You may not know her name, but your children and grandchildren probably will. Amelia Gething, you see, is ‘TikTok famous’, possessed of that particular type of celebrity whose value is measured in followers (seven million in her case). But Gething has morphed beyond being a mere social-media influencer. Aged just 23, she has used her online fame as a springboard, firstly into the world of mainstream comedy, writing and starring in her own BBC show (The Amelia Gething Complex), and latterly into acting roles alongside Downton Abbey’s Laura Carmichael and Oscar-winner Tom Hanks. Sid Cole, executive producer of her comedy series, says, ‘Her multifaceted approach reminded me of Phoebe Waller-Bridge. Every now and then in the world of comedy someone comes along who makes you do a double take and for me that was very much the case with Amelia.’
Amelia Gething (pictured) has morphed beyond being a mere a social-media influencer. Cotton and silk shirtdress, £3,200, and gold-finish metal and resin pearl earrings, £440, both dior.com
Unsurprisingly, she has also caught the eye of the fashion world. Christian Dior started sending Gething clothes to wear in her videos, building a relationship that she describes as a nice friendship’. She was invited to Paris to attend their show last year and has since become a regular front-row guest. ‘The clothes are stunning,’ she says, wide-eyed. ‘I’d never been to Paris before. It’s so beautiful. I went to a museum and felt very cultured.’ Her favourite Dior piece is, she says, a bandana top, though she also loves the lipsticks. ‘I have so many. My day-to-day clothes are definitely not fancy. They’re more likely to be hand-me-downs from my dad’s wardrobe. He recently decided to reinvent himself, fashion-wise. He bought a lot of chelsea boots. He can keep those, but I did take some of his old clothes that he didn’t want any more. They’re quite baggy on me, but I like that. I’m very interested in clothes, but haven’t invested in many because I’m being careful with my money. So it’s lovely to do a shoot like this where I can play dress-up with such beautiful pieces that I’d never normally wear.’
Gething’s financial prudence is admirable, though her skyrocketing career means that it won’t be long before she can treat herself with impunity. She’s soon to grace the big screen as Anne Brontë in Emily, starring alongside Sex Education’s Emma Mackey in a film that tells the imagined life of the Wuthering Heights author. ‘I was quite shocked to get the part because I’d never done a film before,’ she smiles. ‘Anne is lesser known. On the surface, she’s the boring, bland Brontë sister, but when you read her books and see her sketches, you realise she’s really funny, quietly observant and smart.’
Wool and silk dress, £3,700, cap, £560, antique-gold-finish metal and resin pearl earrings, £410, all dior.com
The same could be said of Gething, of whom you might justifiably be wondering how she managed to go from posting funny TikTok videos (one of her most popular, with 1.6 million views, is called ‘The Future’ and features her lip-synching in her bedroom with a puppet) to being cast in a major film. There are millions of funny videos on TikTok, but few are as polished, well-scripted and cleverly conceptualised as Gething’s. The numbers speak for themselves: her videos have a staggering 235.7 million likes.
Wool and silk jacket, £3,200, cotton blouse, £900, silk tulle skirt, £3,000, silk scarf, £180, yellow gold and diamond earrings, from £860, yellow gold and diamond double ring, from £860, all dior.com. Headband, £545, emily-london.com
Cardigan, £4,300, yellow gold and diamond earrings, from £860, rings (right hand), yellow gold and diamond (on index finger), from £860, rose gold and diamond, £860, ring (left hand), yellow gold and diamond, £860, all dior.com
Like many successful people, she also diversified. In 2016, she started her own YouTube channel, which became so popular that she made the risky decision to leave sixth-form college in Barking, Essex, three months before sitting her A-levels. ‘I was going to go to university to study psychology, but nothing was set in stone, and I was just doing it because that’s what you do. But when I started earning money off YouTube, my parents were the ones who suggested I drop out. Which was a shock, because they’re very “education first”, but I took their advice. Also, uni is nine grand a year. ’
Cotton corset, £2,550, silk tulle skirt, £3,100, headband, £560, yellow gold, diamond, mother-of-pearl and onyx earrings, £3,550, yellow gold, diamond and mother-of-pearl hand jewel, £4,100, all dior.com. Boots, £710, jenniferchamandi.com
Don’ t even get me started on the comments I’ve had about my videos
Her comedy sketches soon accrued enough of a following that she could monetise her channel, and she cannily saved her earnings to pay for a team of people – writers, set designers, film crew – to make her output more slick and polished. Her game plan worked: in 2019, she was approached by the BBC and commissioned to create The Amelia Gething Complex, a surreal comedy sketch show (it’s no surprise that her favourite comedy acts are The Mighty Boosh and Monty Python) which ran for 18 episodes. This led to her getting an agent and being cast alongside the aforementioned Carmichael (in the historical TV series The Spanish Princess) and by Hanks (for his Second World War drama Masters of the Air). ‘I always wanted to do acting – I didn’t always want to be a YouTuber; I used it as a stepping stone.’
She agrees that it’s a golden period for women in comedy. ‘I’m so glad that I’m in the industry at the time that I am, because there are definitely more opportunities for women.’
Not that she doesn’t have her detractors. ‘Don’t even get me started on the amount of comments I’ve had about my videos, with people saying, essentially, that women aren’t funny,’ she says, rolling her eyes, though she won’t let the criticism stop her. ‘Sexism sucks, but I move on. I’ve got quite a thick skin.’ However, she does admit to being self-critical. ‘I struggle with giving myself credit, which my boyfriend likes to remind me to do.’
Her boyfriend James is a copywriter. They met at a Come Dine With Me-themed dinner party two years ago. ‘I’d made an awful, dry brownie, which he pretended to like.’ She seems smitten, recounting how she recently took him to meet her extended family at Gethfest, an annual family knees-up organised by her great aunt. ‘She’s one of 12, so there are a lot of us. We hire a hotel, have a jazz band come to play and just get drunk for the weekend. Lots of good sketch material could come out of Gethfest. Good times.’
She credits her mother Louise, a court stenographer, and father Dave, a station manager on London Underground, with her sense of humour. ‘Everyone in my family is a bit odd,’ she laughs.
As for the future, Gething plans to keep writing as well as acting, focusing on the sort of content she herself wants to watch. ‘I haven’t had any training, so I don’t know the rules of scriptwriting. I just try to imagine the scene and write what I think would be entertaining to watch. I’m working on a few different ideas at the moment. I’m hoping that at some point, once they’re ready, I can pitch them and hopefully be in them as well. I’m quite a perfectionist, so I don’t want to send them until I’m super happy. I’d also love to try directing at some point, but I want to shadow some people first so I make sure that I know what I’m doing.’ Gething already seems to know what she is doing – and this is just the start.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk