31 Facts About Anna Akana

Anna Kay Napualani Akana was born on August 18,1989 and is an American actress, comedian, filmmaker, musician, and YouTuber.

Anna Akana is the author of So Much I Want to Tell You: Letters to My Little Sister, in which she describes her struggles and experiences from her sister's suicide to her celebrity status.

Anna Akana's father moved every few years to a new state or country.

Anna Akana's father stated that she loved shows like The Powerpuff Girls, animation in general, and anime, the latter especially because she spent "four years growing up in Japan".

Several months after, Anna Akana watched Margaret Cho perform on a Comedy Central special and laughed for the first time since her sister's death.

Anna Akana began to see laughter as a means of trying to move on with her life and decided to seriously pursue comedy.

Anna Akana has been vocal about her sister's suicide and is a strong advocate for suicide prevention.

In 2013, Anna Akana uploaded a YouTube video, "please don't kill yourself", in which she explains how it felt for her to have a family member die by suicide.

Anna Akana later presented her story as a movie for YouTube titled "Take Your Birth Control".

Anna Akana is of Japanese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Spanish, French, Irish, German, and English descent.

Anna Akana first started performing comedy at age 19 but switched to YouTube video performances in 2011 after experiencing panic attacks and anxiety before going on stage.

Anna Akana first struck online recognition with a semi-popular internet video on Funny or Die in 2010 of her mother discovering she masturbates as a teenager after finding condoms in the trashcan revealed to have been used to keep her vibrator clean.

Anna Akana became a public figure after meeting YouTube celebrity Ray William Johnson at a CBS Annual Diversity Showcase event in January 2012.

Prior, upon moving to Los Angeles, Anna Akana gained a larger online audience and debuted as a YouTube personality by launching a web mini-series in March 2011 titled 10 Second Traumas, created with her then-friend Deirdre Devlin.

Originally uploading sketches and vlogs from her phone, Anna Akana began making comedic life advice videos featuring prop guns and use of cloning to convey cutaways related to her storytelling.

Anna Akana was a huge fan of Batman and adopted the sign-off catchphrase "Stay awesome Gotham".

In 2014, Anna Akana formed a comedy music duo, Cat Benatar, with fellow comedian and writer Megan Rosati.

In that same year, Anna Akana decided to focus more on her skills as a director and attempted to make one short film a month.

Anna Akana starred in all of her short films and has starred in various other short films, and she has since continued to create short films.

Anna Akana is the host of the web series Crash Course Business: Entrepreneurship beginning in August 2019.

Anna Akana began acting in 2010 by starring in uncredited background roles in commercials and the TV series 90210.

Anna Akana starred in Snapper Hero, a scripted video series distributed via Snapchat.

In 2016, Anna Akana appeared alongside Sally Field in the indie comedy film Hello, My Name Is Doris, written by Michael Showalter.

Anna Akana has a recurring role in the Comedy Central show Corporate.

Anna Akana has supporting roles as Gloria Sato in the Disney Channel show Big City Greens and Sasha Waybright in Amphibia.

In 2021, Anna Akana was announced as starring alongside Emma Roberts in the romantic comedy About Fate.

In 2019, Anna Akana transitioned from comedy into music, and released her debut single, "Intervention".

Anna Akana has since released two more music videos, one for "Pretty Girls Don't Cry" in July 2019 and "Not My Proudest Moment" in August.

Anna Akana's follow up project came out early 2021 called No Longer Yours.

In 2024, Anna Akana rolled out her standup comedy tour It Gets Darker with an entire hour dedicated to telling stories about her late sister's suicide and the traumatic aftermath, her history with violent stalkers causing her to quit live appearances, and growing up as a Hawaiian-native Asian military brat.

Luckily for us, YouTuber Anna Akana was more than up to the video-making task.