From TikTok to Hollywood

By Zyiah Tyler, Staff Reporter

JOEL SAGET/Getty Images

TikTok, formerly Musical.ly, is one of the most popular social media apps for teens gaining popularity in 2017. Generation Z populates the Vine-esque app with dark humor and musical themed videos.

TikTok has helped personalities like Charli D’Amelio (a dancer), Andrew Bachelor (an e-viner), and Addison Rae Easterling rise to fame.

“In addition to choreography and performing viral dances – most notably the one to the song ’Renegade’ – and joining the mega-popular Hype House group in Los Angeles, D'Amelio is the first TikToker to star in a Super Bowl commercial,” Insider journalist Kat Tenbarge said.

D’Amelio has amassed almost 80 million followers on TikTok from her dancing. She has started trends and created dances to popular songs which have charted on Billboard due to their rise in popularity on the popular app.

Andrew Bachelor is also a TikTok creator who has benefitted from the app. Originally making his mark on Vine, a six second video sharing app, Bachelor won the Guinness World Record for most followers on the now fossilized app.

“What’s astonishing is how quickly Bachelor was able to parlay his success on Vine into meaningful roles, ” Washington Post journalist Soraya Nadia McDonald said.

Bachelor has made his mark in the film industry by starring in Netflix films like ”The Babysitter, ” a horror movie and its sequel, ”The Babysitter: Killer Queen,” with Samara Weaving and the rom-com “When We First Met” with Adam Devine. Bachelor has produced a few episodes of the Netflix tv series, “Sneakerheads,” which he also stars in.

Addison Rae Easterling is the second most followed TikTok personality, after D’Amelio. After gaining a massive following from various viral TikTok dances, Easterling was announced to star in a gender-bending reboot of the 1999 rom-com film “She’s All That.”

“Easterling has 60 million followers on TikTok, making her the second-most followed person on the social media platform,” Variety reporter Rebecca Rubin said. “After her popularity on the app skyrocketed, the 19-year-old moved to Los Angeles and signed with talent agency WME.”

Easterling’s casting would mark her first theatrical debut.

For Easterling and others like her, TikTok is helping aspiring actors obtain jobs on the silver screen.