Jennifer Ann McAllister (born July 9, 1996),[1] also known by her former pseudonym andYouTube usernamejennxpenn, is an Americaninternet personality, actress and comedian. She is best known for her work on YouTube,[2] for which she has been nominated for aShorty Award and fourTeen Choice Awards.
McAllister created herYouTube channel jennxpenn at the age of 12 on January 15, 2009, but already had prior YouTube experience through a channel created beforehand with a friend.[5][6] The channel has amassed over 3.5 million subscribers,[7] and earned her nominations for aShorty Award for YouTuber of the Year, and fourTeen Choice Awards.[8][9][10][11]
In March 2013, McAllister signed a YouTube partnership deal withAwesomenessTV;[4] she appeared primarily inskits and segments on their YouTube channel. She also starred in the pilot episode of AwesomenessTV'ssketch comedy seriesof the same name,[12][13] which premiered onNickelodeon on July 1, 2013.[14]
McAllister in 2014
Beginning in April 2014, McAllister went on a 16-city North American tour in celebration of reaching1 million subscribers on YouTube withTyler Ward, which took place at the beginning of May and the entirety of June.[15] In June 2014, she signed a YouTube management deal withFullscreen.[16][17] In a September 2014 interview withBusiness Insider, she expressed interest inhosting and acting.[18] That same month, she partnered with the nonprofit organizationOur Time, releasing a video telling her viewers aged eighteen or above to register themselves to vote in the United States.[19][20]
At the 2015Playlist Live convention, it was announced that McAllister and fellow YouTuber Lauren Elizabeth Luthringshausen would be starring in a film titledBad Night, which serves as her acting debut.[21] The film was produced by GRB Entertainment,[22] McAllister, and Luthringshausen, among others.[23] It was released throughVimeo on Demand in July of that same year.[24][25] In an interview withEntertainment Weekly, she described the project as an "amazing experience" and that seeing herself on screen left her "cracking up at the fact that this is a real thing because I can't take myself seriously. So we're going to be hot messes, but I think we'll make it through."[23] Also in 2015, McAllister made her writing debut with theautobiographyReally Professional Internet Person,[26][27] which was released in August 2015 and became aNew York Times Best Seller.[28]
In February 2016,[29] it was announced that McAllister would portray the leading role of Andie Fixler in theYouTube Red original seriesFoursome.[30][31][32][33] In an interview withTheWrap, she described her relationships with the series' cast, stating that "I grew really close to everyone. It was kind of like a summer camp ... I was on set for 12 and a half hours every day, so you're really close with these people."[34][35] She created content for her channel five to six weeks before production onFoursome began in order to exclusively focus on the series.[34] The series was released in March 2016, and ran for four seasons until the end of 2018.[36][37] For her performance, she won theStreamy Award for Best Actress at the6th Annual Streamy Awards,[38][39][40] which was presented to her by her friend and frequent collaborator,Andrea Russett. She also received a shared nomination with the cast ofFoursome.[38]
In 2018, McAllister was cast in the role of Deanna Hoffman in theHulu seriesAll Night, which was the second collaboration between AwesomenessTV and Hulu.[41][42][43] The series stars a large ensemble of actors and premiered in May 2018.[44]
In 2019, McAllister competed in the first season ofThe Reality House,[45][46][47] aweb series inspired byBig Brother where several YouTubers compete for $25,000.[45]
At the end of 2021, McAllister stopped posting on herYouTube channel jennxpenn, instead focusing her attention onlive streaming onTwitch. She quickly rose to the top 0.04% of streamers on the platform, streaming primarily in theJust Chatting category.[48] She posts edited versions of her live streams on a secondYouTube channel which has amassed over 600 thousand subscribers.[49]
In November 2020, in a video titled "addressing your assumptions about me...",[50] McAllister publiclycame out asbisexual, saying she had been identifying as bi in her personal life since she was 19 years old.[51][52]
^Jaworski, Michelle; Votta, Rae (August 31, 2014)."Meet the YouTube class of 2014".The Kernel. The Daily Dot. Archived fromthe original on September 7, 2015. RetrievedDecember 23, 2016.
