Gavin David Free (also called Gavino, or Gav; born May 23, 1988) is an English actor, director, cinematographer, and internet personality. Free is best known for his extensive work and employment at Rooster Teeth—where he formerly served as creative director— and was (and still is ) being featuring in many of their projects such as co-hosting in the the Streamy Award winning science and technology entertainment YouTube based web series The Slow Mo Guys and the Achievement Hunter gaming division. He directed season 7 of Red vs. Blue, as well as its miniseries Relocated.
Free is also known as the co-creator, contributor and co-host of two Rooster Teeth-owned YouTube-based web series channels: 1) The Slow Mo Guys, alongside his friend and co-worker Daniel Gruchy, which features live action slow-motion footage of various stunts and experiments, garnering as of over 1.2 billion views as of November 2017 since it's November 2010 debut. And 2) Achievement Hunter, alongside friends and co-workers Geoff Ramsey, Jack Pattillo, Ryan Haywood, Michael Jones, Jeremy Dooley and (formerly) Ray Narvaez, Jr., which features many XBox and PC gameplays of various generes and has almost 1.5 million subscribers and over 475 million views as of November 2017.
Gavin initially worked as a Fruit and Vegetable worker at Waitrose branch 206 from July 2004 until February 2007 and then created The Slow Mo Guys YouTube channel on October 10, 2010, also based in Thame. He then served as a contract host from 2008 till 2011 and Ramsey and Pattillo brought Free in due to his experience in halo video games, with Gavin playing against Geoff and Jack (and later against Ryan, Michael, and Ray) in Halo during Achievement HORSE episodes. He joined the AH team full time on February 14, 2012, the same day he also met Michael and started working full-time at Rooster Teeth.[1]
His acting roles include Woody in Lazer Team and its sequel, Vav in the animated comedy series X-Ray and Vav, and Scarlet David in RWBY. He is also known for his slow motion cinematography work for films,[2] including Hot Fuzz (2007), Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011), Snow White and the Huntsman (2012), and Dredd (2012).[3] Free has also worked on slow-motion footage for the BBC show Top Gear. At the 2016 Streamy Awards, Free won for Cinematography. He resides in his mansion in Austin, Texas with his girlfriend Meg Turney. He previously lived with Geoff Ramsey, Griffon Ramsey, and their daughter Millie for two years.
In April 2011, the Slow Mo Guys channel was voted the winner of YouTube's On The Rise program. In September 2012, their episode involving crushing watermelons was featured on The Tonight Show. Free has appeared alongside Gruchy in the annual YouTube Rewind series since 2013. Free was nominated for a Webby Award in the Best Web Personality/Host (Online Film & Video) category for his work on The Slow Mo Guys on April 5, 2016.
Young Gavin in his room
Gavin's primary gamertag is GavinoFree, as seen in the Let's Plays. He has a secondary gamer tag, GavInDaUSA—this could be because Gavin has previously referenced being banned from Xbox Live, and would thus need a backup. In the Slow Mo Guys, he is the host announcing and presenting the challenge with Dan as the "lab rat", and on occasion, Gavin partakes in the task as well. In Achievement Hunter, although he can think of good plans, he is often shown to be dying or being easily surpassed by another Hunter, usually because of his trolling and screwing around. He also has a habit of yelling out random things or insults when he dies or fails, or is just frustrated. The best video game he is ever good in is the Halo video game franchise (mostly Halo: Combat Evolved and Halo 2).
Family Life
- A British-born national (of Italian and Welsh heritage), Gavin David Free was born in Hillingdon, London, England and raised in the town of Thame in Oxfordshire, England. The English filmmaker and Internet personality lived in the market town from May 1992 until February 2012 along with his co-host Daniel Gruchy before moving to Austin, Texas on February 13 and started working full time the next day (Valentines Day 2012).
- His ethnicity is Welsh from his father's side and Italian from his mother's side.
- His father, David W. Free, is English (Welsh) while his mother, Anna F. Imperato is Italian.
- Gavin's paternal (Welsh) grandparents are Alfred W. Free and Elizabeth E. Owen.
- Gavin's maternal grandparents are Giulio R. A. Imperato and Angelina Di Palma (the daughter of Michele Di Palma and Maddalena Salerno or Amalfitana). Giulio and Angelina were Italian immigrants from Ravello, Italy.
- Gavin appeared in a Skype advert around 8 years ago with his grandfather, Giulio Free. Showing how Gavin and his grandfather communicate when they live far away from each other. In the video he is seen in a couple of photos his grandfather has of him as a young school student and also walking in the street and at his computer. The video can be found here.
- As posted on his social media a few times, Gavin has a brother, very similar in age and physical appearence. While Gavin codenames him "George", the real first name of Gavin's brother (Mr. Free) is still unknown, though many speculate and high imply that Johnny Free is his real name.
- Gavin also has a relative named Olivia "Livvy" Free.
- Gavin is dating long-time cosplayer and fellow Rooster Teeth employee (until late June of 2016) Meg Turney, former host on SourceFed and Rooster Teeth's The Know. They reside in their mansion in Austin, Texas. Gavin explains his and Meg's love story during the second episode of Relationship Goals, and stating that he does not want to marry her due to his nationality becoming American.
- Although Gavin prefers to keep his personal life a secret to prevent invasions of privacy, he occasionally mentions bits of it during Rooster Teeth content.
- Gavin's family originates from England (persumably Wales) and Ravello, Italy as mentioned by himself in an episode of RT Podcast, Go #41, and by his grandfather in the Skype advertisement mentioned above. He states that he is half Italian (from his mother's side) in Let's Play - Jeopardy! Part 2.
- In the photo above showing a younger tween Gavin (with longer hair), there are posters of half naked women and topless women kissing. This was because he wanted to make sure that his parents knew he was straight and wasn't gay. He stated this information in an episode of the RT Podcast.
- His favorite video game is Halo: Combat Evolved.
- On January 26th, 2018, Gavin and Meg's house was broken into by a deranged armed fan (who drove 11 hours from New Mexico) with a handgun. The suspect had an infatuation with Meg and a dislike of Gavin. The couple hid in the closet, called 911 and were ultimately unharmed after the invasion. The intruder was intercepted by police after attempting to leave and was shot and killed after firing his weapon.[2][3] Following news reports regarding the incident around two weeks later, Burnie and Gavin acknowledged it on RT Podcast 479, assuring fans that Gavin and Meg were fine and thanked the Austin police for responding quickly.
- Gavin is an adarent supporter of Tottenham Hotspur F.C.
- He often yells 'Yid Army' during Let's Plays, referencing Tottenham's fanbase.