Earning that "movie star" status in the 2020s is way different from what it was in the 2000s or 1990s. Back in the day, one would go through a long process of auditions before landing their first role. Even more so, their first roles weren't always that good. It could take an aspiring actor years to become recognized by Hollywood.
Nowadays, it seems like social media has given the word popularity new meaning, especially in the wake of TikTok's rise to popularity in 2018 and 2019. Many popular personalities from the video-sharing platform have tried their luck with acting. However, while it was easy for them to dominate TikTok due to their reach, this isn't always the case when it comes to acting in a big-budget film. Here are some TikTok stars who turned to acting in professional productions.
6 Eric Montanez
Eric Montanez began to make a name for himself on TikTok back in 2019. The San Diego native boasts about 2,9 million followers on the platform up to this writing. He even signed to Vertex Management Group as a model back in 2019.
Speaking of Eric's acting career, the social media influencer starred on Brat TV's Attaway General as Holden for 18 episodes from 2020 to 2021. Unfortunately, the show isn't doing so well critically and has been panned negatively by reviewers. It boasts a 1.0 rating on IMDb from over 2,000 votes.
5 Loren Gray
Loren Gray is among the OGs of TikTok. Originally called Musical.ly back in the days, the 19-year-old began posting in 2015 and has been going strong since then. Her follower counts clock at 54.4 million up to this writing, making her one of the most followed accounts on the platform.
She provided voiceovers for Twitchy for the English version of the 2020 cartoon flick 100% Wolf. She also has a cameo credit as Cleme Crane in No Running and starred in the music video of "The Man" for Taylor Swift. Speaking of her music career, Loren was signed to Virgin and Capitol Records before becoming full independent in February 2021.
4 Baby Ariel
Ariel Martin — professionally known as Baby Ariel — is also among the OGs of the platform. She's been posting since 2015 on Musical.ly "out of boredom." Now, the Florida native boasts 35.6 million followers on the platform and is going stronger since.
Thanks to her success, Disney Channel gave her an acting contract as Wynter Barkowitz in Zombies 2, a 2020 sequel of the 2018's original Zombies. According to her IMDb page, the former Forbes' top influencer is now gearing up for the third Zombie film, in addition to her appearance in its mini-series spin-off Addison's Monster Mystery.
3 Addison Rae
Addison Rae's rise to fame on TikTok began when she began posting her dancing videos in the summer of 2019. Since then, the Louisiana native has been unstoppable. She has 86.6 million followers on the platform, and up to this writing, she ranks fourth on the list of the most followed personalities on TikTok.
Speaking of her acting career, Addison made her acting debut in He's All That last year, but critics were hobbled by the lack of chemistry between the leads. The film debuted on Netflix on August 27, 2021, and social media went nuts. She also sings, releasing her debut dance-pop single "Obsessed" in March of the same year.
"Now, it’s just time for me to take that extra step, go the extra mile to make sure people can see my passion for acting going forward," she told Los Angeles Times, "I really hope that people give [the movie] a chance — give me a chance to show myself as an actress and not go into it with a negative mind-set."
2 Charli D’Amelio
Charli D'Amelio is currently the most followed content creator on the platform, but she doesn't stop there. The biggest TikTok celebrity made her acting debut with a voice role in StarDog and TurboCat back in 2020. While it's not exactly a live-action acting role, Charli is currently starring on her own Hulu reality show, The D'Amelio Show, since last year.
“I think when you’re an actor and you’re playing a character and people don’t like your character, you can say, ‘That’s not me as a person,’” she said in an interview with Paper Magazine, saying that it's harder to be a TikTok celeb than being a movie star. “But when you got where you are because of who you are —“
1 Chase Hudson
Born in 2002 in California, Chase Hudson, also known as Lil Huddy, rose to fame for co-founding the "Hype House." He boasts over 30 million followers on the platform up to this writing and has been among the frontpeople of the 2020s pop-punk revival. In 2020, he linked up with Euphoria actress Sydney Sweeney for the short film adaptation of Machine Gun Kelly's Tickets to My Downfall album. The video has amassed over 24 million views on YouTube in February 2022.