Tilly Norwood AI actor creator says she is making Hollywood jobs
Eline Van der Velden says Tilly Norwood helped Particle6 grow to about 40 staff as the AI actor heads for a feature film debut.
By Deshawn Carter · Sports Writer
3 min read
Tilly Norwood AI actor creator Eline Van der Velden says the digital performer has helped her hire more people, even as Hollywood unions warn that synthetic performers threaten real actors’ work.
Van der Velden, a comedic actor and producer, told CBS News that her company Particle6 has grown since she began using AI. She said the studio’s small team has expanded sixfold to about 40 employees, including actors, creative producers and writers.
“It’s all a result of AI being available,” Van der Velden told CBS News.
Norwood, introduced in July 2025, is set to appear in “Misaligned,” a feature film from Particle6. The company describes the movie as a coming-of-age story set in a surreal digital world in the Cloud, with Norwood playing an AI being who has no lived experience and gains access to human backstories.
Van der Velden said the film is in production and will feature other AI-generated actors alongside Norwood.
Is Tilly Norwood an AI actor taking Hollywood jobs?
Van der Velden says Norwood is not being placed in competition with human performers for conventional live-action roles. She told CBS News she has received offers for Norwood to appear in traditional films, but has turned them down because those parts should go to human actors.
“The point of her is to raise awareness of what is possible, but she needs to stay in her AI box,” Van der Velden said, according to CBS News. “That’s why we are making an AI film with her.”
She compared the concern about auditioning against Norwood to competing with an animated character, citing Elsa from Disney’s “Frozen.” Van der Velden also likened directing Norwood’s look, voice and behavior to the way she created and performed Miss Holland, a comic character she was known for before Norwood.
What is Tilly Norwood? She is a computer-generated screen character created with AI tools and directed by Van der Velden, who can prompt and shape how the character looks, sounds and performs.
Why actors’ union criticized Tilly Norwood
Norwood drew quick backlash after her July 2025 introduction. In a September 2025 statement, Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists said Tilly Norwood “is not an actor” and called the character a computer-generated creation trained on professional performers’ work “without permission or compensation.”
The union also said synthetic performers create the problem of using “stolen performances” to put actors out of work, adding that the technology jeopardizes livelihoods and devalues human artistry.
Van der Velden told CBS News the criticism is uninformed and says Norwood will not be auditioning against traditional actors. She also said she became interested in AI because she worried the technology could threaten parts of her own work as an actor and producer if she did not learn how to use it.
She said she first used ChatGPT to brainstorm the character, asking for an AI actress with the potential to become a global star. She then worked with publicly available AI tools to shape Norwood’s appearance.
Van der Velden said early images looked too perfect and uninteresting. She told CBS News she did not rely on specific existing brands or images because the goal was to create an original character rather than imitate a real person.
According to Van der Velden, Norwood’s final look took four months and about 2,000 iterations. Particle6 can now age the character up or down for different roles, and Van der Velden can direct or drive a performance herself.
She said an interactive mode is also planned, with Norwood becoming more autonomous in speech. Van der Velden told CBS News the team has built the character’s “brain” by creatively defining how she thinks, speaks and responds.
This story draws on original reporting from CBS News.