Christine Gambito

Christine Gambito, better known by her screen name HappySlip, is an American Internet personality, actress, and comedian. She maintains one of the most-subscribed-to channels on YouTube, a popular video sharing website. On January 25, 2008, Gambito, who is of Filipino ancestry, was appointed ambassador for Philippine tourism by the Department of Tourism. In March 2007, Gambito's video Mixed Nuts was nominated for the 2006 YouTube Video Awards for Best Comedy, resulting in the second place. In May of the same year, she became one of the first users accepted into YouTube's revenue sharing program. Gambito's performances typically include comedy sketches in which she impersonates members of her family. She also sings and plays the piano and guitar. As Gambito has stated repeatedly in her videos, she is notably one of the very few top users acting, filming, editing and producing her shorts completely on her own. Born of Filipino ancestry and raised in the United States, she was involved in cameo appearances and small parts of television commercials, movies, and industrial and training films. Christine was also a licensed practical nurse (LPN) before her YouTube fame. Gambito attributes her nickname "HappySlip" to her Filipino mother's mispronunciation of "half slip": “As a child, my Filipino mom would always remind me to wear a half-slip with skirts. However, the way she would pronounce the phrase was misleading: "Your hap e-slip! Be sure to wear your hap e-slip!" So I naturally went around calling the thing a 'happy slip,' until friends at school corrected me by asking if I had a 'sad slip' as well.” At her personal site, she explains that the phrase is not only a funny phrase from the past, but it also reflects what she would like people to feel when they watch her videos, hoping they will “slip into happiness” while watching. Her first sketch, Instant vlogging, was originally broadcasted on September 6, 2006 and featured Gambito impersonating four different characters, each representing a different video blogging style. Due to the positive response she received from the YouTube community, two of those characters (the teenager and the girl in the "soap opera" style) were explored further in the following videos, the latter becoming the first episode of a soap opera spoof featuring two twin sisters both interpreted by Gambito. Her second video introduced many of the recurring themes in her following sketches, such as her parents' attitude towards her growing popularity over the Internet and her family's ethnic habits seen through the mind of an American. Other notable sketches include Mixed Nuts — a video depicting what she would call "a typical family discussion" which was later awarded with the second place in the 2006 YouTube Video Awards for Best Comedy — and Mac Beautiful, her first musical video, an ironic cover of the song You're Beautiful by James Blunt praising the beauty and efficiency of the Apple MacPro. Gambito later broadcast two videos containing original songs. Gambito has collaborated with fellow YouTube comedian Kevin Wu (KevJumba) and has made five videos with him. Recently, Gambito opened a new YouTube channel, self-titled 'christinegambito', showcasing bonus videos such as behind the scene footage of her videos, covers by Gambito herself of modern hits, bloopers, and more. Profits from this channel are all donated to charity by Gambito. She is also the host of YouTube Caroling.