11 Movie And TV Actors You Might Recognize As Social Media Stars

Comedy is alive and well on social media, since more people than ever before have the chance to make funny stuff with minimal effort, which makes it even funnier for viewers. Short-form comedic content is huge on sites like Instagram, YouTube, and especially TikTok where they get shared all over the internet. That's exactly how someone like Scott Seiss went from an everyday guy to a major character in this year's biggest thriller comedy.

Scott Seiss is an actor, comedian, writer, and content creator who struck gold with his series of viral videos called "Angry Retail Guy." These sketches are focused around Seiss playing a version of himself who works at IKEA delivering hilarious responses to common customer issues that anyone who has worked in retail can relate to. Each one of these sketches garnered millions of views, likes, and shares across several social media platforms which gave Seiss a massive online following with over 1.7 million on TikTok alone. It's because of this success that Scott Seiss was able to land a major role in 2023's unexpected hit film, "Cocaine Bear." Seiss plays Tom, a paramedic who responds to a cocaine-fueled bear attack. Of his minor but notable role, Scott Seiss touched on how much he enjoyed the idea of "Cocaine Bear" during an interview with OnMilwaukee. He said, "When I saw the trailer ... obviously I liked it because I'm in it a lot, but even if I wasn't in it, I'd still be so excited to see the movie. It just looks like a really fun night at the movies."

Unlike some of the other internet celebrities on this list, Ryan Higa has been around for a very long time. Having started his YouTube channel in 2006, he became one of the most popular content creators on the platform by reaching millions of people with his comedy videos and sketches. At one point in 2009 he even became the most-subscribed channel on YouTube until he was dethroned by PewDiePie in 2011. Higa was even the first YouTuber to reach two and three million subscribers as his channel grew, but his online presence has transitioned into more of a streaming role with nearly a million followers on his Twitch channel.

With as long and intense of a career as Ryan Higa, it's natural that he would somewhat transition to more mainstream performing when given the chance. Ultimately, he's appeared in two significant films over the past few years, "Tell Me How I Die" and "Finding ʻOhana." The first was a 2016 psychological thriller directed by D. J. Viola that stars Virginia Gardner, Nathan Kress, and Ryan Higa as college students who are given a drug that gives them disturbing visions of their eventual deaths. "Finding 'Ohana" is a 2021 Netflix-produced family film that serves as a Hawaiian re-imagining of 1985's "The Goonies." Ryan Higa features in a small but enjoyable role as basically himself.

One of the most well-known people to get big on social media has got to be Charli D'Amelio, who quickly became the most followed content creator on TikTok not long after beginning her channel in 2019. Coming from a dancing background, D'Amelio struck gold by riding the wave of dancing videos that fans can't get enough of on TikTok which led her to have over 150 million followers and 11 billion likes on the platform.

While she mainly remains an online personality and influencer, Charli D'Amelio has also pivoted towards having a presence in the entertainment industry as an actress. One of her first forays into mainstream media was her voice role as Tinker in the 3D animated film "StarDog and TurboCat" back in 2020. This was her only film appearance to date, but D'Amelio has continued having a prominent career in television with several on-screen parts in various shows. One such example was "The D'Amelio Show," a Hulu docuseries detailing the lives of Charli D'Amelio and her family over the course of two seasons. She has also had roles in projects like "Celebrity Family Feud," "Hype House," and "The Simpsons" where she often plays versions of herself. Interestingly, her dancing background came into play with her recent appearance on season 31 of "Dancing with the Stars" where she actually won the show alongside her partner Mark Ballas.

Lilly Singh is one of the biggest names to ever come out of YouTube, and she's transformed her substantial online fanbase into a respectable acting career in movies and television. Singh began her self-made journey by starting a YouTube channel in 2010 before quickly dominating the platform in both subscribers and personal income generation. Currently boasting over 14 million subscribers, she has consistently ranked as one of the highest-grossing content creators on YouTube by Forbes over the past few years. All this notoriety significantly boosted Singh's ability to shift her career away from solely being an internet personality and towards having credits in film and television.

As an actress and performer, Lilly Singh has a large filmography with many interesting roles under her belt. Some of her earliest credits include voice work as Misty in "Ice Age: Collision Course," Cathy in "Bad Moms," herself in "Bizaardvark," and Raven in HBO's "Fahrenheit 451." She also broke new ground in late-night television by creating "A Little Late with Lilly Singh" on NBC, where she was the first person of Indian heritage to host a show of this kind on a major network from 2019 to 2021. In recent years Singh has made appearances in things like "America's Got Talent," "The Simpsons," and "Dollface" as well as a major voice role in the hit Dreamworks animated feature film "The Bad Guys" as Tiffany Fluffit.

Remember Miranda Sings? How could you not — she was all over the internet back at the peak of her popularity a few years ago. She still has millions of subscribers across YouTube and TikTok to this day. What you may not realize is that Miranda Sings is a character and the invention of a unique comedian named Colleen Ballinger. She created the "Miranda Sings" character in 2008 and used the success of her strange, ironic persona to make a whole career out of portraying her in various videos and shows.

As Miranda Sings, Ballinger had appeared in character on numerous shows throughout the 2010's such as "Victorious," "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee," and "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" without ever breaking. This led her to even get her own Netflix series titled "Haters Back Off" which followed the completely made-up personal life of Miranda Sings as she continues desperately seeking internet fame through her videos. The series only ran for two seasons from 2016 to 2017 but was generally regarded with mixed reviews across the board. As a real person, however, Colleen Ballinger has also found acting success with roles like Colleen in "Ralph Breaks the Internet," Roxanne in "The Angry Birds Movie 2," and Crandy in "Centaurworld."

Fans of Loren Gray may be surprised to learn she has any kind of acting career at all, since she's mainly known as a TikTok personality and singer. While her focus is definitely more on her music than it is acting, she's nonetheless appeared in enough on-screen roles to merit a discussion on her filmography. Gray is a massive social media presence who currently ranks as one of the most followed users on TikTok with over 54 million followers at the moment. She is also an independent musical artist with multiple singles and collaborations in her discography.

While her acting career is minimal, it's still important to note what sorts of performances she's done in recent years. One of her biggest roles was in the two-season Snapchat series " Glow Up with Loren Gray" which featured herself sharing career advice, positive affirmations, and beauty product tutorials directly to fans. Gray has also scored minor roles such as Cleme Crane in "Outsiders" and as the voice of Twitchy in "100% Wolf." Furthermore, Loren Gray also has a history of performing in music videos for talent such as Hrvy, Taylor Swift, Kim Petras, Jamie Lynn Spears, and Grace Gaustad.