Lilly Singh was born on September 26, 1988, in Scarborough, Ontario, Canada, the second daughter of Punjabi Sikh immigrant parents, Malwinder and Sukhwinder Singh, who ran a family business selling cell phone accessories. She grew up in the Toronto area, attended Francis Libermann Catholic High School, and went on to study psychology at York University, graduating in 2010, according to her Wikipedia biography. Singh has spoken candidly about struggling with depression during her university years, a period that pushed her toward an outlet that would eventually become her career rather than the counseling path her psychology degree pointed her toward.

Singh launched her YouTube channel under the name “IISuperwomanII” in October 2010 while still finishing her degree, initially posting videos as a way to cope with depression rather than as a career move, a backstory she detailed in a HuffPost profile. Early content leaned on comedic sketches, character-based skits imitating her own parents, and reaction-style videos, and the channel crossed 100,000 subscribers by 2012. By 2014 she had picked up Shorty and Streamy Award nominations, early signals that the channel was outgrowing its hobbyist roots and turning into a genuine business.

Singh’s breakthrough came as her YouTube audience scaled into the tens of millions, driven by recurring characters, collaborations with other top creators, and a 2015 world tour tied to her “Superwoman” brand. Forbes ranked her third on its list of the world’s highest-paid YouTube stars in 2016, reporting earnings of about $7.5 million for the year, a ranking documented on Forbes’ 2016 highest-paid YouTubers list. That same period saw the release of her feature-length documentary “A Trip to Unicorn Island” (2016), which chronicled her tour and cemented her status as one of the platform’s most bankable stars heading into a wave of mainstream crossover deals.

Singh’s most significant professional milestone came in September 2019, when she debuted “A Little Late with Lilly Singh” on NBC, becoming the first person of South Asian descent and the first openly bisexual woman to host a major U.S. late-night network show, a distinction reported by NBC News. She continued to place on Forbes’ highest-paid YouTuber rankings through the back half of the decade, appearing at number 10 on the 2017 Forbes list with roughly $10.5 million in reported annual earnings, giving her multiple appearances on the ranking across different years.

“A Little Late with Lilly Singh” ran for two seasons before NBC ended the show in May 2021, with Singh transitioning into a first-look producing deal with NBCUniversal’s Universal Television Alternative Studio, according to Variety’s coverage of the show’s conclusion. Beyond late night, Singh built a broader public profile through voice acting in animated films, a recurring judging role on “Canada’s Got Talent” from 2022 to 2024, and continued recognition as one of the most prominent Indo-Canadian entertainers to cross from digital media into mainstream television and film.

Singh has built a long list of brand partnerships tied to her YouTube and television reach, including a role as an Indian market ambassador for Procter & Gamble’s Pantene, promoting the brand’s Oil Replacement line alongside actress Priyanka Chopra, a campaign covered by Afaqs. She has also fronted campaigns for Coca-Cola, Calvin Klein, Skittles, and TD Bank over the course of her career, and was featured prominently in Google and YouTube’s own creator-focused advertising, appearing on billboards from Toronto to New York City to promote the platform’s original programming push.

In April 2018, Singh founded Unicorn Island Productions, a Los Angeles-based development and production company built to create film, television, and digital projects centered on underrepresented voices, hiring former Mashable Studios executive Polly Auritt to lead development, as reported by the Hollywood Reporter. In 2022, the company struck a first-look global scripted and unscripted deal with Blink49 Studios and Bell Media, according to Variety. In March 2025, Singh co-founded HYPHEN8 alongside the family office Skara Ventures, the first dedicated media network built to handle advertising sales and brand partnerships for South Asian YouTube creators, per Entrepreneur.

Singh owns a newly built hillside residence on Laurelwood Drive in Studio City, California, valued at roughly $5.4 million, according to Urban Splatter. The property spans about 6,361 square feet on a 0.52-acre lot, with five bedrooms, seven bathrooms, four fireplaces, a five-car garage, an in-home elevator, and a backyard that includes a pool, an outdoor kitchen, and a sports court. The same reporting describes a chef’s kitchen with walnut cabinetry, hardwood floors throughout, and a dedicated game room and office, reflecting the colorful, high-energy aesthetic Singh has cultivated in her public persona since the home was built in 2019.