Background
Johnson was born in Wahiawa, Hawaii, the daughter of a military family.
Johnson was born in Wahiawa, Hawaii, the daughter of a military family.
In 2012 her personal YouTube channel, "Lia Marie Johnson", was reported to have received 13 million views. In 2014, this was reported to have increased to 39 million views and 705,000 subscribers, while her Instagram account was followed by 1.3 million followers. In a 2014 Adweek profile she was referred to as one of "12 of the biggest young stars on YouTube".
Her family eventually settled in California.
Johnson"s YouTube account was created on December 17, 2007, with early videos uploaded by her mother which featured her performances at talent shows, and church recitals. After two years, Johnson began to control the output of the channel, creating content that has come to include personal commentary, sketch comedy, and musical performances.
This exposure increased the traffic to her own channel and became an early source of her online fame. In the aftermath of the initial series episodes, she was surprised by the phenomenon of strangers knowing her and approaching her as fans, and remarked "I think Kids React was my very first viral video, "cus everyone knew my name after that." In 2011, Johnson was added to the recurring cast of the spin-off series Teens React, and in 2014 was moved again to the newly established YouTubers React, which featured herself and various well known YouTube personalities.
In 2014, Johnson appeared at the Nickelodeon Kids" Choice Awards, and starred in Terry the Tomboy: The Movie, a spin-off film based on the eponymous character she portrays on the Nickelodeon sketch comedy series, AwesomenessTV. In 2015 she covered the single "Latch" by Disclosure, singing with Alejandro Luis Manzano of Boyce Avenue, and released it on YouTube.
The song was originally performed by singer Sam Smith. Johnson has also been featured on the covers of Adweek and BYou Magazine. On January 9, 2015, Johnson released her first single, "Moment Like You", along with a music video which can be found on her YouTube channel.
In 2012, in a combined episode of Teens React and Elders React about the 2012 United States presidential election, Johnson stated that she is a Democrat.
In 2010, Johnson began to work with the Fine Brothers as a recurring member of their Kids React series.