Ryan Higa: The Pioneering Comedian Who Lit Up YouTube and Beyond
In the wild, uncharted world of early 2000s internet culture, Ryan Higa is one of the most well-known names. Higa, better known online as nigahiga, was born on June 6, 1990, in the sunny town of Hilo, Hawaii. He was one of the first people to make videos on YouTube. He didn’t just make videos; he helped define what it meant to be a content creator. He was great at absurd humor, razor-sharp parodies, and being charming on screen. Higa will be 35 years old in 2025. She started out as a high school lip-sync star and has since become a multifaceted entertainer, author, and streamer whose impact can be felt in many forms of digital media. This article talks about the life, laughs, and lasting legacy of the man who was once the most-subscribed creator on YouTube.
Early Life: From Judo Mats to Dreams of YouTube
Ryan Higa is the younger of two sons born to Wendell and Luci Higa. He grew up in a close-knit family of Okinawan descent. His older brother Kyle was always with them on their trips to Hawaii. Ryan was an athlete at heart, even though he wasn’t in the spotlight. He got a black belt in judo and wrestled competitively at Waiakea High School. At first, he put his energy into physical challenges instead of creative ones. But under all the grapples and takedowns was a performer who was just starting out. Higa later said that his comedic roots came from family pranks and a love of telling stories, even though he first wanted to follow a more traditional path.
After graduating from Waiakea High in 2008, Higa went to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) to study nuclear medicine. This field promised stability but not much of the chaos he wanted. YouTube became his way out during these college years. At first, he made videos for friends and family, but soon he became obsessed with them and dropped out of school to bet everything on the new platform. Higa once joked in an interview, “I was training to be a nuclear medicine doctor.” “But then I thought, “I’d rather make people laugh.”
The Nigahiga Era: Rise to YouTube Royalty
Higa started his YouTube journey in the middle of 2006, when the site was still a strange place on the web where cat videos and amateur vlogs were the most popular. They started the nigahiga channel on July 20, 2006, with help from high school friend Sean Fujiyoshi and later from Tim Enos, Ryan Villaruel, Kyle Chun, and Tarynn Nago, who they called “The Yabo Crew.” What’s the name? A smart mix of the Japanese word “niga,” which means “rant,” and Higa’s last name, meant to help fans say it right: “Nee-guh-hee-guh.” (Though Higa has since said that it sometimes brought up memories that weren’t meant to be, which he regrets.)
Their first videos were simple: lip-sync battles to pop songs like James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful.” But Higa’s brilliance was in how he made things worse. They switched to sketch comedy in 2008, and their hits included “How to Be Gangster,” “How to Be Emo,” “How to Be Ninja,” and “How to Be Nerd.” These “How To” series quickly became classics because they combined over-the-top characters, slapstick, and cultural satire that teens all over the world could relate to. Views went through the roof, but so did problems. In early 2009, licensed music copyright strikes led to the removal of important videos and a short suspension of the channel. Higa didn’t give up; he taught himself how to make music and made original tracks. He then re-uploaded edited versions that kept the magic.
The reward was huge. For an amazing 677 days in a row from 2009 to 2011, nigahiga was YouTube’s most-subscribed channel. This record was only matched by PewDiePie. Higa was the first creator to reach 2 million and 3 million subscribers, the latter on December 21, 2010. The channel has 20.8 million subscribers and over 4.42 billion views by 2025. “Nice Guys,” a song from 2011 with Chester See and KevJumba, has almost 3 billion views by itself.
Milestones kept coming: In 2009, Higa wrote, directed, and starred in the 26-minute short Ninja Melk, which was about ninjas and led to the creation of an energy drink line years later. Higa’s favorite project was the 2010 collaboration with Wong Fu Productions called Agents of Secret Stuff. It was a 35-minute parody of spy thrillers that starred Smosh and Ray William Johnson. His discography grew too, with original songs like “I’m Hardcore,” “Bromance,” and “Millennial Love” that mix hip-hop beats with lyrics that make fun of himself.
Building an Empire: RHPC, Ventures, and Awards
As Higa’s fame grew, he became more professional. In 2012, he started the Ryan Higa Production Company (RHPC) in Las Vegas (later Henderson, Nevada). By 2015, he had reunited with Fujiyoshi and turned it into a full studio. He helped start the YOMYOMF Network that year and was a judge on the talent show Internet Icon with Christine Lakin and Timothy DeLaGhetto. RHPC made videos for nigahiga and a second vlog channel called HigaTV, which started in 2011 and now has 4.54 million subscribers.
Higa’s influence went beyond the screen. In 2008, he was in the movie Ryan and Sean’s Not So Excellent Adventure, which was a meta-comedy about YouTube fame that came out in Hawaii and California. He went on to do TV shows, including a 2010 cameo as DJ Elephant Head on Supah Ninjas. He showed off his acting skills in movies like Tell Me How I Die (2016, as Scratch) and Netflix’s Finding ‘Ohana (2021, as Ryan). Boys Generally Asian (BgA), a K-pop parody band with David Choi, Philip Wang, Jun Sung Ahn, and Justin Chon, was the most successful music venture in 2016. Their first song, “Dong Saya Dae,” got 16 million views and reached No. 2 on the iTunes K-pop charts. Their next song, “Who’s It Gonna Be,” beat that. Awards confirmed his status: he won a 2012 Shorty for Best in Humor, was named one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30, and was nominated for six Streamys, five Teen Choices, and more. The TeeHee app from 2015 (a fan hub that closed in 2017) and the Ninja Melk energy drink from 2016, which was co-founded with Kyle Schroeder and Kathleen Hahn, both showed business sense. The drink came out in 2019 after three years of research and development.
But not everything went well. Sean Fujiyoshi left RHPC in 2018 for personal and educational reasons, which was a big change. Higa has kept the company going on his own since then. He got banned from Twitch in 2021 for “hateful conduct” (which he later apologized for), which was a rare mistake in his good reputation.
Personal Life: ADHD, activism, and being honest
Higa is very protective of his private life. He is agnostic and has ADHD, which he talks about in his video series “Off the Pill,” where he talks without taking any medication. Like sports? A huge fan of the San Francisco 49ers and the San Antonio Spurs. He gave money and endorsements to Andrew Yang’s 2020 presidential campaign, which he supported politically.
There are rumors of romance—people are saying that he is dating another creator, which was hinted at through social media Easter eggs—but Higa stays quiet, putting family and fans first. Ryan Higa’s How to Write Good, his memoir from 2017, gives us a peek: it’s a funny guide to being creative that mixes essays, doodles, and lessons from his rise to fame.
The Past and the Future in 2025
Higa’s net worth is around $10 million by 2025. This is thanks to YouTube ads, merchandise sales (through the Ryan Higa Store), tours, sponsorships (Lenovo, anyone?), and investments in tech startups. Wikipedia calls him a “former YouTuber,” but he has 847,000 followers on Twitch, where he streams Valorant and reaction videos. His last big upload was around 2020. His 2018 podcast Off the Pill, which had guests like KevJumba and Jeremy Lin, led to a new project in 2025: a show about creativity that breaks down how content is made, drawing both creators and celebrities.
What did Higa do? He made comedy more accessible to everyone, showing that a kid from Hawaii could outshine Hollywood with just a webcam and some humor. His shift from funny viral videos to deep streaming shows that he is an original influencer who is always one rant ahead of the rest. Ryan Higa is still the guy who would make fun of his own success, lamps and all, even though trends come and go.