Ray William Johnson

At 42 years old, Ray William Johnson has this physical status:

Ray William Johnson (born August 14, 1981) is an American actor, comedian, film producer, screenwriter, and rapper known for his eponymous YouTube channel and his web series Equals Three.

The channel had more than three billion views and 9.8 million followers as of March 2019, making it one of YouTube's most viewed channels at the time.

Johnson left the show in March 2014, but it continued to be produced and other web series like Booze Lightyear, Comedians On, and Top 6, the first two of which were later cancelled.

Riley Rewind, his first scripted web series, premiered on Facebook in 2013.

He created a television model that was later purchased by FX the same year.

He made his live-action role debut in the indie film Who's Driving Doug, starring former Breaking Bad actor RJ Mitte.

In addition, his production firm, Mom & Pop Empires, is co-producing a documentary with Supergravity Pictures about monopolies in the cable television market.

Early life and education

Johnson was born and raised in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and attended Norman North High School, where he graduated in 1999. He later attended Columbia University School of General Studies, where he studied history but didn't graduate. After finishing his undergraduate studies, he wanted to earn a law degree. During college, he started posting videos on YouTube. These were typical video blogs that Johnson used on a now-deleted channel. Around 30 people were involved in these early videos, with a following of about 30 people.

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Career

In April 2009, Johnson started posting videos on his "Ray William Johnson" channel. The channel became YouTube's first to reach 5 million viewers in 2011. The channel had also attained nearly 2 billion views. Originally, Johnson made videos out of his New York City apartment, but in 2011, he signed a contract with Maker Studios to produce videos on location in Culver City, California. Johnson produced a Spanish-language version of the film "Is Merely a Tres" and also produced a series of comedic animated music videos on a side channel called "Your Favorite Martian."

Johnson revealed in October 2012 that he would leave Maker Studios, alleging that they had been pressuring him to commit a new deal that limited his access to his AdSense account and that would likely take 40% of his income from the series. Johnson would also have to fork over 50% of his intellectual property rights to the show and his other animated web site, Your Favorite Martian. Johnson founded Equals Three Studios (then known as Runaway Planet) in November 2012 and continues to produce Equals Three. The Favorite Martian series was discontinued the same month.

Johnson declared in December 2013 that he would not be able to concentrate on other programs in the near future. On March 12, 2014, his last show as host (titled "TOTAL HELP") was released, and it was around 14 minutes long. At the time of Johnson's departure, the channel had over ten million subscribers and 2.6 billion viewers. Robby Motz, the show's host, made it back in July 2014 when Robby Motz appeared as host. Motz will leave in July 2015, when Kaja Martin, one of Johnson's most trusted associates, took over as host, but Carlos Santos replaced him in December 2015.

Johnson sued Jukin Media for requesting the removal of 40 Equals Three videos that sampled their content in 2015. The lawsuit was later settled.

Various celebrity stars appeared in the series, including Robin Williams, Sarah Silverman, Gabriel Iglesias, John Cho, and Jason Biggs.

In December 2013, Johnson premiered Riley Rewind, his first scripted series that was originally published on Facebook before migrating to YouTube. The story revolved around a teen with a special time-shifting ability. It was released in 5 parts and took about 50 minutes to total. Johnson announced that the series had received ten million views on Facebook in 2015.

Johnson was in talks with FX Networks earlier this year about a scripted series based on his life. Johnson was given a script commitment by the network. Mike Gagerman and Andrew Waller would write the script.

Johnson has been producing comedic series for his main "Ray William Johnson" channel since his release from Equals Three. Booze Lightyear, Top 6, and Comedians On were among the Booze Lightyear, Top 6 and Comedians On. Booze Lightyear was a scripted sketch comedy web series that starred a number of different characters often in comedic situations. In February 2015, Johnson appeared on the series's first episode. Top 6 is a "list show" that is written and hosted by Kelly Landry and covers 6 topics per episode. In February 2015, the top 6 also debuted in February. Comedians On premiered in July 2015, and included a group of different comedians who were amusing a subject with Carlos Santos as host. "Comedians On" and "Booze Lightyear" were both cancelled about the same time as Carlos Santos became host of "Equals Three." Equals Three Studios produced all of these shows, as well as Equals Three Studios. Johnson appears on these programs and in "update vlogs" on YouTube.

In May 2014, Johnson was attached to an indie film called Who's Driving Doug. RJ Mitte, a former Breaking Bad actor, was cast as a new propeller for a disabled recluse. Michael Carnick, who uses a wheelchair as a result of a rare disease, wrote the film, and Paloma Kwiatkowski appeared. Who's Driving Doug was launched in February 2016. Johnson appeared in Jay & Silent Bob's Super Groovy Cartoon Movie briefly. Clay Matthews III, a football player from Texas, appeared in a string of advertisements for DiGiorno pizzas in January 2016.

Johnson is also the co-creator (with former Equals Three host Kaja Martin) of the film production company Mom & Pop Empire. They are currently working on a documentary campaign aimed at exposing cable monopolies. Along with Max Benator and Marc Hustvedt's Supergravity Pictures, Johnson and Martin are co-producers, as well as Max Benator and Martin Hustvedt's Supergravity Pictures. Johnson is set to narrate the film. Mother & Pop Empire co-produced a film called Manson Family Vacation with Mark and Jay Duplass. In 2015, South by Southwest premiered, and Netflix soon after purchased the film's distribution rights. As part of Mom & Pop Empire, Johnson and Martin are currently filming on a separate film starring Johnson and a long-form movie version of their web series Booze Lightyear.

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