How Kalani Rodgers Balances Acting, Modeling, and Social Media
Kalani Rodgers
Traditionally, a triple threat in showbiz meant a performer who could sing, dance and act. However, internet sensation Kalani Rodgers is redefining what the term means as a talented actress, model, and social media content creator/influencer.
Kalani was born on 22nd March 2000 in Detroit, Michigan, USA, and has lived all over the US. The TikToker – who has over one million followers and 22.6 million likes at time of writing – currently resides in California for work reasons, having graduated from Sacramento State University in December 2022 with a B.A in Communications studies and a B.A in Fim Studies.
Kalani, who is African-American, is 5ft 6ins (168cm) tall.
Career
The 2009 short film “Dog Tags” was Kalani’s first acting project. From then on, she did steady commercia work and other indie roles which failed to garner much attention but helped her perfect her craft. After years of acting classes, she returned to screens in 2019 with a role as Rachel Jones in the comedy movie “What Ah Nerd”.
In 2021, Kalani portrayed Latayna in the action drama “Pick A Side”, which was written and directed by Edward Calvin Green and featured a talented African-American cast. Despite being a supporting character, Kalani gave an impressive performance that led to her latest role to date, that of DJ in “Waiting on the World…”.
Despite being a skilled actress, Kalani’s strong point is social media. Active on just about every internet platform imaginable, the influencer is constantly churning out content, be it a Twitch live stream, a TikTok comedy skit, or a racy OnlyFans video.
The model also makes sure to keep her name out there by doing frequent interviews, such as her appearance on the No Jumper podcast in December 2022. At the time, Kalani had gone viral for catching her ex- cheating on her, and the no-holds-barred conversation touched a number of personal topics such as her preference for dating NBA players, and her feelings towards Andrew Tate and other misogynistic content creators.
‘The first skit video where we actually took social media serious got like, over 12 million views,’ Kalani told No Jumper interviewer Flakko. The influencer’s formula clearly worked, as her skits were realistic enough to make people wonder if they were actually scripted or not, and kept them coming back for more.
By the time netizens caught on to the fact that Kalani’s videos were not 100% real, they were too invested to care. Her naturally bubbly personality was enormously helpful in launching her career, and as she became more popular, she began landing brand deals such as a Fashion Nova gig.
Unlike other content creators who slowly phase out their family-friendly photos and videos to focus exclusively on OnlyFans, Kalani remains faithful to her day one followers by continuing to upload the hilarious videos that they know and love. However, she occasionally uploads risqué photos on Instagram, and some fans even accused her of photoshopping her 23rd birthday photoshoot, which was taken in Cape Town, South Africa.
Most netizens first became aware of the content creator on TikTok when she pretended to be a jealous girlfriend, which remains their favorite character. Kalani’s most-viewed skits are “Showed up announced”, “This is how I speed date”, and “When I get a man this how ima move in first night guaranteed”; she describes herself as a ‘creator of aggressive/crazy girl skits’.
View this post on Instagram
Personal Life
As someone who reached public recognition by pretending to be a paranoid girlfriend, it’s only natural that people are curious about Kalani’s dating life behind cameras. The model was previously rumored to be in a relationship with fellow content creator Desmond Johnson, also known as RDC Desmond. In fact, the speculation grew to the point that Desmond and his fellow collective member, RDC Dylan, both chimed in.
The situation all went down in April 2023, when Kalani posted on Twitter ‘Boyfriend reveal in 30’, followed by a photo of Desmond scrolling through his phone with what was believed to be Kalani’s hand on his arm. Three days later, Desmond took to social media to explain that it had been an April Fool’s joke. Zooming in on the picture, the YouTuber said: ‘That is Dylan’s hand, y’all. That’s literally Dylan’s hand.’
However, two months prior, Kalani had also been linked to RDC Mark, the creator of the RDC collective. Mark hopped on Twitch to clear the air, and although he didn’t give a clear answer, he made it obvious that there was nothing going on between himself and the Instagram star.
It’s unclear how Kalani met the members of RDC (which stands for ‘Real Dreamers Change the World’, but the close bond that they share is undeniable. Mark Phillips, who is the founding member, face, and leader of the collective, is in charge of writing, directing, and executively producing the group’s content, which mainly consists of – you guessed it – comedy skits.
With that said, RDC’s skits are centered around sports and anime, which are the main interests of the members. Mark founded RDC with Affiong Harris in Waco, Texas, way back in 2012, and were later joined by Ben Skinner, Leland Manigo, John Newton, Desmond, and Dylan. The RDC YouTube channel was first created to promote the group’s manga, “The Resistance”, but eventually evolved into a lucrative million-dollar brand.
As many of RDC’s videos are sports-related, the collective has been involved in sports events such as the 2021 Dodgeball Showdown tournament which was hosted by House of Highlights. In 2022, Mark appeared in a commercial for the yearly National Basketball Association play-offs, and months later, the group entered into a partnership with the National Football League (NFL).
It took the RDCworld1 channel five years to hit a million subscribers, but since then they’ve been unstoppable. In 2018, they’ve launched the Dream Con, a multi-genre convention which allows fans of anime and videogame culture to link up and meet like-minded people. Lebron James and J. Cole are amongst the public figures who have referenced RDC’s work, and the group has also won and been nominated for various Streamy Awards.
Back to Kalani, she appears to be fully embracing her busy career, and uninterested in pursuing a serious relationship. The social media personality’s net worth is approximately $250,000, thanks to her content.
