Thomas Ridgewell

Thomas James Ridgewell, known professionally online as TomSka, is an English internet personality, filmmaker, writer, producer, performer, and video essayist. He is best recognized for creating, writing, directing, and starring in live-action comedy sketches, video essays, and animated digital series including asdfmovie, Crash Zoom, and Eddsworld. On Eddsworld, he voiced the character based on himself and acted as the showrunner from 2012 until 2016. His personal YouTube channel has achieved a viewership of over 2.1 billion plays and attracted more than 7.46 million subscribers.

Ridgewell was born on 27 June 1990 in Suffolk, England, to Duncan and Leslie Ridgewell. He lost his twin sister, Amelia, prior to birth after his mother was hurt in an automobile crash. He was raised within the Jehovah's Witness faith, spending his early years in Essex until age four before moving to Cambridge. During his youth, he began capturing short films with his parents' video camera. After attending Long Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, he completed his higher education at the University of Lincoln, studying Media Production. While enrolled there, he created unofficial university promotional videos that achieved millions of views and gained BBC coverage.

Early in YouTube's history, Ridgewell launched a web portal named CakeBomb to distribute his creations, which included asdfmovie alongside works by his late friend Edd Gould. Establishing a career as a professional digital creator, he earns income through platform video revenue. In January 2012, he founded the London media production company TurboPunch Limited, operating it alongside writer Eddie Bowley. Following Gould's death from leukaemia in 2012, Ridgewell assumed control of Eddsworld as showrunner and producer before stepping down in 2016 to pass leadership to animator Matt Hargreaves.

His prominent animated creation, asdfmovie, features minimalist figures in surreal and darkly comedic situations across seventeen main YouTube installments, behind-the-scenes compilations, and spin-off clips. The brand expanded into a 2015 published work, Art is Dead: the asdf book, illustrated by Matt Ley, and the popular 2018 music collaboration "The Muffin Song" with Schmoyoho. In partnership with Big Potato Games, he created the card game Muffin Time: The Random Card Game, raising over one million pounds through Kickstarter, alongside a second successful Kickstarter campaign for the game Don't Press That Mine Turtle.

Ridgewell has also engaged in traditional media and secondary digital ventures. In 2013, he featured on the cover of Wired UK and served as a guest host for YouTube's Comedy Week and Geek Week events. French television program Le Grand Journal adapted his 2012 sketch "Meanwhile" into a recurring segment, providing credit and financial payment. He recorded sketch material with the BBC in 2016 for potential broadcast on BBC Three, and co-wrote the 2018 book Sam Kills Christmas with Eddie Bowley and illustrator Dorina Herdewijn. Between 2016 and 2018, he published weekly vlogs titled Last Week on his secondary channel, formerly named DarkSquidge and later renamed TomSka & Friends.

Through his content, Ridgewell has discussed social commentary, mental health, and personal topics. Following Gould's death, he was diagnosed with severe depression in 2013, and later received an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis in 2021. Although he no longer practices as a Jehovah's Witness, he has stated a continuing belief in a higher power. Outside of his media career, he voiced political stances during the 2017 election cycle, and in December 2023, his long-term partner Charlie Belle announced their engagement following a Christmas proposal.