Filipino-Canadian nurse and content creator John Dela Cruz, aka Nurse John, has landed on Forbes' Top Creators 2026 list.
Nurse John ranked No. 28 on the list. The magazine shared that the content creator has estimated earnings of $7.2 million or around ₱441.16 million. Forbes highlighted how his "Short-Staffed Tour" has sold over 250,000 tickets, with his tour extensions selling out fast as well. Nurse John boasts of a total of 19.2 million followers.
According to Forbes, this year's Top Creators list features 50 creators who collectively earned $1.02 billion.
John recently brought his "Short-Staffed Tour" to Manila at the Mall of Asia Arena.
"Manila, Philippines went back to my roots, my mother land, and my beautiful culture and people. Brought them some laughs, grounded myself and reminded where I came from and did my first ever Arena Show in my country! Love you Pinas!" he posted on his Instagram page following the Philippine leg of his tour.
Fans online were quick to react to Nurse John's post.
"Thank you @nurse.johnn for representing all of us. Congratulations and we are all proud of you!" one fan commented.
"Our kababayan nurse representing with pride!" another fan said.
Nurse John started posting content as a means of coping with the pandemic while working as a medical frontliner.
“I feel like more healthcare workers should be able to tell their stories about what goes on behind the curtain at a hospital,” he said in a March interview with Rolling Stone Philippines.
He added, “The only thing the public really knows is that we give medication and wrap bandages. No, we do more than that. We have multiple jobs we don’t get paid for. But we do them all [because] we chose to be nurses.”
Reflecting on doing a stand-up tour following his massive success online, Nurse John said, "With TikTok, you’re behind the camera for most of it, so you can just repeat every single scene. But with [stand-up], whatever comes out of your mouth is what’s going to make people laugh."