Early life

Graceffa was born in Marlborough, Massachusetts, the son of Debbie O'Connor and Joe Graceffa. He has two siblings, a sister named Nicole and a half brother named Jett. He graduated from Marlborough High School in 2009. Graceffa attended Fitchburg State College intending to major in film, but left after one year.

Career

2009-13: YouTube success and The Amazing Race

At age 17, Graceffa began uploading videos to YouTube on a channel known as WinterSpringPro, with his high school classmate and friend Brittany Joyal. In 2009, he started posting videos on his own channel, called, JoeyGraceffa. In 2013, he joined the StyleHaul YouTube network. Graceffa posts daily vlogs on his channel. As of April 2016, he had over 6 million subscribers and approximately 700 million total views on his main YouTube channel. On a second YouTube channel focusing on his gaming, he had more than 1.4 million subscribers and approximately 200 million views, for a total of nearly 900 million views. He also has more than 2.6 million Twitter followers and more than 3.4 million instagram followers.

In 2013, Graceffa and fellow YouTube personality Meghan Camarena were contestants on The Amazing Race 22. The two made it to the tenth leg before being eliminated. Graceffa told an interviewer that "There were a lot of bad times but it was definitely good overall. It was an amazing experience, and I'd love to do it again." The two later teamed up again to compete in The Amazing Race: All-Stars.

2014-present: Films and In Real Life

In late 2013 and early 2014, Graceffa starred in his own web series titled Storytellers. In 2014, Graceffa starred in his own short film titled Eon. The same year Graceffa also starred in Ethereal alongside Joey Pollari. Throughout 2012 to 2014, Graceffa was in various BlackBoxTV short films. He was also a part of the Fine Brothers online series MyMusic throughout 2013 and 2014. Graceffa was nominated for two awards at the 2014 Teen Choice Awards. He won "Best Male Actor in a Dramatic Web Series" at the 2014 Streamy Awards for his portrayal of Hunter Crowley in Storytellers. Graceffa was named by Common Sense Media as one of "10 YouTube Stars Your Kids Love".

In March 2015, Graceffa starred in an episode of the CONtv reality television project Fight of the Living Dead, created by fellow YouTube personality Justine Ezarik.

On May 16, 2015 Graceffa released a song with an accompanying music video titled "Don't Wait" that was widely distributed on Twitter and other media to broadly positive comment. It tells a fantasy fairytale story that features goblins, a witch and a prince. The video ends with Graceffa, dressed as a prince, kissing his male co-star. By December 2015, it had received more than 15 million views. Graceffa confirmed on YouTube on May 18, 2015 that he is gay. Graceffa stated that the reason he waited so long to come out online was because "there was a lot of hesitation to come out online because of growing up in my town: It wasn't acceptable to be gay; it was looked down upon." He also went on to state that after coming out, "I definitely feel more open and free with who I am, and I think that's inspired a lot of other people to also do the same and have come out to their friends and family."

On May 19, 2015, Graceffa released a memoir titled In Real Life: My Journey to a Pixelated World, published by Simon & Schuster. In the book, he discusses being bullied and feeling lonely in school, his mother's alcoholism, his brother's autism, the beginnings of his YouTube career and his road to self-acceptance, among other topics. His book was a New York Times Best Seller on the "celebrities" list in July 2015 and the cover was updated to acknowledge this achievement.

On February 14, 2016, Graceffa announced that he has been in a relationship with Daniel Preda since July 2014 in a video titled "OUR LOVE STORY!"

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2014
	Eon	Drifter	Short film; also served as producer
	Ethereal	Zane	Short film; also served as executive producer
	Haunting Ian	Ian	Short film; also served as writer and executive producer
	Story Tellers	Hunter	Tv mini series; also served as writer and executive producer
2016
	Absolute Peril	Jake	Filming

Television

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2013- 14	The Amazing Race	Himself	Season 22 (10 episodes), Season 24 (3 episodes)
2015	Huge on the Tube		Episode: "Joey Graceffa"
	Influencer Journeys

Web

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2012-present	BlackBoxTV	Hotel Employee #2	Episode: Silverwood: The Perfect Night
		Adrian White	Episode: Zombie
		Not announced	Episode: The Babysitter
		Aaron	Episode: The Fourth Door
2013- 14	MyMusic	Vampire Temp	Recurring role; 6 episodes
2013-present	Storytellers	Hunter Crowley	Main role; 6 episodes Also executive producer, writer, and co-creator Streamy Award for Best Actor in A Drama Nominated—Streamy Award for Best Drama
2015	Fight of the Living Dead	Himself	Episode: "Pilot"

Discography

Extended plays

• Panem's Best (2012)
• Good Songs (2014)

Singles

Year	Song	Album	Ref.
2012	"We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together"	N/A
2013	"Kiss You"
	"Anna Sun"
	"Story of My Life"
2014	"Collar Full
	"Silver Lining"
2015	"Don't Wait"

Personal life

On February 14, 2016, Graceffa confirmed he is in a relationship with Daniel Preda. The pair have been together since July 2014. He lives in Los Angeles, California along with Preda and their two husky dogs, Wolf and Storm.

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominated	Award	Result
2014	Teen Choice Awards	Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star: Male	Nominated
	Teen Choice Awards	Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star: Gaming	Nominated
	Streamy Awards	Best Male Actor in a Dramatic Web Series - Storytellers	Won
	Streamy Awards	Best Drama Series - Storytellers	Nominated
2015	Teen Choice Awards	Teen Choice Award for Choice Web Star: Male	Nominated
2015	Streamy Awards	Best Lifestyle Series	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]