Jacob Alexander Roper is an American Internet celebrity primarily known for hosting the Vsauce3 YouTube channel, which is part of the YouTube channel brand Vsauce. Jake posts content related to fictional worlds, video games, and science. Roper also has a personalside channel, "Jake Roper", and frequently hosts on other Vsauce network channels, including D!NG and the group channel WeSauce.
Early life and education
Roper was born on January 25, 1987 and grew up in Evergreen, Colorado. He attended New York'sSchool of Visual Arts where he received a degree in film. Prior to working on YouTube, Roper used his film degree for various jobs in television and advertising.
Career
Before working with Michael Stevens under the Vsauce brand, Roper was working at Google, alongside Stevens, as well as hosting a YouTube show called Space Lab, which was a space show for kids. Stevens brought on Roper to edit videos in 2011; in 2012, Roper started uploading on Vsauce3 regularly beginning with the segment App All Knight. Over time, Roper began to host all of the shows on Vsauce3, effectively making it his own channel. Segments on this channel, such as Game LÜT, App All Knight, HeadShot, 9bit, and Fact Surgery have either been discontinued or moved to other Vsauce network channels. This allowed for Roper to focus on the main content of the channel, which focuses on explanations of the science behind fictional worlds. Over the years, Roper has worked with various celebrities and experts including Neil deGrasse Tyson, Bill Nye, Jack Black, and Paul Rudd. In December 2016, Roper collaborated with Mark Rober to recreate traps from the 1990 filmHome Alone in a video titled "Could You Survive Home Alone?". Roper worked with Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell in September 2017 to make a video about Nick Bostrom's Simulation argument. On March 31, 2017, Roper announced that he had joined as the new director of production at Casey Neistat's company and YouTube channel, Beme News. However, on January 31, 2018, CNN closed the Beme News division and offered the 22-person team positions in CNN. On September 20, 2018, it was announced that Roper would be hosting the YouTube Original special Could You Survive the Movies. On May 21, 2020, it was announced that his show Could You Survive the Movies is nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award.
Personal life
On November 25, 2015, Roper announced on his side channel that he had a rare form of cancer called a sarcoma. In June 2016, he announced that test readings had come back indicating that the cancer was gone.
