Who Is Paloma Diamond? Everything To Know About The ‘Movie Star’

Anora’s Mikey Madison won the award for Best Actress at the Academy Awards this year, but all eyes were on Paloma Diamond and whether she would take home her first Oscar.

Diamond has gone viral as a 20-time Oscar nominee who is yet to win in the fictional world that New Zealand TikTok creator Julian Sewell created nearly two years ago. Newell has uploaded various skits on social media since 2020, according to USA Today. In March 2023, he reached a new crowd after uploading the viral video titled “Every Best Actress Award Intro,” where he parodied Hollywood movie tropes. While rocking a set of wigs, a tuxedo and his mother’s dresses, Sewell portrayed five fictional nominees, an award presenter and acting snippets for each made-up movie.

“It was just a silly video that I did with my sister at the time, and it got all of this attention. And the one name that kind of stuck was this character of Paloma Diamond,” Sewell told USA Today last Wednesday. “The top comment, which I think that over 100,000 likes or something crazy like that, was ‘Paloma Diamond was robbed.’”

Sewell later confirmed rumors that Diamond lost her 18th nomination in a follow-up video that month. The presenter wrongly announced actress Lorelai Lynch as the best actress for The Last Train Home until realizing fictional actress Taylor Witcherfork had actually won for Hail, mocking the infamous Moonlight and La La Land hiccup at the actual 2018 Academy Awards show.

Although Sewell admits he’s still getting to know Diamond better, he shared that she began her “long, illustrious” career in the 1960s and 1970s as a soap opera performer. Fans were quick to point out that the character shares similarities to 21-time Oscar nominee Meryl Streep, who has three wins, or 8-time nominee Glenn Close, who has yet to win an Oscar herself.

“I still don’t know everything about Paloma myself. I’m still learning as well, because as you know she is a real person,” Sewell told USA Today. “There are people like in the comments that you will see that aren’t a fan of Paloma. Paloma has her haters, of course she does, because she’s huge.”

Outside of the ongoing skits starring Miss Diamond, Sewell created various other comedy videos from “If animals can talk” to “UK vs USA.” He would love to be nominated for an actual award one day and accept it on stage as Paloma Diamond.

“I’m keeping my options open. At the moment, I would love to act either on stage or on screen, something that I grew up with. I loved performing. I loved singing in musicals and acting in shows and plays and that kind of thing,” Sewell said.

Click here for more entertainment stories with ACHDA.