Stuart Edgington: Mormon Videographer
Stuart Edgington, known as Stuart Edge, is a videographer, prankster, musician, and magician. He is best known for his videos on YouTube, where he has more than two million subscribers.
Edgington grew up in Logan, Utah, and served as a missionary to Mexico for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, of which he is a member. He attended Utah Valley University in Orem after he completed his mission. He worked at an elementary school and then cleaned porta-potties. One day after work, he decided he needed a change and spent his savings on purchasing a camera. He then started looking for jobs where he could make videos. Soon after, Orabrush hired him to make YouTube videos.
From that beginning, he knew he wanted to make his own videos and filmed a prank about kissing under mistletoe. He and two friends conducted a survey at Brigham Young University on Christmas traditions. After asking the person if he or she would participate in kissing under the mistletoe, a sprig would drop from the ceiling. The interviewer would sometimes be kissed. On one occasion Edgington’s friend Nate Turley was slapped. He uploaded the video late on December 12, 2012, and was pleased to see that the video had 66 views overnight. By the end of the day, he had over one million views.
Under the name of Stuart Edge, Edgington produces videos regularly working 40 to 60 hours a week, many of them going viral. His “Spider-Man Kissing Prank” has over 16 million views (as of October 2014), and his “Using Siri to Get a Date” has been viewed more than 7 million times. His work caught the attention of the Jimmy Fallon, now host of the “Tonight Show.” In 2013, Edgington appear on Fallon’s previous show, “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.”
He has made several “giving back” and “doing good” videos. In September 2014, rather than filming handing out food or money, he gathered a group of Utah artists (Alex Boye, Kenzie Nimmo, and John Allred) to earn money for someone in need. They found a man at a park in Salt Lake City and they took him to City Creek Center where they performed for donations to the man. Edge hopes these videos will inspire other people to reach out and use their talents to help people.
Edge, along with several other successful Latter-day Saint YouTubers, was invited to participate in the December 2014 video created in tandem with the effort to claim the Guinness Book of World Records’ title for largest live Nativity, which was achieved with over one thousand participants. Along with the live Nativity, The Piano Guys, David Archuleta, Peter Hollens, and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performed “Angels from the Realms of Glory.” The final video premiered on The Piano Guys’ YouTube channel and attracted over seven million views.
