Kane Parsons, known online as Kane Pixels, was born on June 18, 2005, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and grew up in Petaluma, California.
He is an American YouTuber, filmmaker, visual effects artist, and composer who became one of the most talked-about names in Hollywood after his A24 feature film Backrooms shattered box office records in May 2026.
At just 20 years old, he became the youngest director in cinema history to open a film at number one at the domestic box office.
Who is Kane Parsons?
Kane Parsons is the creator behind the Kane Pixels YouTube channel, where he built a massive following through cinematic short films and ambitious visual effects work.
He is best known for transforming the Backrooms internet legend into a gripping found-footage web series, and then into a blockbuster A24 feature film.
His story is one of the most remarkable in modern entertainment. Starting as a self-taught teenager in Northern California, Parsons taught himself visual effects software, directed short films in his spare time, and uploaded content to YouTube years before anyone took notice. Everything changed in January 2022 when a single video went viral overnight.
Also an accomplished composer and musician, Parsons releases music on a second YouTube channel called Not Kane Pixels. His musical work spans film scores, electronic, ambient, and experimental styles.
By 2026, Parsons had gone from a relatively unknown teenage creator to the director of A24’s highest-grossing film in the studio’s history.
Early Life of Kane Parsons
Kane Parsons was born on June 18, 2005, and grew up in Petaluma, California. His father, Michael Parsons, is a visual effects artist, and his mother works as a therapist.
His parents divorced when he was seven years old. He has a younger brother who is known to be involved in athletics.
Growing up around his father’s visual effects work gave Parsons an early exposure to the craft. As a child, he began teaching himself the basics of video production.
His passion for visual effects reportedly started with the video game LittleBigPlanet, where he experimented with environments and lighting inside the game’s engine.
For high school, Parsons attended the Marin School of the Arts at Novato High School, a program specifically designed for students with a focus in the arts.
He studied film there, which gave him access to a more structured creative environment while he continued developing his skills independently.
Kane Parsons Age
Kane Parsons is 21 years old as of 2026, born on June 18, 2005. His birthday falls in June, meaning he had already turned 21 by the time of this writing in 2026.
Kane Parsons Ethnicity and Nationality
Kane Parsons is American. His father is of British origin, and some sources describe him as British-American. He was born in the United States and has spent his life in California. His religious belief is not revealed.
Kane Parsons Height and Weight
Kane Parsons stands approximately 5 feet 11 inches tall, which is around 1.80 meters. His weight has not been publicly reported from a verified source and is therefore not listed here.
Kane Parsons Education
Parsons attended the Marin School of the Arts film program at Novato High School in Northern California. The school confirmed his attendance when his feature film Backrooms premiered in May 2026.
Beyond high school, Parsons reportedly chose to pursue his A24 deal rather than apply to college, according to an interview with IndieWire.
He is largely self-taught in the technical skills that define his work, including Blender for 3D animation, visual effects compositing, and film score composition. His education, in many ways, happened in public through years of experimentation on YouTube.
Kane Parsons Career
Kane Parsons registered his YouTube channel on April 13, 2015, when he was only nine years old. For years, the channel produced little of note, with early videos including Minecraft Let’s Plays and meme content.
He set most of these early videos to private. His oldest publicly visible video dates to October 22, 2017.
Early YouTube Work and Attack on Titan
Around 2020, Parsons began exploring more ambitious creative work. At age 14, he connected with comedian and filmmaker Nathan Barnatt after sending him a video based on the web series Dad Feels.
Barnatt responded positively and offered creative input. The collaboration resulted in a short film called “The Facility,” released on June 1, 2020.
From late 2020 into early 2021, Parsons released a series of videos called Project 209, a spinoff of Dad Feels that featured him as a character. Shortly after, in February 2021, he began uploading animated short films based on the anime series Attack on Titan.
These shorts reimagined the anime’s events as if they were historical war footage, rendered with impressive visual fidelity. The series attracted immediate attention and pushed his subscriber count past 100,000 by March 2021.
The Backrooms Web Series
In January 2022, Parsons uploaded a short film called The Backrooms (Found Footage) to his YouTube channel. The video was based on an internet creepypasta first shared in 2019 that described a strange alternate dimension of empty, fluorescent-lit office rooms.
The video went viral almost instantly. Within a month, Parsons was being contacted by film studios interested in a feature adaptation. A scout at 21 Laps Entertainment named Lucas Ford flagged the channel to the production company, and Parsons’ parents joined him for early Zoom meetings with industry executives.
He expanded the original video into a full web series spanning more than twenty episodes, each generating millions of views. The series introduced a fictional organization called the Async Research Institute, which Parsons had originally conceived for a different, unrelated project. He reportedly built a personal reference document of over seventy pages to keep the fictional world consistent.
In February 2023, Deadline Hollywood reported that a feature film adaptation was in development at A24 alongside James Wan’s Atomic Monster, Chernin Entertainment, and Shawn Levy’s 21 Laps Entertainment.
Parsons was set to direct. The Deadline article jokingly noted that filming would not begin until his summer vacation, since he was still a high school senior at the time.
Side Projects and The Oldest View
Between the announcement of the Backrooms film and the start of production, Parsons continued creating content for YouTube.
On March 18, 2023, he launched a new series called The Oldest View, a mystery thriller web series centered on a YouTube vlogger who discovers a staircase leading into an underground mall.
The series was praised by publications including Collider and Slash Film, with the latter calling it one of the scariest releases of 2023.
In early 2025, Parsons launched another liminal horror series called People Still Live Here. Production on the Backrooms feature film began in July 2025 and wrapped on August 14, 2025.
Backrooms (2026): The A24 Film
Backrooms was released in theaters in the United States on May 29, 2026. The film starred Chiwetel Ejiofor, Renate Reinsve, Mark Duplass, Finn Bennett, and Lukita Maxwell.
The screenplay was written by Will Soodik, based on Parsons’ original web series. Parsons directed and co-composed the score. The production budget was approximately $10 million.
The film was produced by A24, Chernin Entertainment, 21 Laps Entertainment, Atomic Monster, and Phobos. It received strong reviews from Variety, the Los Angeles Times, and The Hollywood Reporter, among others.
On its opening weekend, Backrooms earned $81.4 million domestically and $118 million worldwide. Those numbers shattered A24’s previous opening-weekend record, which had been held by Alex Garland’s Civil War at $25.5 million in 2024.
The film also set the record for the biggest original horror movie opening in history. Within six days of release, Backrooms crossed $100 million at the domestic box office, making it the first film in A24’s history to achieve that milestone.
Also at 20 years old upon release, Parsons became the youngest director in cinema history to top the domestic box office, surpassing Josh Trank, who was 27 when Chronicle debuted at number one in 2012. He also became the youngest director in A24’s history.
As of mid-2026, Backrooms had grossed over $226 million worldwide, making it A24’s highest-grossing film ever globally.
What Comes Next
In May 2026, Parsons confirmed that the Backrooms YouTube web series would continue. In early June 2026, Deadline reported that he was searching for a screenwriter to develop a sequel film, though Parsons publicly denied this.
He expressed interest in a potential Backrooms television series. In an interview with The Australian, he also spoke out against the use of generative AI in filmmaking, stating he would remove it from creative work entirely if given the choice.
Kane Parsons Filmography
| Year | Title | Role | Studio/Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | The Facility | Director | YouTube |
| 2020-2021 | Project 209 | Director / Actor | YouTube |
| 2021 | Attack on Titan Animated Shorts | Director | YouTube |
| 2022-2023 | Backrooms (Web Series) | Creator / Director | YouTube |
| 2023-present | The Oldest View | Creator / Director | YouTube |
| 2025-present | People Still Live Here | Creator / Director | YouTube |
| 2026 | Backrooms | Director / Composer | A24 |
Kane Parsons Channel Stats and Achievements
Parsons’ main YouTube channel, Kane Pixels, had approximately 3.3 million subscribers and over 360 million total video views as of mid-2026. His subscriber growth rate surged significantly following the release of the Backrooms film in May 2026.
His second channel, Not Kane Pixels, focuses on his original music. Both channels continue to be active as of 2026.
Kane Parsons Awards and Recognition
Kane Parsons has not yet received major formal award nominations as of August 2026, though the awards season for films released in 2026 had not yet concluded. His achievements in the industry have already been recognized through record-breaking milestones.
- Youngest director in cinema history to open a film at number one at the North American box office (surpassing Josh Trank’s record from 2012)
- Youngest director in A24’s history
- Director of A24’s highest-grossing film ever worldwide, as of mid-2026
- Praised in publications including Variety, The Guardian, Vanity Fair, the Los Angeles Times, and Wired
Kane Parsons Net Worth
Kane Parsons’ exact net worth is around $5 million as of 2026.
YouTube Ad Revenue
His Kane Pixels channel generated between approximately $30,000 and $41,500 per month in ad revenue as of May 2026.
That projects to a yearly YouTube ad revenue estimate of roughly $365,000 to $500,000, though figures vary across analytics platforms.
His earnings increased significantly in the months following the Backrooms film release as his channel subscriber count and view totals climbed.
Film Direction and Production
Parsons directed Backrooms for A24 on a reported production budget of approximately $10 million.
While his specific directorial fee has not been disclosed, studio feature film directors typically negotiate a percentage of the budget or a flat fee in the range of several hundred thousand dollars for first-time features.
Additionally, Parsons is credited as a co-composer on the film’s score, which would carry separate compensation.
Music and Other Platforms
Parsons releases original music through his Not Kane Pixels YouTube channel and on streaming platforms. His earnings from music streaming have not been reported by any verified source.
Overall, given his YouTube income trajectory, his film directorial debut, and his rising profile as A24’s youngest director, Kane Parsons’ financial standing has grown substantially since 2022.
Kane Parsons Social Media
Kane Parsons maintains a presence across several platforms under the Kane Pixels name.
- YouTube (main): over 3.3 million subscribers as of mid-2026
- YouTube (music): secondary channel for original music releases
- He is also active on Discord, where he occasionally shares excerpts from his Backrooms creative documents and communicates directly with fans
His official Ko-fi page is also linked publicly for those who wish to support his independent creative work.
The Bottom Line
Kane Parsons built something that very rarely happens: a career that moved from a bedroom in Petaluma, California, to the top of the global box office in just a few years.
He did it not by waiting for permission from Hollywood, but by putting his work on YouTube, refining his craft video by video, and eventually creating something that the entire internet could not stop watching.
At 21, he is already the youngest director to top the domestic box office in cinema history. The more interesting question is not what he has already done, but what he builds next.