Many guys who are famous as internet personalities are either gamers, comedians or pranksters, but James Charles became an internet sensation for something more feminine – make-up.
Shortly after launching his YouTube channel where he posts make-up tutorials, Charles broke into the mainstream as the channel quickly garnered over 4 million subscribers. His Instagram account also boasts over 4.5 million followers. An occasional tabloid fodder, James Charles has sparked a couple of controversies since rising to the mainstream. Here is his story.
James Charles Bio
James Charles Dickinson was born on May 23, 1999, in Bethlehem, New York. He has a younger brother named Ian Charles. In his early teens, he picked up an interest in make-up and after receiving approval from his parents, ordered his first make-up starter kit online. His dad even helped him convert the basement to a makeup studio.
And so he began experimenting on his friends. Like all make-up artists do these days, James Charles opened an Instagram account as well as a YouTube Channel in 2015 to share photos of his works and tutorial videos respectively.
Charles has revealed that he took his works online as a form of artistic expression to inspire others and challenge himself creatively. Charles is quite talented with the brushes as he quickly garnered a fan following.
However, his fame skyrocketed when his senior yearbook photo broke the internet in September 2016. As the story goes, James woke up on the morning of the photoshoot by 7 am to get all glammed up for the big day. The photo was meant for his senior yearbook – something that would always be, so James had to make sure the picture would be iconic, something to look back at years later and beat his chest about.
Before going to school for the photoshoot, James took a selfie of his well-contoured face and posted to his Instagram followers, and the positive comments he got already made his mission halfway accomplished. But not so fast… When James arrived at school, he posed for the photos and the results were nowhere near impressive, something James blamed on the camera lights used.
However, James wasn’t ready to let all of his hard work which cost him his early morning sleep go to waste, so he emailed the photo company and requested a reshoot and they agreed. This time, James wasn’t ready to take a chance on their camera so he brought his own ring light which he uses for makeup photos posted to his Instagram.
The results this time were amazing and James Charles took to Twitter and Instagram to document the details of how the perfect photo came about and like vroom, it went viral. Words like legendary, iconic, and bravery were used to describe James’ efforts. The photo even attracted the attention of star actress Zendaya who replied to the post with the phrase “YOU WIN”. With Zendaya being one of the people James looks up to, his day was more than made.
As if the viral photo didn’t do enough to announce James Charles to the world, beauty behemoth, CoverGirl about a month later in October 2016 brought him on as their first-ever male ambassador aka CoverBoy. CoverGirl spokesperson Katy Perry took to her Instagram to break the news to the world posting a photo of herself beside James in full-contoured glory.
James Charles was offered the job of being the face of CoverGirl’s new mascara line So Lashy! Up next, he made his first TV appearance on Ellen. Charles in 2017 repped Marco Marco’s Six 1/2 collection on the runway of the Los Angeles Fashion Week.
His yearbook photo was extra so it made sense for James Charles to do something extra on graduation day in June 2017 too – his graduation cap had CoverGirl’s slogan “Easy, Breezy, Beautiful” written on it.
His Net Worth
Scoring a CoverGirl gig comes with a huge paycheck and James Charles is surely getting what he deserves. His millions of followers across social media also mean that he gets to receive top dollar for advertisement gigs.
After earning the CoverGirl gig, Forbes took notice of him and enlisted him in their 2017 list of 30 Under 30 – Art & Style. James Charles’ net worth is estimated at $2 million.
Is Jame Charles Gay? Here Are The Facts
Yes! James Charles is openly gay and has been since the age of 12 when he was only in middle school.
James elaborated more on his coming-out experience when he appeared on Ellen in November 2016. He said his parents were “incredibly accepting” and that he got a lot of support from his community and school.
