MrBeast (1998-…) is the online alias of Jimmy Donaldson, an internet personality and philanthropist. Donaldson creates and posts (publishes online) videos that often feature bizarre stunts and large charitable donations. They have been watched billions of times on the video-sharing website YouTube. 
James Stephen Donaldson was born on May 7, 1998, in Wichita, Kansas. As a child, he moved to Greensboro, North Carolina, with his mother. Donaldson attended high school at the Greenville Christian Academy. In 2012, Donaldson began posting videos on YouTube under the screen name MrBeast6000. Most of these early videos featured Donaldson playing such video games as Minecraft (2011) and games from the “Call of Duty” series while discussing various subjects. In other videos, Donaldson speculated about the amount of money made by star YouTube content creators.
In early 2017, Donaldson posted a lengthy video of himself counting to 100,000. Later that year, he released a video in which he gave $10,000 to a homeless person. These two videos went viral—gaining rapidly in popularity—and brought more attention to the MrBeast YouTube channel.
The success of these two videos prompted Donaldson to create more content in similar styles. In some videos, Donaldson, his friends, or others might perform outlandish challenges or tasks. Donaldson’s team might assemble large amounts of one type of item, such as Lego bricks or pennies. In other videos, Donaldson and his team give large sums of money or extravagant gifts to people or organizations. As the MrBeast YouTube channel increased in popularity, the production value of videos, the complexity and size of the challenges, and the value and number of gifts have increased dramatically.
In 2020, Donaldson launched the nonprofit organization Beast Philanthropy. It funds charitable causes and works in conjunction with the MrBeast channel to promote giving. Donaldson has also expanded the MrBeast brand to include apparel, restaurants, and snack items.
