MrBeast

James Stephen Donaldson was born in Wichita, Kansas, on May 7, 1998. He was mainly raised in Greenville, North Carolina. He moved houses often and was under the care of au pairs because his parents, Susan Parisher and Charles Donaldson, worked long hours and served in the military. His parents divorced in 2007. While at Greenville Christian, Donaldson played baseball as an outfielder for several years. He acquired Crohns Disease as a teenager so he had to quit sports. He briefly attended Pitt Community College in Winterville, North Carolina, before dropping out. After dropping out of college, Donaldson and his friends attempted to analyze and understand YouTube's recommendation algorithm to create viral videos. Donaldson recalled regarding this period, "There's a five-year point in my life where I was just relentlessly, unhealthily obsessed with studying virality, studying the YouTube algorithm. I woke up. I would order Uber Eats food. And then I would just sit on my computer all day just studying shit nonstop with [other YouTubers]." == YouTube career ==

2012–2017: Early career , Nolan Hansen, and Chandler Hallow Donaldson uploaded his first YouTube video in February 2012, at the age of 13, under the channel name "MrBeast6000". videos estimating the wealth of other YouTubers, His mother disapproved of his decision and forced him to leave the family home as a result. As his channel grew, Donaldson hired four childhood friends—Ava Kris Tyson (at that time named Chris Tyson), Chandler Hallow, Garrett Ronalds, and Jake Franklin—to contribute to his channel. Tyson left the crew in 2024. 2017–2020: Rise to fame In January 2017, Donaldson published an almost day-long video of himself counting to 100,000, which became his breakthrough viral video. Donaldson gained popularity during this period with stunts, such as attempting to break glass using a hundred megaphones, watching paint dry for an hour, By 2018, Donaldson had given out $1 million through his stunts, earning him the title "YouTube's biggest philanthropist". This set the stage for his now-famous brand of large-scale giveaways and philanthropic stunts. During the PewDiePie vs. T-Series rivalry in 2018, a competition to become the most-subscribed channel on YouTube, Donaldson bought billboards and numerous television and radio advertisements to help PewDiePie gain more subscribers than T-Series. During Super Bowl LIII, he purchased multiple seats for himself and his team, whose shirts spelled out "Sub 2 PewDiePie". In March 2019, Donaldson organized and filmed a real-life battle royale competition in Los Angeles with prizes totaling $200,000 (two games were played, each awarding $100,000) in collaboration with Apex Legends. Apex Legends publisher Electronic Arts sponsored the event and prize pool. In April 2020, Donaldson hosted a $250,000 rock, paper, scissors tournament featuring 32 influencers. The event became YouTube's most-watched live Original at the time, peaking at 662,000 concurrent viewers. Professional esports player Nadeshot won the event. In October 2020, Donaldson hosted another influencer tournament. This time, it was trivia, featuring 24 competitors with a grand prize of $300,000. The tournament's winners were siblings Charli and Dixie D'Amelio, which caused controversy due to claims that they cheated. 2021–present: mainstream success On January 1, 2021, Donaldson released the "YouTube Rewind 2020, Thank God It's Over" video. In Donaldson's video, he explains that he had always believed that YouTubers "should get more say in Rewind", and with this in mind, he decided to call "hundreds of YouTubers". At the end of the video, Donaldson gives a shout-out to PewDiePie, citing him and his 2018 Rewind as the inspiration for Donaldson's Rewind. Donaldson signed a Facebook and Snapchat content distribution deal with Jellysmack a month later. During a Clubhouse room in February 2021, Donaldson removed entrepreneur Farokh Sarmad after he allegedly said he could not pronounce his name, a move that Sarmad later said was racist. Sarmad's claims were questioned and denied by other Clubhouse users, who were present at the call and argued against Sarmad's claims, claiming that Donaldson removed him and others to make room for women to be more inclusive. In April 2021, Donaldson announced a sponsorship with mobile banking app Current, marking the first time he took an ownership stake as part of a sponsorship deal. Donaldson stated he struck the deal with Current's SVP of Marketing Adam Hadi, who worked with Donaldson on his first brand deal with Quidd in 2017. In November 2021, Donaldson uploaded "$456,000 Squid Game in Real Life!", a recreation of the survival drama streaming television series Squid Game in real life. The video had 456 people compete for a $456,000 cash prize. It was one of the most-watched YouTube videos of 2021, receiving over 130 million views within a week. A review of the video in Vice argued that it "badly misunderstood the anti-capitalist message of Squid Game". Despite this, Squid Game creator Hwang Dong-hyuk has reacted positively to the recreations and parodies of the series. In December 2021, Donaldson created a third influencer tournament featuring 15 competitors with a grand prize of $1 million. In January 2022, Forbes ranked Donaldson as YouTube's highest-earning creator, earning an estimated $54 million in 2021. Forbes stated that his income in 2021 would have placed him 40th in the 2020 Forbes Celebrity 100, earning as much money as Vin Diesel and Lewis Hamilton did in 2020. On July 28, 2022, Donaldson surpassed 100 million subscribers on his main channel, making him the fifth channel and the second individual YouTuber to achieve the milestone. On November 17, 2022, Donaldson achieved the Guinness World Record of "Most Subscribers for an Individual Male on YouTube" with his MrBeast channel at 112 million subscribers. The previous record holder, PewDiePie, had held the record as the most subscribed YouTuber for almost ten years. Donaldson achieved one billion video views over 30 days on his main YouTube channel in November 2022. On October 15, 2023, Donaldson surpassed 200 million subscribers. His YouTube Shorts video "Would You Fly to Paris for a Baguette?" is the most-watched video on his main YouTube channel, having more than 1.5 billion views and 56 million likes as of May 2025. On June 2, 2024, Donaldson surpassed India-based music label and film production company T-Series for the title of the most subscribed channel on YouTube, with 267 million. On July 10, 2024, Donaldson became the first YouTuber to surpass 300 million subscribers. On July 13, 2024, Donaldson uploaded his 300 million subscribers special, "50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000". The video featured guest appearances from Howie Mandel, Miranda Cosgrove, and Joey Chestnut. This video reached 71 million views in the first 24 hours, becoming Donaldson's most-viewed video within its first 24 hours. In his video "Beat Ronaldo, Win $1,000,000", Cristiano Ronaldo, Tom Brady, and Bryson DeChambeau made guest appearances. On April 25, 2025, Donaldson and Uruguayan YouTuber Fede Vigevani hosted an influencer basketball game featuring a team of Spanish-speaking creators and a team of English-speaking creators. Neymar, Stephen Curry, and Serena Williams made guest appearances in the video "Beat Neymar, Win $500,000". On June 1, 2025, Donaldson became the first YouTuber to surpass 400 million subscribers. In January 2026, Beast Industries raised $200 million from Bitmine at a $5 billion valuation. == Content ==

In his early career, Donaldson primarily uploaded Let's Plays, "best and worst" roundups, and commentary about YouTube culture. He focuses on striking topics, titles, and thumbnails to encourage clicks, aiming for concepts he considers "original, creative" and essential viewing. He favors bold keywords such as "24-hours" and "challenge" in titles, and introduces the premise within the opening 30 seconds before promising a finale to hold attention through the usual 10–30 minute runtime. By 2022 he was reportedly spending about $1 million on each flagship video, He also generates additional revenue through ventures that primarily focus on consumer goods, including MrBeast Burger, Lunchly, and Feastables. , Donaldson employs over 250 people, from writers to editors to producers. == Business ventures ==

Finger on the App In June 2020, Donaldson partnered with Brooklyn art collective MSCHF to launch Finger on the App, a one-off mobile endurance contest where players kept a finger on their phone screen until one person remained to claim $25,000. The competition ran for more than 70 hours and ended with four winners who each received $20,000. Its popularity prompted Finger on the App 2, originally slated for December 2020 but delayed until March 2021 after heavy downloads overwhelmed the servers. The sequel offered a $100,000 grand prize, and the champion outlasted the field for roughly 51 hours while the runner-up earned $20,000. Food MrBeast Burger Producer Will Hyde told The Wake Weekly in November 2020 that Donaldson would debut MrBeast Burger the following month as a virtual restaurant brand. His team partnered with Virtual Dining Concepts so existing kitchens could license the menu and fulfill delivery orders through third-party apps. Donaldson said in 2024 that he was moving on from the venture and sought to close it because of quality concerns that he believed were hurting his brand. Feastables Donaldson introduced Feastables in January 2022 with a line of MrBeast Bar chocolates in original, almond, and quinoa crunch flavors. The launch campaign included a sweepstakes worth more than $1,000,000, with $10,000 prizes and a challenge that mirrored Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by offering finalists a chance to compete for a chocolate factory. A June 2022 video documented the elimination-style competition, featured celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay as a judge, and culminated in a winner choosing between the factory and $500,000 in cash. Feastables generated an estimated $10 million in sales within its first few months and refreshed its recipes and packaging in February 2024. Lunchly Donaldson unveiled the Lunchly snack-kit brand in September 2024 as a joint venture with fellow creators Olajide "KSI" Olatunji and Logan Paul. Marketed as a healthier alternative to Lunchables, the kits paired Prime drinks and Feastables chocolate bars with options such as turkey and crackers, nachos with salsa and cheese, or pizza components. Investments and partnerships Donaldson invested in the gaming startup Backbone, supporting its Backbone One controller and companion content app for mobile players. In March 2021, he partnered with the Creative Juice financial network to launch Juice Funds, a $2 million pool that invests in emerging creators. The next month he became a long-term investor and partner in the financial technology company Current, which promoted the deal through giveaways, and he later faced criticism when fans lost money in a cryptocurrency venture he had endorsed. As of October 2025, the program had not yet materialized, with minimal updates from Donaldson and ECU. He also appeared as a guest judge on Gordon Ramsay's Food Stars in May 2023. In 2025, he announced a collaboration with James Patterson on a thriller novel slated for publication by HarperCollins in 2026. Step In February 2026, Donaldson's Beast Industries acquired the youth-oriented fintech app Step. The app is focused on providing tools to manage money and build credit. In a tweet posted February 9, he expressed a desire to assist young people with increased financial literacy, writing "I want to give millions of young people the financial foundation I never had." Television FAST Channel In 2023, a free ad-supported streaming television channel named Mr. Beast that shows only previously released MrBeast YouTube videos began airing on the Roku Channel service. Beast Games In March 2024, Donaldson and Amazon MGM Studios announced their plans to create a new reality competition series Beast Games, set to air exclusively on Prime Video. On December 19, 2024, Donaldson released Beast Games on Amazon Prime Video. With 1,000 contestants competing for a $5 million cash prize—the biggest single prize in the history of television and streaming—the show broke numerous Guinness World Records. On May 12, 2025, the series was renewed for two additional seasons. Donaldson stated that his $100 million deal with Amazon was a "poor financial decision" as he lost tens of millions of dollars from Beast Games. Beast Games, Amazon, and Donaldson faced criticism after contestants complained that they had been denied food, water, medication, and beds during production. Additionally, several contestants were hospitalized during the first filming sessions, with over a dozen contestants claiming that various injuries had occurred while participating in the challenges and that many had been seen being removed from the arena on stretchers. A spokesperson of Donaldson would blame external factors such as the global computer systems outage caused by CrowdStrike's update to its software, "extreme weather and other unexpected logistical and communications issues". Beast Land theme park Donaldson opened Beast Land, a temporary amusement park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia which ran from November 13 to December 27, 2025, as part of Riyadh Season. The theme park featured rides inspired by videos from the MrBeast YouTube channel. == Philanthropy ==

Team Trees , 2019 On October 25, 2019, Donaldson and fellow YouTuber Mark Rober launched #TeamTrees on YouTube to raise $20 million for the Arbor Day Foundation by January 1, 2020, so the group could plant one tree per donated dollar by December 2022. Creators including Rhett & Link, Marshmello, iJustine, Marques Brownlee, The Slow Mo Guys, Ninja, Simone Giertz, Jacksepticeye, and Smarter Every Day amplified the effort, and the foundation began planting in U.S. national parks that same month. High-profile donors such as Jack Dorsey, Susan Wojcicki, Elon Musk, and Tobias Lütke contributed, along with companies including Discovery, Verizon, and PopCap. , supporters have funded more than 24.8 million trees through the initiative. Team Seas , 2021 On October 29, 2021, Donaldson and Rober introduced #TeamSeas to raise $30 million by January 1, 2022, for the Ocean Conservancy and The Ocean Cleanup, with the goal of removing of debris from oceans, rivers, and beaches. Thousands of creators, among them AzzyLand, DanTDM, TommyInnit, LinusTechTips, TierZoo, LEMMiNO, The Infographics Show, Hannah Stocking, Dhar Mann, and Marques Brownlee, promoted the campaign, and BEN plus TubeBuddy's eight-million-creator initiative provided additional reach. , contributors have raised more than $34 million ($34,080,191) for the effort. Team Water , 2025 On August 1, 2025, Donaldson and Rober launched #TeamWater to raise $40 million for WaterAid by the end of the month. The campaign set out to deliver lasting clean-water access for two million people and enlisted more than 3,000 creators to help meet the goal. , donations exceeded the target, totaling more than $41 million ($41,631,423). Beast Philanthropy received Thanksgiving meals as part of an initiative by Beast Philanthropy and Jennie-O. Donaldson launched the Beast Philanthropy YouTube channel on September 17, 2020, announcing a dedicated food bank and naming longtime collaborator Darren Margolias as executive director. The channel states that it donates all advertising revenue, brand deals, and merchandise proceeds to charity. building 100 wells for communities with limited access to clean water, and donating $300,000 in technology to schools. Donaldson has also produced videos that fund medical procedures, helping 1,000 blind people see again, 1,000 deaf people regain hearing, and 2,000 people walk again. == Controversies ==

Working conditions Former employees have accused Donaldson of fostering a difficult workplace. Editor Matt Turner told The New York Times that while he worked for Donaldson between February 2018 and September 2019 he was berated almost daily, called a "retard", and often left uncredited for his edits. Another editor, Nate Anderson, said he left after one week in 2018 because of what he viewed as unreasonable expectations and later received death threats from fans after sharing his experience. They alleged chronic mistreatment on set, including sexual harassment, unsafe conditions, and unpaid expenses. The plaintiffs also said they were pressured to sign illegal contracts and submit false paperwork in order to secure Nevada tax credits for the production. Unauthorized tour of Mayan ruins In May 2025, Mexican authorities accused Donaldson of exploiting the Chichén Itzá ruins after he released the video "I Explored 2,000-Year-Old Ancient Temples". Officials said the footage showed him waiting until nightfall, climbing restricted structures, entering a temple, and promoting Feastables products in violation of guidelines for tourists and commercial shoots. Donaldson countered that his team held "full permits" and followed the rules, but President Claudia Sheinbaum requested a review of how the permits were granted. == Personal life ==

Donaldson has described himself as an introvert, saying his focus on YouTube leaves little time for a social life. His mother, Sue, linked that temperament to the family's frequent moves and to his ongoing experience with Crohn's disease. Donaldson announced his engagement to Booysen on January 1, 2025, noting that he proposed on December 25, 2024. After the implosion of the OceanGate submersible Titan during a June 2023 expedition to the Titanic, Donaldson said he had been invited on the trip but declined. Political views Donaldson says he remains apolitical because taking sides could alienate viewers and undermine his philanthropic work. On July 6, 2024, amid the 2024 campaign, he tweeted, "If we lower the age to run for president I'll jump in the race," a remark that went viral before he clarified on X that he was simply restating his apolitical stance. LGBT issues In an April 2022 interview with Rolling Stone, Donaldson said he had left evangelical Christianity, now identifies as an agnostic theist, and no longer shares the anti-LGBTQ positions he heard while growing up in the Bible Belt. He recalled being taught that "Gay people are the reason God's going to come and burn this Earth" and said he has since rejected that rhetoric. Tyson later came out as a trans woman. == Public image and influence ==

Donaldson's channel became the most subscribed on YouTube on June 2, 2024, when it overtook T-Series. A February 2021 poll by Insider reported that 70% of respondents viewed him favorably and 12% unfavorably. Coverage from Time, Yahoo Life, and CNN has noted his particular appeal to younger audiences, pointing to his direct-to-camera delivery and polished but enthusiastic on-screen persona, which could encourage a parasocial relationship. Writers such as Charissa Cheong have linked Donaldson's success to a broader shift on YouTube toward high-budget, experimental productions. Other analysts have credited his format with influencing creators such as Fidias, Matthew Beem, and Airrack, who have adopted similar high-stakes challenge videos. Donaldson's influence on entertainment has been deemed "Mr. Beastification" and "Beastification" by observers. Taylor Lorenz noted in March 2024 that Donaldson's style of "retention editing" involved "loud sound effects, fast cuts, flashing lights and zero pauses" to keep users' attention. This style was mimicked by many other content creators to the point of being the dominant format, though its dominance was beginning to wane by then; Donaldson wanted himself and others to "get rid of the ultra fast paced/overstim era of content". Donaldson's approach has also drawn scrutiny. Commentators have accused Donaldson of turning philanthropy into spectacle, sometimes describing his videos as "charity porn." Donaldson has responded that he does not profit from Beast Philanthropy videos, that all revenue is donated, and that government action is needed to solve systemic problems. == Filmography ==

Films Television Music videos == Awards and nominations ==