You might know Addison Rae from her days as a wildly popular TikTok dancer. Rae rose to fame posting viral dance trend videos in the early days of TikTok and has since amassed nearly 90 million followers. These days, however, she has her sights set on a career in music and acting.
The 24-year-old starred in the 2021 Netflix romantic comedy He’s All That, a gender-bending remake of the 1999 teen classic She’s All That, and has landed roles in a handful of other projects, including the 2023 horror movie Thanksgiving. She is set to appear alongside Ryan Reynolds, Aubrey Plaza, Jason Momoa, and Dan Levy in the upcoming animated action comedy Animal Friends, releasing in October.
In addition to acting, Rae is emerging as a certified pop singer. She released her first EP AR in August 2023 and earned her first Billboard Hot 100 hit in 2024 with her single “Diet Pepsi,” which peaked at No. 54. On Sunday, she made her Coachella debut as a surprise guest during experimental artist Arca’s set and shared big news about her upcoming debut album.
Here’s how Addison Rae found fame and where you might see her next.
Addison Rae started dancing at an early age
Rae became a social media star thanks to her trending dance moves, but she started dancing long before TikTok existed. Born and raised in Lafayette, Louisiana, she was just 6 years old when she began taking dance lessons, studying ballet, jazz, and contemporary. For much of Rae’s childhood, dance gave her a much-needed outlet among her parents’ tumultuous marriage and her family’s constant moves.
“When life was chaotic, performing and using my body as a tool was something I could control,” she told Rolling Stone in January 2025. “It was an escape, to dance.” It was dance that made her fall in love with pop music. Her dance teachers got her hooked on the likes of Madonna, Lady Gaga, and Britney Spears.
Although she stopped dancing as often as she got older, that changed when she stumbled across TikTok in July 2019 and started posting videos of herself dancing to trending songs.
She initially planned to become a sportscaster
Before she found fame on TikTok, Rae planned on becoming an on-air sports reporter. She briefly studied broadcast journalism at Louisiana State University in 2019 with the intention of covering sports.“I kind of thought that was my in to the entertainment industry, in a way that people wouldn’t look at me like, ‘Oh, please. You’re never going to be able to move to Hollywood,’” Rae said. Three months into her first semester, however, she dropped out to pursue her budding career as a social media influencer.
She saw TikTok as her path to Hollywood
By the time she left school in November 2019, Rae had amassed more than 1 million followers on TikTok. “Even though it was still at such a small scale, I think I was like, ‘This is how I’m going to be able to do what I’ve always wanted to do,’” she said. Soon after, she moved to Los Angeles and became a founding member of Hype House, a collective of young content creators that dissolved in 2024.
In early 2020, Rae began receiving sponsorships from major retail brands, which paid her handsomely to promote their products. Still, her dreams extended far beyond social media fame. “TikTok was just a through line,” she told Interview Magazine in June 2024. “And I already knew there were other things I was interested in growing up.”
Just before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, Rae told her managers she wanted to prove herself as a singer, dancer, and actor. That summer, she started taking acting classes and began writing her own songs.
Rae has a Netflix deal
In September 2020, she was cast as the co-lead in Netflix’s He’s All That, which came out in August 2021. To Rae’s disappointment, the movie received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and viewers. Despite this, she signed a multimillion-dollar deal with Netflix the following month to star in and executive produce new movies for the streaming platform. The deal allowed Rae to take a step back from TikTok and focus on her other creative pursuits, including her budding music career.
Her mentor is Charli XCX
After releasing her first single, “Obsessed,” in March 2021, the up-and-coming singer began working on her first EP. Around this time, she met Charli XCX during a studio session. The two hit it off and eventually started working together, collaborating on Rae’s song “2 Die 4” off of her 5-track EP AR, which came out in August 2023.
“[Meeting] Charli XCX was an obviously pivotal moment in my life,” Rae told Rolling Stone. “She has been such a big sister and mentor for me.” In March 2024, the pair teamed up again on Charli’s “Von Dutch” remix. The track earned a 2025 Grammy nomination for Best Remixed Recording.
Her debut album is releasing this summer
In addition to her collaboration with Charli XCX, Rae released two singles in late 2024 off her forthcoming debut album. The first, “Diet Pepsi,” landed the singer her first hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, while the second, “Aquamarine,” received positive reviews for its dance-pop beats but has yet to chart. Her latest track, “High Fashion,” came out this February and has earned similar praise for its breathy vocals and synth instrumentals.
On Sunday, she performed a version of “Aquamarine” with performer Arca during the latter’s Coachella set. Rae also used her time on stage to announce that her untitled album will be released on June 6.
Catherine Caruso joined the Biography.com staff in August 2024, having previously worked as a freelance journalist for several years. She is a graduate of Syracuse University, where she studied English literature. When she’s not working on a new story, you can find her reading, hitting the gym, or watching too much TV.
