Natalie Tran

Natalie Tyler Tran (born 24 July 1986) is an Australian online producer, actress, comedian and writer from Sydney, New South Wales, who uses the handle communitychannel on YouTube.[2] Her videos are a mixture of monologue and sketch and have been described as "charming, quirky and hilarious", and have garnered her a following of over 1.8 million subscribers and 116 million views since September 2006.[3]

Natalie Tran
Tran at the Australian premiere of Paper Towns, July 2015
Personal information
BornNatalie Tyler Tran
(1986-07-24) 24 July 1986
Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
NationalityAustralian
ResidenceSydney, New South Wales, Australia
OccupationComedian, actress and Internet personality
Websitewww.babyiknow.com
YouTube information
Channel
Years active2006–2016
GenreComedy
Subscribers1.83 million (communitychannel)
58,000 (natalie)
Total views166.69 million (communitychannel)
226,000 (natalie)
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers
Updated 24 November 2016
Natalie Tran
Vietnamese name
VietnameseTrần Tố Hân[1]

Early life and education

Tran's mother and father, both refugees who left Vietnam for Australia in 1981, previously practiced law and literary lecturing, respectively.[4] After they resettled in Sydney, Tran's mother found employment in the postal service, while her father became a public school teacher.[4] Tran credits her parents for making the success she has enjoyed possible, once writing that they both "endured so much to give my sister and I great lives."[5]

Tran was raised in Western Sydney, and studied at Meriden School in Strathfield, where she graduated in 2004.[6] After high school, she pursued teaching for two years before switching to, and later completing a degree in, Digital Media at the University of New South Wales.[4][7][8]

Popularity
Tran speaking at the EG2010 conference, January 2010

As of July 2020, Tran has 136 videos available on her YouTube channel.[9] Tran created her first video, "quiz" on 18 September 2006, which has since been made private.[9][10] Her oldest available video, "Grocery Stores", was published on 18 September 2008.[11]

Tran has over 1.85 million subscribers and more than 116 million video views.[9] Her popularity has attracted wide-ranging media coverage, including interviews and appearances in print, on television, online and on the radio. The Sydney Morning Herald,[8] Western Australia Today,[12] B&T Magazine,[13] Venus Zine,[14] Der Spiegel,[15] Seventeen,[16] Báo Viêt Luận Online,[17] Việt Tribune,[18] VnExpress,[19] Triple J,[20] and the Hot30 Countdown[21] are among the highlights. Her passionate defence of Vegemite,[22] made in response to a YouTube video by Ben Going,[23] was featured on the Australian television programme A Current Affair on February 2007, as part of the Vegemite wars segment.[24]

Tran has been widely recognised for her creativity and Internet savvy. This led to, in 2007, Tran being among the Australian YouTube celebrities invited to participate in the launch of YouTube Australia.[25] She was commissioned by The Sydney Morning Herald as a contributor and Real World Correspondent to their technology vlog Digital Life,[26] a position that complemented Séamus Byrne, the program's then principal anchor. Although her skits were specifically written and created for Digital Life, they were produced almost entirely in the same manner and form as her YouTube material. In 2011, Tran made the paper's annual list of Sydney's 100 most influential people.[27]

Tran has also actively participated in several award shows and conferences. In May 2009, Tran was among the first of the featured speakers to open "Creative Sydney" at the Museum of Contemporary Art.[28][29] In 2010, Tran spoke at the Entertainment Gathering (EG) convention in Monterey, California[30] and went on to deliver a well received presentation at ideaCity[31] in Toronto, Canada later that same year.[32] More recently, she took part in the 2013 Social Star Awards, announcing the nominees for the Most Popular Sports Person in a short Communitychannel style video,[33] the Australian Screen Industries and Audiences Conference[34] and spoke at the Commercial National Radio Conference in Brisbane, Australia this past October.[35]

Tran was nominated for "Best YouTube Channel or Personality" and "Funniest YouTube Channel" by Mashable at their 2009 Open Web Awards[36] and received the second-most votes in Michael Buckley's Miss YouTube 2009 contest.[37] Beginning in 2010, Internet Critic TC Candler put Tran on his long running "100 Most Beautiful Faces" list.[38] He would do so again in 2011 and 2012.[39][40]

The analytics firm TubeMogul placed Tran on their list of top earners from YouTube advertising in 2010.[41] Based on data released by YouTube, her YouTube channel had more views in one week in March 2011 than many of the most popular television shows on Australian television.[42] Tran also worked as a Sydney correspondent for The Project's Metro Whip Around segment. In 2011, she appeared as a guest on an episode of the third series of Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation.[43]

As of April 2020, Tran has more than 263,000 followers on Twitter, posting upwards of 15, 300 personal tweets for fans.[44]

Videos

Tran's videos typically involve a monologue in front of the camera, voice over, and skits acted out almost exclusively by herself. Common themes include observational and self-deprecating humour, as well as stream-of-consciousness commentary on social dilemmas, such as how much money to spend on gifts for friends[45] and appropriate telephone etiquette.[46] Additional examples find Tran mocking the strange and cliched practices of advertisers,[46] a practical joke by an ultrasound technician,[47] and, more recently, the high prices in mini-bars. Occasionally, she will make parodies of other YouTube videos. Of these, her take on YouTube advertising, "For People Who Skip Ads", is the most viewed communitychannel video to date, with 8.1 million views as of April 2020.[48] More serious responses range from racism and depression[49] to national identity.[50] [51]

Tran usually ends her videos with a segment referred to as "Porno Music/Comment Time", where she posts and responds to comments on her previous videos, over a melody stereotypically used in pornographic films. Her final clip is an animated clip reading "Your Mum Rates Me," though this varies depending on the occasion.

In early 2009, Tran released a video under the title "There's no time!!! Last words" in which she promised to create a tutorial on how to make lamingtons, an Australian treat.[52] As of April 2020, she has yet to make such a video, which Tran herself has referred to on occasion.

Tran periodically rewards discerning viewers with "unlisted" videos only available to those who have the link; notable examples include "Careful Touch",[53] "Password Etiquette",[54] and "N5".[55]

Capitalising on her sizeable YouTube presence, Tran partnered with Lonely Planet in 2010 to make a series of travel videos. These vlogs, delivered in communitychannel's trademark style, chronicled Tran's global journey as she visited some of the most popular tourist attractions around the world, including Paris, New York City, Los Angeles and Buenos Aires.[56] In an article that centred on communitychannel's brand, The Sydney Morning Herald considered her Lonely Planet collaboration to be "amazingly successful."[57] Six months after returning home from her trip, Tran co-launched a travel app for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade with the country's former Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd.[58][59]

In a July 2011 interview with Forbes magazine, Tran revealed that, while uncertain about her future, she has contemplated the possibility of no longer making videos, this to more actively pursue her passion for writing.[60] In 2012, Tran told the Australian Way that she was busy writing a script for a romantic comedy, an effort she hopes will one day find its way onto the silver screen.[61]

In March 2014, Visit Melbourne and Tran partnered up and released two Melbourne travel videos, the first being about the city's food culture, and the second about Melbourne's fashion in preparation for the Melbourne Fashion Festival.[62][63] These videos were similar to the Lonely Planet videos, showing both useful information and using communitychannel type comedy.

Tran at the premiere of Goddess, March 2013

In 2014, Tran was listed on New Media Rockstars' Top 100 Channels, ranked at number 80.[64]

In December 2014, Samsung Australia released a series of ten tutorial videos on their YouTube channel for the Samsung Galaxy S5 featuring Tran.[65] She presented the videos in her own scenario based comedy style.

Tran's most recent video, "New Year's Resolution Police", was released on 28 December 2016.

Personal life

Tran is a vegan.[66] She also owns a cat.[67][68] She lives with her partner Rowan "Ro" Jones, who has featured occasionally in her videos.[69] Tran announced their break-up in June 2019, adding they remain on good terms.[70] In March 2020, she confirmed that the couple had reconciled and are living together.[71] She identifies as an antitheist.[72]

After not having posted any videos since December 28, 2016, in a January 2019 release of an interview between Tran and Quentin Kenihan (who had passed away three months earlier), she revealed she had gone through a year-long self-imposed isolation due to an intense bout of anxiety brought about by her obsessive–compulsive disorder [73].

Film and television credits
Year Title Role Notes
2010-2011 The Project[74] Herself TV series (13 episodes)
2011 Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation[75] Herself Game show (1 episode)
2013 Goddess Helen Film debut
2018-2019 Mr Inbetween Jacinta TV series (6 episodes)
2020 Rosehaven Gemma TV series (1 episode)
gollark: 106.04.
gollark: So how can I improve my staff application?
gollark: I just look them up on explainxkcd when I need a specific one.
gollark: * do, for obvious coolness reasons
gollark: For head removal.

References
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  2. "Commercial Radio Australia - Commercial Radio Australia". www.commercialradio.com.au. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  3. Dapin, Mark (24 July 2015). "Lunch with Natalie Tran". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  4. "Riding the Tube". The Age. 14 November 2010. Retrieved 14 November 2010.
  5. Natalie Tran. "My Father/My Hero". Twitpic.com. Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  6. "Distinguished Achievers List – Tran, Eva to Trevithick, Holly Amber". New South Wales Board of Studies.
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  8. Moses, Asher (4 February 2009). "How Natalie became Australia's queen of YouTube". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
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  14. Van Deven, Mandy (13 February 2009). "If Flight of the Conchords were an Australian woman..." Venus Zine. Archived from the original on 14 March 2009. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
  15. Patalong, Frank (9 February 2009). "Top-Girls auf YouTube: Festival der schönen Unbekannten". Der Spiegel (in German). Retrieved 7 March 2009.
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  48. "Easter Bunny breakdown with santa and the tooth fairy". How to fake a six pack (Re: How to Fake Abs). YouTube. 10 May 2008. Retrieved 18 March 2011.
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