Personal life

Mathew Tyler Oakley was born March 22, 1989 in Jackson, Michigan at Allegiance Health (then known as Foote Hospital) and has twelve siblings in total. When Oakley was a toddler, his parents divorced.

When he was going into the sixth grade, Oakley moved to a new city and became involved in the arts (choir and drama in particular). During this time, Oakley also developed an eating disorder due to discomfort over his body image, which he describes as "going from one unhealthy way of living to another". By the time Oakley went to high school he overcame his eating disorder with the help of his choir teacher.

Oakley continued being involved in choir and drama while at high school. During his freshman year at high school (age 14), Tyler came out as gay.

During Tyler's commencement ceremony, Oakley spoke of how "all the world's a stage". He then went to Michigan State University, where he studied communication, marketing and social media. This was when Oakley first became involved with YouTube, using the video sharing website as a way in which to communicate with his friend, with whom he had not been in touch.

Social media

Oakley is an active member across many social media platforms. A self-proclaimed "professional fangirl", he is a fan of Darren Criss from Glee, along with Julie Chen of CBS's daytime talk show The Talk. He also sang Christmas carols on stage with English-Irish boy band One Direction and television presenter Jerry Springer.

Oakley is also known for receiving attention from major celebrities and organizations, such as Liam Payne from One Direction, Chris Colfer from the television series Glee and the restaurant chain store Taco Bell, namely on social network Twitter after commenting on a their previous tweet or tweeting about them. Due to Oakley's success with social media and prominence among many social media platforms (particularly YouTube), he was also given the opportunity to meet U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. He also did a video with first lady Michelle Obama talking about education issues.

Oakley attributes his success only in part with his accessibility as a young gay man, "It's not all about me being gay. It's kind of like an underlying theme for me sprinkled throughout the videos." He sees Ellen DeGeneres as a role model, "She embodies what I want my experience to be and my influence to be, where it's a positive one, it's a happy one, it's not something about the bad parts of life or the downsides of a lot of things. She's using her influence for good, and everyone knows who she is, what she stands for, and that she is a lesbian."

The Advocate in their 2014 "40 under 40: Emerging voices" say that, due to Oakley's presence on YouTube, he is the first openly gay person that many people have met.

Live appearances

On screen, Oakley has done appearances on broadcasting platforms, having some that air on national TV. Oakley was seen on Insider Tonight, featuring co-hosts Kevin Frazier, and Thea Andrews. He has also recently interviewed live from the 2014 Kids Choice Awards red carpet, along with many other events that have him meeting and speaking to celebrities.

In 2014, Oakley premiered a live show tour, "Tyler Oakley's Slumber Party" featuring him in pajamas and doing skits, and interactive segments with the audience. His two initial shows in Chicago, and Royal Oak, Michigan in early October both sold out in 72 hours. In December 2014 seven dates, all on the East Coast, will make up the next leg of the tour which is expected to eventually go to 40 cities. Variety noted that the trend of "digital-native stars hitting the road for 'in-real-life' shows" has been increasing and Oakley had been a part of DigiTour's 2014 US Summer tour of YouTube and Vine personalities.

It was announced that Oakley, alongside best friend Korey Kuhl, would be competing in the 28th season of The Amazing Race. They finished in 3rd place.

Volunteering and charity

Oakley supports The Trevor Project, an organization for the prevention of suicide among LGBT youth. He has interned with them in 2009 and since 2011 has co-hosted TrevorLIVE, the charity's annual red carpet event. In 2013 he raised $29,000 for his birthday in support of the Trevor Project having aimed to raise $24,000 (because it was his 24th birthday). In 2014, he raised $525,704 in a similar event, and in 2015 he similarly raised $532,224.

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated	Award	Result
2014	Himself	Trevor Youth Innovator Award	Won
2014	Himself	OUT100 Readers' Choice	Won
2014	Himself	Young Hollywood Awards: Viral Superstar	Nominated
2014	Himself	Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star: Male	Won
2014	"The Boyfriend Tag" with Troye Sivan	Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Collaboration	Won
2014	Himself	2014 Streamy Entertainer of the Year	Won
2014		2014 Streamy Activist Icon of the Year	Won
2015	Psychobabble with Tyler Oakley & Korey Kuhl	10th Annual Podcast Awards: Best LGBTQ+ Podcast	Won
2015	Himself	MTV Fandom Awards: Social Superstar of the Year	Nominated
2015	Himself	Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star: Male	Nominated
2015	Himself	Teen Choice Award for Choice YouTuber	Nominated
2015	Himself	Streamy Awards: First Person Series	Nominated
2015	Himself	Streamy Awards: Social Good Campaign	Nominated

Charities

Tyler Oakley supports the following charitable cause: Gay Rights.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]