The next time you find yourself in a dark place, go viral on social media. It worked for Andi Marie Tillman.

In 2022, the Scott County, Tennessee native was trying to make it as an actor in Nashville, but times were tough.

“I was cleaning houses because I had gotten maybe two acting gigs all year. I was honestly kind of depressed,” Andi Marie said. “But it’s when you truly have nothing to lose that great things happen.”

One day in June 2022, Andi Marie decided to whip up a video skit featuring a gruff, overall-wearing feller named Papaw. In the video, Papaw shoots the breeze with a buddy down at Hardee’s, his thick drawl filling the air as he knocks the eatery’s biscuits and grumbles about how the high school football players are smokin’ dope. While watching, you can’t help but feel like you’ve known Papaw your whole life.

Still, when Andi Marie posted the video on Instagram and TikTok, she didn’t expect much.

“It came from a place of desperately needing to be creative,” she said. “I also thought my friends might see it and laugh.”

Andi Marie’s friends certainly saw the video. As did a slew of other people, many of whom left cheeky comments like, “Where did you get this video of my pawpaw at Hardee’s?!?!” and “THE ACCURACY.”

And so, a social-media star was born. 

Since then, Andi Marie has amassed nearly half a million followers on Instagram and 21 million likes on TikTok with a schtick that feels like a modern-day “Hee Haw.” For you youngin's, that was a hillbilly variety show that aired originally from 1969 to 1993 on CBS and can still be seen in reruns on RFD-TV.

There’s one big difference between Andi Marie and “Hee Haw” though. Excluding the occasional guest star, Andi Marie plays each and every character. This wild troop was inspired by friends, family members, and neighbors from her corner of Appalachia.

There are the aunts: Aunt Pam, a church gossip with lipstick so red it could stop traffic; Aunt Bethany, a woo-woo woman with a soft spot for crystals; and Xan, an auntie who is a little too medicated for her own good.

There’s also Braylon, a gothic gal with a taste for irony; Charlene, a big-haired beauty with a personality to match; and Meemaw, a soft-spoken soul with plenty of “bless your hearts” to go ‘round.

Andi Marie’s hillbilly circus also includes her personal favorite: Nashveratu, a vampire-turned-singer-songwriter chasing their shot at stardom in Nashville. Some would argue the character is a reflection of Andi Marie herself — an outsider, always looking in.

“Growing up, I remember being very emotional and feeling misunderstood,” Andi Marie said. “My parents were good parents, but I didn't always know how to articulate the complexity of what was going on inside me.”

As an outlet, Andi Marie turned to theater and comedy.

“I was one of those psychopaths who performed for their family,” she laughed. “I feel like they should do a study on people who perform for their families as children because, successful or not, something about us has to be pathological.” 

As Andi Marie got older and started watching “SNL” and “Mad TV,” her passion for performance grew.

“I went against my parents’ will and would use their camera. I actually recorded over some precious family memories making a parody music video,” she said. “So, when I was 10 or 11, they bought me a Sony Handycam, and I would get people from school to come over and do sketches with me.”

At age 12, Andi Marie got her first big break. She landed a role in a youth production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream" and has been acting professionally ever since.

In 2013, her career took her to Nashville, where she’s spent a decade making cameos in commercials and music videos.

Of course, she also spends her days filming fresh content for her loyal fanbase. This includes posting exclusive, subscriber-only content on Patreon and personalized shoutouts on Cameo, where fans can get a video from her directly. She even sells merch plastered with Nashveratu’s charming grimace.

When checks started arriving from Andi Marie’s social media venture, it was a game changer. She was able to quit cleaning houses and finally perform full time. “There’s something about getting a check, honest to God,” Andi Marie said in a recent interview with the magazine “Nashville Scene,” “you’ll put your soul on the line for that money.”

Beyond her social media success, Andi Marie has a lead role in an upcoming feature film and is currently working on a “cinematic sketch special.” (For now, she’s staying tight-lipped about the details of these projects.)

Looking ahead, she dreams of starring in her very own movie — “maybe a movie about someone who just goes completely insane,” she joked. “That’s always fun.”

But her real focus is the future of her quirky Appalachian characters.

“Right now, it’s easy to put these characters into familiar scenarios,” Andi Marie said, rattling off well-loved scenes like Pawpaw digging in the garden and the aunts gossiping at the hair salon. “But I love surrealism and would like to take these very grounded characters and put them in very unreal environments.”

When asked what that might look like, Andi Marie wasted no time firing off a response: “Pawpaw in space or aliens coming to meet Pawpaw,” she said. “I have to continue expanding my boundaries and hope that people come along for the ride.”