Anna Kay Akana

Anna Kay Akana (born 1989) is an American filmmaker, producer, and actress. She is known for her YouTube channel which has over 1 million subscribers and over 100 million video views. Additionally, Akana is known for her involvement in the suicide prevention community, after her sister’s suicide in 2007.
Background
In February 2007, her 13-year-old sister committed suicide, and Akana saw laughter as a means of trying to move on with her life and therefore became a comedian.
Career
YouTube videos
Akana's videos are generally comedic and based on her daily life experiences, and she uploads a new video every Monday. Besides comedy, Akana's videos delves into serious topics as well. In her short film, Short Films: Let's Talk Money, Akana talked about financial processes in short films. In 2014, Akana was listed on New Media Rockstars Top 100 Channels, ranked at #72.
Beyond YouTube
While producing weekly YouTube videos, Akana is also constantly auditioning for other roles. In 2011, Akana appeared in the TV series She played a supporting role in Season 1, Episode 2 as an "Asian girl". In that same year, she also appeared as an extra in .
It has been reported that Akana will star in a scripted video series to be distributed via Snapchat, entitled SnapperHero. The series will be sponsored by AT&T.
Short films throughout career
Miss Earth (2014)
Akana is the director, writer, executive producer, and starring actress for Miss Earth. This film uncovers the story of the future— in 1,000 years, Miss Earth (Anna Akana) competes for the fate of Earth in a Galactic’s depopulation pageant. Jeff Klima, writing for New Media Rockstar says "Anna’s pilot, called Miss Earth, demonstrates Anna’s capabilities not only as an actress but as a writer as well", and "Anna, ... now strikes up on her own and easily demonstrates that she is an intergalactic force to be reckoned with." He continues, "In crafting Miss Earth, Anna teaches the wisdom of standing up to blind allegiance through a parable about an intergalactic beauty pageant - and that’s only episode one". This film has accumulated over 200,000 views and 16,000 likes on YouTube.
Here She Is (2014)
Akana co-directed this short film with Megan Rosati. This short movie is approximately five minutes long. It centers around a beauty pageant contestant (Anna Akana) and her experiences with strange visions in the midst of the competition. According to Akana “This short ends inconclusively and leaves quite a bit up to the audience to interpret”. The film has over 380,000 views and 22,000 likes on YouTube.
Pregnapocalypse (2014)
Written, directed and starring Akana, Pregnapocalypse revolves around the notion that all the women on Earth are impregnated with an alien baby. This film combines both Science fiction and comedy elements to it. The film has reached over 636,000 views and 26,000 likes on YouTube. This short was also featured as part of the 2014 "A Conversation with Anna Akana" event.
Emergency Call (2014)
Akana co-directed this 3 minute short film with Megan Rosati. This movie is about a 911 dispatcher receiving a terrifying call. It was inspired by Megan when she read an article regarding a 911 dispatcher's discovery of her daughter's car accident. This film has reached over 520,000 viewers and 34,000 likes on YouTube.
Afflicted Inc. (2014)
Afflicted Inc. tackles on the subject of anorexia—the film takes place in a dark room where a group of people gathered and discussed how they can afflict young women. “My fascination with mental illness continues to inspire my writing, and the result is the personified afflictions you see above”, says Akana. Anna is the lead in this film and she is made to look like a representative avatar of anorexia; hence her costume is a Dia De Los Muertos skeleton.This film has reached over 640,000 views and 38,000 likes on YouTube.
Hallucination (2014)
Written and directed by Akana, Hallucination is a short film revolving around a girl with schizophrenia and her confrontations with hallucinations. According to Akana, this film is the discarded ending to one of her novels. It conveys the message to raise awareness for mental disorders and indirectly suggestions donation to the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Hallucination was also an official selection of the 2014 HollyShorts Film Festival.
Notable productions
Video: How to put on your face
Akana's most viewed video on YouTube is "How to put on your face". The video is a makeup tutorial, and the meaning of the products. About it, The Huffington Post wrote: "There is a lot of focus on how women look, and although putting on makeup can be an empowering act, it's important that we don't stop or start there. Getting ready starts from the inside out, and Akana reminds us where in our lives we should have a light touch, and where to apply a little extra."
Ellen Stewart, writing for MyDaily, said: "This makeup tutorial is WAY more than just contouring and is guaranteed to make you feel better about yourself"
As of December 2014, this video has amassed over 2.6 million viewers on YouTube and was also featured in the 2014 "A Conversation with Anna Akana" event. Many of these methods are in fact routinely suggested to victioms or potential victims of rape.
Book: Surviving Suicide
As a result of the positive feedback of “please don’t kill yourself”, Akana published the book “Surviving Suicide” in 2013. It consisted of her old diary entries from 2007-2009 in efforts to show the aftermath of suicide. She provides a free online link but all proceeds will go towards suicide prevention programs. Her intent behind the book is to remind people like her (survivors of suicide) that they are not alone.
Critical reactions
In reviewing her video Women Can Be Dicks Too the online magazine Metro referred to her as "wickedly funny YouTuber Anna Akana" and described how the video swaps genders to illustrate "police station misogyny". The reveiw went on to ask: " Is it bad that they make sexual harassment look kind of cool?" In reviewing the same video The Huffington Post wrote: "A step-by-step takedown of 'yellow fever' or the desire to date Asian women often accompanied by bizarre, offensive attempts to do so, could start the healing. Luckily for us, YouTuber Anna Akana was more than up to the video-making task."
In reviewing her video How to Deal with a Breakup, MTV wrote: "In this sketch, comedian Anna Akana envisions the flurry of activity inside the cranial command center of a newly single dumpee." MTV went on to say: "Check out the sketch below".
Deadline referred to Akana as "a prolific online creator whose channel boasts 60 million views and 900,000 subscribers, and last year wrote and starred in her own narrative feature Riley Rewind, scoring a none-too-shabby 20M views online."<ref name=Deadline11Jul14 />

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