Lucas Cruikshank Biography

Lucas Alan Cruikshank (born August 29, 1993) is an American comedic actor. Living in Columbus, Nebraska, he created the character Fred Figglehorn, and the associated Fred series for his channel, on the video-sharing website YouTube. These videos are centered on Fred Figglehorn, a fictional 6-year-old who has a dysfunctional home life and "anger management issues".

Personal life

Cruikshank was raised in Columbus, Nebraska, and attended Lakeview High School. He is the son of Molly Jeanne (née Duffy) and Dave Alan Cruikshank. He is the middle of eight children (he has five sisters and two brothers). Cruikshank is openly gay. In a video released August 20, 2013, he came out saying "I'm gay. I feel so weird saying it on camera. But my family and friends have known for like three years. I just haven't felt the need to announce it on the Internet."

Career

Fred

Cruikshank, while testing character ideas, created the Fred character in a Halloween video, and uploaded it to a YouTube channel that he had started with his two cousins. Upon the success of Fred, he started a video series, and set up the Fred channel in April 2008. By April 2009, the channel had over one million subscribers, making it the first YouTube channel to do so, and the most subscribed channel at the time. In December 2009, Cruikshank filmed Fred: The Movie, which aired on Nickelodeon in September 2010. Nickelodeon has created a franchise surrounding the character and began producing the sequel in March 2011. Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred aired on October 22, 2011, also on Nickelodeon. In 2012 Fred: The Show aired, consisting of 20 11-minute episodes, as well as a third movie.

Sponsorship and appearances

In the Fred series, Cruikshank promotes various products and movies. He is seen using a Zipit, as well as his own products and T-shirts. In addition to promoting his own movies and albums, Cruikshank has also promoted the movies City of Ember, Year One, and Adventures of Power, and the artist Kev Blaze.

He has made a cameo appearance as both "Fred" and himself on Nickelodeon's iCarly in "iMeet Fred", which originally aired on February 16, 2009.

Cruikshank has appeared on The Tyra Banks Show, as well as the Hannah Montana episode "Come Fail Away", which aired December 6, 2009. He appeared at the 2009 Teen Choice Awards as well as the 2010 Kids' Choice Awards presenting awards to winners off-stage. In 2011, he appeared on the Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards, and in an episode of Supah Ninjas. In 2012 and 2013 he starred as the lead in the Nickelodeon television show Marvin Marvin, as an alien "teenage" boy adjusting to human life.

Other work

Cruikshank was originally a part of JKL Productions, a group comprising twins Jon and Katie Smet and Lucas Cruikshank, their cousin. Although Cruikshank formally left the group, JKL prefers to keep Lucas' "L" in its name. Cruikshank deleted all of his individual videos when he left JKL Productions, but he can still be seen in a few of their videos. In January 2009 he set up his own channel, called "lucas", in which he appears as himself. Since May 2013, Cruikshank has regularly released vlogs on his "lucas" channel with friend, and fellow actor, Jennifer Veal.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2006"2011	Fred	Fred Figglehorn/various voices	Web-based series
2009	2009 Teen Choice Awards	Fred Figglehorn	Backstage clips
2009	iCarly	Himself/Fred Figglehorn	Guest star in "iMeet Fred"
2009	Hannah Montana	Kyle McIntyre	Guest star in "Come Fail Away"
2010	2010 Kids' Choice Awards	Himself	Presenter of awards
2010	Fred: The Movie	Fred Figglehorn/Derf	Lead role
2011	Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards	Himself	Presenter of award
2011	Supah Ninjas	Spencer/Kickbutt	Guest star in "Kickbutt"
2011	Fred 2: Night of the Living Fred	Fred Figglehorn/Derf	Lead role
2012	Fred: The Show	Fred Figglehorn	Lead role
2012	Fred 3: Camp Fred	Fred Figglehorn	Lead role
2012"2013	Marvin Marvin	Marvin	TV show, lead role
2013	2013 Kids' Choice Awards	Himself	Presenter
2013	Big Time Rush	Himself	Guest Star in "Big Time Cameo"

Awards and nominations

Year	Category	Award	Result
2009	Favorite User Generated Video	People's Choice Awards
2009	Choice Web Star	Teen Choice Awards
2010	Choice Web Star	Teen Choice Awards
2010	Iconic Web Star	J-14 Teen Icon Awards
2013	Favorite TV Actor	Kids' Choice Awards