About

Skyler Gisondo Smiling, also known as the Skyler Gisondo Red Carpet Meme, is a reaction image and image macro meme depicting a photo of American actor Skyler Gisondo, who became the subject of memes that captioned two photos of him smiling. The image of Gisondo originally comes from a 2015 red carpet photo taken during the release of the 2015 film Vacation.

The freckly-faced, white, male actor garnered humorous comparisons to niche, "white guy" archetypes, one of the most notable being "he looks like he can do a crazy trick on the trampoline," which was a part of a viral tweet shared in 2022 that sparked his use in memes. Thereafter, meme creators paired his image with various captions, spreading on Twitter and Instagram, among other platforms, throughout the 2020s. Gisondo would also later shout out the memes on his Instagram Story and other content, such as a 2026 Vanity Fair interview.

Origin

Skyler Gisondo is a 27-year-old American actor, known for his roles in Drake & Josh, The Social Dilemma, Licorise Pizza and Night at the Museum, among other films and TV shows.^[1]

The photo of Gisondo primarily used in the memes comes from his press tour for the 2015 movie Vacation.^[13]

Gisondo initially became the subject of memes and internet discourse on September 19th, 2020, when Redditor whatofitplaya shared a 2016 photo^[2] of him to /r/13or30,^[3] gaining roughly 5,000 upvotes in three years.

Despite the aforementioned usage, Gisondo didn't become a notable meme until a viral tweet was shared by Twitter^[4] user @dogmatic_shorty on February 23rd, 2022, that captioned the same photo of him with, "he looks like he can do a crazy trick on the trampoline," gaining roughly 113,800 likes in one year (shown below).

Spread

The February 23rd, 2022, tweet quickly gained viral reposts on Instagram^[5] and Tumblr^[6] in the following days.

The viral Instagram reposts then inspired a reaction from Gisondo, who shared @dogmatic_shorty's tweet on his Instagram story, writing, "Means a lot" and "Just feeling really seen right now" (shown below).

Screenshots of his stories were posted by Tumblr^[7] user milfchellepfeiffer on February 26th, 2022, gaining roughly 71,400 notes in one year.

Despite a 2022 origin, memes featuring Skyler Gisondo trended en masse starting in early 2023.

The resurgence was predominantly inspired by Twitter^[8] user @zachraffio on March 9th, 2023, who stated, "He had a quiet 2022. Too quiet. What is he planning," receiving roughly 49,100 likes in four months (shown below).

Then, on April 14th, 2023, Twitter^[9] user @savbrads quote retweeted a tweet about "a relatively unknown male in his 30s" who was said to be taking the role of James Bond in an upcoming film. The QRT used the image of Gisondo and received roughly 45,800 likes in three months (shown below).

Going into mid-2023, memes and tweets featuring Gisondo became increasingly commonplace, eventually including a secondary photo of him taken from his IMDb^[10] page.

Viral tweets^[11] with the second image originally surfaced in August 2022 and eventually inspired a photoshopped version that removed Gisondo's smile. The "unhappy" variant was originally posted by Twitter^[12] user @brokebackstan on July 16th, 2023, gaining over 60 likes in 12 days (shown below).

2026 Resurgence

Three years after the 2023 resurgence of the meme, Skyler Gisondo's meme began trending online again starting in late September 2026.

On September 30th, 2026, Twitter^[14] user @BYUsupersoaker shared a version joking that Gisondo was probably super hyper during recess in school, receiving over 743,000 views and 68,000 likes in a week.

On October 2nd, Twitter^[15] user @dicktective shared a meme using the photo alongside the caption, "I can picture him so clearly with blue stained teeth and lips from having slammed back an ICEE," garnering nearly 100,000 views and 9,000 likes in five days.

On October 5th, 2026, Gisondo again took notice of the memes and commented on a viral repost from the Instagram^[16] meme page @shitheadsteve, joking that he doesn't have a peanut allergy but feels "really seen here."

Additionally, Gisondo even changed his profile picture to the photograph used in the meme.

Gisondo also told Vanity Fair^[17] in an interview at the time about his favorite examples of the meme and what he thought of it:

"My favorite one was, 'This guy looks like he could do a crazy trick on the trampoline' or something. As an actor, the dream is to make stuff that means something to people, that they care about and that resonates.

To see that reflected in this way, whether it’s in memes or just in any kind of positive sentiment, it’s so sweet and fulfilling."

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References