TikTok Sensation Takes Centre Stage
From being too nervous to audition for her school’s production of Oliver, to being plastered on posters on the underground. Abbie Budden joins Holly Gasson to expand on her journey.
Abbie as Annette in Cruel Intentions | Photo by Pamela Raith Photography
Abbie Budden has envisaged herself onstage almost her whole life, “When you go and watch something on stage, you can't help but feel something ignited in you. There’s something about live theatre that just hits a part of your brain. I can't explain it, it's such a magical feeling,” the twenty-year-old said.
After creating her TikTok account at the beginning of the first lockdown as a creative outlet after her local theatres had to shut down, Abbie’s account began to skyrocket in numbers in 2021.
This was also the time that the platform became a job for her rather than a hobby, as she signed with an agency and began to find paid work. As of March 2024, Abbie’s TikTok account has 1.5 million followers and over 74 million likes.
“No one prepares you for what that’s going to feel like”
2021 was also when Abbie began to be approached by fans in public, “It was completely new to me and because I’d started my account in lockdown, it was hard to process that the numbers on the screen were real. But when things started to open back up, people came up to me and said they liked my videos. No one prepares you for what that’s going to feel like,” she said.
“The whole thing has been an out-of-body experience”
Abbie credits her online following and her commitment to growing her brand as the reasons why she landed her current role as Annette Hargrove in Cruel Intentions, “It would be extremely naive of me to not recognize that TikTok has been a huge part in boosting this part of my career. I'm very grateful to have had that platform to get my face out there,” she added.
Performances at The Other Palace London began on January 11th and will play until April 19th, “Every day I walk into work and my face is above me in the theatre. It still hasn't sunk in, I look up and I'm like that’s me, I'm not just coming here to watch a show just for fun. The whole thing has been an out-of-body experience,” Abbie said.
But at 20 years old has Abbie already reached her dream, “I think I've definitely reached a goal of mine and it's happened way quicker than I ever would have expected,” she admitted.
“I'm very grateful for where I’m at and I don't think younger me would believe me if I told her what I was doing. But I'm not finishing here, I'm shooting for the stars. There's still so much more out there that I'd love to experience,” she added.
Many actors have roles they dream to perform as or a show that’s an end goal but not Abbie. “There are so many shows, and new ones are being written all the time. I didn’t even know about Cruel Intentions before my agent told me about it so it’s hard to say for sure what roles I want to play,” she said.
“But ‘Mean Girls’ for me would be a full circle moment after all the impressions I’ve done from the film on my TikTok, maybe I'm manifesting it. I feel like I kind of manifested Cruel Intentions a little bit because the day before I got the audition, I posted an impression of Reese Witherspoon.”
“She played my part in the film so it just felt like it was meant to be. So maybe if I start posting videos from all the shows that I want to be in, it'll all fall into place. You never know,” she added.
So if you want a sneak peak for what Abbie’s going to play in the future, check out her TikTok and you might just see a preview.
Check out Holly’s Twitter/X @Gasson__Holly for interview snippets with Abbie Budden, and at 6pm March 28th Holly will be answering questions about what it was like to interview the TikTok star.