20 Heroes Of Popular Memes Then Vs. Now

Memes have become part of our culture, one that is embraced worldwide. In the making of memes, however, the faces of people and creatures that we are so used to – let’s be honest – we sometimes forget that these people are real. They’re no more kids, and it has been years since the doge meme was out.

Fame is an amazing and scary thing. Some of these people became worldwide famous, while some continue their normal life. Check out how they look like now and what they might be doing as years have gone by.

Chloe’s concerning side-eye.

Lily and her sister Chloe were took on a surprise Disneyland trip in a YouTube video. While Lily was elated, Chloe wore this concerned/confused look on her face.

Drew Scanlon’s repeatedly blinked his white eyes.

Drew Scanlon is a video producer of ‘Giant Bomb’ gaming site. This meme was from a scene where Jeff Gerstmann, his editor-in-chief, gave a surprising comment on ‘Unprofessional Fridays’ show and he blinked his eyes in shock.

Mia Talerico from ‘Good Luck Charlie.’

‘Good Luck Charlie’ meme of Mia Talerico who’s now 12 years old is often used to show ‘I don’t know.’

Kayode Ewumi’s roll safe.

Kayode Ewumi was talking about women with ‘good brains’ as the ones that are truly beautiful. This episode appeared from a BBC Three mini-documentary series ‘Hood Documentary’ where he acted as one of the character.

Kyle Craven, the bad luck Brian.

His name wasn’t Brian, but Kyle. This was his picture from his yearbook and it was posted in 2012. Kyle actually made his face red by rubbing sweater on it, then he purposely wore a weird smile for the picture.

Nick Young confusion.

Nick Young is an NBA basketball player and this question-mark-meme is taken from his 2014 web-series ‘Thru The Lens.’ Satisfyingly, this confused face appeared because Nick’s mom called him a ‘clown’ when it comes to his demeanor as a teen.

Zoe Roth was the disaster girl.

Zoe’s dad, Dave, took this picture in 2004 when they went to check out the firefighters working to control a blazing fire just a few blocks away from their home. The picture went viral in 2007 which won a competition on a photography magazine and now she’s the epic disaster girl.

Zeddie Smith, ridiculously photogenic even for a meme.

Zeddie Smith’s perfect smile when he was running in Cooper River Bridge Run in 2012 is a perfect meme. His picture was shared by a programmer who thinks he looks so handsome.

Michael McGree trying to hold his fart next to a cute girl in class.

The person who submitted this picture on Reddit 6 years ago was McGee’s friend. McGee explained that he was able to make that face anytime he wants, too.

Dustin Mattson the hipster barista.

This meme first came out in 2011 and it was captioned with ‘I got this tattoo for my love of coffee, I got this one because it’s ironic.’ Apparently, Dustin is not really glad about how the culinary industry becomes the butt of the joke. He said in an interview with Eater.com, “To me, it’s very telling on how we laud farm-to-table food, craft beer, cocktail mixology, but it’s ok to have no respect for the specialty coffee world and the people who are committed to it.”

The possessive girlfriend, Laina Morris.

Laina Morris did upload her YouTube video in 2012 to depict a clingy girlfriend image. It was a parody of Justin Bieber’s ‘Boyfriend’ song, which soon became a famous internet meme. But since then, she’s been facing horrible privacy issues with strangers trying to find her personal information. She announced that she was quitting as a YouTube in 2019.

Silvia Bottini with her first-world problem.

Silvia Bottini is a famous Italian actress who won her first Best Actress award at the age of 18.

Sam Griner the success kid.

This picture of Sam clenching his fist like he’s aiming for success was actually his attempt to eat sand. The picture was taken by his mom Laney in 2017 and was shared on Flickr. It was first captioned with ‘I hate sandcastles’ because that fist of sand was from a destroyed sandcastle (that was built by another kid). He doesn’t actually hate sandcastles.

Giorgio Tsoukalos says it’s the aliens’ fault.

Giorgio Tsoukalos is a ufologist from Swiss as well as a TV-presenter. He was made famous through his appearance in ‘Ancient Aliens’ and believe strongly that ancient aliens once communicated with ancient humans.

Jordan Peele sweating really hard.

Who doesn’t know ‘Key and Peele’ from Comedy Central? Peele’s scene from one of the comedy scripts in September 2013 went viral here.

Maggie “Ermahgerd” Goldenberger.

The very nerdy pronunciation of ‘oh my God’ started from a picture of Maggie Goldenberger, an 11-year-old girl holding her favorite books. This picture of her dressing up with her friends from 2012 went viral quickly.

Blake Boston, the scumbag Steve.

Blake Boston, or Weezy B. from Beantown Mafia, is the man in this picture taken by his own mother. The picture first appeared in the virtual world on January 2011.

Igor Nazarov, the schoolboy in a swamp.

He was 16 when his picture in a swamp with his desk went viral in 2016. It turns out to be a photoshoot he used to attempt winning an unusual photo contest for a $277 prize.

András Arató as Harold holding back his cries.

The pained meme of Harold began in 2011. András Arató was asked to take pictures for stock photography when a photographer said his expressions looked perfect. He’s now famous enough to talk about his ‘meme-hero’ lifestyle on TedTalk in Ukraine.

Vladimir Brest’s dramatic Dmitry.

This man is Russian musician Vladimir Brest and he released an album in April 2011. Apparently, it was his album’s cover that was used and Brest was pretty elated about the popularity. But when asked about it, the musician explained that he wishes to not be considered as a person responsible for ‘degradation and corruption of the younger generation.’