Jaiden Dittfach[1] (born September 27, 1997[2]), known online as Jaiden Animations, is an American artist, animator, and YouTuber.[3] The Jaiden Animations YouTube channel has amassed over 8.6 million subscribers and over 1.3 billion video views as of September 2020[update].[4]
Before starting her YouTube channel, Jaiden created animations for fellow YouTuber iHasCupquake[5][6] She registered her YouTube channel on February 16, 2014,[3] before uploading her first video later that year, in July.[7] Her video content consists of her sharing personal stories, utilizing a format that combines her animation and voiceover,[8] often referred to as "animated storytelling". Her channel is signed under Channel Frederator, an animation-centric multi-channel network.[9][10] She is a part of the Animation Squad, a group of animators who collaborate on YouTube.[11] Jaiden has frequently collaborated with fellow "Animation Squad" member TheOdd1sOut (James Rallison),[12] and Jaiden's content style has been compared to fellow "Animation Squad" creator Dominic Panganiban (Domics).[13]
Jaiden attended the VidCon 2016 event, attended other VidCon US events including VidCon 2019.[14][15] She also attended VidCon Australia in 2018 as a featured creator.[16] In December 2017, she appeared in the 2017 installment of YouTube Rewind.[17] One of her tweets from 2017 giving advice on how to prevent the liquids from spilling in luggage was covered by media outlets.[18][19][20]
In June 2018, Jaiden alongside David Brown (also known as "Boyinaband") released a song revolving around her anorexia nervosa and self-image issues entitled "Empty".[21] In September, the Streamy Awards announced their nominations, which included Jaiden Animations for the "Animated" category; the storybooth channel ultimately won the award.[22][23] In October, Tubefilter noted her channel had accumulated over 4.6 million subscribers.[24] In December, Jaiden was again featured among other animators in YouTube's 2018 installment of their annual Rewind series.[25] While the then–most-subscribed YouTuber Felix Kjellberg (known online as PewDiePie) was not featured in the video, Jaiden included memes and easter eggs in the video, which referenced Kjellberg and the PewDiePie vs T-Series rivalry). Her portion of the video was particularly highlighted and praised by viewers, with BBC News describing it as a "popular animated sequence".[26]
On March 12, 2019, Jaiden was in MrBeast's $200,000 YouTuber Battle Royale video. She was on a team with TheOdd1sOut and Smosh's Anthony Padilla, and they won the first round.[27] In April 2019, she made a video about the non-profit bird sanctuary Bird Gardens of Naples in Naples, Florida, encouraging people to donate to the organization via a GoFundMe page she set up. Within nine weeks, the GoFundMe had raised over $22,000.[28] Jaiden received an invitation to attend Felix and Marzia Kjellberg's wedding at Kew Gardens, along with Brown and musician Roomie, both friends of Felix.
In October 2019, Jaiden donated 20,000 dollars to raise trees for Team Trees. In November 2019, Jaiden's video about her Pokémon Nuzlocke challenge received coverage from “Vox”'.[29]
Jaiden's parents grew up in Canada; her father is Caucasian and her mother is Japanese. She currently lives in California. Jaiden has discussed her struggles with bulimia, anorexia and issues with her body image,[30] and how that has affected her mental health. She has also opened up about anxiety and depression on her YouTube channel.[31][5][1]
Dittfach is also known for encouraging her viewers to donate to bird rescue shelters.[32][33] She has also made several videos featuring her pet bird, Ari.[33][34][28][32] Several of the videos featuring Ari are to celebrate the bird's birthday. Dittfach had a self-admitted "obsession" with animals as a child.[35] Dittfach also partook in acting camps at this age.[36][37]