Who Is Paloma Diamond? The Internet Wanted Her to Win an Oscar
Paloma Diamond is robbed every year when the Academy nominates her and then passes her up for the win.
Published March 4 2025, 12:31 p.m. ET
In 2023, a star was born on TikTok. Her name: Paloma Diamond. To set the stage, Paloma was the first person to appear in a video of "Oscar nominees" as portrayed by TikToker Julian Sewell.
And the internet instantly fell in love with the silver-haired bombshell.
It may be a little confusing, but in essence, Paloma is a wildly successful character portrayed by a TikToker. Let's start with the basics: Who is Paloma Diamond? Here's what we know about the internet darling and how she was brought to life by a TikToker with a penchant for the dramatics.
Who is Paloma Diamond?
In 2023, Julian created the Paloma character to represent a talented young starlet who keeps getting passed up for her big wins with the Academy.
By 2025, Paloma had racked up an impressive 20 imaginary nominations for the Oscars, but not a single win.
The Paloma persona has become an internet celebrity in her own right over the years, as people pull for the portrayed starlet to finally get her due recognition by Julian's imagined Academy.
When the 2025 Oscars rolled around, people were creating their own videos to make their case in support of Paloma, trying to encourage the Oscars nomination committee to let her finally take home a big win.
Every year the Oscars arrive, and Paloma gets the snub again after receiving her nomination. But Paloma has become a beloved and sympathetic character with a life of her own on Julian's channel. Not only does she have her own fans, but they're willing to go to bat for her to try to get her the recognition she deserves.
In 2025, Julian told USA Today, "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 really stuck was this character of Paloma Diamond. The top comment, which I think that got over 100,000 likes or something crazy like that, was 'Paloma Diamond was robbed.'
Here's what we know about Paloma's creator, Julian Sewell.
But who is Julian Sewell, the creative mind behind the foxy starlet?
He has been uploading skit videos to his TikTok account since 2020. Most of them feature him portraying different cinematic scenes and trying out different accents. Films and television series that frequently feature in his older skits include Harry Potter, The Crown, Downton Abbey, Titanic and more.
In 2024, Julian shared with TODAY where the idea for Paloma and her actor rivals came from; "I love the moment when they call out the nominations and you just see the actresses looking at themselves on the screen. I just thought that moment was so niche. I was like, ‘I’d love to just recreate something like that with just a whole bunch of random faces, names that I’ve just made up in my head.’”
And wherever that inspiration came from, it has resonated with his more than 2.1 million TikTok followers. Although Paloma seems to be robbed every year, her fans know her value.