Finally! Hollywood Found a Woman Who Can’t Age

Tilly Norwood might just be the fourth horseman of the apocalypse.

By Claire Guinan  |  October 3, 2025 | 1:49pm
Photo: Instagram Entertainment
Finally! Hollywood Found a Woman Who Can’t Age

This week has been nothing short of a gauntlet of devastating news stories that have completely ruined my mood. Whether it’s learning that Elon Musk is the first person to be worth $500 billion on the same day the rest of us hand over entire paychecks to rent or—somehow even worse—having to listen to a song about Travis Kelce’s manhood, every day manages to get a little bleaker. But then came the icing on the cake. The final straw. The fourth horseman: Tilly Norwood.

Norwood is an AI “actress,” conceived by Swedish actor and comedian Eline Van der Velden. She (It?) is the debut creation from Van der Velden’s AI talent studio, Xicoia, a spinoff of Particle6. And none of those words are in the Bible.

While actors and moviegoers recoiled in horror, Hollywood agents reportedly began “circling” to sign her/it. Gross. “When we first launched Tilly, people were like, ‘What’s that?’” Van der Velden said. “And now we’re going to be announcing which agency is going to be representing her in the next few months.”

Part of me thinks Eline Van Der Velden is just a Swedish film industry version of Elizabeth Holmes—and her grand vision for the future of AI acting as fake as Tilly’s poreless skin. (Looking forward to the biopic, though, if so.)

But to make matters worse, Tilly is, of course, a young woman. Or rather, she looks like one. Since she isn’t human, she technically has no age, but that doesn’t make it less troubling. The image of a forever-young, compliant AI woman, programmed to say “yes” to every direction, request, and demand screams danger. Instead of investing in women with voices, talent, and agency, the industry is experimenting with making the perfect actress who can’t push back or speak out.

Sean Astin, beloved actor and current president of SAG-AFTRA, said the backlash is justified but just one of many battles ahead:

“I appreciate that this story has captured the imagination of people, but it’s not the first shoe to drop. We had a 118-day strike, fighting very hard to put AI provisions and protections in place,” Astin said. “The teams at SAG-AFTRA have been in this fight for longer than people might realize. As technology continues to advance at light speed, we’re going to meet the challenge.”

I’m holding onto hope that this specific AI trend is just a trend, but that doesn’t ease the anxiety many are feeling about the future. Across all industries, people are losing out on jobs to AI. And did I mention that Elon Musk is worth 5oo Billion DOLLARS????

Anyways, Tilly didn’t respond to the request for comment—because she can’t! She is not a real human. Let’s all remember that.

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