:Stanzi Potenza

{{Infobox actor

| name = Stanzi Potenza

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1995|10|17}}

| occupation = {{Hlist|TikToker|actress|comedian|podcaster|YouTuber}}

| education = University of Massachusetts Boston (BA)

| years_active = 2019–present

| style = {{Hlist|Dark comedy|sketch comedy|observational comedy|cringe comedy}}

| website = {{URL|stanzipotenza.com}}

| module = {{Infobox TikTok personality|embed=yes

|page=stanzipotenza

|page_display_name=Stanzi

|followers=4.1 million

|likes=230.7 million

}}

| module2 = {{Infobox YouTube personality|embed=yes

| channel_display_name = Stanzi

| channel_handle = @Stanzipotenza

| subscribers = 2.45 million

| views = 1.31 billion

| stats_update = July 17, 2024

}}

Stanzi Julianna Potenza (born October 17, 1995){{Cite tweet|number=1582042143853379591|user=stanzipotenza|title=happy 27th birthday to me 🥳|first=Stanzi|last=Potenza|date=Oct 17, 2022|access-date=Apr 11, 2023}} is an American TikToker, actress, comedian, podcaster and YouTuber based in Boston.{{Cite web |last=Onwuamaegbu |first=Natachi |date=Jan 31, 2021 |title=How TikTok made one Bostonian a 'not-so starving artist' |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/2021/01/31/lifestyle/how-tiktok-made-one-bostonian-not-so-starving-artist/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=The Boston Globe |language=en-US}} She{{Efn|Potenza uses both she/her and they/them as personal pronouns. This article uses she/her pronouns for simplicity and understanding.}} is known for her comedy sketch series, including Civil War Love Saga and Heaven & Hell, produced for TikTok and YouTube, as well as co-hosting the podcast What Fresh Hell is This?.

Early life

Potenza grew up in Massachusetts, moving around before settling in the town of Braintree, south of Boston.{{Cite web |last=Hale |first=James |date=2022-02-02 |title=Creators On The Rise: For Stanzi Potenza, YouTube Is The "Final Boss" Of Content Creation. Good Thing They're Getting 100 Million Views A Month. |url=https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/02/02/creators-on-the-rise-stanzi-potenza/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=Tubefilter |language=en-US}} She is of Italian descent.{{Cite tweet|number=1223118373090758656|user=stanzipotenza|title=my Italian ass is quaking|first=Stanzi|last=Potenza|date=Jan 31, 2020|access-date=Apr 11, 2023}} Her parents divorced when she was five, after which her mother decided to pursue acting. At one audition, Potenza's mother brought her and two of her sisters to the theater due to a babysitter falling through; the theater subsequently became their "second home", and Potenza and her sisters became involved in acting from a young age. Her early acting roles included Maureen in a 2014 production of Rent for the Company Theatre in Norwell,{{Cite web |last=Conti |first=Katheleen |date=Feb 6, 2014 |title=Suburban theatergoers get edgier fare |url=https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/regionals/south/2014/02/06/suburban-theatergoers-get-edgier-fare/6mjkGKs4cmiMkULXtOsUrN/story.html |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=The Boston Globe |language=en-US}} a performance in Bat Boy: The Musical,{{Cite web |last=Doncaster |first=Bill |date=May 23, 2018 |title=Performing Arts Recognizes Graduating Students for Departmental Distinction |url=https://www.umb.edu/news/detail/performing_arts_recognizes_graduating_students_for_departmental_distinction |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=UMass Boston |language=en |archive-date=April 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411182714/https://www.umb.edu/news/detail/performing_arts_recognizes_graduating_students_for_departmental_distinction |url-status=dead }} and appearing as an uncredited extra in the 2016 film The Finest Hours.

Potenza attended the University of Massachusetts Boston and studied theatre.{{Cite web |last=Doncaster |first=Bill |date=Feb 7, 2017 |title=UMass Boston's Stanzi Potenza wins Kennedy Center Actor Award |url=https://www.umb.edu/news/detail/umass_bostons_stanzi_potenza_wins_kennedy_center_actor_award |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=UMass Boston |language=en |archive-date=April 11, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230411060437/https://www.umb.edu/news/detail/umass_bostons_stanzi_potenza_wins_kennedy_center_actor_award |url-status=dead }} While there, she was awarded the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship at the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival in 2017. She graduated in 2018, receiving the school's John J. Conlon Prize in Theatre Arts and singing the National Anthem at the graduate commencement ceremony.

Career

= TikTok =

Potenza joined TikTok in 2019. She had completed a six-week acting course at William Esper Studio in New York City in late 2019, and had planned to move back to Massachusetts to pursue acting, but was unable to do so due to the theater industry shutting down during the COVID-19 pandemic. Stuck at home, she began posting to TikTok as a creative outlet, as well as seeing it as a "testing ground" for the "final boss" of YouTube. Her first video went viral in January 2020, acquiring over one million views. In December, one of her videos, a 1980s-style infomercial encouraging young people to vote in the 2020–21 Georgia Senate election, was shared by candidate Jon Ossoff on his own TikTok account.{{Cite web |last=Perrett |first=Connor |date=Dec 8, 2020 |title=Jon Ossoff is betting that TikTok can boost young voters in Georgia's heated runoff race — and his chances don't look bad |url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ossoff-latest-politician-to-tap-into-tiktok-young-voters-georgia-2020-12 |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=Business Insider |language=en-US}} By January 2021, she had acquired 565,000 followers, becoming a full-time content creator and joining the TikTok Creator Fund. In November 2022, she had five videos hit over a million views each.

Potenza's TikTok content consists primarily of various comedy sketch series, describing herself as a "sketch comedian from Hell". The first of these was Civil War Love Saga, depicting a lesbian love affair in the 1800s. Following this was Heaven and Hell, Potenza's most popular series, where she portrays God, Satan, and their respective assistants navigating problems in the afterlife, satirically addressing political figures, K-pop fandom, and other topics.{{Cite news |last=Barratt |first=Aileen |date=2022-10-26 |title=The Tinder Translator: The 10 funniest things I have ever seen (on the internet) |url=https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2022/oct/27/the-tinder-translator-the-10-funniest-things-i-have-ever-seen-on-the-internet |access-date=2023-03-19 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}} Other skits have depicted a PSA on "mansplaining", the slam poetry-inspired "Tinder Bros", "Rich Moms Brunch", and a 911 operator mocking a subpar criminal. Sketches can take "anywhere between a few hours to a week" to create. The New York Times has placed Potenza within "CringeTok", a group of TikTok creators utilizing cringe comedy in their content.

Potenza has periodically made sponsored videos since 2020, a significant part of her income. In March 2023, she partnered with Lionsgate to promote the film John Wick: Chapter 4, creating a sketch in which she portrayed the title character's therapist.

In November 2022, talk show host Phil McGraw played one of Potenza's TikToks in a three-part special of his Dr. Phil show. The video features Potenza frantically discussing Netflix's Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story in a parody of obsessive true crime fans, and McGraw, reportedly mistaking it as sincere, used the sketch as an example of true crime fandom going too far.{{Cite news |last=Ryan |first=Kate |date=2023-06-03 |title=Welcome to CringeTok, Where Being Insufferable Can Be Lucrative |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/03/business/tiktok-cringe-creators-money.html |access-date=2023-06-19 |issn=0362-4331}}

= YouTube and other content =

In February 2021, at the urging of fellow creator Hassan Khadair, Potenza began crossposting her TikTok videos to YouTube via the platform's YouTube Shorts service. After initially seeing minimal traffic on YouTube, she saw a sudden burst of views in December 2021, expanding from 5,000 subscribers to 500,000 in the span of two months. As of 10th July 2024, she has over 2.45 million subscribers on YouTube.{{Cite web |date= |title=Stanzi's YouTube Stats (Summary Profile) |url=https://socialblade.com/youtube/c/stanzipotenza |access-date=10 July 2024 |website=Social Blade}}

Potenza has also dabbled in music, releasing covers of Radiohead's "Creep" and Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" as singles in 2022.{{Cite web |title=Stanzi |url=https://open.spotify.com/artist/3lAWKZNvGJYgy4Lp3fvyEB |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Spotify |language=en}}

== ''What Fresh Hell is This?'' ==

Since January 2022, Potenza has seen success with the podcast What Fresh Hell is This?, affiliated with the Pod People network, where she presents original sketches and humorous observations.{{Cite web |date=Feb 22, 2022 |title=TikTok star shares comedic sketches and fever dreams on 'What Fresh Hell Is This? With Stanzi Potenza' |url=https://podsauce.com/articles/what-fresh-hell-is-this-with-stanzi-potenza-shares-tiktokers-sketches/ |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Podsauce |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Kaufer |first=Kurt |date=2022-12-08 |title=TikTok and podcasts join YouTube as leading creator platforms |url=https://adage.com/article/media/tiktok-and-podcasts-join-youtube-leading-creator-platforms/2456176 |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=Ad Age |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=What Fresh Hell Is This? With Stanzi Potenza on Apple Podcasts |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/what-fresh-hell-is-this-with-stanzi-potenza/id1604459189 |access-date=2023-04-11 |website=Apple Podcasts |language=en-US}}

Personal life

Potenza is bisexual, identifies as non-binary,{{Cite tweet|number=1532018246462976000|user=stanzipotenza|title=Happy pride month! I put the "bi" in bisexual AND non-binary.....|first=Stanzi|last=Potenza|date=June 1, 2022|access-date=Apr 11, 2023}} and uses both she/her and they/them pronouns.{{Cite tweet|number=1623493718861926400|user=stanzipotenza|title=She/her or they/them I honestly don't care that much ty for asking bb 💖|first=Stanzi|last=Potenza|date=Feb 8, 2023|access-date=Apr 11, 2023}} She has expressed her hope that fans of her content "feel like it's okay to be unapologetically yourself. Sometimes people comment on my videos and say, 'I wish I could say this,' or, 'This is what I wish I could be.' Be that person! Live your life for yourself. I wouldn't be where I am now if I was thinking about what everyone else thought of me."

Potenza has ADHD, having been diagnosed in August 2022.{{Cite tweet|number=1563359736342650881|user=stanzipotenza|title=I forgot to mention I got diagnosed with ADHD this morning, which is, entirely on brand for the disorder.|first=Stanzi|last=Potenza|date=Aug 26, 2022|access-date=Apr 11, 2023}} She later discussed the diagnosis on an episode of her podcast.{{Cite web |date=Dec 15, 2022 |title=adhd meds, benadryl, and sleep depravation...oh my |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/adhd-meds-benadryl-and-sleep-depravation-oh-my/id1604459189?i=1000590270136 |access-date=2023-04-11 |website= |series=What Fresh Hell Is This? With Stanzi Potenza |language=en-US |type=podcast |via=Apple Podcasts}} Additionally, Potenza suffers from right temporal lobe epilepsy and experiences tonic–clonic seizures.{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnDlqvB97GU&ab_channel=Stanzi |title=Living with Epilepsy |date=May 3, 2022 |last=Potenza |first=Stanzi |access-date=Apr 11, 2023 |via=YouTube}} She also suffers from insomnia.

She has been "slightly obsessed" with sharks since childhood and was once featured by the Discovery Channel's Shark Week as a "Shark Week super fan."