked tenth on the Forbes list of the world's highest paid YouTube stars, earning a reported $10.5 million; as of September 2019 she has fourteen million subscribers and over three billion video views.[2][3] Singh has featured in the annual YouTube Rewind every year since 2014 (except for 2019).[4][5] Forbes named her one of the 40 most powerful people in comedy in 2019.[6] Singh has received an MTV Fandom Award, four Streamy Awards, two Teen Choice Awards, and a People's Choice Award.
In 2016, Singh released her first film, a documentary chronicling her world tour, entitled A Trip to Unicorn Island. In March 2017, she released her first book, How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life, which reached number one on the New York Times best-seller list. Since September 2019, Singh acts as executive producer and host of the NBC late-night talk show, A Little Late with Lilly Singh.[7][8] Singh is the only openly LGBTQ+ person—being bisexual—as well as the first person of Indian descent, hosting an American major broadcast network late-night talk show.[a][9][10][11]
See "Television" for her appearance in The Simpsons. 
== Contents ==
* 1. Early life
* 2. Career
** 2.1 Creating YouTube channel and rise to popularity (2010–2014)
** 2.2 World tour, move to Los Angeles, and documentary (2015–2016)
** 2.3 Continued popularity and debut book (2017–2018)
** 2.4 A Little Late with Lilly Singh (2019–present)
* 3. Personal life
** 3.1 Philanthropy
* 4. Comedic style
** 4.1 Allegations of cultural appropriation
* 5. Filmography
** 5.1 Film
** 5.2 Television
** 5.3 Web
** 5.4 Music videos
* 6. Awards and nominations
* 7. See also
* 8. Notes
* 9. References
== Early life ==
Singh was born and raised in the Scarborough district of Toronto, Ontario. Her parents, Malwinder Kaur and Sukhwinder Singh,[12] emigrated from Hoshiarpur, Punjab, India, and raised her as a Sikh.[13] She has an older sister named Tina Singh (born 1982), who is also a YouTuber who makes videos about her family life with her husband and three boys.[14] As a child, Singh has said she was a tomboy.[15] She attended Mary Shadd Public School during her elementary years, and in 2006, she graduated from Lester B. Pearson Collegiate Institute in Toronto, where she returned as an alumna to visit her old teachers.[16] She was a member of Girl Guides of Canada and participated in their youth programs.[17] In 2010, she graduated from York University in Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.[18][19]
== Career ==
=== Creating YouTube channel and rise to popularity (2010–2014) ===
In October 2010, Singh started a YouTube channel under the pseudonym "IISuperwomanII". She has explained that the name Superwoman was prompted by a childhood idea, making her believe she could do anything. Starting out, Singh had intended to go to graduate school as her parents had requested, but chose to make YouTube videos and decided that she would return to graduate school if her YouTube career did not progress.
In December 2011, Singh created a second channel called SuperwomanVlogs, now titled Lilly Singh Vlogs, where she chronicles her daily activities and includes behind the scenes footage from her videos. She used it as a second channel to upload videos until August 2014, when she began uploading daily vlogs. Originally uploading daily, she now uploads several times a week. Singh appeared as a background dancer in the movies Speedy Singhs and Thank You in 2011.[20]
In August 2013, Singh featured alongside Jassi Sidhu in his Punjabi song Hipshaker. Singh rapped in the song Mauj Ki Malharein, which played in the Bollywood drama Gulaab Gang in August 2014.[21] In July of the same year, she released a song titled #LEH in a collaboration with her friend, author and rapper Kanwer Singh, who is known by the pseudonym "Humble the Poet".[22] In 2014, Singh appeared in a small role in the Canadian production Dr. Cabbie.
In 2014, her channel ranked at #39 on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels.[23] The same year, she was nominated for a Shorty Award and a Streamy Award.
=== World tour, move to Los Angeles, and documentary (2015–2016) ===
She recorded and released another music video in February 2015 titled The Clean Up Anthem in collaboration with Canadian artist Sickick.[24]
Lilly Singh (then known as IISuperwomanII) performs at the Warfield in San Francisco during her world tour, "A Trip to Unicorn Island".
In March 2015, Singh began a world tour called "A Trip to Unicorn Island", adapting her YouTube content and including singing, dancing, music performances, comedy, and her parent characters.[25] Her tour covered India, Australia, Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, and the United States. She documented the tour in her first feature movie, A Trip to Unicorn Island, which also describes how YouTube fame is affecting her life. The movie was released on February 10, 2016 on YouTube Red (now called YouTube Premium).[26] She describes the film as being very "raw and genuine".[27]
In April 2015, Singh released a song about her hometown Toronto in collaboration with Humble the Poet titled #IVIVI (roman numerals for 416, Toronto's area code).[28] In September 2015, People magazine included Singh on their annual "Ones to Watch" list.[29] Lilly received her first MTV Fandom Award, was nominated for two Teen Choice Awards, and won her first Streamy Award later that year.
In December 2015, she moved to Los Angeles to further her career.[30]
In October 2016, she ranked 8th on Forbes' list of World's Top-Earning YouTube Stars of 2015.[31] She was also featured in Fast Company Magazine as the 100 Most Creative People in Business.[32] Variety magazine recognized her as one of their 10 Comics to Watch for 2016, and she was honored at the Just For Laughs Film Festival in Montreal. In July 2016, she won two Teen Choice Awards from her three nominations.
In 2016, she voiced miniature unicorns named Bubbles and Misty in the animated film Ice Age: Collision Course and played a cameo role in the movie Bad Moms. On August 8, 2016, Singh released a visual music piece on YouTube, titled "Voices". The piece includes five songs portraying the "voices in her head".
=== Continued popularity and debut book (2017–2018) ===
In January 2017, she won a People's Choice Award for "Favorite YouTube Star". In September 2017, Singh won her fourth Streamy Award.
Her first book, How to Be a Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life, was released on March 28, 2017.[33] The book reached No. 1 on the New York Times bestseller list. She won the award for Best Non- Fiction at the 2017 Goodreads Choice Awards. It was also shortlisted in the 2017 Non-Obvious Book Awards.[34] Her 2017 world tour was centred around the book release and key concepts she discussed.
Singh was cast in HBO's film adaptation of Fahrenheit 451 after recording an audition outside an Internet café in Melbourne, Australia. She was in the region to promote her book and rushed the audition at her agent's urging around 2 a.m. in May 2017.[35] She plays the character of Raven, "a tabloid blogger who works with the fire department to spread the ministry's propaganda by broadcasting their book-burning raids to fans".[36]
In November 2017, Lilly Singh was also chosen as an ambassador for Pantene shampoo[37] and partnered with Calvin Klein.[38] In 2018, Singh appeared in the music video for Maroon 5's "Girls Like You" featuring Cardi B.[39]
=== A Little Late with Lilly Singh (2019–present) ===
In March 2019, NBC announced that Singh would host a new late night talk show, A Little Late with Lilly Singh, which succeeded Last Call with Carson Daly following its series finale later in the year.[40] The show premiered on September 16, 2019 to positive reviews by critics.[41]
Singh garnered controversy for her remarks on turbans.[42][43][44] During a visit to Jessica Alba's home, Singh met Alba's two young daughters who were both wearing twisted towels on their heads, to which Singh responded "They look like my Punjabi friends [...]"[45] On September 27, 2019, BBC reported that Singh had apologised for an on-air joke that compared turbans to bath towels, in which members of the Sikh religion, who wear turbans for spiritual reasons, were angered by her remarks on NBC,[46] with the BBC remarking that "[Singh] has used her platform to often call out public figures who she says deserve to be "cancelled" for their offences."[46]
Singh was nominated for "Audience Choice Creator of the Year" at the 9th Streamy Awards. She also was placed on Time's 100 Next, a list highlighting rising stars in different industries.[47]
On May 13, NBC renewed A Little Late With Lilly Singh for a second season.
== Personal life ==
Singh developed a strong connection with her Punjabi heritage during visits to India.[48] She struggled with depression, and began making YouTube videos as a way of dealing with her feelings.[49] As a young adult, she lived with her parents in Markham, Ontario. In February 2019, Singh came out as bisexual to the public via social media.[50]
=== Philanthropy ===
In 2017, Lilly Singh was announced as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, to advocate for children's rights. She has led a campaign called "GirlLove", promoting girls to end girl-on-girl bullying.[51] In July 2018, Lilly traveled to South Africa as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador to meet the students of elementary schools who spoke against bullying and classroom violence.[52]
== Comedic style ==
Punjabi culture is frequently portrayed in her videos, which contain satires on people's complaints and prominent issues.[53] Her most popular video is Three Girls, One Elevator (ft. Zendaya & Winnie Harlow) which also promotes her WE campaign GirlLove, and her most popular series features her fictional parents, Paramjeet and Manjeet, both played by Singh herself, reacting to trending and controversial videos.[53][54][55] She also frequently collaborates with celebrities on her videos.[56]
=== Allegations of cultural appropriation ===
Singh has also been accused of cultural appropriation of African-American culture, from such publications as The Huffington Post, Bitch, ColorLines, and Vice.[57][58][59][60][61] Anna Silman of The Cut accused Singh of appropriating both black and Indo-Caribbean culture on her channel because of her tendency to don a "blaccent", whilst making rap videos sporting chains and cornrows.[62] Tayo Bero of Teen Vogue wrote that "[Singh] falls into a category of non-Black people of color in entertainment who have built massive followings often by mimicking Black culture and leaning heavily into Black stereotypes."[63] Rachna Raj Kaur and Radheyan Simonpillai of Now similarly criticized Singh's appropriation of Black culture due to her use of braids, hip-hop slang and Caribbean accents.[64][65] Singh has responded to the criticism, by stating her mannerisms are due to her upbringing, adding "all my friends from Scarborough act exactly like me.”[66]
== Filmography ==
=== Film ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes 	2014	Gulaab Gang	Herself	Playback singer and in song "Mauj Ki Malharein"
Dr. Cabbie	Lilly 	Guest appearance 	 	2014	 	 	
2016 	A Trip to Unicorn Island 	Herself 	Documentary; also executive producer	 	 	 	
2016 	Ice Age: Collision Course	Misty / Bubbles (voice)	 	 	 	 	
2016 	Bad Moms 	Cathy 	[67] 	 	 	 	
2017 	F the Prom 	Miss Fallsburg 	Cameo[68] 	 	 	 	
=== Television ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes 	2017	Bizaardvark	Herself	Episode: "Paige's Birthday Is Gonna Be Great"[69]
2018 	Fahrenheit 451 	Raven 	HBO Television film 	 	 	 	
2019–present	A Little Late with Lilly Singh 	Herself 	Talk show 	 	 	 	
2020 	Medical Police 	Baroness Von Eaglesburg	Episode: "Real Heavy Hitter" 	 	 	 	
2020 	One World: Together at Home 	Herself 	Television special 	 	 	 	
2020 	Together in Pride: You Are Not Alone	Herself 	Television special 	 	 	 	
2020 	The Simpsons 	Kensey (voice) 	Episode: "The Hateful Eight-Year-Olds"	 	 	 	
2020 	Red Nose Day 	Herself 	Television special 	 	 	 	
2020 	WE Celebrate: Class of 2020 	Herself/ Host 	Television special 	 	 	 	
TBA 	Bright Futures 	Sid 	Television show 	 	 	 	
=== Web ===
Year 	Title 	Role 	Notes 	2014	Giving Back Glam	Host	11 episodes
YouTube Rewind 2014: Turn Down for 2014	Herself 	 	 	2014	 	 	
2014–2015 	The Tube's Hautest 	Herself/ Various Characters	22 episodes 	 	 	 	
2015 	Lana Steele: Makeup Spy 	Lana Steele 	12 episodes 	 	 	 	
2015 	Terminator Genisys: The YouTube Chronicles 	Lilly 	Episode: "Part Three"[70] 	 	 	 	
2015 	YouTube Rewind 2015: Now Watch Me 2015 	Herself 	 	 	 	 	
2016 	Epic Rap Battles of History 	Wonder Woman 	Episode: "Wonder Woman vs Stevie Wonder"	 	 	 	
2016 	YouTube Rewind 2016: The Ultimate 2016 Challenge	Herself 	 	 	 	 	
2017 	YouTube Rewind 2017: The Shape of 2017 	Herself 	 	 	 	 	
2018 	YouTube Rewind 2018: Everyone Controls Rewind 	Herself 	 	 	 	 	
2020 	One Nation At Home 	Herself 	Virtual COVID-19 pandemic Relief Concert	 	 	 	
2020 	I For India 	Herself 	Virtual COVID-19 pandemic Relief Concert	 	 	 	
=== Music videos ===
Year 	Title 	Artist(s) 	Role 	Ref. 	2017	"Hold My Heart"	Lindsey Stirling featuring Phelba	Herself (cameo)	
"H.A.I.R."	Humble the Poet 	Herself (cameo) 	 	 	2017	 	 	 	
2018 	"Girls Like You" (Original, Volume 2 and Vertical Video versions)	Maroon 5 featuring Cardi B	Herself (cameo)	[71][72][73]	 	 	 	 	
== Awards and nominations ==
Year	Award Show 	Category 	Result
2014	Shorty Awards 	YouTube Comedian 	Nominated[74]
2014	Streamy Awards 	Best Original Song (#Leh With Humble the Poet) 	Nominated
2015	MTV Fandom Awards 	Social Superstar of the Year 	Won[75]
2015	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Web Star: Comedy 	Nominated[76]
2015	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice YouTuber 	Nominated[76]
2015	Shorty Awards 	YouTube Comedian 	Nominated[77]
2015	Streamy Awards 	First Person 	Won[78][79]
2016	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Web Star: Comedy 	Won[80][81]
2016	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Web Star: Female 	Won[80][81]
2016	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice YouTuber 	Nominated[82]
2016	Shorty Awards 	YouTuber of the Year 	Nominated[83]
2016	Streamy Awards 	Feature (A Trip to Unicorn Island) 	Won[84][85]
2016	Streamy Awards 	Audience Choice Entertainer of the Year 	Nominated
2016	Streamy Awards 	Social Good Campaign (Girl Love Challenge) 	Won
2017	People's Choice Awards 	Favorite YouTube Star 	Won[86]
2017	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Web Star: Comedy 	Nominated[87]
2017	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Comedian 	Nominated
2017	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice Web Star: Female 	Nominated
2017	Teen Choice Awards 	Choice YouTuber 	Nominated
2017	Streamy Awards 	Entertainer of the Year 	Nominated[88]
2017	Streamy Awards 	First Person 	Won
2017	Streamy Awards 	Collaboration (The YouTube Factory: Dwayne Johnson ft. Lilly Singh, Markiplier, Grace Helbig, Roman Atwood, Gigi Gorgeous, Alex Wassabi, LaurDIY, King Bach, Flula Borg and Brittney Smith)	Nominated
2017	Streamy Awards 	Influencer Campaign (with Dude Perfect for Power Rangers) 	Nominated
2017	Streamy Awards 	Purpose Awards Honoree, Creator 	Won[89]
2017	Shorty Awards 	YouTuber of the Year 	Nominated[90]
2017	2017 Goodreads Choice Awards	Best Nonfiction (How To Be A Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life) 	Won
2017	2017 Non-Obvious Book Awards	Best Business Books of 2017 (How To Be A Bawse: A Guide to Conquering Life) 	Shortlisted
2018	Shorty Awards 	Creator of the Decade 	Nominated
2019	Streamy Awards 	Audience Choice Creator of the Year 	Nominated
2019	Kids' Choice Awards 	Favorite Social Star 	Nominated
2020	Kids' Choice Awards 	Favorite Female Social Star 	
Category:Incomplete
Category:Articles in need of better grammar/writing
Category:Guest stars