Tilly Norwood is an AI Actress Seeking Hollywood Representation
The creator of an AI-generated actress says she is about to announce which talent agency will represent Tilly Norwood — the first creation to emerge from the AI studio Xicoia.
During the Zurich Summit at the Zurich Film Festival, actor, writer, and producer Eline Van der Velden revealed that Norwood is subject to interest from multiple Hollywood talent agencies.
“We were in a lot of boardrooms around February time, and everyone was like, ‘No, this is nothing. It’s not going to happen.’ Then, by May, people were like, ‘We need to do something with you guys,’” Van der Velden told Diana Lodderhose of Deadline.
“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.”
Van der Velden says that Hollywood studios are quietly embracing the technology and there will be AI projects announced in the future.
Who is Tilly Norwood?
Norwood’s Instagram bio states that the AI is an “aspiring actress” based in London. “You’ll either get it or pretend you don’t. I’m a creation,” the bio reads.
In July, Van der Velden announced that the AI made her acting debut in a comedy sketch titled “AI Commissioner.” See below.
“We want Tilly to be the next Scarlett Johansson or Natalie Portman, that’s the aim of what we’re doing,” Van der Velden told Broadcast International. She pointed to cost pressures as one reason the film and television industry is exploring AI.
“People are realizing that their creativity doesn’t need to be boxed in by a budget — there are no constraints creatively and that’s why AI can really be a positive. It’s just about changing people’s viewpoint.”
Backlash
However, Van der Velden’s announcement that Norwood is about to be signed to an agency has ruffled feathers.
Major actors and actresses, including Toni Collette, Mara Wilson, Lukas Gage, and Nicholas Alexander Chavez, have spoken out against Norwood.
Van der Velden made a statement defending herself from the criticism, which was also shared on Norwood’s page.
“She is not a replacement for a human being, but a creative work — a piece of art,” Van der Velden writes. “I see AI not as a replacement for people, but as a new tool — a new paintbrush. Just as animation, puppetry, or CGI opened fresh possibilities without taking away from live acting, AI offers another way to imagine and build stories.”
But while Van der Velden hopes that her Tilly Norwood project will bear fruit, elsewhere in Hollywood experiments with AI aren’t going smoothly. Lionsgate is reportedly struggling to produce content in its partnership with AI video company Runway because, despite its vast archive, the data set is still too small to create anything that could be served up to audiences.
