Bryan Austin Hansen

Born to James and Debbie Hansen on June 7, 1990, in Salt Lake City, Utah, passed away on July 8, 2025, in Greenville, North Carolina. 

Bryan arrived in this world with his bounding, creative spirit. He possessed a great sense of humor and sharp wit as the first born of three children. He loved being a big brother to both of his sisters. 

Bryan’s hobbies included his love for longboarding with his dogs, playing video games, collecting vinyl records and guitars, and writing and making films with friends. One of his great passions was music. In elementary school Bryan played the fiddle and transitioned to drum and guitar — electric and acoustic. He amassed an impressive guitar collection that he loved to play and proudly displayed on his wall. He formed a band with friends in high school and then painstakingly mastered songs solo, using YouTube to learn note-by-note, including complicated finger styles. 

He loved Avenged Sevenfold — so much in fact that he shared it with his dad and converted his mom too — and saw them live multiple times, knowing nearly every song by heart, connecting with themes, lyrics, and musicianship. His vinyl collection grew as he delicately cared for records with special sleeves and a dust brush. Other favorites included Iron Maiden, Caravan Palace, Ice Nine Kills, and My Chemical Romance among other rock bands. 

Music was an extension of Bryan’s deepest passion, his love for storytelling, no matter what form or media. So naturally he enrolled at Salt Lake Community College, diving into the film program and then, as he always did, he helped build a group, a creative collective that still meets weekly in person and in digital spaces to share scripts, ideas, dreams, and to hatch plans, well more than a decade after its foundation — though now with an empty chair. Bryan was a visionary and loved screenwriting as part of his service to storytelling. Working on his own projects with friends he wrote, directed, produced, shot, and edited his own films while collaborating on scores of others, winning several awards in local festivals. He dreamed big, conjuring fully mapped out, complex film worlds with his signature style and a formidable edge. Bryan aspired to inspire, touch, and entertain not only loved ones, but strangers. The world is poorer without his expression of deep feelings and creativity. 

Bryan launched his professional career as a video editor, cranking out thousands of news stories at KUTV and then was excited to join Mr. Beast’s YouTube channels in North Carolina as an editor, but always in service to his larger goals and his own untold stories.

Bryan’s kind heart enabled him to be very good at building friendships, making a friend-family everywhere he went. Those friendships ran deep and were a priority to him. He was also very close to several cousins and considered them among his life-long friends. His name will be featured in the credits of the many lives of those who loved him. Bryan is survived by his parents, James and Debbie Hansen, his sisters, Hailey and Megan Hansen, and his grandmother Vickey Monson. He was preceded in death by grandfather Joseph Monson and grandparents Jerry and Judith Hansen.

A Celebration of Life will be held for Bryan at The Gathering Hall at McDougal Funeral Home, 4306 South Redwood Road, Taylorsville, Utah on Saturday, July 19, 2025, from 12PM - 4PM.