From TikTok to Hollywood | The Irresistible Rise of Khaby Lame

(Milan) Some compare him to Charlie Chaplin, others to Buster Keaton: after his global success on social networks, Khaby Lame, the most followed TikToker in the world, is preparing to take the big leap to launch a film career in Hollywood.

“I am now devoting myself to cinema, I hope it will be my life’s work, I have dreamed of it since I was a child. I have always dreamed big. My biggest dream is to win an Oscar one day, or even more than one,” he confided, all smiles, in an interview with AFP in Milan.

Number one on the TikTok app, where he has 162.8 million subscribers, the 24-year-old Italian influencer of Senegalese origin was known until now for his short, silent videos mocking the convoluted tips tutorials that abound on the web.

Why do it simple when you can do it complicated, he jokes on social media, offering easy remedies. His trademark: palms turned toward the sky, accompanied by a knowing smile and wide-open eyes.

When did he realise his meteoric rise to fame? “It was when I started seeing other people around the world doing the same thing on TV, like some Real Madrid players like Vinicius. I realised it was becoming a global phenomenon.”

Black cap, beige leather jacket, his expressive eyes hidden behind thick sunglasses, Khaby Lame is discreet, but does not hesitate to pose for selfies with his fans who call out to him as he leaves a restaurant opposite the Duomo, Milan’s majestic cathedral.

After a brief stint in the Italian fashion capital, where he walked for German brand Hugo Boss, Khaby Lame returned to Los Angeles, the TikTok king’s new home and a springboard for his Hollywood debut.

In a comedy action film called 00Khabywhich he says will be filmed “largely in the United States, but also in India and Brazil”, the young influencer will take on the role of a food delivery man recruited by the American secret services as a spy.

“But I will continue to make videos for TikTok!” he promises his subscribers.

Dyslexic, like Tom Cruise

The idea came to him while he was walking around the social housing that his family occupied in Chivasso, near Turin, after losing his job as a mechanic in a factory in March 2020, at the very beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

“I thought it was just an app for dancing or kids, but during the pandemic I started using it because there wasn’t much to do,” he recalls.

Before his dismissal, he had worked a series of odd jobs: “I was a bricklayer, a window cleaner, I worked at Amazon and I was a kitchen assistant.”

Now he has a large income, estimated by Forbes at 16.5 million dollars between June 2022 and September 2023.

School was a fiasco for him: “it was chaos, I always liked making people laugh and so I was always a bit of a clown. I failed two or three times.”

His double handicap of being both “dyslexic and dyscalculic”, by his own admission, did not help matters either. But that did not prevent him from becoming a Hollywood star…

“Dyslexic like me,” Tom Cruise “gave me a lot of advice. I asked him if there were any problems learning a script. He told me that with good will, in the end you can do it,” assures Khaby Lame.

Robert Redford’s advice

Another Hollywood celebrity, Robert Redford, advised him against taking acting classes: “I’m not taking any, I’m just studying English, because he said it’s best to stay as natural as possible.”

The American actor and director has also chosen him as the protagonist of a series of documentaries illustrating the ravages of climate change on African countries, including Senegal, which he left at the age of one for Italy.

“We are going to show how this affects people, especially children, in areas where water no longer reaches them,” explains Khaby Lame.

Another project in progress is a film written jointly with his manager, Nicola Paparusso, on the life of Tommie Smith, the black American athlete famous for raising his black-gloved fist to protest racism after his victory at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico.

A perfect opportunity to reveal to the general public that Khaby Lame “is not just a silent actor who doesn’t speak or a comic actor”, but has a “dramatic verve”, assures Mr. Paparusso. For him, “he is a born actor, a genius”.