Kin Ryan Bio

Kin Ryan, who struggled with a lack of purpose after completing school, made his first Instagram post from Rottnest Island in Australia six years ago during his impromptu solo “escape” trip there. Later, he started posting more frequently on the platform during another escape trip to Europe, during which he also found his love for music. He had reached a crossroads in life at that point and chose to pursue his dreams rather than continuing studies. He moved to Moscow, Russia, where he first performed publicly, and started practicing and performing music while also learning the local language.

In 2018, he created his YouTube channel and often shared pictures and videos from his journey on Instagram and YouTube. One day, a clip of one of his first public performances at a street side was shared by a popular Russian Instagram star, following which he started receiving thousands of comments on his posts on the platform. He later made friends with the Russian blogger and even started pursuing social media himself while being isolated during Covid-19 lockdowns. While he started with videos of his performances and numerous covers of songs by popular artists, he gradually shifted towards making reaction videos as an Asian boy. However, he wanted to explore other types of content and started a story-time series after consulting with the “pumpkins”, his fan base. Despite becoming a successful YouTuber with over one million subscribers, he has continued his pursuit of music and often vlogs about his performances.

Kin Ryan came from a traditional Asian family which considered studying the most important thing and believed that a university certificate was the key to a successful life. While he was among the top three students in the secondary school, he didn’t enjoy studying for hours, especially subjects that he didn’t like. As a result, he started to skip school, miss homework, and sleep during the class. He felt an existential crisis when, after finishing secondary school following six years of hard work, he realized that he needed to work harder for four more years in university just to lead an average life like a “zombie”. As a last-ditch effort to find his purpose in life, he packed his bag and went to Australia alone.

At the time, he was a “super super shy boy” and couldn’t even talk to strangers properly, which he wanted to overcome with this brave solo trip. Despite a life-changing encounter with an elderly man, he was still aimless after his return and reluctantly went to a university in Hong Kong, but often suffered from anxiety. He secretly left university after just one year and went on a trip to Europe, from Germany to Russia, during which he found purpose in music after performing in front of strangers at a bar in Moscow. However, he felt suffocated back in Hong Kong as none, including his family, appreciated his decision to pursue arts.

Kin Ryan again ran away to Moscow and tried his luck as a street performer, but it became unfeasible during the winter. He even gave university another try, but quit again shortly after. He was eventually forced to return to Hong Kong as funds dried up and started uploading YouTube videos as he got stuck indoors during the Covid-19-induced lockdowns. At the end of the year, he went to Turkey with the aim of reaching United Kingdom so that he could perform there, but he got trapped there due to the pandemic. He announced his decision to move to South Korea in early 2021, but in September that year, shifted from Turkey to Paris, via Belgium, before finally reaching London in December.

Kin Ryan was born on October 8, 1996 in Hong Kong, China. He has a younger sister named Ellie whom he featured in a video on his YouTube channel titled “TWICE "Feel Special" M/V Reaction” on September 23, 2019. He has two cats named Mochi and Yuki.