CoryxKenshin

Cory DeVante Williams (born November 9, 1992), known online as CoryxKenshin, is an American YouTuber, writer and actor. Williams joined YouTube in 2009. Known for his comedic playthroughs of horror games, Williams was ranked the fourth top creator in the United States in 2021 and has amassed a massive cult following on social media known as "the Samurai".

Early life Cory DeVante Williams was born on November 9, 1992, in Detroit, Michigan. He was born with ectodermal dysplasia, a rare genetic disorder that caused him to lack a full set of teeth, and diminished hair growth on his arms and legs.

In August 2010, Williams began attending Michigan State University after being rejected from his dream school, the University of Michigan. Williams attended Michigan State for his freshman and sophomore years, majoring in media arts, and despite having exceptional grades and many friends, he still aspired to attend the University of Michigan. Williams was eventually convinced by his father to apply for a transfer to Michigan, and was accepted in 2012. Although he originally created comedy sketches, Williams began to play popular horror games such as Five Nights at Freddy's (2014) and Bloodborne (2015) instead, He also played video games of other genres and AAA games such as Elden Ring (2022). His video of the rhythm game Friday Night Funkin' (2020) became the fifth most-viewed video in the United States in 2021. IGN Africa described the video as "part music video, part playthrough" and praised Williams' use of comedy in the video. Besides his let's plays, Williams is known for his humor and energetic, light-hearted personality.

Williams was ranked the fourth top creator in the United States in 2021 by subscriber growth

On December 13, 2024, Williams posted a video on his channel, after a 17-month hiatus, in which he announced his original manga series which he wrote, titled Monsters We Make. Two days later, on December 15, his channel also reached 20 million subscribers.

"YouTube: Racism and Favoritism"

On August 24, 2022, Williams uploaded a video onto his channel alleging that "racism and favoritism" may influence YouTube's review process. In the video, he recounted an incident where a reviewer age-restricted his video of the horror game The Mortuary Assistant, thereby lessening his visibility and monetization. As many other videos featuring the same content were not subject to the same restrictions, Williams became confused and submitted an appeal, which was rejected. He sent a clip of an even more popular YouTuber, Markiplier, playing the same game to his partner program representative. Although he expected them to restrict Markiplier's video, YouTube instead unrestricted Williams' video.

Confused over the sudden reversal, Williams again contacted his representative, who inquired to the policy team. The company then restricted every video on the platform of The Mortuary Assistant. This led Williams to conclude that the company's favoritism of larger creators—or even, possibly, racism—were factors in the reviewers' decisions, though he was unsure if an automated or human reviewer restricted his video in the first place.

Numerous other YouTubers, including Jacksepticeye, Ludwig, GothamChess, Philip DeFranco, berleezy, Deestroying, and Cr1TiKaL voiced their support online. The video later peaked at No. 1 on the trending tab.

In 2020, Williams stopped uploading YouTube videos temporarily as a result of anxiety, burnout and depression. He described 2020 as "the worst year of [his] life", citing major events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the murder of George Floyd.

Filmography

Film Year Title Role 2023Five Nights at Freddy'''s

2025 Five Nights at Freddy's 2''

Television Year Title Channel 2019–2020 Player Select Disney XD