A rising star is stirring up major drama in Hollywood — and she’s not even real. Actors are pushing back after comedian and Particle6 founder Eline Van der Velden stated that AI-generated performer Tilly Norwood was attracting talent agency attention at the Zurich Summit on Saturday.
Norwood, a brunette AI actress with her own Instagram account, first appeared in an entirely AI-generated comedy video for Particle6 back in July. She is the first AI talent to come out of Xicoia, a spin-off from Van der Velden’s Particle6. At the summit, which is the industry branch of the Zurich Film Festival, Van der Velden spoke to Deadline on stage about how attitudes have shifted toward the AI creation. “When we first launched Tilly, people were like, ‘What’s that?,’ and now we’re going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months,” she said.
Yet actors are not thrilled that Norwood may be finding representation. On Monday’s episode of The View, panelist Whoopi Goldberg said that Norwood could have an “unfair advantage” over flesh-and-blood performers. “The problem with this, in my humble opinion, is that you are suddenly up against something that’s been generated with 5,000 other actors,” Goldberg said. “It’s got Bette Davis’ attitude, it’s got Humphrey Bogart’s lips.”
Though she called that advantage “unfair,” Goldberg challenged AI talent to “bring it on.” “You can always tell them from us,” she said of AI actors vs. human performers. “We move differently, our faces move differently, our bodies move differently.”
In the Heights star Melissa Barrera, meanwhile, posted Deadline’s story about Norwood and wrote on her Instagram story, per Deadline, “Hope all actors repped by the agent that does this, drop their a$$. How gross, read the room.”
AI was a large piece of the negotiations during the SAG-AFTRA strike in 2023, with performers raising concerns about losing opportunities for work due to technological advancements. Meanwhile, video game performers covered by SAG just reached a deal this past July which hinged on AI protections after walking off the job a year earlier.
Several other stars also shared their thoughts on Deadline’s Instagram post about Norwood, with Matilda star Mara Wilson writing, “And what about the hundreds of living young women whose faces were composited together to make her? You couldn’t hire any of them?” Eiza Gonzalez wrote, “Shame on whoever is trying to normalize this” and called the story “horrific and terrifying.” Pretty Little Liars alum Lucy Hale posted a “no” while Reign actress commented that Norwood was not an actress but an “AI program.” Toni Collette responded with shocked face emojis.
Overcompensating actor Lukas Gage, meanwhile, joked of Norwood, “She was a nightmare to work with!!!!” Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story‘s Nicholas Alexander Chavez added, “Not an actress actually nice try.”
Following the backlash, Van der Velden — herself an actress on the show Miss Holland — responded in a statement, which she posted on both her own and Norwood’s Instagram accounts on Sunday. She called Norwood “not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work — a piece of art.” She likened AI at large to “a new tool” or a “new paintbrush” to use to “imagine and build stories,” much like animation and CGI.
“I’m an actor myself, and nothing — certainly not an AI character — can take away the craft or joy of human performance,” she said. “Creating Tilly has been, for me, an act of imagination and craftmanship, not unlike drawing a character, writing a role or shaping a performance.”
Van der Velden wrote that she hopes one day AI will be welcomed as “part of the wider artistic family.”
“When we celebrate all forms of creativity, we open doors to new voices, new stories, and new ways of connecting with each other,” she concluded.