VenetianPrincess

VenetianPrincess
Born	Jodie Rivera April 22, 1984 (1984-04-22) Massachusetts, United States
Nationality	American
Years active	2006–present
Known for	Comedy, Parody, Musical
Influenced by	"Weird Al" Yankovic
Internet information
Web alias(es)	VenetianPrincess
Web hosting service(s)	YouTube
Website
vprincess.com

Jodie Rivera (born April 22, 1984), also known as, VenetianPrincess, is a YouTube Internet personality who became known worldwide in 2006. She was the longest standing #1 most subscribed female in the world from February 2008 - August 2010 when her channel became a corporate franchise. Rivera is of Swedish and Italian ancestry, and grew up in Brockton, MA. Her videos are usually parodies of songs and events in pop culture. She has over 1,000,000 subscribers, and has had over 350 million video views. She gained notoriety in 2006 after being featured on the front page of YouTube, and then in 2007 was one of the first people invited into YouTube's revenue sharing program. In December 2008, Samsung announced that her music video for her original song "Somewhere Else" is the pre-installed video on all Samsung Behold cell phones. PC World Magazine named her "7 Things Guys Don't Have To Do" music video one of the top 10 viral videos of 2008.

Background

She studied opera as a coloratura soprano at the New England Conservatory of Music, in Boston, Massachusetts. She has since performed in several professional U.S. stage productions, including the touring production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera in which she played Christine Daaé.

Her official biography lists her background in modeling, including her most recent title of Miss Massachusetts State Queen.

Videos

She became popular for her episodic series The Princess Chronicles (formerly known as "The Disclosed Series"). The series was known for its elaborate editing and visual effects. Episodes 1 - 8 keep the title of "Disclosed," as those installments disclose the story of the princess's life in her Venetian palace. The Princess Chronicles begin at Episode 9 and start the story of her adventures around the world. Each episode introduces new magical and eccentric characters, all played by herself disguised in elaborate costumes.

She shoots her videos in her bedroom closet in front of a green screen with no help with filming or post-production. She uses Final Cut Pro to edit her videos, on a Mac Pro, using Chroma Key for her videos, to create different settings. She cites Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam as favorite directors.

Her YouTube channel now primarily consists of assorted comedic skits, original music video parodies, and a murder mystery series called Cirque de Mystère, which takes place in a traveling circus of the early 1940s.

On July 9, 2008, VenetianPrincess made a spoof of Miley Cyrus' 7 Things video. The original song was "7 Things"; her version covered the 7 things (and more) guys don't have to do, that females do. The video received 3 million views within its first month of being posted. It has since been favorited more than 160,000 times- making it one of the top favorited of all videos on YouTube. It is one of the most discussed videos of all time with over 120,000 comments. The video has received over 22 million views, and was one of the top 10 most viewed videos of 2008.

VenetianPrincess' "I Kissed A Girl" Elderly Remix Parody has received over 32 million hits (several million more views than the actual music video posted by Katy Perry's record label, Capital Records) and was played on BBC radio on October 26, 2008.

Other notable videos include her "Womanizer" parody, featuring other YouTube celebrities playing nerds such as nigahiga, Dave Days and Tay Zonday. It has been viewed over 37 million times. Another one is the "Outer Space" parody of Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" featuring Lady Gaga as an extraterrestrial, with over 47 million views. She also has created a parody of E.T. made famous by Katy Perry including quotes from actor Charlie Sheen. She has released an album Video Girl through DFTBA Records, which contained numerous parodies, including the ones seen in her videos and new ones. Another notable video is a collaboration with makemebad35 on the video "Drunken Genie" (known as "My Pretty Genie on makemebad35's channel), in which she plays a genie trapped in a bottle.

Press

In 2007, she received media coverage for her videos, with appearances on Fox News, Boston, Fox News Milwaukee, and ABC News Boston. She was interviewed on Massachusetts radio station JAMN 94.5, and a two-page article was also written about her in the Boston Herald on June 18, 2007. A segment about her videos was presented by Bill Weir on ABC's first episode of television series I-Caught, airing on August 7, 2007.

On February 10, 2008, an article about VenetianPrincess was featured in the Boston Globe. On February 11, 2008, another large article was printed in the Brockton Enterprise.

In April 2008, VenetianPrincess' "Hillary, Be My Best Friend" parody video went viral with over 800,000 views in just over 2 days. The video received press coverage from CNN, FOX News, NBC News, The Washington Post, VH1.com, and Hotair.com.

In July 2008, VenetianPrincess and MakeMeBad35's video collaboration of "Drunken Genie" (as titled on VenetianPrincess' channel) and "My Pretty Genie" (as titled on MakeMeBad35's channel) got an Epic Fail on Attack of the Show on G4. The hosts on the show have also chosen VenetianPrincess one of the top hottest women of the web for three consecutive weeks.

In February 2009, VenetianPrincess made a video about Nadya Suleman titled "Octo-Mom Song." The video was mentioned in several national magazines and newspapers including the LA Times, USA Today, Radar Online, Trendhunter Magazine, Entrevue Magazine, And Don't Miss Magazine. She has also made parodies about the Jonas Brothers.

On August 10, 2009 VenetianPrincess' Transformers 2 Parody was shown on MTV on the It's On with Alexa Chung Show. Alexa Chung commented "Megan Fox's acting was amazing in that video", referring to VP's portrayal of Megan Fox.

Acting career

As a child, Jodie appeared in the motion picture Hocus Pocus in 1993 as Emily Binx. She has since appeared in two episodes of HBO's web show Elevator: Drunk Dial and Telemarketer. She has also produced videos for MTV, Universal Pictures, ABC, and other major brands. In December 2010, it was reported that she earns an estimated $1.5 million a year from her promotions, public appearances, and brand endorsements outside of YouTube.

Awards/Rank Achievements

• Samsung announced Jodie as the $10,000 winner of their National Talent Search "Juke Box Hero Contest". Her music video for her original song "Somewhere Else" is now the pre-installed video on all T-Mobile cell phones.

• In March 2008, G4TV named her one of the hottest women of the web on two separate television segments.

• PC World Magazine named her "7 Things Guys Don't Have To Do" music video one of the top 10 viral videos of 2008.

• In April 2009, she won the title of Miss YouTube.

• In December 2009, YouTube named her "Outerspace" music video, one of the Most Memorable Videos of 2009.

• In December 2010, YouTube named her "Snooki Song" music video, one of the Most Memorable Videos of 2010.

Publications

Books

Jodie is written about in the nationwide published (8/10/09) book YouTube and Video Marketing An Hour A Day by Greg Jarboe.

Jodie is also written about in another recently nationally published book (11/10/10) Beyond Viral by Kevin H. Nalty.

Magazines

Jodie was featured in a spread in Spain's largest magazine, El País Magazine (12/11/09).

Jodie was also featured in a spread in India's top English-printed magazine, DNA Magazine (9/13/09).

She has also been profiled in several celebrity magazines overseas including France's Premier Magazine and Israel's "Teen Magazine."

Discography

Albums

• 2009: Video Girl
• 2011: Video Girl - Rebooted

Music Videos/Parody Singles

• Brangelina, Adopt Me Too (2007) - 3:31
• Hillary, Be My Best Friend (2008) - 3:22
• Bad Mom Song (2008) - 1:43
• I Got A Crush On...Giuliani (2008) - 1:39
• 7 Things Guys Don't Have To Do (2008) - 2:39
• I Kissed A Girl (Elderly Mix) (2008) - 3:18
• Tinseltown Nanny (2008) - 2:50
• Jonas Brothers Addict Anthem (2008) 2:12
• Womanizer (2008) 2:47
• Octo-Mom Song (2009) 1:30
• Outer Space (2009) 4:38
• Just a Zombie (2009) 1:55
• You'll Look Like Poo (2009) 3:41
• Britney Spears-3-Parody ("Speidi Free") (2009) 2:32
• The Snooki Song" (Parody of Tik Tok By Ke$ha) (2010) 1:27
• Accident Prone (Parody of Telephone By Lady Gaga) (2010) 2:09
• I'm A Gleek (Parody of Firework By Katy Perry) (2010) 2:23
• Crush On A Yeti (Parody of Hold It Against Me By Britney Spears) (2011) 2:30
• Charlie Sheen (Quotes) (Parody of ET By Katy Perry) (2011) 1:46
• The Edge Of Glory (Cover of the same song by Lady Gaga) (2011) 3:25
• I Gotta Go (Parody Of I Wanna Go By Britney Spears) (2011) 1:56
• It's Halloween (Original song) (2011) 1:39
• Kardashian Boycott (Parody of We Found Love by Rihanna) (2011) 2:01

List of Characters Played by Jodie

Celebrities

• Britney Spears ("Bad Mom Song", "Womanizer Parody", "3 Parody - Speidi Free", "Crush On A Yeti", "I Gotta Go") -music videos
• Miley Cyrus ("A Miley Cyrus Christmas","Miley Cyrus vs. Selena Gomez - Girls Duke it Out","Miley Cyrus- 7 things parody","You'll Look Like Poo", "Let's Beat Miley") -music videos/sketch
• Billy Ray Cyrus ("A Miley Cyrus Christmas") -music video
• Selena Gomez ("Miley Cyrus vs. Selena Gomez - Girls Duke it Out") -sketch
• The Jonas Brothers ("Jonas Brothers Interactive Compatibility Game") -interactive game/sketch
• Lady Gaga ("Outer Space" - Poker Face Parody, Accident Prone - Telephone Parody) -music video
• Nadya Suleman ("Octo-Mom Song") -music video
• Angelina Jolie ("Tube Raider - Lara Croft Saves YouTube") -sketch
• Megan Fox ("Transformers 2 Parody - Revenge of The Twiticons") -sketch
• Katy Perry ("I Kissed A Girl" Parody - Elderly Remix", "Charlie Sheen (Quotes)") -music video
• Taylor Swift ("Just A Zombie - You Belong With Me Parody") -music video
• Tom Cruise ("Tinseltown Nanny") -music video
• Katie Holmes (Tinseltown Nanny") -music video
• Suri Cruise ("Tinseltown Nanny") -music video
• Lindsay Lohan ("Tinseltown Nanny") -music video
• Michael Jackson ("Tinseltown Nanny") -music video
• Dorothy ("Dorothy Goes To Hollywood East") -sketch
• Billy Mays ("Susan Boyle, Billy Mays, and Me") -sketch
• Susan Boyle ("Susan Boyle, Billy Mayes, and Me") -sketch
• Adam Lambert ("Adam Lambert's New Confession") -sketch
• Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi ("Tik Tok" parody) - music video
• Rihanna ("We Found Love" parody) - music video

Random Characters

• Genie ("Drunken Genie") -sketch
• Ghosts ("Comment to Save Your Soul") -short film
• Stewardess ("Fear of Flying") -sketch
• Tobias Clefton [Cheesey Game Show Host] ("Jonas Brothers Interactive Compatibility Game") -interactive game/sketch
• Dorky School Principal ("Adam Lambert's New Confession")
• Supergirl ("Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex")
• Emo Chick ("I'm A Gleek") -music video

Original Characters

• Joan Shivers ("For The Miley Haters", "Princess Caught Going Wild", "Ysabellabrave & VenetianPrincess In Trouble" "YouTube Tonight-Juicy Dirt on YouTube Celebs") -sketch
• Tinseltown Nanny (A.K.A. Nanny P) -music video

Original Series Characters

• Catarina (Cirque de Mystère- Episodes 1 & 2)
• The Ice Princess (Princess Chronicles- "Icy Obstacles")
• Edmund, the ogre (Princess Chronicles (all episodes)
• Elizabeth Ostrich (Princess Chronicles "The Dead Sea", "Quest For The Key")
• Mystical Sea Urchin (Princess Chronicles "The Dead Sea")
• The Oyster Empress (Princess Chronicles "The Oyster Empress")
• Pirates (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")
• The Sky Boat Renter (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")
• The Sky Fisherman (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")
• Ethereal, The Sky Goddess (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")
• Claudius and Larithius, the Cherubs (Princess Chronicles "Quest For The Key")
• Clovis (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")
• Moonlings (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")
• The Lunar Empress (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")
• Lunar Lagoon Mermaids (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")
• Water Lilies (Princess Chronicles "Lunar Island")

Behind the Name: VenetianPrincess

The Official YouTube Blog did a write-up about VP's username and asked her where her username came from. This is what she said:

"When I created my YouTube account back in 2006, culture and mystique, from its colorful venetian masks to its gondolas. I thought it would make for a good video setting. The princess part was my paying homage to my idol, the late Princess Diana. I’m also a Disney fan, so it has two meanings to me."

External links

• Official Website
• VenetianPrincess at the Internet Movie Database
• Steve Goldstein's Music Blog

Achievements
Preceded by realannoyingorange	Most Subscribed Channel on YouTube Ranked #1 Most Subscribed Female, 17th of all Channels as of 2010	Succeeded by WHATTHEBUCKSHOW