PewDiePie is the most famous celebrity you may have never heard of, depending on how much time you spend watching YouTube. Born Felix Kjellberg, the 26-year-old has the most popular channel on the video site, with roughly 44.4 million subscribers. His biggest draw are “Let’s Plays,” videos of himself playing video games. (They’re a popular phenomenon across YouTube and are often much more enjoyable than they sound.)
TIME’s Lev Grossman spoke with Kjellberg for a profile in the June 6 issue. Here are five things we learned about the YouTuber reinventing modern celebrity, also one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People this year.
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