How a K-Drama show inspired Evan Tan to defy the odds and reach TikTok stardom

Evan Tan had to prove to his parents that there is a future in content creation
by Carlos Pineda and Mario Alvaro Limos | Jun 29, 2023

Evan Tan graduated cum laude and is a licensed engineer. He became a TikToker. 

BY LOOKING at Evan Tan's TikTok account, one may argue that he already has the tools for him to succeed.

A Korean-esque appearance with a penchant for comedy are definitely the major selling points of his content, in fact his TikTok account boasted over 11.8 million followers and 317.5 million likes.

A first glance at his TikTok channel would make the general audience believe that he is a foreigner, specifically from Korea, only for them to be surprised that he is a Filipino.

And when Evan visited malls around the country, he would be approached by casual mall-goers, who are left in disbelief to find out his Filipino roots.

"They were like, 'Wait, isn't he the one on TikTok? I thought he was abroad because I look like I'm Korean or something. They're surprised, 'He's from the Philippines," recounted Tan in an exclusive interview with Spin.ph.

His parents was with him when this happened and it was during that moment where they discovered that their son is a famous influencer.

While some would consider this as a proud moment, Evan Tan's parents were left disappointed.

"They were like, 'We're going to talk later.' At first, yeah, they didn't like it because they thought it would be a distraction. They want the best for me, which I understand," reflected Tan.

He added: I was like, 'Oh my gosh! No let's not go home, let's stay out. Let's not go home so we won't talk. It's scary of course, at that time it was a struggle."

Evan Tan

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Living under high expectations

Being the eldest son in a Chinese family, there was much pressure placed on Evan Tan. His parents had an extremely rigged way of disciplining him and this was evident with his daily routine as a student.

"So I was born in a Chinese family in Baguio, but I was born here in the Philippines. I'm not Korean. I have major protective parents, strict, like most Chinese family and mostly focused on school. So my life was just house and school routine and yeah, it's like very Chinese."

And in order to break the unending cycle, Tan became active in extracurricular activities, something that he truly cherished.

"And academically I did well. I was an honor student, but I didn't like school, I hated it so much. I mostly like extracurricular things, so like music, sports, creative stuff.

"So like when I was still grade school, I would join drawing contests or I was doing stop motion even though I was in grade school and yeah, I used to play guitar at school, church event."

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Yet despite a very productive session in school, his parents were against his activities.

"Actually my parents weren't super supportive because they wanted me to focus on academics which is understandable. They thought of it as a distraction," reflected Tan.

Evan Tan

Discovering K-Drama

Going into college, Tan was unsure what course he will take. In the end, he chose engineering as this was in line with the family's business.

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Was it something he enjoyed? Well according to Evan: "I didn't really like it. It wasn't really my interest. I just hated school at that time so it was hard for me because it felt heavy going to school, going to university, no interest, you know that feeling, right?"

It didn't matter if Evan was an honor student in college given the numerous Dean's Lister awards he garnered as he still felt like a lifeless corpse in college.

It seemed he was destined to reach a breaking point in his journey until he watched the South Korean television show 'Who Are You: School' (2015), starring Kim So-Hyun. From there, an inspiration came.

"I think it was my second year in college, so hindi ako nag-K-12, that I watched K-Drama. So yeah I fell in love with the story and how K-Dramas go you know, I got hooked and I fell in love with the main character there and she became like my first celebrity crush," revealed Tan.

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"And then when I looked up her age, I saw that she was my age rin. So I thought to myself, 'What am I doing with my life? I'm just following the flow, I'm going to school and going home. I didn't even go out. I felt like I was kind of lost. I didn't know what to do with my future so I said to myself, I should try to do something else."

Evan wanted to pursue something creative, hence his decision to dig deep into being an influencer. His initial attempts were futile.

"So I said, 'Okay, maybe I can go into acting,' but I was in Baguio and there was no way I could go to castings. Diba my parents are strict? So I said, maybe I should do it in social media. Maybe someone will discover me there. I started posting Instagram photos. It wasn't growing. So I felt like maybe it wasn't going to work anyway."

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That is until he discovered TikTok.

Evan Tan

Venturing into TikTok

With the pandemic reaching its peak and taking a toll on the lives of many, comes the explosion of one of the most popular social media platforms, TikTok.

Many creators started digging deep into TikTok during the pandemic and Evan became a part of that trend. But before he could explode, Evan did a lot of the usual nitty-gritty work.

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"I'm more of like, I see things more analytically. I like numbers, so I like to do research. I actually use different sites and I look at what videos are trending right now in the Philippines who are on top. So, I was able to study like, okay for girls, it seems like the ones that are trending for girls is people who do vlog videos, online selling, dancing."

"When it came to guys, none of those worked for them. There was no guy that reached like 10 million that was just dancing, just doing vlogs. Like nothing."

One important thing he discovered was that comedy was the primary selling point for men. From being a pa-cute style content creator, Evan started to diversify his options.

"But I was able to notice that guys specifically did well in comedy videos compared to girls. So back then, I would just do the usual TikTok, pa-cute, very simple."

"Then I was like, you know what, this isn't going to work. This isn't for long term. So, I transferred to comedy too, which is where I really studied. This is where it would do well long term," he recalled.

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And while some would argue that he was a natural for this role, deep inside Evan was a taciturn individual hiding behind a persona.

"It was like very far from me because personally, I'm a very shy person. Like introverted talaga ako and comedy, you have to be outgoing, willing to embarrass yourself."

"But what helped me, I think, is that the content I personally consume is comedy. So my thought in mind is that I wanted to create videos that I myself would want to watch on my own field. So, that's kind of what helped me."

"I connected what I watched, the content I watched, and translated it into the content that I produce," he revealed.

And to further improve his craft, Evan looked for means to broaden his audience.

"So, what I did is instead of making Filipino jokes, I made English jokes. That way, I can reach more people, right? And I went even beyond making English jokes and made it nonverbal so that anyone can understand it. So, there's no more language barrier."

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He added: "If you only speak Spanish, you can understand because it's nonverbal, right? I was able to get lots of posts. I have a lot from the US, Mexico, Brazil, Indonesia, Thailand, even India."

Evan Tan

Acceptance

All of his research eventually led to him being a popular figure on TikTok to the point where people recognized him in public places.

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Yet despite the popularity he garnered back then, his parents couldn't accept his passion right away. Evan had to look for ways to keep his career a secret.

"I continued to hide it actually for some time. For example, my ring light. Every time I had to make a video with the ring light and then once I'm done filming, I hide it in a corner of my room with boxes. So they didn't know I had the ring light."

But this all changed the moment he started earning through his content and with him being a consistent Dean's Lister, his parents finally accepted his venture.

"Eventually when they saw that it was growing and that it could be a good career, they started supporting me."

"And they saw that I was doing okay in school. So they weren't questioning me as much.
Although it took quite a lot of time for them to accept that side. I'm just thankful that right now, they're supportive," he revealed.

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Eventually, Tan graduated with Cum Laude honors in 2020 and passed the board exams two years later.

Then he managed to appear in Family Feud and guested in Eat Bulaga. He also has a role in GMA's upcoming film entitled, Cheating Game, starting Rayver Cruz and Julie Anne San Jose.

From a college kid who just dreamt of becoming a part of castings, he is now living his dream.

A blooming flower

Looking back at all the highs and lows in his journey, Evan shared his advice to aspiring content creators.

Evan managed to balance his content creation and studying life because he realized the importance of his education, which was something that his parents emphasized.

Being a content creator isn't a bed of roses as there are a lot of factors to consider.

"Don't give up on your school and academics just because you want to go into creatives.
I think it's still the best decision to give your studies your all. Because as much as I want to say that everyone can be a content creator, I have to say it's really competitive especially now, super daming creators. It's really hard."

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"So you just have to do your best wherever you're planted and the flower will bloom."

And despite the success he garnered, Evan still believes that he hasn't yet reached his peak. However, his passion for content creation is his primary motivator.

"Although there's still a long way to go. Of course, I'm not super big or what.
But seeing how I'm able to earn doing what I love, which is actually a privilege and a blessing."


Photos courtesy of Hepmil and Evan Tan.

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