Who is Paloma Diamond? Everything to know about the fictional Oscar-nominee amid the 97th Academy Awards

Paloma Diamond, a fictional character created by content creator Julian Sewell, is making headlines, from giving interviews to media outlets to appearing on ABC's Good Morning America.

According to The Hollywood Reporter's publication dated February 24, the 29-year-old high school teacher-turned-content creator, Julian Sewell, is from New Zealand. His fictional character first went viral on TikTok in 2023. In the video titled Every Best Actress Award Intro, he parodied the Oscars and Hollywood movie tropes.

According to the media outlet, Sewell's fictional character, Paloma Diamond, is a veteran actress who the Academy has snubbed as she has 20 nominations with no wins. The grey-bobbed character is inspired by Cate Blanchett, Glenn Close, and Susan Lucci.

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Julian Sewell on the creation of Paloma Diamond

Julian Sewell's fictional character Paloma Diamond. [Image via Instagram/@juliansew]

In an interview with Vulture on January 31, 2024, Julian Sewell shared that the soaring popularity of his fictional character caught him off guard. Because of the fans' demands, he kept working on the backstories and additional characters. He said,

"I did not expect for it to get the amount of attention it did. I just kept up with the universe, because that’s what people wanted. You always give the people what they want, right? So I just kind of started developing these characters, particularly the character of Paloma whom everybody wanted to see."

Jewell also shared that the name was inspired by American singer-songwriter Neil Diamond since it sounded like a "star-studded name." He said,

"Everyone I speak to about it, I’ll ask, “Why is it Paloma of all people? Why was it not Justina Sorgen?” And a lot of people said, “I think it’s the name. It’s such a star-quality name.” I kind of pulled “Diamond” from Neil Diamond. Diamond is a star-studded name."

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Paloma Diamond's interview where she talked about being snubbed by the Academy

Julian Sewell's satirical interview with The Hollywood Reporter goes in-depth with the lore of Paloma Diamond. In the interview, the actress revealed how painful it was to be nominated for Best Actress 20 times and lose every single time. In the interview, she wondered why the Academy treated her this way for years. She said:

"It’s a touchy subject. Sometimes I think to myself, and I wonder: What is it that I’ve done? Who have I hurt? Who have I betrayed , if there has been a betrayal, and why? Why the need to single me out as an actress? Why am I the one that has to succumb to all of these losses? I can’t help but ask those questions. It’s really hard for me to fathom and to contemplate. What I will say is that it has hurt me."

When asked about her alleged feud with the rising star Lorelai Lynch, she clarified that there's no bad blood between them. However, she seemingly dissed the actress by saying there's a reason why she wasn't nominated for Oscars this year.

"Absolutely not. There’s no bad blood at all. That’s not what Paloma does or what she stands for. All I’m saying is that Lorelai — without pointing fingers, there’s a reason why she’s not nominated," she said.

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For the unversed, Julian Sewell has more than 2 million followers on TikTok and nearly 1 million followers on Instagram.