Dubai Telegraph - From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame

EUR -
AED 3.897588
AFN 71.62565
ALL 97.2537
AMD 411.203272
ANG 1.913552
AOA 968.293905
ARS 1058.745012
AUD 1.627557
AWG 1.911648
AZN 1.807819
BAM 1.955455
BBD 2.143822
BDT 126.883565
BGN 1.95804
BHD 0.399961
BIF 3075.191117
BMD 1.061143
BND 1.421016
BOB 7.363046
BRL 6.140859
BSD 1.061762
BTN 89.662386
BWP 14.445129
BYN 3.47465
BYR 20798.394027
BZD 2.140123
CAD 1.480899
CDF 3044.418227
CHF 0.936171
CLF 0.037916
CLP 1046.211864
CNY 7.674607
COP 4713.329932
CRC 543.329624
CUC 1.061143
CUP 28.120278
CVE 110.729863
CZK 25.391006
DJF 188.586074
DKK 7.45901
DOP 63.933705
DZD 141.600995
EGP 52.213665
ETB 128.927564
FJD 2.404653
GBP 0.833113
GEL 2.907297
GHS 17.418672
GMD 75.870655
GNF 9158.721715
GTQ 8.204937
GYD 222.11867
HKD 8.254453
HNL 26.592299
HTG 139.651911
HUF 410.802767
IDR 16762.975014
ILS 3.985736
INR 89.551307
IQD 1390.096744
IRR 44679.406949
ISK 147.498979
JMD 168.710198
JOD 0.752456
JPY 164.232506
KES 137.417871
KGS 91.474118
KHR 4302.933102
KMF 488.523524
KRW 1494.624597
KWD 0.326418
KYD 0.884785
KZT 526.901752
LAK 23302.690344
LBP 95078.373015
LKR 310.479784
LRD 196.6824
LSL 19.280981
LTL 3.133278
LVL 0.641875
LYD 5.162473
MAD 10.527599
MDL 19.005538
MGA 4923.70171
MKD 61.609117
MMK 3446.549617
MOP 8.506897
MRU 42.335075
MUR 49.990475
MVR 16.405298
MWK 1841.082561
MXN 21.872228
MYR 4.708282
MZN 67.833584
NAD 19.281345
NGN 1774.951722
NIO 39.023514
NOK 11.770787
NPR 143.459418
NZD 1.793877
OMR 0.40856
PAB 1.061762
PEN 4.000181
PGK 4.260222
PHP 62.350627
PKR 295.050664
PLN 4.354234
PYG 8295.534619
QAR 3.863355
RON 4.976865
RSD 116.971889
RUB 104.249364
RWF 1445.806728
SAR 3.987149
SBD 8.850728
SCR 14.422986
SDG 638.273057
SEK 11.587852
SGD 1.421194
SLE 24.247182
SOS 605.912547
SRD 37.389344
STD 21963.508396
SVC 9.290797
SZL 18.707922
THB 36.991474
TJS 11.2858
TMT 3.72461
TND 3.339947
TOP 2.485304
TRY 36.467135
TTD 7.215065
TWD 34.443094
TZS 2824.618246
UAH 43.973732
UGX 3901.494647
USD 1.061143
UYU 44.764202
UZS 13614.459211
VES 47.430329
VND 26899.963703
XAF 655.872046
XCD 2.867791
XDR 0.799896
XOF 645.174431
XPF 119.331742
YER 265.099936
ZAR 19.251725
ZMK 9551.56176
ZMW 28.906256
ZWL 341.687469
  • RBGPF

    0.0300

    60.22

    +0.05%

  • BCC

    -2.0100

    141.13

    -1.42%

  • CMSC

    -0.1800

    24.54

    -0.73%

  • BCE

    -0.1600

    27.69

    -0.58%

  • RYCEF

    -0.1700

    7.16

    -2.37%

  • SCS

    0.0200

    13.67

    +0.15%

  • CMSD

    -0.2100

    24.75

    -0.85%

  • NGG

    -1.2400

    62.9

    -1.97%

  • RIO

    -1.4000

    61.2

    -2.29%

  • JRI

    -0.3000

    13.22

    -2.27%

  • GSK

    -0.8300

    35.52

    -2.34%

  • RELX

    -1.2100

    46.59

    -2.6%

  • AZN

    0.4000

    65.19

    +0.61%

  • BTI

    0.0900

    35.24

    +0.26%

  • BP

    -0.7600

    28.16

    -2.7%

  • VOD

    -0.8500

    8.47

    -10.04%

From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame
From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame / Photo: GABRIEL BOUYS - AFP

From TikTok to Hollywood, the irresistible rise of Italy's Khaby Lame

Compared by some to Charlie Chaplin or Buster Keaton, the most followed TikToker in the world, Khaby Lame, is preparing to launch a film career in Hollywood following his dizzying global success on social media.

Text size:

"Now I'm dedicating myself to cinema. I hope this will be my job for life. It's something I've dreamt of since I was a child," said Lame, all smiles, in an interview with AFP.

"And I've always dreamt of having an Oscar, maybe more than one."

The 24-year-old Italian influencer with Senegalese roots holds top spot on the TikTok app, with 162.8 million followers.

He has until now been famous for his short silent videos mocking the convoluted tutorials of tips that abound on the Web.

Why do it simply when you can make it more complicated, he jokes on social media, offering his own easy remedies with his trademark gesture -- palms turned towards the sky, accompanied by a knowing smile and wide eyes.

When did he realise his dazzling success?

"The first sign was when I started seeing other people around the world on television and some Real Madrid players like Vinicius Junior doing the same thing. I understood that it was becoming a global thing," he said.

Lame is discreet in his black baseball cap and beige leather jacket, his expressive eyes hidden behind thick sunglasses.

But he does not hesitate to pose for selfies with his fans, who call out to him as he leaves a restaurant opposite Milan's majestic Duomo cathedral.

After a brief stint in the Italian fashion capital this week, where he appeared on the catwalk for German brand Hugo Boss on Wednesday, Lame returned to Los Angeles, the TikTok star's new home and springboard for his Hollywood debut.

In an action comedy film called "00Khaby" -- which he says will be shot in Brazil, India and the United States -- Lame will play a food delivery man recruited as a spy by the American secret service.

"But I will continue to make videos for TikTok!" he promised his followers.

- Dyslexic, like Tom Cruise -

Lame's TikTok idea came to him while wandering around the housing project where his family lived in Chivasso, near Turin, after losing his factory mechanic's job in March 2020, on the cusp of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I thought it was just an app for dancing or children but during the pandemic I started using it because there wasn't much to do," he recalled.

His posts took off -- helping him to gross an estimated $16.5 million through marketing deals with companies in the period between June 2022 and September 2023, according to Forbes.

Not bad for the former mechanic who had worked a series of odd jobs to get by.

"I was a bricklayer, a window cleaner, I worked at Amazon and I was a kitchen assistant," he recalled.

School was a fiasco, he admitted.

"I always liked to make people laugh and so I always used to act the clown a bit. In the end they failed me two or three times".

His double handicap, being both "dyslexic and dyscalculic" didn't help matters either.

But Tom Cruise "gave me a lot of advice, being dyslexic himself", Lame said.

"I asked him if there were any problems in learning a script. He told me that in the end, it all comes down to good will.

"That's the advice I get from most actors or famous people."

- Redford gives advice -

No less than Hollywood legend Robert Redford advised him against taking acting classes.

"He said it would be better to be as natural as possible," said Lame, who is focusing instead on English lessons.

Redford chose Lame for a documentary series illustrating the ravages of climate change in African countries, including Senegal, where Lame was born before migrating to Italy at the age of one.

"We'll show how it's affecting populations, kids... in some regions which water doesn't reach any more," he explained.

Another project is a film Lame is co-writing with his manager, Nicola Paparusso about the life of Tommie Smith.

The black US sprinter shot to fame for raising his black-gloved fist to protest against racism when he took to the medals stand for winning gold at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

It will be the opportunity, Paparusso said, to show that Lame "is not just a silent actor who doesn't speak or a comic actor" but an artist who has "dramatic verve".

"He is a born actor, a genius."

S.Al-Balushi--DT