Jaiden Dittfach[1][2][3] (born September 27, 1997), known online as Jaiden Animations, is an American
YouTuber and
animator, known for her
story-timeanimations. Her videos explore a variety of topics, spanning from her experiences to personal stories. She now primarily creates videos centered around
video game stories.
As of July 2024, Jaiden Animations's main YouTube channel has amassed over 13 million subscribers and 2.5 billion views. Nominated for a total of six
Streamy Awards, she won in the Animated category at the
10th Streamy Awards in 2020.[4][5][6]
Early life
Jaiden Dittfach[1] was born on September 27, 1997.[7] Prior to working on her own channel, Jaiden worked with other YouTubers on their channels,[8] including iHasCupquake.[9]
Career
2014–2017: Eponymous channel
Jaiden created her YouTube channel in 2014, when she was 16 years old.[8][10]
In 2016 and 2017, Jaiden's channel started trending on the website, becoming more prominent to bigger audiences.[11][12][13] Jaiden mainly uploads animated YouTube videos that tell stories about her personal life.[11][14][15] The videos sometimes discuss subjects such as
toxic relationships,
body positivity,
anxiety, and
depression.[11][10] She also creates videos centered on her travels and video games, such as Pokémon.[8][16][17][18]
In March 2019, Jaiden participated in an
airsoft gun tournament organized by YouTuber
MrBeast and sponsored by game developer
Electronic Arts. The event, organized in order to promote the release of Apex Legends, featured 36 players, all of which were prominent YouTube influencers. Jaiden's team, which also comprised
Anthony Padilla and close friend
James "TheOdd1sOut" Rallison, ended up winning the competition, with Jaiden herself firing the winning shot.[24]
Jaiden (right) at
VidCon with
TheOdd1sOut (left),
Domics (2nd from right), and other YouTube animators
On June 1, 2021, her YouTube channel reached 10 million subscribers.[30][31] She received a nomination in the Animated category for the
11th Streamy Awards in December 2021.[32] In 2022, she signed with the
Creative Artists Agency.[33] YouTube ranked the video among their list of the "top trending videos" of 2022, as it reached over 17 million views by the end of the year.[34]
In 2023, she joined forces with
Alpharad to create WILD/CARD, a channel dedicated to bringing attention to the smaller content creators that the two of them considered friends. This collaboration included gsmVoiD, Weegee Plays, Giwi, SunflowerSmith, Captain Kidd, and Fyrus.[35]
On July 13, 2024, Jaiden won another competition organized by MrBeast, this time in the video "
50 YouTubers Fight for $1,000,000" in which she competed against 49 other YouTubers for $1,000,000 to give away to their subscribers.[36]
Other activities
Philanthropy
In April 2019, Jaiden published a video encouraging people to donate to Bird Gardens of Naples, a non-profit
bird sanctuary in Florida, via a
GoFundMe campaign. Within nine weeks, the campaign had raised over $22,000.[37] Jaiden was also among many social media figures who donated to the
Team Trees fundraiser in 2019.[38] For
World Health Day in April 2020, Jaiden participated in #HopeFromHome, a charity livestream initiated by fellow YouTuber
Jacksepticeye that raised over $260,000 for
COVID-19 relief.[39][6][40]
In October 2021, Jaiden participated in a charity tournament for the video game Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl hosted by YouTuber
Alpharad and Coney of the esports organization Panda Global, playing as the character
CatDog. In her campaign, she raised over $73,000 after uploading a now-deleted video asking for donations to help choose CatDog as the character she wished to play for the tournament.[41][42]
Personal life
In 2016, she stated in a video that she resides in
Arizona.[43] In another video, posted in 2018, she stated that she moved to
California.[44] In December 2022, she purchased a $4.8 million home in
Sherman Oaks, Los Angeles, California with fellow YouTuber
Alpharad.[45]
In 2017, Jaiden spoke out about her experience with
anorexia and
bulimia in a video titled “Why I Don’t Have a ‘Face Reveal’”,[46] as well as a song titled “Empty” in 2018.[47][48]
On March 20, 2022, in her video titled "Being Not Straight", she publicly
came out as
aromantic and
asexual.[49][50][51] On June 1, 2024, Jaiden publicly announced she was diagnosed with
ADHD and
autism.[52]
^Jaiden Animations (March 10, 2019).
Watching my childhood videos w/ theodd1sout. Event occurs at 04:15.
Archived from the original on June 5, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2021 – via
YouTube. [People singing "
Happy Birthday To You" with date stamp of SEP 27 1998] James Rallison: Oh goodness, is this you? Dittfach: Yeah. It went back in time. Rallison: It went back in time? Dittfach: That's my first birthday.
^Chang, Parrish (February 20, 2020).
"Animation Makes the Dreams Work". The Advocate.
Mt. Hood Community College.
Archived from the original on June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021. With creators such as Swoozie, Domics, and TheOdd1sOut, the genre began to slowly expand to many others creators such as Jaiden Animations, Lillymations, Emiirichu, Daidus, Eroldstory, SomethingelseYT, Odd1sOut and many others
^Krivulya, Natalia (December 15, 2019). "Animated travelog: the genre origins and peculiarities". Arta (in Russian). XXVIII(2): 81.
doi:
10.5281/zenodo.3597269 – via
Zenodo.
^Fennimore, Jack (December 6, 2017).
"YouTube Rewind 2017: Here's What People Think of It". Heavy.com.
Archived from the original on November 19, 2018. Retrieved December 16, 2018. They were especially excited to see their favorite creators featured in the video, including notable animators on YouTube who were previously not featured in the annual video like Jaiden Animations and Rebecca Parham.
^Fennimore, Jack (December 6, 2018).
"YouTube Rewind 2018: Here's What People Think of It". Heavy.com.
Archived from the original on December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 15, 2018. That being said, it appears there was a small reference to PewDiePie made by Jaiden Animations, or at least his chair.
^Jaiden Animations (June 7, 2016).
theodd1sout and I Complain About Arizona. Event occurs at 0:34.
Archived from the original on September 2, 2021. Retrieved September 2, 2021 – via
YouTube. So, coincidentally, we both live in the oven that is Arizona [...]
^JaidenAnimations (September 9, 2018).
Things that Happened While I Grew Up. Event occurs at 5:23.
Archived from the original on December 6, 2021. Retrieved December 6, 2021. And now I'm here, on my own, moved to California.