Ian Andrew Hecox[3] was born on November 30, 1987, in Sacramento, California[4] and is a native of Carmichael, California.[5] His parents are Sharon and Stephan Andrew Hecox, and he has an older sister named Melissa.[6] His mother appeared as a recurring character in various Smosh sketches.[7] Hecox attended Del Campo High School and did cross-country.[1][8] He attended American River College where he took screenwriting, film and improv classes, before dropping out to focus on Smosh two years later.[9]
In 2002, Hecox joined smosh.com, made by his friend Anthony Padilla, whom he first met in sixth grade.[5] Hecox and Padilla made the Smosh (main) YouTube channel in 2005 and first uploaded lip sync videos to several theme songs. It was their lip sync video to the Pokémon Theme, uploaded on November 28, 2005, that became the most-viewed YouTube video for a time (later surpassed by Judson Laipply's Evolution of Dance) until it was eventually taken down due to copyright infringement after surpassing 24 million views.[5][10]
They shifted on making sketch comedy skits, such as the Food Battle[11] and If It Were Real[12] series. The viral videos helped Smosh become the most-subscribed YouTube channel on three separate occasions.[5] Before the third such occasion, Smosh was acquired by Defy Media (then Alloy Digital) in 2011.[10] Hecox created an individual channel in 2006, "IanH", which became Smosh's second channel for behind-the-scenes videos and series such as "Lunchtime with Smosh" and his own series "Ian Is Bored".[13][14] Hecox also ventured into feature film with Smosh, co-producing and acting in the films Smosh: The Movie (2015) and Ghostmates (2016).[15][16]
Despite the growth and expansion the channel received,[5][10] Padilla left Smosh in 2017 to focus on independent solo ventures. Hecox stayed, as according to him, "I'm really looking forward to taking Smosh to the next phase, and we can't wait for people to see what we have coming up."[17] He and Padilla publicly stated that they remained friends following the latter's departure,[18] although Hecox would later state that their friendship was actually strained until they reconnected in 2022.[19] Hecox remained the only original member of Smosh since its inception, and was credited for continuing the success of the channel.[18][20] JJ Rankin of Screen Rant wrote of his role as a comedian that he "balances both exaggerated and muted humor scenes effortlessly and can engage audiences with his self-aware comedy."[20]
After Padilla's departure, Hecox became more involved with the business aspects of the channel.[1] Defy Media shut down in 2018, leaving Hecox to seek new investors to keep the channel going.[21][22] In February 2019, Smosh was bought in by Rhett & Link,[23] who remained the owners until June 20, 2023, when Hecox, alongside Padilla (who returned), announced that they purchased and acquired Smosh to be independent once again.[19]
Outside Smosh
Hecox was a producer for the web series Krogzilla, and was also an executive producer for the series Oishi High School Battle, for 23 episodes between 2012 and 2014.[24][25] Hecox acted in The Angry Birds Movie (2016)[26] and Hedgehogs (2017).[27] In 2016, Hecox made a guest appearance on an episode of Chelsea.[28] He also hosted a weekly series for the streaming service Crackle in 2017,[29] and starred in the Tastemade cooking series "Sunday at Nana's" in 2019.[30]
Episode: "Rewind YouTube Style 2012" Episode: "What Does 2013 Say?" Episode: "Turn Down for 2014" Episode: "Now Watch Me 2015" Episode: "The Shape of 2017"
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