Jenna Nicole Mourey (born September 15, 1986^[1][2]), better known by her pseudonym Jenna Marbles, is an American YouTube personality, vlogger, comedian and actress. As of September 2019, her channel has approximately 3.3 billion video views and 19.9 million subscribers,^[3] and is the 86th most subscribed channel on YouTube and the eighth-most-popular channel operated by a woman.^[4] Marbles is the first social media star to have a wax figure displayed at Madame Tussauds Museum in New York City.^[5]

Marbles was born and raised in Rochester, New York, where she graduated from Brighton High School in 2004. Her father is a chemist who holds several patents and she has one older brother.^[6] She then moved to Boston, where she attended Suffolk University. At Suffolk she obtained a Bachelor of Science in psychology, and later attended Boston University for a Master of Education in sport psychology and counseling.^[7]

In the summer of 2010, Marbles was sharing a three-bedroom apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She paid $800 rent by working various jobs, like bartending, working at a tanning salon, blogging, and go-go dancing at nightclubs.^[8] That year, Marbles started her career with Barstool Sports, where she wrote for their female-oriented site StoolLaLa. She left Barstool Sports in 2011.^[9]

Marbles uploads a new video to her YouTube channel every Wednesday/Thursday. One video, released in 2010 and titled "How To Trick People Into Thinking You're Good Looking" was viewed over 5.3 million times in its first week.^[10][11] Her video "How To Avoid Talking To People You Don't Want To Talk To" was featured in The New York Times and ABC News in August 2011. In the video, she said, "I'm sick and tired of guys thinking that just because I showed up at a club or a dance or a bar, that I want to have their genitalia touching my backside"; ^[12][13] the video had approximately 36.2 million views as of March 2018.^[14]

The pseudonym "Jenna Marbles" comes from her mother's complaint that "Mourey", their legal surname, pulled up only Jenna's videos on Google. Jenna's mother was unemployed when Jenna's first video went viral, and was concerned that the content might put off potential employers.^[7] The name "Marbles" comes from her dog "Mr. Marbles". As of January 2019, Marbles's YouTube channel had about 19 million subscribers and 2.9 billion video views.^[15][16]

Marbles appeared as Eve in season 2 of Epic Rap Battles of History, episode 13, "Adam vs. Eve".^[17] She played a banana in The Annoying Orange episode "Fake n' Bacon". She played Miley Cyrus in a "Wrecking Ball"-inspired segment of YouTube Rewind 2013. On January 30, 2014, she appeared in season four of Ridiculousness.

Marbles appeared as herself in Smosh: The Movie.^[18]

In 2015, Marbles unveiled a wax figure of herself at Madame Tussauds New York. She was the first ever YouTube star to be immortalized there, where hers is the first selfie-taking wax figure.^[19]

Marbles has also professionalized her business affairs by expanding her business and bringing in people to help, including a personal assistant, a business manager, and her mother (the chief executive officer).^[8]

Marbles does a weekly podcast with her boyfriend Julien Solomita, "The Jenna Julien Podcast" (formerly "The Jenna and Julien Podcast"). Topics include stories of growing up, conspiracy theories, and YouTubers. They sometimes feature other YouTubers as guests, including Shane Dawson.^[20]

Marbles released a brand of dog toys called Kermie Worm & Mr. Marbles. The toys' appearances are based upon her dogs.^[7] She has also created items with some of her most memorable quotes printed on them (e.g. "what are this").

Marbles also hosts a weekly pop countdown on SiriusXM Hits 1, "YouTube 15".^[21][22]

In 2016, Marbles became an executive producer for Maximum Ride, a film based on James Patterson's series of novels of the same name.^[23]

In 2015, Marbles became a full-time vegan.^[24][25]

Marbles has been in a relationship with fellow YouTuber Julien Solomita since 2013, and they live together in California with their four dogs, Marbles, Kermit, Peach and Bunny, who regularly appear in her videos.^[26]