Colleen Ballinger

After a stint at Disney in California, she starred in the popular show ‘High School Musical’ which set the pace for an acting career. Always interested in comedy, she made up the character of Miranda Sings, an egocentric lady who is arrogant and rude despite her obvious lack of talent. Partly based on young women she knew in college, the character was initially meant to be an inside joke within her group of friends. Just for fun, Colleen made videos of her portraying Miranda and uploaded them on YouTube, starting from 2008. Her channel surprisingly began getting popular, especially after a video called ‘Free Voice Lesson’ quickly became a sensation in 2009. The video—meant as a satire of bad performers doling out unsolicited advice to others—drew sharp criticisms from those who believed it to be a serious one. This gave Colleen an idea, and she began exaggerating the very aspects of Miranda that people hated, and posted more videos. The audience soon grew to love to hate the narcissistic and egocentric Miranda who is also an irritable, ludicrously self-absorbed, and socially awkward character. The rising popularity of her YouTube channel led to more opportunities for Colleen Ballinger as a comedian and she was often invited to portray Miranda in live performances. Boosted by her growing success, Colleen started a second Miranda YouTube channel, ‘Mirandavlogz’, in which she posted videos from 2010 to 2012. She also has a personal channel, ‘PsychoSoprano’, in which she features comedy, question and answer videos. Colleen Ballinger’s already famous career peaked at newer heights following her marriage to fellow YouTuber Joshua David Evans— the video of his proposal has garnered more than 6 million views on YouTube and the couple's wedding video has been watched more than 11 million times. Colleen is the recipient of several awards including Teen Choice Awards-Choice Web Star: Comedy (2015) and Streamy Award - Performance Awards: Best Actress (2015).

As soon as Colleen’s Miranda Sings videos started becoming popular, she noticed that some people did not understand that the videos were satires. Some viewers thought Miranda Sings was a terrible singer who despite her lack of talent was hoping for a big break. Thus people began sending Miranda hate mail in which they told her in very unkind words how despicable she actually was. The harsh criticisms she received made Miranda a "hero of the anti-bullying movement” as she is seemingly unaffected by the negative feedback and continues being the person she is. Through the character of Miranda, Colleen Ballinger conveys to her young fans that it is very important for girls to be self-confident and it does not matter if they don’t dress stylishly or try to fit in with the crowd.

The increasing popularity of the character of Miranda prompted Colleen to expand the Miranda Sings franchise. In 2009, she released a Christmas EP titled ‘Christmas With Miranda Sings’. She also sells merchandise such as T-Shirts and mugs on her website http://mirandasings.com/default.html. Ballinger, as Miranda, has been featured in radio, television and internet interviews, has also appeared on benefit concerts and award shows. While Colleen Ballinger is most famous for her online portrayal of Miranda Sings, she is also interested in expanding her repertoire beyond Miranda and explore other avenues of comedic performances.