Craig Thompson, is a British entertainer, comedian, vlogger, gamer and YouTuber, known by the online community as Mini Ladd. As of August 2019, he has accumulated over 10 million followers across all social platforms, over 1.4 billion views, and averages roughly 50,000 concurrent viewers during his live-streams. In September 2019, Thompson was named No. 3 out of the Top 100 Influencers in the UK by the Sunday Times.
Personal life
Thompson was born in Dubai, United Arab Emirates to an English father and a Northern Irish mother. He and his family moved to Northern Ireland, Eglinton, County Londonderry, when he was ten years old. Before starting his online career, he was a student at Foyle College, where he also played for the football team. In February 2017, Thompson, alongside his friend and fellow YouTuber Jay, a.k.a. "Jaayy", were hit by a Toyota Tacoma that had sped through a red light. Thompson suffered severe bruising and a cracked spleen, and was sent to the hospital for four days. Jay had suffered more severe injuries, and was sent to hospital in critical condition, eventually being placed in a coma for three weeks. For several weeks thereafter, Thompson required a walker to move around. In August 2017, Thompson began dating Twitch steamer Samantha Dey, aka SuniDey. In January 2020, Thompson announced on social media that they were no longer together. In February 2020, Thompson released a video titled "Why I Left", explaining details of why he left YouTube from late December, which included his return to his home in LA, him and SuniDey no longer in a relationship, and him wanting to improve things in his life, such as his mental health.
Career and donations
Thompson launched his first YouTube channel, "Mini Ladd", in May 2011, posting mainly gaming-related content and compilation videos. In 2018, he launched his second channel, "Craig Thompson", wherein the content was mainly off of vlogs. In 2019, he launched his third YouTube channel, "Mini Ladd Vault", wherein he uploads old videos off his Mini Ladd channel which were previously demonetized or taken down. In 2018, Thompson partnered with the Thirst Project and raised over $150,000 for relief, in 2019, the Thirst Project named him as one of their Board Members and awarded him the "Cameron Boyce Pioneering Spirit Award" in October 2019. He has donated large sums of money to organisations like St. Jude, Macmillan Cancer Support and Northwest Counselling Ltd. In 2019 the city of Derry and their rugby team renamed their stadium to the "Craig Thompson Stadium". In June 2019, Craig and fellow YouTuber Anthony "BigJigglyPanda" Brown announced a tour named "The Demonetized Tour", which takes place across North America from September until December. In early 2020, Thompson confirmed that the tour could come to both Europe and Australia, although dates and cities are yet to be announced. In September 2019 Thompson was named by the Sunday Times as one of Britain's top 100 influencers, behind KSI and PewDiePie. In November 2019, Thompson won the eSports Content Creator of the Year award.
