A South London boy who came to the UK as a refugee kicked football to the side and became one of the biggest names on our screens.
Born Andres Felipé Barrientos, 27-year-old Yung Filly has fast become one of the UK’s most popular YouTubers. Now he’s a musician, presenter, and all-round media personality, known for being a loud and vibrant character on-screen.
“When I first started doing videos, I was genuinely just in that mood, and then everyone liked it,” Filly explained. “So, it wasn’t hard to work out how I need to be on camera.
Filly moved to the UK from Colombia as a two-year old refugee with his mum and his sister. He said they moved around a lot but stayed in south-east London, living mainly in Deptford, New Cross and Ladywell. His aunt still owns a restaurant in Elephant and Castle, called Coco Loco.
Filly speaks highly of his childhood and although he said there were money struggles, he has good memories of it.
“Growing up in London was good for me personally – there’s a lot of danger and crime, but I stayed out of trouble. The worst thing I ever did was play a game of ‘knock down ginger’ on the estate. But other than that, I played football mostly.
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“At one point, I actually wanted to be a footballer.”
He explained that at the end of year 11, he moved back to Colombia for a short period and signed for a team in Barranquilla.
“I played there as a scholar for two years. But it got to the point where it was becoming my job and I had to sit there and ask myself, ‘Do I want to do this with my life?’ and the answer was no. So, I made the decision to stop.”
It was then that he began filming funny videos and uploading them to social media. Now, Filly has over a million subscribers and regularly features on some of the biggest channels on the platform. You only have to google his name to see his achievements, but something he said he’s most proud of has come as a result of his success.
“I took my mum off benefits four years ago,” he said. “But I’m no different to anyone else. So, if I can, so can you.
“I always say, excuses or results: you can’t have both, so pick one.”
His hard work is testament to how he’s got to where he is, but he said in the past it wouldn’t have been possible.
“Back in the day I wouldn’t have been working with certain shows and brands – it wouldn’t have been as easy for a black person.
“But now we’re everywhere – you can’t not notice us. From sports, acting, music – there’s a lot of black powerful people now and we’re being respected. And genuinely, some of us are just too big and too good not to see.”
His latest venture is a campaign for Peperami, which is all about pushing people out of their comfort zones.
This included taking friend and designer Danny D’Trois synchronised swimming: “the guy can’t swim, and we got him to stay up in the water – it was wicked.”
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To watch the campaign videos, click here.
Catch Yung Filly’s latest track ‘Day to Day’ featuring Chip, on all major streaming platforms.
