What is Taryn Southern’s Net Worth?
Taryn Southern is an American singer, actress, and comedian who has a net worth of $500 thousand. In 2004 she appeared on the third season of “American Idol,” ultimately making the top 50 and reaching the Hollywood round. She then gained national attention for her vial video “Hot4Hill” during the 2008 presidential race. She also has appeared in shows like “Rules of Engagement,” “New Girl,” and “The League,” among others.
Early Life
Taryn Southern was born on July 16, 1986 and grew up in Wichita, Kansas. She was interested in acting from a young age and landed her first starring role in a pre-Broadway theatrical production at the age of 10. As a teenager, she co-hosted a regional teen talk show for WB Kansas. After completing high school, she attended the University of Miami and graduated early at the age of 20 with a B.S. in Anthropology and a B.A. in Journalism.
Career
When Southern was 17 years old, she auditioned for the third season of “American Idol” and made it into the show’s Top 50. She went on to host and executive produce DirecTV’s first original series, “Project My World,” in 2007. She also appeared as various characters in “The Heavy Show.”
In 2007, Southern released her first YouTube video in which she sang “Hot4Hill,” a political song voicing her support of Hillary Clinton. The video went viral, garnering more than a million views and appearances on FOX and MSNBC’s “Hardball with Chris Matthews.” Shortly afterward, she was appointed the face of AT&T U-Verse’s entertainment channel and on the first daily online series by “Cosmopolitan.” In addition, she starred in the first online series for The WB, “Sorority Forever.” She appeared in 31 episodes of the show
In 2009, she wrote and produced her first comedic musical web series, which later sold to MTV as a half-hour comedy pilot, with David Zuckerman as co-writer/executive producer. In 2010, she appeared in five episodes of “Rules of Engagement” as the character Allison. The same year, she appeared in eight episodes of “The Temp Life” as character Nancy Roder and had a role in the film “Battle for Los Angeles.” In 2012, she appeared in an episode of “New Girl” and in an episode of “Guys with Kids.”
In 2013, Southern released a musical comedy album which climbed to the 20th spot on the iTunes comedy chart. The song “Crush” made it to the top 100 radio play in August of that year. In 2014, Southern’s YouTube Channel was listed on “New Media Rockstars” Top 100 Channels. By the following year, she had nearly half a million subscribers.
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Southern also began working as a host and correspondent on various shows. She was a live correspondent on the US version of “The X Factor” and was on “Shark After Dark Live” on the Discovery Channel. She was later hired to continue her role as a correspondent on “Naked After Dark” on Discovery, a companion late-night show to “Naked and Afraid.” Additionally, she debuted a series with Marriott that was later renewed for a second season and launched a digital talk show with Maker Studios. The talk show was an exploration of internet culture and featured guests ranging from Seth MacFarlane to Zach Leary.
In 2017, Southern received a grant from the Google Creator Lab to create experimental VR content. One of her pieces, “New World,” Won AT&T’s 2020 Film Award and another, “Life Support,” was nominated for a Streamy Award. Southern also began working with AI-based musical composition tools. In 2018, she released a music album titled “I AM AI.” The album received international attention and radio play.
In April 2019, she debuted her first full-length feature documentary, ” I AM HUMAN,” which explored the evolution of the human brain and technology. The film premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and won four Best Feature awards following its premiere.
Personal Life
In 2016, Southern met Bryan Johnson, a software entrepreneur turned anti-aging enthusiast after selling his company Braintree to PayPal for $800 million. They began dating within weeks of meeting each other. In March 2018, the pair were living together in Venice, California. They announced they were engaged around that time. Their romance was short-lived however, as revealed by a lawsuit that Southern filed several years later in which she alleged that Johnson had promised to support her financially for the rest of her life. Southern also was diagnosed with breast cancer around this time. She alleged in her suit that while she was undergoing chemotherapy, Johnson told her she had to move out of their shared home. What followed were several rounds of lawsuits and responses in which Johnson denied all of Southern’s claims and accused her of trying to exploit his wealth. Southern was later ordered to pay Johnson’s legal fees.
