PJ Liguori

PJ Liguori (born 11 December 1990) is a British-Italian YouTuber and film producer. He is best known for his YouTube channel KickThePj. Liguori specialises in many different artistic areas including screenplay, directing, songwriting, creating props, acting, producing, editing, sound, art, crafts, writing, and costume. His most notable works include the comedy fantasy web series Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures, 'Colour Bandits' and 'The Forever Train'.

KickThePj
Personal information
BornPJ Liguori
(1990-12-11) 11 December 1990
Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England
Nationality
  • British
  • Italian
EducationUniversity for the Creative Arts (BA)
Occupation
YouTuber

Film Producer

Partner(s)Sophie Newton
YouTube information
Channels
Years active2007–present
Subscribers1.4 Million
(January 2021)
Total views106,779,426
(11 January 2021)
Catchphrase(s)'Hello, tiny planet explorers!'
100,000 subscribers
1,000,000 subscribers

Early life

Liguori was born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire to Italian parents.[1] He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Digital Film and Screen Arts from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey in 2013.[2] Liguori became a British citizen in March 2015.[3]

Career

Liguori uploaded his first video in early 2007 at age 16.

On 7 October 2011, Liguori released an album titled Stories from Somewhere.[4] The album is a collection of short stories told in song.

In November 2012, Liguori won a Virgin Media Award for his short film PJ, Tiny Planet Explorer.[5] Liguori has also been awarded for Best Director for his film series Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures in the 2016 Streamy Awards.[6] In October 2016, Ligouri was nominated for the British Online Creator Awards (BONCAs) as the British Creator of the Year.[7] Liguori was also nominated for the BONCAs Series of the Year for his film series Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures but lost to Adrian Bliss.[7]

Liguori has appeared in two episodes of Benjamin Cook's twelve part web series Becoming YouTube,[8][9] and was interviewed on the various topics Cook covered.

In 2018, Liguori staged two 'work in progress' live shows in his hometown of Brighton, revealing later that they were test shows for a planned live tour of the UK.[10] In September and early October of that year, Liguori travelled to twelve separate cities with his show 'Space Trip', a live storytelling event based around the fictional planet Kazam and its dangerous inhabitants. The show featured three guest stars: Dean Dobbs, Bertie Gilbert, and Chris Kendall, all of whom have collaborated with Liguori in the past.[11]

Liguori directed the 2019 music video for Dodie Clark's single, 'Monster'.[12]

Filmography

Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures

In late 2014, Liguori partnered with New Form Digital to create a 10 minute short film pilot entitled Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures. The film follows a young man named Oliver who goes to visit his uncle's hotel, which turns out to host unusual guests: monsters. A particular monster suddenly wreaks havoc in the hotel, and Oliver – amongst newfound friends – conquer the beast. Liguori announced in April 2015 that Oscar's Hotel would be funded and picked up as a six-episode web series by Vimeo, entitled Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures. The series was produced by New Form Digital and The Jim Henson Company. The first episode of the web series aired on Vimeo on 15 September 2015, and one episode aired per week over the course of six weeks.[13]

Colour Bandits

In June 2013, Liguori released a video on his YouTube channel by the title Colour Bandits. This film depicts Liguori as a 'Colour Bandit' wearing all white and caked in white makeup. The film was developed by PJ Liguori, Sophie Newton, Jamie Swarbrick, and Louis Grant.[14]

The Forever Train

In October 2013, Liguori released a short 8 minute film entitled The Forever Train. This short film was created by PJ Liguori, Sophie Newton, Jamie Swarbrick, and Louis Grant. The film tells the story of a passenger (played by Chris Kendall) on 'The Forever Train', a train that travels through time. While on board, the passenger has humorous interactions with the fellow monsters and creatures as he tries to find his suitcase and ticket. Several YouTubers acted in this film, including Chris Kendall, Thomas Ridgewell, Daniel Howell, Phil Lester, and Dodie Clark.


Awards and nominations
Year Show Award Nominee Result Ref.
2012 Virgin Media Awards People’s Choice Award PJ, Tiny Planet Explorer Won [5]
2016 Summer in the City Awards Short Film of the Year Hair and Brimstone Nominated [15]
2016 Streamy Awards Ensemble Cast Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures Nominated [6]
2016 Streamy Awards Directing Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures Won [6]
2016 British Online Creator Awards Series of the Year Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures Nominated [7]
2016 British Online Creator Awards Creator of the Year Himself Nominated [7]
2017 Summer in the City Awards Artisan Award Himself Nominated [16]
2018 Summer in the City Awards Creator Video of the Year OCEAN KID Nominated [17]

References
  1. Vacacines (2013-04-04), are you italian in the my family is speak italian or the i have italian roots kind of way, retrieved 2017-11-20
  2. Hodson, Charley (19 October 2016). "Meet KickThePJ: YouTuber, Animator, Musician And PewDiePie's BFF". We the Unicorns. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  3. KickThePj (2015-03-29), I am now officially a British citizen!, retrieved 2017-05-28
  4. KickThePj (2011-10-07), Stories from Somewhere, retrieved 2017-05-28
  5. Wigley, Samuel (7 April 2014). "Virgin Media Shorts 2012 winner announced". BFI. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  6. Ten Eighty Magazine (2016-10-05), Oscar’s Hotel Wins Three Streamy Awards, retrieved 2017-05-28
  7. CelebMix, BONCAs 2016: Recap and List of Winners, retrieved 2017-05-28
  8. Benjamin Cook (2013-02-25), Girls on YouTube, retrieved 2017-05-28
  9. Benjamin Cook (2015-01-08), BECOMING YOUTUBE 2 TRAILER, retrieved 2017-05-28
  10. Turner, Joanna (21 January 2018). "PJ Liguori Announces Live Shows". TenEighty. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  11. Weiss, Geoff (31 July 2018). "Vlogger KickThePJ To Embark On UK-Wide 'Space Trip' Tour This Fall". Tubefilter. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  12. Fitzgerald, Clare (22 January 2019). "Sammy Paul Discusses Music Video for dodie's Monster". Tubefilter. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
  13. Spangler, Todd (21 July 2015). "Jim Henson Co. Creates Creatures for 'Oscar's Hotel' Series from YouTube Filmmaker PJ Liguori". Variety. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  14. Campos, Jocelyn (18 January 2019). "The Most Artistic Videos YouTuber KickThePj Has Made". Study Breaks. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  15. Sutton, Erin (14 August 2016). "Summer in the City Awards 2016 Round-Up". TenEighty. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  16. Griffin, Louise (7 August 2017). "Summer in the City Awards 2017 Round-Up". TenEighty. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  17. Beveridge, Marta (12 August 2018). "Summer in the City Awards 2018 Round-Up". TenEighty. Retrieved 26 June 2019.

Further reading
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