The character arc of Hank Green
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 5 May 1980 in Birmingham, Alabama, and raised in Orlando, Florida. Between then and now sit a website built at fourteen about the Mars missions, a degree in biochemistry, a master's in environmental studies, a blog begun as a class project that became a publication and then a company, a year in 2007 of not writing to his brother and making a video instead, educational channels watched by millions, a conference, two bestselling novels, treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma in 2023, a stand-up special about it, and an app at number one in 2025. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Hank Green?
They stopped writing to each other, and made a video a day instead.
He grew up in Orlando and built websites all the way through high school and college, for himself and for local clients. The first, in 1994, was about the Mars missions and did modestly well on the back of a landing. A later one, about how much he disliked a particular Florida motorway, got him on the local news. He took a degree in biochemistry in 2002 and a master's in environmental studies at Montana, where he started a blog about technology that helps the environment as a class project. It grew into a real publication, then into a production company he ran until 2023.
On 1 January 2007 he and his older brother John began Brotherhood 2.0: for one year they would send each other no text of any kind, and would instead talk in daily video blogs, made publicly. They kept it up every weekday for the whole year. In 2008 they met their audience for the first time, at three days' notice, and a hundred people came. Later that year they filled a Chicago library with four hundred, and toured seventeen cities.
What grew out of that is a working life: the educational channels Crash Course and SciShow, a conference about online video that became the biggest in the world, an annual charity event, a merchandise company, a crowdfunding platform later bought by Patreon, a games company, and a production company that made the first web series to win an Emmy, a retelling of Pride and Prejudice as video blogs. He has written music albums and hosts three podcasts, one with his brother and one with his wife.
His first novel was published in September 2018 and its sequel in July 2020. Both went straight onto the New York Times bestseller list. In 2023 he was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma, was treated for it, and stepped down as chief executive of his companies. While recovering he started doing stand-up about what was happening to him, and the special came out in June 2024 under a title that is his own joke about it. In July 2025 he launched an app that blocks your other apps while a timer runs, and it went to number one on the free charts.
The moments
Hank Green's timeline.
The 1990s
A website about Mars
Milestone, and it changed everything. Fourteen years old, building web pages nobody asked him for.
The 2000s
Biochemistry, then Montana
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A science degree, and a thesis about computers changing the world.
A class project called EcoGeek
Milestone, and it changed everything. Homework that turned into a magazine and then into a company.
Send a text, or film it
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: film it, every weekday, taken, or keep emailing. The channel is still running, and the educational channels that grew out of it teach millions.
No texting for a year
Milestone, and it changed everything. A whole year of talking to his brother only on camera, in public.
A hundred people turn up
Milestone, and it changed everything. Three days' notice, and a hundred strangers came to meet them.
The 2010s
Crash Course and SciShow
Milestone, and it changed everything. Free lessons in chemistry and history, for anybody with a connection.
A conference about video
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The biggest gathering in online video, started by two brothers.
The first web series Emmy
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Jane Austen, retold as vlogs, and the first Emmy any web series won.
A first novel
Milestone, and it changed everything. Two novels, both straight onto the bestseller list.
The 2020s
Hodgkin lymphoma
Setback, and it changed everything. A cancer diagnosis, and he handed over the companies.
He does stand-up about it
Milestone, and it changed everything. He took the worst year of his life on stage and made it funny.
An app at number one
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A small app about paying attention, top of the whole chart.
The uploads kept going through the chemotherapy and they are going still. What it has set moving is a free education: millions of people who learned chemistry, or history, or how their own body works, from two brothers who started out just trying to talk to each other.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His started with a website about Mars built by a fourteen year old in 1994. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Hank Green: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Hank Green's character arc?
What was Hank Green's Brotherhood 2.0?
What channels does Hank Green make?
Did Hank Green have cancer?
What novels has Hank Green written?
What did Hank Green co-found?
Where does this timeline of Hank Green's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Hank Green, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- Vlogbrothers and Brotherhood 2.0 records for 2007 and the 2008 tour.
- New York Times bestseller listings for his 2018 and 2020 novels.
- His political and campaigning work is deliberately left off this page.