James Kavanagh (media personality)

Last updated

James Kavanagh
Born (1989-07-17) 17 July 1989 (age 34)
Churchtown, Dublin, Ireland
Nationality Irish
Occupations
Partner
  • William Murray (2013–present)
Relatives John Kavanagh (brother)

James Alan Kavanagh (born 17 July 1989) is an Irish social media personality, influencer, entrepreneur, television presenter, socialite, podcaster, and occasional DJ. He rose to prominence on Snapchat in 2015 doing vlogs and parodies. [1] He has since gained a large following online, amassing over 110,000 followers across Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. He is admired by his fans for his over-the-top reactions, observational humour and aesthetic choices.

Contents

In 2016 Kavanagh and his partner William Murray started the food company Currabinny. [2] Some of the pair's ventures include being finalists on RTÉ's The Taste of Success and producing their first book, The Currabinny Cookbook, which was published by Penguin in 2018 and won EUROSPAR Cookbook of the Year at the 2018 An Post Irish Book Awards.

Kavanagh has worked with many companies as an influencer, including Opel, Irish League of Credit Unions, Durex, Huawei and Coca-Cola as well as with various charities, including UNICEF. In 2018, he began his television career as the co-host of Ireland's Got Talent's companion sister show Ireland's Got Mór Talent on Virgin Media Television.

Early life

Kavanagh was born on 17 July 1989 in Churchtown, Dublin, Ireland to parents Alan and Margaret Kavanagh. He has two older siblings, one sister, Ann and one brother, John, most notable as the founder of Straight Blast Gym Ireland. He attended primary school in Good Shepard National Primary School in Churchtown, and attended Wilson's Hospital School for his secondary education.

Career

Early work

Kavanagh had previously pursued a career in public relations management, starting off in youth marketing company Thinkhouse Ireland in 2010, working with brands such as Kerrygold and Barry's Tea. He then moved to Notorious PSG in 2015. [3]

2015–2016: Social media and rise in popularity

Kavanagh took up the social media platform Snapchat in May 2015. He started making vlogs and parodies of other personalities on social media, including parodies of makeup tutorials. He also made videos of him scaring his partner William Murray, by way of sneaking up behind him and yelling his name, which gained the attention of Channel 4's Rude Tube . His videos made appearances on the show, further elevating his image in the media. [4]

In that year, Kavanagh started making regular appearances on the Irish radio station SPIN 1038, where he discussed recommendations of activities to do in Dublin at the weekend, and the TV3 fashion show Xposé . [5]

2016: The beginning of Currabinny

In February 2016, Kavanagh left PR management to pursue a career in food with his partner William Murray, a graduate from the Ballymaloe Cookery School. They created the food company Currabinny named after Murray's home at Curraghbinny in County Cork. [6] Their first public appearance was at the Teeling Whiskey Food Market in March 2015, where they sold their own food, [7] including a banana, pecan and white chocolate loaf and "Glamnilla" biscuits, which went viral on Twitter. [8] They made a few more appearances at food festivals around Ireland, including hosting the Teeling Whiskey Harvest Supper in November 2016.

Throughout November of that year, Kavanagh and Murray were contestants on the RTÉ2 cooking competition show The Taste of Success. They entered their pecan and white chocolate banana loaf as their dish. They made it to the semi-finals of the show before losing to Michele Kilkenny. [9]

In April 2016, as part of Autism Awareness Month, James filmed an interview with his nephew Seán on Snapchat about his personal experience and insight of having autism. The interview gained popularity appearing on the DailyEdge.ie and The Irish Examiner news websites, The Today Show in the United States and Channel 9 in Australia. Parents and schoolteachers called the interview inspirational and gave them an insight of their own children's difficulties with autism. [10]

2018: Television career and The Currabinny Cookbook

Kavanagh began his television career in 2018 for the first series of Ireland's Got Talent as the co-host of companion sister show Ireland's Got Mór Talent on TV3 (now Virgin Media Television) alongside Glenda Gilson, and is set to host the upcoming second series beginning in 2019. [11]

In December 2016, Penguin Books approached Currabinny to write a cookbook with their recipes. Kavanagh and Murray produced the pair's first book, The Currabinny Cookbook, and it was published by Penguin on 4 October 2018. On 29 November that year, the book was chosen as the winner of the EUROSPAR Cookbook of the Year at the An Post 2018 Irish Book Awards [12] [13]

As of 2018, Kavanagh has been largely inactive on Snapchat, instead favouring the platform Instagram for the stream of content he is principally known for, which too has a story feature in the vain of the app. He also posts occasionally to a personal YouTube channel that consists of travel vlogs and comedic content, often with more cinematic editing and production values; the earliest video on his channel dates back to 2013, one of many older uploads that have since been removed. [14]

Personal life

Kavanagh is pro-choice and was very prolific and active in his support of the movement to repeal the Eighth Amendment of Bunreacht na hÉireann ahead of the referendum held on it in May 2018. [15]

Kavanagh lives with his partner William Murray, a Ballymaloe trained chef and freelance artist. As an artist, William is known for his graphic depictions of male nudes.[ citation needed ]

The two met through the gay hookup app, Grindr. Reluctant to meet at first, as Murray's profile had been blank, Kavanagh has stated that it was Williams ‘superb grammar and punctuation’ that led him to eventually meet Murray. The two men met for a coffee in Powerscourt Centre on Dublin's Clarendon Street, and have since remained together as a couple. In May 2018, the two adopted a Welsh Sphynx cat whom they named after Diana, Princess of Wales. [16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Drogheda</span> Town in County Louth, Ireland, with suburbs in County Meath

Drogheda is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 56 km (35 mi) north of Dublin. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth but with the south fringes of the town in County Meath, 49 km (30 mi) north of Dublin. Drogheda had a population of approximately 41,000 inhabitants in 2016, making it the eleventh largest settlement by population in all of Ireland, and the largest town in the Republic of Ireland by both population and area. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Newgrange is located 8 km (5.0 mi) west of the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish whiskey</span> Popular spirit made in Ireland

Irish whiskey is whiskey made on the island of Ireland. The word 'whiskey' comes from the Irish uisce beatha, meaning water of life. Irish whiskey was once the most popular spirit in the world, though a long period of decline from the late 19th century onwards greatly damaged the industry, so much so that although Ireland boasted at least 28 distilleries in the 1890s, by 1966 this number had fallen to just two, and by 1972 the remaining distilleries, Bushmills Distillery and Old Midleton Distillery, were owned by just one company, Irish Distillers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patrick Kavanagh</span> Poet and writer from Monaghan, Ireland

Patrick Kavanagh was an Irish poet and novelist. His best-known works include the novel Tarry Flynn, and the poems "On Raglan Road" and "The Great Hunger". He is known for his accounts of Irish life through reference to the everyday and commonplace.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tullamore</span> Town in County Offaly, Ireland

Tullamore is the county town of County Offaly in Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the midlands region, with 15,598 inhabitants at the 2022 census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coddle</span> Stew with no fixed recipe, traditional in Dublin, built around boiled sausages

Coddle is an Irish dish which is often made to use up leftovers. It most commonly consists of layers of roughly sliced pork sausages and rashers with chunky potatoes, sliced onion, salt, pepper, and herbs. Traditionally, it can also include barley.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shanagarry</span> Village in County Cork, Ireland

Shanagarry is a village in east County Cork in Ireland. The village is located near Ireland's south coast, approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) east of Cork, on the R632 regional road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Darina Allen</span>

Darina Hilda Allen is an Irish chef, food writer, TV personality and founder of Ballymaloe Cookery School.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Liberties, Dublin</span> Historic area of central Dublin, Ireland

The Liberties is an area in central Dublin, Ireland, located in the southwest of the inner city. Formed from various areas of special manorial jurisdiction, separate from the main city government, it is one of Dublin's most historic working class neighbourhoods. The area was traditionally associated with the River Poddle, market traders and local family-owned businesses, as well as the Guinness brewery, whiskey distilling, and, historically, the textiles industry and tenement housing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paddy Whiskey</span> Brand of blended Irish whiskey

Paddy is a brand of blended Irish whiskey produced by Irish Distillers, at the Midleton distillery in County Cork, on behalf of Sazerac, a privately held American company. Irish Distillers owned the brand until its sale to Sazerac in 2016. As of 2016, Paddy is the fourth largest-selling Irish whiskey in the World.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powers (whiskey)</span> Brand of Irish Whiskey

Powers is a brand of Irish whiskey. Historically a single pot still whiskey, the flagship Powers Gold Label brand was the first Irish whiskey ever to be bottled. In recent years, several single pot still variants have been relaunched under the Powers label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rachel Allen</span> Irish celebrity chef

Rachel Allen is an Irish celebrity chef, known for her work on television and as a writer. She has often appeared on Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ).

Irish inventions and discoveries are objects, processes or techniques which owe their existence either partially or entirely to an Irish person. Often, things which are discovered for the first time, are also called "inventions", and in many cases, there is no clear line between the two. Below is a list of such inventions.

Denis Cotter is an Irish celebrity chef, author and proprietor of the acclaimed vegetarian Café Paradiso restaurant in Cork City. He has published three cookbooks – "Cafe Paradiso Cookbook", "Paradiso Seasons" and "wild garlic, gooseberries...and me", and his fourth book was due to be published in 2011 by HarperCollins. He has featured on the RTÉ One television series Guerrilla Gourmet.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leixlip</span> Town in County Kildare, Ireland

Leixlip is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between the ancient kingdoms of Leinster and Brega, as an outpost of The Pale, and on Kildare's border with County Dublin. Leixlip was also a civil parish in the ancient barony of Salt North.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Myrtle Allen</span> Irish chef (1924 - 2018)

Myrtle Allen was an Irish Michelin star-winning head chef and co-owner of the restaurant The Yeats Room at Ballymaloe House in Shanagarry, County Cork. Besides her career in cooking, she had also been a writer, hotelier and teacher.

Seán Kavanagh is an Irish footballer who plays for Shamrock Rovers as a defender.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Teeling Distillery</span> Whiskey distillery in Dublin, Ireland

Teeling Distillery is an Irish whiskey distillery established in Dublin in 2015 by the Teeling Whiskey Company. It is the first new whiskey distillery to have opened in Dublin, once a world whiskey distilling capital, in over 125 years. In fact, with the last of the original Dublin distilleries having closed in 1976, it is the first whiskey distillery to operate in Dublin, once home to at least 37 distilleries, in almost 40 years.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dundalk Distillery</span> Former Irish whisky distillery

The Dundalk Distillery was an Irish whiskey distillery that operated in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland between 1708 and 1926. It is thought to have been one of the old registered distilleries in Ireland. Two of the distillery buildings, the grain store and maltings, still exist and now house the County Museum and Dundalk Library.

Currabinny may refer to:

John James Teeling is an Irish academic and businessperson, notable for the wide range of businesses he has developed or overhauled over several decades. In particular, he broke the Irish Distillers monopoly which existed in the Irish whiskey industry, by launching the Cooley Distillery, and reopened the 1757-founded Kilbeggan Distillery after a 50-year hiatus. He is also notable for having brought ten companies to public listing on the London Stock Exchange, the most of any Irish person. Teeling lectured at University College Dublin's business school for over 20 years. He authored a number of educational texts, for primary school and college.

References

  1. ↑ "The rise of Snapchat - Independent.ie". Independent.ie. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "Founders". CURRABINNY. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  3. ↑ "James Kavanagh and boyfriend William Murray: 'I'm quite shy and would be mortified if I did half the stuff James does, but he's totally himself'". independent. 26 December 2016.
  4. ↑ "Snapchat star James Kavanagh stars in E4's Rude Tube". 19 January 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  5. ↑ "Speaker Profile: James Kavanagh - Independent.ie". Independent.ie. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  6. ↑ "Founders - William & James". currabinny.ie. Retrieved 25 September 2021. Currabinny is named after the sleepy, picturesque area of Cork William was raised in
  7. ↑ O'Connor, Amy. "This new Dublin food stall looks absolutely divine". The Daily Edge. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  8. ↑ Loftus, Valerie. "This Dublin food stall's biscuits are going viral worldwide thanks to this joke". The Daily Edge. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  9. ↑ "Currabinny x Teeling Whiskey Haverst Supper". Vimeo. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  10. ↑ "13-year-old Sean talks about what it's like to have autism". 18 April 2016. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  11. ↑ "James Kavanagh will be fronting one of Simon Cowell's shows on TV3 | Her.ie". Her.ie. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  12. ↑ "The Currabinny Cookbook by James Kavanagh, William Murray | Waterstones". www.waterstones.com. Retrieved 17 April 2017.
  13. ↑ "In The Picture: The 2018 Irish Book Awards winners". RTE.ie. 29 November 2018. Retrieved 3 December 2018.
  14. ↑ "YouTube". www.youtube.com. Retrieved 21 December 2018.
  15. ↑ "Irish stars lend their support to Repeal The 8th protest". 24 September 2016. Archived from the original on 11 July 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
  16. ↑ "It's been a week and we're still not over James Kavanagh's new cat". 30 May 2018. Archived from the original on 11 July 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.