Meet Pashyn Santos, Honolulu Comedian, Actor and Writer
Pashyn Santos has attracted followers well beyond Hawai‘i with her skits making fun of local life.
Photo: David Croxford
Pashyn Santos started out performing hilarious six-second skits about local life on the now-defunct Vine app. “Hanging out with aunties and uncles, relatable stuff,” she says.
After moving on to Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube, her sketches—like her famous “Pidgin Siri” series—caught on first with Hawai‘i folks, then went viral well beyond the Islands. Today, the Kahuku High graduate has 265,000 Instagram followers, 439,000 TikTok followers, 167,000 followers on Facebook and 22,000 YouTube subscribers, making her a bona fide social media star.
Last year, the 37-year-old comedian appeared as a contestant on the Netflix reality show Squid Games: The Challenge, which was shot in London. While it was stressful to be disconnected from her family—she had to be phone-free during the shoot—and exposed to London’s chilly temperatures, Santos describes the experience as “one of the coolest things.”
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She also was tapped for TV commercials for Zippy’s and First Insurance Co. of Hawai‘i. And she wrote and self-published two children’s books, My Mom and I in 2018, and Jr Boy in 2022, which tells the story of a boy trying to get out of school, only to learn there’s no school because it’s the start of makahiki. She’s now at work on a screenplay and will be appearing in a local feature film, to be shot this summer. She says she’s doing “a little bit of everything” and that she hopes to write more children’s books and appear “in some really fun, awesome, heartfelt comedy movies and possibly even TV shows.”
“I always dreamed of being an entertainer, but I never imagined it would lead me from posting on social media to appearing on TV and reaching a global audience.”
As a child, Santos spent much of her time traveling between islands, saying she “went to more high schools, or schools in general, than there are grade levels.” She eventually settled in Kahuku and worked as a dancer for both a Polynesian cruise ship and the Polynesian Cultural Center. But she always hoped to eventually pursue acting—and social media provided the perfect outlet to showcase her talents.
Vine’s format gave her what she called a “crash course” on how to quickly grab someone’s attention, then get instant feedback. One of her earliest “Pidgin Siri” videos shows her asking for directions to Ala Moana. “Shoots, Auntie take care of you,” Siri says. “Turn left on da next street right aftah da mango tree.” This video was an instant hit, receiving 100,000 views on Facebook 15 minutes after it was posted.
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Although Santos has moved beyond her Siri series, she’s still making fun of local life in short videos that people around the world can relate to, even if they’ve never been to Hawai‘i. “I want to put Hawai‘i on the map, although I think Hawai‘i is already on the map,” she says. “There are so many talented people here. And I hope that with everything I do, I’m elevating everyone else alongside pursuing my passions.”
