Grace Helbig

*Grace Anne Helbig* (born September 27, 1985) is an American comedian, actress, author, talk show host, and YouTube personality. She is the host and creator of the it'sGrace YouTube channel, the audio-video podcast Not Too Deep with Grace Helbig, and the comedy/talk show on the E! television network, The Grace Helbig Show.

She is best known for creating the 2008-2013 My Damn Channel web series DailyGrace, being a correspondent on Attack of the Show! on the G4 network, playing Idol on the Fine Brothers' web series MyMusic, appearing in a series of Lowe's television commercials, co-producing and starring in the feature film Camp Takota, and authoring the comedic self-help handbook for Millennials Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-up.

## Early Life

Helbig was born in South Jersey to John Helbig and Theresa McGinnis. She has an older brother, John, and a younger brother, Tim. She attended Gateway Regional High School in Woodbury Heights, New Jersey. She was a successful track star and medal-winning pole-vaulter.

In 2003, Grace began studying at Ramapo College in Mahwah, New Jersey. It was there that she formed a sketch comedy group called "Baked Goods" with her best friend, Michelle Akin (née Vargas). She took improv classes at the Peoples Improv Theater in New York City.

In 2005, Helbig entered the Miss New Jersey USA pageant competition where she reached the semi-finals.

## Web Video

### Content Creator

n November 2007, Helbig house sat for a family in South Orange, New Jersey. In order to alleviate boredom and keep herself entertained, she began a daily vlog of her house sitting experience on her personal YouTube channel GracieHinABox.

Beginning March 2008, Helbig and her college roommate Michelle Akin (née Vargas) created the Grace n' Michelle YouTube channel. The most recent video on this channel was uploaded on October 25, 2013, when Helbig visited Akin in New York City.

In early 2008, Helbig narrated the short-lived animated web series, Bedtime Stories on My Damn Channel, which consisted of R-rated parodies of classic fairy tales. My Damn Channel founder and CEO Rob Barnett discovered her personal vlogs through her profile and offered her the opportunity to host her own video blog web series on the My Damn Channel website. This became DailyGrace, which premiered on April 14, 2008, with new episodes published every weekday. On October 11, 2010, DailyGrace was launched as its own YouTube channel. By the end of December 2013, the channel had amassed over 2.4 million subscribers and over 211 million video views on YouTube. From the series' inception in April 2008 through December 2013, Helbig created over 830 DailyGrace episodes for the DailyGrace YouTube channel — in addition to the 690 DailyGrace episodes that had been published exclusively on the My Damn Channel website (i.e., all episodes up to October 8, 2010 as well as additional extra videos after that date).

From March 2012 through January 2013, Helbig hosted My Damn Channel LIVE once a week from the company's New York City studio (the remaining weekday episodes were hosted by Beth Hoyt). In November 2013, the series was revived in a weekly format as My Damn Channel LIVE: Hangout, with Helbig making a few appearances via video chat from the Los Angeles studio.

On September 13, 2013, Helbig premiered her weekly web series Grace's Faces on beauty guru Bobbi Brown's newly created YouTube channel I love makeup. The series lasted twenty-four episodes and ended March 7, 2014.

On November 4, 2013, Helbig premiered a weekly supplemental DailyGrace series exclusive to the My Damn Channel website entitled One Thing You Didn't Know About Me From Last Week. The series lasted five episodes and ended December 2, 2013.

On December 27, 2013, Helbig uploaded her final DailyGrace episode to the DailyGrace YouTube channel. Four days later, My Damn Channel released a statement announcing that Helbig had chosen not to renew her multi-year contract with the network, and that going forward, no new content would be created by Helbig for the DailyGrace YouTube channel. My Damn Channel indicated that the DailyGrace YouTube channel would remain active solely as an archive, with plans for the network to upload the early DailyGrace episodes and other Helbig content that had formerly been exclusive to the My Damn Channel website.

On January 6, 2014, Helbig relaunched her personally owned, formerly secondary channel it'sGrace (renamed from GracieHinABox) as her main YouTube channel. News of Helbig's departure from My Damn Channel and the shift back to her own independent channel contributed to a dramatic increase in it'sGrace subscribers, from just under 87,000 in the last week of 2013 to over a half million by the first week of 2014. On January 22, 2014, just two and a half weeks after the channel's relaunch, it'sGrace passed 1 million subscribers. On April 30, 2014, it was announced via press release that Helbig had partnered with multi-channel network Fullscreen. On December 30, 2014, just one week shy of the one-year anniversary of the channel's relaunch, it'sGrace passed 2 million subscribers. As of April 2015, the it'sGrace YouTube channel has over 2.1 million subscribers and over 87 million video views.

On July 1, 2014, Helbig and co-host Mamrie Hart premiered preview footage of their summer travel-themed web series #HeyUSA on the Astronauts Wanted YouTube channel. Eight full-length episodes premiered on Conde Nast Entertainment's digital video platform The Scene on October 15, 2014. A second season of #HeyUSA premiered on The Scene on April 16, 2015, albeit without Helbig as Hart's travel partner. Instead, Helbig introduced each episode and announced the location she chose for Hart and guest travel companions Kingsley, Tyler Oakley, Jenna Marbles, Colleen Ballinger, and Flula Borg.

### Actress

Helbig has been featured in many web series throughout her career, including the following:

In 2012, during the inaugural IAWTV Awards, Helbig met with the Fine Brothers. The two still needed to cast someone to play the role of Idol for their new web series MyMusic and during their meeting, they offered her the role. Helbig flew out to Los Angeles the next week to shoot the first season. Helbig subsequently appeared in the first seven episodes of the series' second season.

In July 2013, in the last three episodes of Season 2 Part 2 of the hit web series The Most Popular Girls in School, Helbig voiced Jeannie Halverstad, the abrasive show host of Cheer Nationals. In March 2014, Helbig voiced a different character, Pamela Darabond, in three Season 3 episodes.

In May and June 2014, Helbig appeared as Anna in two episodes of the second season of the musical web series Side Effects on the AwesomenessTV YouTube channel.

On November 17, 2014 Helbig and Hannah Hart appeared as Juliet and Bonnie Parker respectively in the Epic Rap Battles of History Season 4 episode Romeo and Juliet vs. Bonnie and Clyde.

On February 26, 2015, it was announced via various media outlets that Helbig will co-star with Hannah Hart in a reboot of the 1970s Sid and Marty Krofft live action science fiction children's television series Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. The series, directed by Chris Marrs Piliero, was shot in Vancouver during February and March 2015.

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