Khabane “Khaby” Lame just surpassed other users as the most popular TikTok user, with 149.5 million fans and 2.4 billion likes.
Lame, 22, claimed in a Fortune profile that he has invested a lot of time in studying English by watching American cartoons and movies and working with a teacher for an hour every day. He has been open about wanting to be an actor.
When TMZ caught up with him earlier this year, Khaby shared that his ultimate goal would be to star in a film alongside Will Smith. “He started to dream about being an actor after watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” Lame, who speaks Italian, said through his manager. “His goal is to be in a movie, hopefully, one day with [Will].”
Lame will continue to make a good living off of TikTok until that time comes. Through his association with Hugo Boss, which includes him participating in its Milan Fashion Week display as a model and blogging about it, he made $450,000. According to a contract Fortune examined with a prominent Hollywood studio, he would receive $750,000 for a single clip. This year, Khaby should bring in about $10 million.
Lame emigrated to Italy from Senegal in 2001 along with his parents and three siblings. In 2020, he joined TikTok after the epidemic cost him his job operating manufacturing machinery. It was reported by CBS News that he formally became an Italian citizen last month.