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Lucas Cruikshank is a 15-year-old writer, director, and actor whose “Fred” videos are a certifiable YouTube sensation. The videos are so popular that they have led to Lucas Cruikshank making a guest appearance on Nickelodeon’s “iCarly” as Fred.

Lucas Cruikshank started off making YouTube videos with his two cousins, John and Katie, under the banner, JKL Productions. In 2008, Lucas Cruikshank decided to go it alone and came up with the character of Fred, a 6 year old who talks in a super squeaky high voice at a million miles a minute. Fred has anger management issues and an alcoholic mother. The character has become hugely popular among kids and Lucas Cruikshank’s videos have garnered over 150 million views collectively on YouTube. Each individual “Fred” video is watched from anywhere between two to seventeen million people. As on June 2009, the “Fred” Channel on YouTube boasts over 1,000,000 subscribers.

Lucas Cruikshank says, “Two years ago my mom bought me this new video editing software as a gift, and when I was playing with it I realized it had this effect to make a voice sound all squeaky. I thought it sounded hilarious, and came up with 6-year-old Fred and posted “Fred on Halloween,” which was kind of a tongue-in-cheek way of poking fun at people on YouTube who post video blogs showing and talking about everything they do. I actually hated “Fred” at first and at one point wanted to kill him off, so I sure understand why there are people who don’t like Fred and find him annoying. Fred IS the person you wouldn’t want to be around in real life because he’s annoying, but he’s also got heart and vulnerability, which is part of what I think draws the fans to him too.”

When not making videos, Lucas Cruikshank auditions for acting roles. Lucas Cruikshank is also a dancer and takes jazz, tap, and hip hop classes. Lucas resides in Columbus, Nebraska with his two brothers and five sisters.