Daniel James Howell

Life was not easy for Dan; he began working at the age of 16 at retail chain Focus DIY and later at supermarket Asda. He began his tryst with YouTube by uploading his first video called ‘Hello Internet’ in October 2009. Dan received a lot of good reviews for his work from Phil Lester and other friends which motivated him to continue uploading videos regularly.

Dan, who is fondly called the Internet Cult Leader, became famous after he won the YouTube competition, SuperNote in 2012. In January 2013 Dan along with his friend Phil Lester presented the entertainment show ‘Dan and Phil’ on BBC Radio 1 on Sunday night. Upbeat about the success of their endeavors Dan and Phil also tried their hands at gaming and produced the first video on their new gaming YouTube channel, DanandPhilGAMES in September 2014. The new channel was a huge hit and garnered 1 million subscribers by March 2015, making it one of the fastest growing channels on YouTube. The Internet Cult Leader also lent his voice for Disney’s animated film, ‘Big Hero 6’.

Dan and Phil’s efforts bore fruit when in 2013 they won the Sony Golden Headphones Award for the UK's favorite Radio Presenters through a voting done by fans. Dan also clinched the Lovie Internet Video Person of the Year Award in 2014 and was also nominated for the Teen Choice Award - Web Collaboration in 2014.

Leveraging their celebrity status, Daniel and Phil make it a point to reach out to those in need. In 2010 and 2011, they took part in ‘Stickaid’, which was a live annual 24-hour internet broadcast to raise funds for charity in association with UNICEF.

Dan is an outspoken person, in 2015 during a live conversation on YouNow the radio star admitted that he was a feminist and criticized the ignorance and misunderstandings that plagued feminism. In Dan’s opinion the ignorance about feminism was “honestly terrifying and dangerous” and the general perception of feminism in society made him “panic for the future of humanity”.