20 people who found real fame after they became memes

She originally started as the "Kombucha Girl" from the meme of the same name, and now Brittany Broski is a bona fide celebrity. She leveraged her fame to become popular on multiple platforms, and now she has a podcast, too. 

An engineer by trade, András Arató became known to the internet as "Hide the Pain Harold." Arató is actually an award-winning engineer who’s had a very successful career. The internet fame was just the cherry on top. 

Ava Ryan went viral when her mom posted a Vine of her repeating “I smell like beef” over and over and over. Ryan was clearly a funny kid, and her videos only went more viral as she got older. 

Gavin Thomas became famous from a meme of him making a very concerned and unimpressed expression. Thomas is still active on multiple platforms, and he’s friends with Ava Ryan from the “I smell like beef” video. 

Chloe Clem became famous when her parents posted a video of themselves surprising their daughters with a trip to Disney. Clem’s side eye toward her sister was unforgettable, and she’s still got several hundred thousand followers on Instagram.

Nusret Gökçe, better known as "Salt Bae," completely leaned into his internet fame. The man was already a successful chef, but thanks to his meme, he now has over 53 million followers on Instagram. Gökçe might be the most successful meme of all time. 

Nick Young, or Swaggy P, went viral from a video that featured him giving one of the best reactions of all time. While most internet denizens know Young from the meme, he’s actually famous in his own right, thanks to his successful NBA career.

Drew Scanlon became internet famous thanks to a meme of him blinking in disbelief. Thanks to the crazy world we live in, the meme stays relevant, and thanks to his great expression, it’s never not funny. 

Kyle Craven became internet famous after his school picture became the "Bad Luck Brian" meme. Despite the name of the meme, Craven has had lots of good luck after leaning into the meme. 

Many famous meme people are actually quite successful in their real lives. Take Renata Sorrah, the woman behind the "Math Lady" meme. Sorrah is a Brazilian actress, and her character Nazaré Tedesco from the soap opera Senhora do Destino is technically the meme. 

Maggie Goldenberger became internet famous when an old photo of her went viral. Goldenberger didn’t care to make a career out of her online notoriety and became a nurse instead.  

Actor Kayode Ewumi, behind the "Roll Safe" meme, is another internet star who’s also an actor. Unfortunately for Ewumi and the rest of the meme stars, becoming a meme star has yet to fully translate into a successful acting career. 

Laina Morris rose to internet fame as the face of the "Overly Attached Girlfriend" meme. What’s unique about Morris is that she actually created the character herself. The internet star still has a presence on YouTube and Instagram today. 

Zoë Roth of the "Disaster Girl" meme made some serious money off her internet success. The internet star sold the original photograph as an NFT for nearly half a million dollars. Not bad for a photo taken randomly in 2005. 

We all know about memes, but we don't really know what it's like to be one. Silvia Bottini, an actress and the face of the "First World Problems" meme, has taken to multiple outlets to explain what it's like to live as a meme. 

Michael McGee has shared what it’s like to become a meme, too. McGee’s meme, "Trying to Hold a Fart Next to a Cute Girl in Class," might be one of the more embarrassing ones, but the internet star seems to have a good attitude about it. 

Sammy Griner became famous as a baby in the "Success Kid" meme. Although Griner doesn’t have quite as much recognition now as others famous from memes, he did use his notoriety for good to raise money for a life-saving operation for his father. 

Blake Boston is better known as "Scumbag Steve," the name he received from the internet when a photo of him taken by his mother turned into a meme. Like many memes, it doesn’t paint Boston in a great light, but in interviews, he’s shared that he doesn’t have any regrets. 

Jonathan Goldsmith was already a famous actor when he appeared in a Dos Equis campaign as "The Most Interesting Man in the World," but after the campaign became a meme, he became internet famous, too. And in some ways, internet fame can be harder to achieve. 

Zeddie Little is one of the rare people to become a meme for something positive. He was labeled as the "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy." We’ve got to give credit where credit is due. He is incredibly photogenic.