Anthony Padilla

Daniel Anthony Padilla ( ; born September 16, 1987) is an American YouTuber. With Ian Hecox, he co-founded the YouTube-based video production company Smosh. Padilla and Hecox wrote, directed, and starred in sketch comedy videos from 2005 to 2017; after a six-year departure, Padilla returned to the company in 2023.

Outside of Smosh, Padilla hosts the podcast series I Spent a Day With... on SmoshAlike, which was originally his solo channel. He made his film debut in Smosh: The Movie in 2015, and had a voice role in the Angry Birds films starting with The Angry Birds Movie (2016).

Early life Daniel Anthony Padilla was born on September 16, 1987, in Sacramento, California, and raised in the suburb of Carmichael, California. His father is of Filipino descent and his mother is German. His parents separated when he was two, and he was raised mostly by his mother alongside his two younger half-brothers. As his mother has severe agoraphobia, she was unable to work or even leave the family home, resulting in the family surviving off food stamps; Padilla took on a great deal of responsibility from an early age, especially after his grandmother, who was the primary caretaker of the family, died. He graduated from Del Campo High School and attended American River College for two years before dropping out due to Smosh's success.

Career Smosh

In 2002, Padilla registered smosh.com, where he posted Adobe Flash animations. It also functioned effectively as an early form of social media, where he would communicate with his friends while bedridden with Henoch–Schönlein purpura. They later started focusing more on short comedy skits. Padilla left in June 2017, making the announcement on his personal YouTube channel. He mentioned a "lack of creative freedom." Mythical Entertainment would later acquire the Smosh brand on February 22, 2019.

Reunion and owning Smosh Alongside Hecox, Padilla announced on June 20, 2023, that the duo had bought a majority stake in Smosh from Mythical Entertainment and would be rebooting the main channel to create their own sketches, similar to those in the early years of the channel. In an interview with Variety regarding the acquisition, Padilla expressed his desire to "return to [their] roots" by owning the company so that they "[could] really take Smosh in any creative direction".

Outside Smosh Since his initial departure from Smosh in 2017, Padilla has found continued success on his personal YouTube channel, which he later renamed SmoshAlike after returning to Smosh. He created a series of videos titled I Spent a Day With..., interviewing people based on their experiences with various topics. Padilla stated that he uses the series as a way to have in-depth conversations with people who tend to be left out; he wanted to avoid "poking fun at people, cringe reaction humor-type stuff." For his work, he has been described as "YouTube's Interview King" by The Washington Post. He has interviewed people such as then-YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki, fellow viral internet personalities including Tay Zonday, American YouTuber Dream, and American musician Corpse Husband. In 2025, Padilla announced that Pressalike is now under the Smosh umbrella, rebranded to Smoshalike.

Filmography Film

Year Film Role Notes 2015 Smosh: The Movie Himself Also executive producer 2016 Hal Voice Hal and Bubbles Voice; short film Hedgehogs Bobby Voice Ghostmates Charlie Also executive producer 2019 Hal Voice 2026 2016 Scare PewDiePie Episode: "Naughty Pie" Chelsea 2018 RuPaul's Drag Race Episode: "Social Media Kings Into Queens"

Web Year Film Role Notes 2005–2017 2023–present Smosh Himself,various characters 2013 Ray William Johnson Himself Episode: "RWJ vs Smosh" 2014Epic Rap Battles of HistoryRaphaelEpisode: "Artists vs TMNT" 2016 Part Timers Anton Main role 2012–2015, 2017 YouTube Rewind Himself 5 episodes