Phil Lester

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Phil Lester was born in 1987 in Rawtenstall, England. His earliest online videos were posted in 2006, when Lester was 19 years old, and they included references to his family and high school (Rawtenstall Grammar School in Bacup).

Lester’s YouTube channel, AmazingPhil, has been active since 2006, and, as of 2018, has over four-million subscribers. His videos include vlogs about his personal life, humorous segments, and advice for his viewers.

Conscientious of his younger audience, Lester refrains from swearing in his videos, and he is often quoted as saying, “It’s a good thing to be strange; normalness leads to sadness.”

Lester has been credited with creating the YouTube sensation “The 7 Second Challenge,” which was later developed into an app. The challenges task players with performing funny activities, exercises, or thought experiments.

Lester has collaborated with his best friend and fellow YouTuber Dan Howell for the last seven years, and the two of them live together in London. Their collaborative YouTube projects include a gaming channel, where they discuss video games, the April Fool’s channel, where they posted a video of a craft project for April Fool’s Day that prompted the internet memes: squareflakes and Don’t cry, craft. The pair also run the Super Amazing Project, a show covering viewer submissions in response to Lester’s paranormal-focused show, My Damn Channel. They have also co-written a book, The Amazing Book Is Not on Fire (TABINOF).

In addition to YouTube, Lester is active in radio. He hosted BBC Radio 1’s “Internet Takeover” with Howell until April 2016.

He is frequently seen presenting at internet-related events or creating online art to raise money for charity. Lester has also appeared in several films, including Faintheart, Big Hero 6, and The Lion Guard.