Ethan Nestor-Darling

Ethan Mark Nestor-Darling, known online as CrankGameplays, is an American online producer, entertainer, YouTuber, and former editor for Markiplier, as well as the co-host of the now-defunct Unus Annus channel. He first appeared alongside Mark in "Let's Play 4-Way Air Hockey IN REAL LIFE!!" and was a member of Mark's You're Welcome tour from 2017 through 2018.

Early life
Ethan was born in Cape Elizabeth, Maine on October 24, 1996 to Mark Nestor and Annie Darling. Before getting her first sonogram, Ethan's mother had already decided on the name Elissa, believing that her unborn child was going to be a girl. His father later took the name from Mission Impossible's protagonist, Ethan Hunt, after seeing the movie for the first time.

Since his youth, Ethan admired cinema and acting as he would often make home videos with his older half-brother, Andrew Nestor. After taking an interest in YouTube, Ethan had decided to make his debut video on August 29, 2012, around 2am EDT, which he posted the following day to his original CrankGameplays channel. His father, from whom he got his middle name, is a graphic designer who also made Ethan's first CrankGameplays logo and video intro.

Ethan was a dedicated gymnast for almost ten years. After his grades started to decline, Ethan had decided to put gymnastics on hold and instead focus on his potential YouTube career, stating that he could not afford to fully commit to both pastimes. After graduating from Cape Elizabeth High School in 2015, Ethan decided to take one year off schooling and move to Portland, Maine to focus on his YouTube career, noting that he would have gone back to his studies if he did not succeed. At one point, he considered applying to Full Sail University in Florida to study acting and filmmaking, but ultimately decided against it. While living in Portland with his father, Ethan had a job as a waiter at "Salvage BBQ" restaurant, where he was eventually promoted to the position of manager.

Some of his YouTube inspirations include PewDiePie and Game Grumps.

First channel
Ethan's first CrankGameplays channel was started on August 30, 2012. His first video titled "Dirty Mic and the Boys-Happy Wheels Gameplay Numero Uno," made the day before his channel's creation, features him and his friend Andrew Harrington (dubbed Lanky Randman in the video, a name he would later adopt for his online alias) playing Happy Wheels. The name of the channel came from one of his bedroom posters that read "Crank," with Ethan adding the "Gameplays" suffix to it. His channel's logo and original intro were both designed by his father, Mark. The channel's mascot is named "Gizmo the Gear" and he refers to his fanbase as the "Cranky Crew."

One of his prominent gaming series at the time featured his grandmother, either playing or reacting to video games alongside Ethan. He would later cite this series as one of the reasons for moving to the new channel, claiming that most of his subscribers only ever watched these segments, and he did not wish to exploit his grandmother for views. In August 2018, Ethan's grandmother passed away, which led him to go on a hiatus for a few weeks.

His secondary channel, CrankyVlogs, was created on May 10, 2013. On it, Ethan would vlog about his daily life and discuss various topics of his personal interest. Two years later, he stopped posting videos on the channel as he felt its content was of poor quality.

On December 2, 2015, Ethan made CrankyVODs, a YouTube account for the sole purpose of preserving his stream VODs, usually from Twitch. Although it existed for several years, the channel's first post was in July of 2020.

On December 4, 2015, Ethan uploaded a vlog in which he discusses his decision to move to a new YouTube account, under the same CrankGameplays brand, and start from scratch with his current audience. According to Ethan, out of 25,000 subscribers he had at the time, only 200 of them were still active, which affected the way his channel was shown in search results. Ethan also believed that low interaction on his videos would put off newer viewers from subscribing or watching his content. After migrating and re-uploading some of his older content to the new CrankGameplays, all of Ethan's videos were unlisted and the original channel's name was changed to "Please go subscribe to my NEW channel!", with his final move vlog being linked to the channel's homepage trailer.

Second channel, meeting Markiplier, moving to Los Angeles
His current and main channel, under the same name, was created on December 1, 2015 and features a variety of content, ranging from gaming videos and animated shorts to vlogs and comedy sketches. The channel reached one million subscribers on January 15, 2020 during a commemorative livestream titled "The Road to 1 Million."

Similarly to Darkiplier, Ethan developed his own alter-ego called BlankGameplays, where he would don a dark, foreboding persona often accompanied by distorted sounds and visuals. Ethan would later retire the character, stating that he had lost interest in portraying him.

In 2014, Ethan met Mark at Markiplier and Friends PAX East yearly festival, where he did a backflip for his panel, earning him the nickname "Backflip Dude" within Mark's community. The two kept in contact through 2016 when Mark asked Ethan to move out to Los Angeles and become one of his editors. In late 2017, Ethan ceased editing for Mark, choosing to focus more on his own content and additional collaborations.

In 2016 and 2017, Ethan was featured in YouTube Rewind, as part of Markiplier's group.

Ethan was a part of Mark's You're Welcome tour from 2017 through 2018. The show was made up of improvisational comedy (a form of theater comedy that Ethan introduced to Mark) and audience participation. The group visited Australia, various countries in Europe, as well as several states across the USA.

Between 2017 and 2019, Ethan hosted Trash Goblin Podcast alongside Andrew Harrington, making a total of 38 podcasts. Their thirty-ninth and final episode was done in a form of a live show.

Unus Annus, touring, collaborating with Hyper RPG
On November 13, 2019, Mark and Ethan made a joint channel called Unus Annus, with the intent of uploading one video per day for the entire year. Once a year had passed, they were to delete the channel without preserving any of its content, as both believed that this should be a unique, one in a lifetime experience that they get to share with their audience. The channel's disclaimer stated that any re-uploads of Unus Annus' videos without their permission would be met with a takedown notice. On Friday, November 13, 2020, from 12pm to 12am PT, Mark and Ethan held a twelve hour livestream to commemorate Unus Annus' run, later ending the broadcast by deleting the channel, along with all of its videos. The following day, Ethan expressed his final thoughts on the channel's conclusion. On November 14, 2021, around midnight Pacific Standard Time, Mark and Ethan uploaded a separate video on their main channels titled "Memento Mori" in which they pay respects to the now defunct Unus Annus channel on its deathday, as well as reflect on their one year journey since the series' conclusion. For their work on Unus Annus, Mark and Ethan won the Best Collaboration award at the 11th Annual Streamy Awards.

On January 28, 2021, Ethan took a month-long break due to the concern for his mental health, while also distancing himself from social media. While on hiatus, Ethan consulted a mental health professional and used his free time to relocate to a new home. He returned on March 1, 2021 to announce his upcoming show titled "I have to do this show" that was scheduled to debut on November 21, 2021 in Chicago, Illinois. On September 24, 2021, in response to the overwhelmingly positive reception, Ethan announced that the show was changed from a one day performance to an entire tour with the show in Chicago being the first of thirty five tours across the United States and Canada, leaving overseas touring as a possibility in the future if the first one does good enough.

On March 9, 2021, in collaboration with Hyper RPG, Ethan hosted a live event on his Twitch channel dubbed "Five Nights at Hyper," which was inspired by the video game Five Nights at Freddy's. In it, Ethan portrayed a security guard attempting to survive at his job for five nights while managing a haunted estate and warding off ghosts through his office's security feed with the help from his Twitch audience. In late 2021, Ethan joined Hyper RPG's online show Kollok (stylized as KOllOK) as an executive producer and a cast member.

Philanthropy
Since starting his online career, Ethan—occasionally collaborating alongside other internet celebrities—raised over 976,000 USD during his charity livestreams for various non-profit organizations, primarily through Tiltify's fundraisers. These campaigns include AbleGamers, Karaoke for Koalas (aimed at combating the effects of 2019–20 bushfires on Australia's wildlife), Hope From Home (United Way's COVID-19 relief), Thankmas 2020 (Red Nose Day's charity to combat child poverty),  and Trans Lifeline via Unified for Pride 2021.

On March 5, 2022, Ethan held a charity livestream for providing foreign aid to Ukraine during Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Personal life
Ethan is of Irish descent on his father's side.

Ethan has a severe peanut allergy, with 1/500th of a peanut proving lethal to his immune system. As a result, he carries epinephrine autoinjectors (EpiPens) with him in case of an emergency. Around the seventh grade, Ethan was diagnosed with Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and occasionally uses prescription medication. Ethan is also mildly dyslexic and has expressed difficulty with reading and memorizing extensively written information. Since his schooling days, he would solve Rubik's cubes to help him stay focused.

Ethan owns an Australian cattle dog named Spencer (born April 3, 2018 ), who was neutered in his early years. In 2021, Ethan and his girlfriend Mika adopted a female dog named Honeybee. He previously owned a variety of pets, including 3 lizards, Cody, Carmen, and Carmen (named after various Agent Cody Banks and Spy Kids characters), and 3 Portuguese water dogs, Max, Dexter, and Cooper.

Between 2018 and 2020, Ethan was in a relationship with Twitch streamer Mika "RIPmika" Midgett. In late 2021, the two reconciled their relationship and moved in together.

Political views
Ethan is a staunch supporter of the LGBT rights movement.

Following the 2020 countrywide protests against racism and police brutality in the United States, Ethan condemned the murder of George Floyd and expressed his support for the Black Lives Matter movement, later encouraging his audience to sign online petitions related to the cause.

Ethan endorsed Joe Biden during the 2020 presidential election, as well as urged his followers via social media to exercise their civic duty to vote.

Alias' and nicknames

 * CrankGameplays - Ethan's default online alias and brand.
 * Soft Boi - A hypocorism used by Ethan's fans for his soft demeanor and altruism.
 * Eef - Throughout Unus Annus' lifespan, Ethan was given the nickname "Eef," which later became a running gag within his and Mark's communities. In several episodes, Mark would use exaggerated abbreviations of his and Ethan's names as a playful joke, however, the nickname itself became a running gag during the Hooked on Phonics episode, where Ethan—pretending to not know how to read for a skit—jokingly misspelled his name as "Eef."
 * Melon Man - In the final shot of "Crushing Watermelons Betwixt Our Mighty Thighs," Ethan is seen devouring his watermelon in a bestial manner. This behavior gave rise to the nickname "Melon Man" within Unus Annus' fanbase, who later build up the figure as a parody of conventional creepypasta characters.

Tattoos

 * On October 10, 2020, Ethan got two tattoos; a skull with a rose beneath its jaw on his inner upper-right forearm and the letter 'X' near his left elbow. The letter is shared with Ethan's dog Spencer (neutered animals tend to be marked with an 'X' in shelters), as he thought it would be amusing for them to have a common symbol. The skull was designed by JamiesDrawings, an Irish tattoo artist, and tattooed with black ink by Louie Perez from Tip Top Tattoo Parlor.
 * Nine hours into Unus Annus' finale livestream, Ethan commemorated their one year run with a tattoo of the channel's clock on his inner upper-left forearm. The timer tattoo was done on a short notice by Danielle Skye (@danielleskyeee).
 * On March 27, 2021, Ethan got a stylized tattoo of Portland Head Light lighthouse on the outer side of his upper left arm as a childhood memorabilia. The structure in question is considered to be the most photographed lighthouse in the world, and was often visited by Ethan while living in Cape Elizabeth. The tattoo was designed by JamiesDrawings and tattooed with black ink by Spencer Harrington (@harringtontattoo).
 * On June 2, 2021, Ethan got a black ink silhouette of a Velociraptor on the outer side of his right forearm.

Trivia

 * Ethan can proficiently play the ukulele. He previously played the trumpet in fifth grade for his middle school, switched to baritone in sixth, before quitting the school band.
 * His favorite colors mainly consist of blue and red.
 * Ethan's first kiss was at the age of 16. Before kissing the girl, he asked her if she ate any peanuts beforehand due to his severe allergy.
 * Ethan has a fear of failure.
 * Ethan's dream job is Director of Photography.
 * His celebrity crush is Mary Elizabeth Winstead.
 * The original CrankGameplays channel was featured as a bonus channel in one of PewDiePie's Shoutout Competitions.
 * On October 16, 2015, as part of his charity goal, Ethan dyed his hair blue, but stopped maintaining it in late 2017. In early 2019, he temporarily dyed his hair back for another charity goal, before going back to his natural look.
 * As part of Unus Annus' Google game, Mark searched up Ethan's online biography and read a portion of it from the Markiplier Wiki page.
 * Some of Ethan's most cherished Unus Annus videos are "Cooking with Sex Toys" and "Mark and Ethan Attempt an Escape Room."