Cape Argus E-dition

TikTok pair: acting their way to fame

KESHIA AFRICA keshia.africa@inl.co.za

SOUTH African content creators Cullan Andrews and Nicholas Baguma have used TikTok as their stage to prove their acting mettle.

The common ground between the two creators is that they both play on different aspects of a common theme: nostalgia.

Known to his many followers as @lil.cully, Cullan Andrews, 24, from the south of Johannesburg makes a living from his TikTok account.

Andrews’ first video that blew up was a satire about the pains of coming out, with a twist – as a straight person.

Since then, his videos have touched on his queer identity. Andrews came out to his friends and family four years ago.

“I’m grateful for my experience. My older sister, Kerry Andrews, is lesbian and she softened the blow for me coming out. My family has been very supportive,” he said.

He later blew up for his spot on re-enactments of teachers at school, wearing mom Jean Andrews’ clothes while doing so. Additionally, he has filmed shopping and nightclub skits.

“I wanted to study acting after school but I never thought you could go far with it in this country,” he said.

The young creator started his account last year and now has just over 118 000 followers with 3.7 million likes on his videos.

“I downloaded (the app) as a joke. When I realised I could make something out of this, I knew I would be in it for the long haul.”

His loyal followers have branded themselves as “Cullies” and have even started requesting merchandise with the brand name on it.

“My followers can expect merch, and I would like to get into acting professionally,” he said.’

Nicholas Baguma (@nchls_b) is a 22-year-old financial accounting student from North-West University who lives in Johannesburg. Baguma creates content on TikTok and Instagram in his spare time.

Baguma said he’d admired people who created content online from a young age. The young creator, who started his TikTok account in 2019, said he loved making people laugh.

“I used to post videos of me doing funny things on my WhatsApp status, and people would react to it. I decided to take that to TikTok.”

Baguma’s first claim to fame on the app was content of what everyday people would be like if they had their own reality show. Since then, his content has received 4.9 million likes, and he has over 115 000 users. His most viral video was what Spotify and Apple Music would be like as people.

“It was quite surreal to see so many people liking my content. I liked the positive feedback,” he said.

Baguma often posts skits that his followers enjoy, yet has no professional acting experience.

“When I was younger, I took part in the arts festival, and that was my only acting experience. It was essentially public speaking.”

The duo’s advice to aspiring creators is to start posting content.

Baguma said: “Everything seems so difficult but until you start, you won’t know what you’re capable of.”

Andrews added: “Find your niche. Do your own thing.”

METRO

en-za

2021-10-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-10-17T07:00:00.0000000Z

http://capeargus.pressreader.com/article/281595243722641

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