Editor’s Note: This article is part of CNN’s Undivided series, which chronicles how Americans of very different backgrounds have found common ground. In this series, which runs through the midterm elections, we profile unlikely friendships between people of differing ages, races, religions and cultures.
CNN
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Annie Korzen begins auditions with a statement most people wouldn’t expect from an 83-year-old:
“Hi, I’m Annie Korzen. I live in Los Angeles. I’m 5’3”. And I have almost 400,000 followers on TikTok.”
It still amazes Korzen, an actor who describes herself as a longtime bit player who’d struggled to find a large audience. Now her TikToks have more than 8 million likes and thousands of supportive comments. And none of it would have happened, she says, if it weren’t for an unexpected friendship with someone who’s more than 50 years younger.
“Even though we have totally different backgrounds in every way possible,” she says, “we really are soulmates.”
Mackenzie Morrison, 31, says she felt drawn to Korzen the moment they first met at a charity event.
Korzen was magnetic – a master storyteller who could make a roomful of people laugh. She had an impeccable sense of style. And she loved thrift shopping – a pastime Morrison also adores.
“When you meet another thrifter, you speak the same language very naturally,” Morrison says.
“She’s very much into finding the deal. And I love when you find something just so odd and interesting there’s nowhere else you can find it except if you were thrifting. … That’s what naturally drew us together.”
The day they met, neither one of them realized a rich friendship was taking root.
“No one expected us to be so close,” Morrison says.
Their shared love of vintage fashion soon led to a partnership reselling some of their favorite thrifting finds online.
But it would be more than a year before they embarked on a project together that both women describe as “life-changing.”
For years, Korzen was best known for appearing in several episodes of Seinfeld as Doris Klompus, a neighbor in Jerry’s parents’ Florida condo complex. More recently, she’s appeared on “Jane the Virgin” and “Pen15,” and she’s shared her storytelling skills on tour with The Moth.
But for the most part, the larger audience she craved eluded her.
“I’ve always been a bit player,” she says. “I’m the person who knows how to get a laugh on one line.”
One day, Korzen told Morrison she’d been thinking about trying to build a following by posting videos on Instagram.
Morrison steered her friend toward TikTok instead and offered to help shoot and edit the videos.
Neither one of them imagined how successful their foray into TikTok would become – though Morrison says there was no doubt in her mind that it was the perfect platform for Korzen.
“When we started, it was literally just like two teenagers running around her house, making videos. There was no plan. We were just laughing and having so much fun,” Morrison says.
That was in April 2021. And it wasn’t long before a TikTok started gaining steam that featured…