Matthias

Matthew Fredrick was born on September 20, 1988, in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California. His father worked as an imagineer for Walt Disney for some time, during which they had to move to Orlando. As his father designed theme parks for Disney, he could visit Disney World any time he wanted. He has an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Joey. His sister and his brother-in-law Bryan run the channel 'The Crazie Crew', while his brother has the channel 'J-Fred'. As a child, he used to play basketball with his brother and their friend Trevor, but stopped participating in sports altogether after his friend moved to another state.

He married his longtime girlfriend Amanda Faye, who is also a YouTuber known for fashion and beauty videos. They went to the same school, though were in different classes. They saw each other during the PE class and immediately became infatuated, even though they would go on their first date much later. After four years of dating, he proposed to her on a beach. The couple has a daughter named Luna.

Matthias, whose father worked in the entertainment industry, started to make short films when he was in the 9th grade. However, after making over a dozen videos, he realized that he lacked an audience, which discouraged him from continuing it. After graduation from school, he took a job at a drug store and at the same time went to College of the Canyons to study film and music. During this time, he directed a movie, titled 'Maestro', which won the best cinematography award and got featured on the homepage of Vimeo. He then transferred to California State University, Northridge (CSUN) where he became a fellow of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association. At CSUN, he was one of four students to be chosen to direct a thesis film with over $30k budget. A fellow student named Alex, who helped him with the project, had a YouTube channel called 'Joule Thief'. Matthias, who had lost his job at the drug store during this time, started making YouTube videos in April 2012 with Alex's help and never looked back.

When Matthias was in the 10th grade, he made friends with a number of like-minded students at school. They had a band, which made him interested in music. Even though he had never sang before, he introduced himself as a vocalist to be with the group. He eventually learned to play instruments like guitar, bass and piano. Even though his friends later lost interest in music, he remained passionate about it. He would later meet DJ Michael Badal, who shared the same passion. From him Matthias learnt how to make music by himself with the help of a computer. When he was in the 11th grade, he formed the band 'The Social' and recorded a 14-song album titled 'Where We Should Be' with Badal's help.

According to Matthias, it is his passion for making videos that helped him achieve stardom. Making money was not the first thing on his mind when he first decided to make videos for YouTube. He is interested in creating videos on topics that benefit his audience in some way or make them smile. Talking about inspirations for the topics for his videos, he mentioned that he looks at everything with an open mind, which helps him in exploring new ideas. Keeping in mind that YouTube is a medium which thrives on the communication between the content creator and the audience, he feels it is important to get the viewers involved in the process of creation. He not only pays attention to what his viewers are expecting, but also credits them when he incorporates their ideas into new content.