“It’s a dream, but I want to be an actor and go to the movies”

– What is the secret of your success?

-Simplicity, without a doubt. I joked about the people who made it simple difficult. Always like this: in simple mode, show that simplicity is the best. No frills.

My excellency (21) grew up looking for solutions to the obstacles that life presented. He wasn’t even two years old when he had to leave his Senegal native to build a new history in Italy, thousands and thousands of kilometers from its roots. “I lived in a popular house, a housing system for immigrants. There life was not very easy, but I was always happy because I had friends who helped me, who were always with me. We didn’t have much, but we were happy, ”he says. Bugle.

He never imagined he was actually training for when fate tested him again: the coronavirus pandemic prevented him from continuing his work at a factory in Chivasso and had to return to live with his family in an apartment. “I studied -explain- in a higher school of mechanics and I worked as an operator, but during quarantine they told me that there was no longer any possibility of having me there. “

So he decided to start recording videos for teaching TikTok from simple solutions to complex tutorials circulating on this platform. And what started out as a simple hobby turned into a great financial aid.

-How is the process of preparing the videos?

-I don’t schedule it so many days in advance. It’s not that I improvise, but day after day I record what I see. I use two or three hours to prepare, produce and shoot each video.

-When did you realize the impact of your expression on people?

-I realized when I made the video of a girl in trouble for a backpack. I showed with a video that if the backpack was removed it could be released because it was attached to a pole with a padlock. He only had to take off his backpack! There I noticed that people liked my expression, my mimicry, and I decided to keep making videos, showing these things.

Khaby, as he is called on social media, It went viral because of his gesture and his face at the end of each video, he parodies: he received nearly 900,000 likes on TikTok. There he has over 67,000,000 followers who classify him as the fourth with the largest audience in the world in this social network, behind Americans Charli D’Amelio and Addison Rae, and Philippine Bella Poarch.

The number of faithful that it brings together with its content exceeds the proportion of inhabitants in Italy, the country in which it resides. He even accumulates around 19,000,000 on Instagram, he has already published more than 890 recordings and several in which he has performed with such personalities as the Argentines Paulo Dybala, Oriana Sabatini and the Italian. Alessandro Del Piero, glory of Juventus. “Seeing them live was exciting,” he admits.

-Did they talk about Argentina when you were with Dybala and Oriana?

-Not much, but I have always followed the Argentinian national team. When they lost the 2014 World Cup final I swelled for Argentina, by Kun Agüero and by Lionel Messi. I really like to see them. I hope that soon Messi will be able to win the World Cup that he never could.

-In Italy, you must have heard a lot of things from Diego Maradona too …

– (Smiles) Of course! I can define Diego Maradona as a legend. Is the king of football. The one who conquered the hearts of Argentines, Neapolitans … And not only that: that of all the teams. When he died, no one said anything against him. There have been reviews, yes, but I’m not looking at the outward appearance of the playing field. I watch what it was like when he played. And that is why it is in everyone’s heart.

His fame was, in a way, sudden. If he started sharing his productions in October 2020, it was in March that the interactions and recognition of his work arrived. Even his two parents and four siblings they showed some fear when his name started to travel the world. “At the beginning -reveals- they worried about my image and they asked me to be careful, but they are very proud. The same goes for my friends … They are all proud of this moment. “

-Have you ever suffered an episode of discrimination?

– Fortunately not. If I talk about myself, I never felt it, or I felt very little racism. In my neighborhood, they always helped us and my friends were always with me. No one ever allowed me to be insulted or they will discriminate against me … That’s why we were like brothers.

As he notices how the number of subscribers increases minute by minute on his accounts, Khaby is encouraged to rediscover an idea he thought was utopian when he was just a child: to be an actor. “This is my big dream. As a boy I watched Eddie Murpy and Will Smith a lot, the greatest source of comic inspiration. I also like Checco Zalone, an Italian actor “, he admits from the house of his manager, Alessandro Riggio, a few minutes after making a new publication.

-So somehow you are living your dream …

-Yes, I’m living my dream. I would like to arrive in the world of cinema, do something funny or do tv, but i’m very happy with everything i’m going through.

-You had a complicated life. Do you think this moment is a prize?

-I do not know. In reality, I don’t see it as a reward. The quarantine period was very difficult in March. We had to spend months and months locked up, and there were a lot of people who just couldn’t get over it. Lots of guys too … There was a deep sadness and what I wanted was to bring some joy.

-Did they make you feel that way?

-Yes. The messages that reached me comforted me in these difficult times … They made me very happy. “You made me smile in a difficult time” they told me. These messages are the ones that have comforted me.