PJ Liguori (born 11 December 1990) is a British-Italian YouTuber and filmmaker. He is best known for his YouTube channel KickThePj. Liguori specialises in different artistic areas, including screenplay, directing, songwriting, acting, producing, editing, sound, art, crafts, and animation. His work includes the web series Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures (2015), and the shorts The Forever Train (2013) and The Lost Buoy (2022).
| KickThePj | ||||||||||
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| Born | PJ Liguori 11 December 1990 Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England | |||||||||
| Nationality |
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| Education | University for the Creative Arts (BA) | |||||||||
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| Partner | Sophie Newton | |||||||||
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| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2007–present | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 1.29 Million[1] | |||||||||
| Total views | 113 Million[1] | |||||||||
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Last updated: 2 September 2024 | ||||||||||
Early and personal life
editLiguori was born in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, England to an Italian family. He has a sister.[2][3]
Growing up, Liguori was interested in Drama and made home videos with his friends. He took a gap year before going on to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in Digital Film and Screen Arts in 2013 from the University for the Creative Arts in Farnham, Surrey. It was here he met other creatives such as Sophie Newton, Jamie Swarbrick, and Louis Grant, whom he would collaborate with on several projects.[4][5]
Liguori became a British citizen in March 2015[6] and he is based in Brighton.
Career
editLiguori uploaded his first video, which featured him playing guitar, in early 2007 at the age of 16.
On 7 October 2011, Liguori released an album titled Stories from Somewhere.[7][8] 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.[9] Liguori has also been awarded for Best Director for his film series Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures in the 2016 Streamy Awards.[10] In October 2016, Ligouri was nominated for the British Online Creator Awards (BONCAs) as the British Creator of the Year.[11] 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.[11]
Liguori appeared in two episodes of Benjamin Cook's twelve part web documentary series Becoming YouTube.[12][13]
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.[14] 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.[15]
Liguori directed the 2019 music video for Dodie Clark's single, "Monster".[16]
Filmography
editOscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures
editIn 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.[3] 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.[18]
Colour Bandits
editIn 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.[19]
The Forever Train
editIn October 2013, Liguori released a short 8 minute film entitled The Forever Train.[20] 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.
The Lost Buoy
editIn August 2022, Liguori released a 10-minute short film titled The Lost Buoy.[21] The film follows a small buoy as he makes his way across the vast ocean, meeting various characters along the way. It is Liguori's first 3D animated film, and it premiered at the 2022 Buffer Festival in Toronto, where it won the award for Excellence in Sound & Score.[22]
Awards and nominations
edit| Year | Show | Award | Nominee | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Virgin Media Awards | People’s Choice Award | PJ, Tiny Planet Explorer | Won | [9] |
| 2016 | Summer in the City Awards | Short Film of the Year | Hair and Brimstone | Nominated | [23] |
| 2016 | Streamy Awards | Ensemble Cast | Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures | Nominated | [10] |
| 2016 | Streamy Awards | Directing | Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures | Won | [10] |
| 2016 | British Online Creator Awards | Series of the Year | Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures | Nominated | [11] |
| 2016 | British Online Creator Awards | Creator of the Year | Himself | Nominated | [11] |
| 2017 | Summer in the City Awards | Artisan Award | Himself | Nominated | [24] |
| 2018 | Summer in the City Awards | Creator Video of the Year | OCEAN KID | Nominated | [25] |
| 2022 | Buffer Festival Awards | Excellence in Sound & Score | The Lost Buoy | Won | [22] |
References
edit- ^ a b "About KickThePj". YouTube.
- ^ Vacacines (4 April 2013), are you italian in the my family is speak italian or the i have italian roots kind of way, retrieved 20 November 2017
- ^ a b Gomez, Patrick (15 September 2015). "How YouTube Sensation PJ Liguori Convinced Sir Patrick Stewart to Work with Him". People. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
- ^ Hodson, Charley (19 October 2016). "Meet KickThePJ: YouTuber, Animator, Musician And PewDiePie's BFF". We the Unicorns. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- ^ Tostevin, Daniel (27 September 2015). "PJ Liguori: The Storyteller". Retrieved 13 July 2021.
- ^ KickThePj (29 March 2015), I am now officially a British citizen!, retrieved 28 May 2017
- ^ KickThePj (7 October 2011), Stories from Somewhere, retrieved 28 May 2017
- ^ "KICK THE PJ". International Music & Talent Agency. Retrieved 25 August 2023.
- ^ a b Wigley, Samuel (7 April 2014). "Virgin Media Shorts 2012 winner announced". BFI. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- ^ a b c Ten Eighty Magazine (5 October 2016), Oscar's Hotel Wins Three Streamy Awards, retrieved 28 May 2017
- ^ a b c d CelebMix (23 November 2016), BONCAs 2016: Recap and List of Winners, retrieved 28 May 2017
- ^ Benjamin Cook (25 February 2013), Girls on YouTube, retrieved 28 May 2017
- ^ Benjamin Cook (8 January 2015), BECOMING YOUTUBE 2 TRAILER, retrieved 28 May 2017
- ^ Turner, Joanna (21 January 2018). "PJ Liguori Announces Live Shows". TenEighty. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- ^ Weiss, Geoff (31 July 2018). "Vlogger KickThePJ To Embark On UK-Wide 'Space Trip' Tour This Fall". Tubefilter. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- ^ Fitzgerald, Clare (22 January 2019). "Sammy Paul Discusses Music Video for dodie's Monster". Tubefilter. Retrieved 8 July 2019.
- ^ "Twitch". Twitch. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Campos, Jocelyn (18 January 2019). "The Most Artistic Videos YouTuber KickThePj Has Made". Study Breaks. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
- ^ Dean, Michael (2 May 2015). "PJ Liguori's Guide to Getting Creative". TenEighty. Retrieved 13 July 2021.
- ^ "The Lost Buoy" (video). youtube.com. 27 August 2022.
- ^ a b @BufferFestival (28 August 2022). "The winner of Excellence in Sound & Score is awarded to @kickthepj for the film "The Lost Buoy" presented by @CreatorPlus" (Tweet). Retrieved 3 August 2023 – via Twitter.
- ^ Sutton, Erin (14 August 2016). "Summer in the City Awards 2016 Round-Up". TenEighty. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ Griffin, Louise (7 August 2017). "Summer in the City Awards 2017 Round-Up". TenEighty. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
- ^ Beveridge, Marta (12 August 2018). "Summer in the City Awards 2018 Round-Up". TenEighty. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
Further reading
edit- "PJ Liguori: YouTube star had an 'amazing' experience working with Sir Patrick Stewart in Oscar's Hotel". International Business Times.
- "PJ Liguori's Oscar's Hotel for Fantastical Creatures Interview". People.
- David Bloom (7 January 2015). "YouTube Stars KickThePj, Sawyer Hartman To Launch Vimeo Series On Demand". Deadline Hollywood.
- Todd Spangler (21 July 2015). "Jim Henson Co. Creates Creatures for 'Oscar's Hotel' Series from YouTube Filmmaker PJ Liguori". Variety.
External links
edit- PJ Liguori at IMDb