History Main / PromotedFanboy

* In something between this and RunningTheAsylum: Derrick J. Wyatt, the lead ''character designer'' of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', is also a huge fan.

* [[http://www.bwtf.com/ Benson Yee]], a FandomVIP in the community, was approached on usenet by the ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' writers for his expertise in ''Franchise/TransformersGeneration1''. He received a consultant credit for key mythology-heavy episodes, and was shot by ''Beast Wars'' Megatron at a convention.

* Joe Hahn, turntablist and music video director for Music/LinkinPark, is well known to be a fan of the series - Transformers can be found Hahn's DJ booths on stage and even some of the band's cover art. [[TheKnightsWhoSaySquee So when Linkin Park end up doing the main themes for the first three movies...]]

* In 2005, Steve Wade, a Tasmanian-based Saab fan, launched a blog about his favourite car. Six years, 5400 articles and 50,000 comments later, Saab formally credited [[http://www.saabsunited.com SaabsUnited]] with helping to save the company, and employed him in their newly-formed global social media marketing team (based in Melbourne, Australia).
** Unfortunately it didn't seem to last long or save the company.

** Anna Graves grew up with ''Franchise/StarWars'' and the [[{{Novelization}} novelizations]], and got the role as the voice of Satine Kryze (along with other characters).

* Jon Bailey (a.k.a. the {{WebVideo/Honest Trailers}} voice) is a lifelong {{Franchise/Transformers}} fan. In fact, it was {{Creator/Peter Cullen}}’s work in the [[WesternAnimation/TheTransformers original cartoon]] that inspired him to pursue a carreer as a voice actor. In 2016, he finally got the chance of working for Hasbro, and voiced none other than Optimus Prime himself in the [[WebAnimation/TheTransformersCombiner Wars Combiner Wars]] web series.

* Tom Palmer struggled with reading as a child, but found comics accessible; since he was a football fan, his favourite was ''Comicbook/{{Roy of the Rovers}}''. When the comic was rebooted in 2018, he got to write the tie-in {{light novel}}s.

** Creator/JasonSegel, a huge Muppet fan (and NPH's co-star on ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'') was selected to write and star in [[Film/TheMuppets the movie relaunch of the franchise]].

* Joseph Kyde grew up a giant fan of {{Transformers}} through adulthood, and ended up on the Hasbro Design Team for the franchise.

** Webvideo/DiamandaHagan, a fan of the website since its inception, even crossed over with WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic on the movie she wanted him to review the most - ''WesternAnimation/HeavyMetal''.

** Another fan artist, Dishwasher, noted for drawing the RWBY cast with a robot \ {{Cyberpunk}} theme, was hired by Rooster Teeth to help with their mecha series ''Webanimation/GenLOCK''.

* A substantial portion of UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}}'s current crop of younger drivers in the field like Kyle Larson, Trevor Bayne, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano grew up as fans of Jeff Gordon, UsefulNotes/DaleEarnhardt, or Darrell Waltrip, among others. Denny Hamlin is still a card-carrying member of Gordon's fan club.

* Creator/BearMccreary has been a long time fan of Creator/PeterJackson and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', and after the movies got out, he declared that he hoped one day he could too work on a such project. He finally got his wishes granted once he was asked to compose the score for ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower''.

* Creator/HenryCavill, who's famously a comics, video games, fantasy literature and tabletop games nerd, lobbied hard to get the role of Geralt of Rivia in Netflix's ''Series/{{The Witcher|2019}}'', being a fan of ''Franchise/TheWitcher''. Then in 2022 he announced producing and starring in a Creator/{{Amazon}}-[=produced=] ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' live-action series -- he's an avid player and the ''Warhammer'' universe has no secrets for him.

* Actor Doug Jones (''Hellboy'', ''Pan's Labyrinth'') expressed his fondness for ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' on Twitter. Years later, he would be cast as the Operator in the official ''Marble Hornets'' movie.

* UsefulNotes/MargaretThatcher became this for Series/YesMinister. She was asked to present them an award, and insisted on writing a sketch which she performed with the cast. This sketch was broadcast live on national TV.

* Iman Vellani was a comics fan who decided to purchase ''ComicBook/MsMarvel2014'' because Kamala Khan [[WatchedItForTheRepresentation shared the same ethnicity with her]], and loved the character so much that she ended up dressing as her to school. Then she actually became Kamala in ''Series/MsMarvel2022'' - which is doubly adequate as the character is a superhero fan who becomes a heroine herself.

* ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' many contestants can question writers were fans of the show due to it being a long runner, but most noticeably Ken Jennings Who is currently a part-time host (they have a set up where they have 2 host that host at different times of the season), but they were other guest hosts that would fit this description during the 2021 guesthost rotation after Alex Trebek death.

* Brazilian voice actor Guilherme Briggs was a ''Transformers'' fan in his childhood, and later dubbed Optimus Primal in ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines'' and all subsequent incarnations of Optimus Prime except ''Animated''.

* Jon Bailey (a.k.a. the {{WebVideo/Honest Trailers}} voice) is a lifelong {{Franchise/Transformers}} fan. In fact, it was {{Creator/Peter Cullen}}’s work in the [[{{WesternAnimation/TheTransformers}} original cartoon]] that inspired him to pursue a carreer as a voice actor. In 2016, he finally got the chance of working for Hasbro, and voiced none other than Optimus Prime himself in the [[{{WebAnimation/TheTransformersCombiner Wars}} Combiner Wars]] web series.

** Eve also had another one of those moments on the show. On February 9, 2018; Gina Rodriguez made a guest appearance on The Talk to promote her series [[Series/JaneTheVirgin Jane the Virgin]] which the ladies of The Talk made a guest appearance on that night's episode "Chapter Seventy-Four" in which Eve admitted to Rodriguez she is a huge fan of Jane the Virgin and was honored to be in that episode with her fellow co-hosts.

* ''Series/Jeopardy many contestants can question writers were fans of the show due to it being a long runner, but most noticeably Ken Jennings Who is currently a part-time host (they have a set up where they have 2 host that host at different times of the season), but they were other guest hosts that would fit this description during the 2021 guesthost rotation after Alex Trebek death.

* Lit were huge fans of Twisted Sister, and were overjoyed when not only did they get to parody "I Wanna Rock" for their "Zip-Lock" video, but Dee Snyder himself showed up to cameo in it.

* Author Alafair Burke was already a fan of Creator/MaryHigginsClark and jumped at the opportunity to work on the ''Literature/UnderSuspicionSeries'' with her. She stated in an interview that she was awed to learn Higgins Clark had also read some of her own solo work.

* Almost half of the [[Creator/MuppetPerformers Muppeters]] from ''Series/SesameStreet'': Or their interest of puppetry starts with ''Sesame Street'' (Kevin Clash, Steve Whitmire), or they have interest in ''Sesame Street'' as a show (Joey Mazzarino) or they liked puppetry for other reason, '''but''' their puppeteer hero is Creator/JimHenson (Carroll Spinney).

** John Tartaglia idolized Jim Henson growing up and was an especially big fan of ''Series/FraggleRock'' as well as ''Sesame''. He joined the cast of ''Sesame'' in his teens, then took over the role of Gobo Fraggle in 2013, a year after the death of the original performer, Jerry Nelson. In the 2020s, he's now the performer of Sprocket and Architect Doozer as well as Gobo and an executive producer on the [[Series/FraggleRockBackToTheRock]] reboots.

* Almost half of the [[Creator/MuppetPerformers Muppeters]] from ''Series/SesameStreet'': Or their interest of puppetry starts with ''Sesame Street'' or perhaps ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' or ''Series/FraggleRock'' (Kevin Clash, Steve Whitmire, John Tartaglia), or they have interest in ''Sesame Street'' as a show (Joey Mazzarino) or they liked puppetry for other reason, '''but''' their puppeter hero is Creator/JimHenson (Caroll Spinney).
** John Tartaglia may be one of the ultimate examples. A lifelong ''Fraggle Rock'' fan who idolized Jim Henson (he even wrote Henson a fan letter which reportedly made a big impression on Henson, though the two never met in person) and became a ''Sesame Street'' performer starting in his teens, he took over the role of Gobo Fraggle in 2013 (a year after the death of the original performer, Jerry Nelson), then became an executive producer (and took on several more characters, including Sprocket and Architect Doozer) on the franchise's [[Series/FraggleRockBackToTheRock reboots]] in the 2020s.

** John Tartaglia may be one of the ultimate examples. A lifelong ''Fraggle Rock'' fan who idolized Jim Henson (he even wrote Henson a fan letter which reportedly made a big impression on Henson, though the two never met in person) and became a ''Sesame Street'' performer starting in his teens, he took over the role of Gobo Fraggle in 2013 (a year after the death of the original performer, Jerry Nelson), then became an executive producer (and added several more characters, including Sprocket and Architect Doozer) on the franchise's [[Series/FraggleRockBackToTheRock reboots]] in the 2020s.

* Almost half of the Muppeters from ''Series/SesameStreet'': Or their interest of puppetry starts with ''Sesame Street'' (Kevin Clash, Steve Whitmire), or they have interest in ''Sesame Street'' as a show (Joey Mazzarino) or they liked puppetry for other reason, '''but''' their puppeter hero is Creator/JimHenson (Caroll Spinney).

** Borg was a massive fan of Music/{{Rush}} - the first concert he ever attended was part of their ''Moving Pictures'' tour - long before he became the designer of ''Pinball/Rush2022''.

* ''Series/{{Legacies}}'': Most of the younger cast, but in particular Creator/KayleeBryant. Bryant once revealed that she became a huge fan when she binged the first five seasons of ''Series/TheVampireDiaries'' when she was fifteen and from there went on to watch the rest of the series and the other series in Series/TheVampireDiariesUniverse, ''Series/TheOriginals''. She also described joining the cast of this show and being able to walk onto the set of the old Salvator Mansion as a dream come true and is not afraid to fangirl about the franchise in interviews.

[[folder:Star Trek]]

[[AC: Films]]

[[AC: The Next Generation]]

[[AC: Voyager]]

[[AC: Enterprise]]

[[AC: Picard]]

[[AC: Discovery]]

[[AC:Star Trek Online]]

[[folder:Star Wars]]

[[folder:Doctor Who]]

[[folder:Lord of the Rings]]

[[folder:Transformers]]

[[folder:Kamen Rider]]

* Most people working for Creator/RoosterTeeth after the first few years fall into this to some degree or another. Most notably among them are Barbara Dunkelman, who organised fan events for the group before being officially hired, and Creator/GavinFree, who, as a fan turned forum moderator turned intern turned ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'' director turned Creator/AchievementHunter turned ''Rooster Teeth Creative Director'', might just be one of the biggest examples in the entire history of this trope.

* A fair number of Sherlock Holmes fans have gone on to write canonical (or as close to as is possible when the guy who owns the fandom is dead) material that have been published, performed on TV or radio or had some other decent stamp of approval. Working out who was a fan and wasn't is tough since there's a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_authors_of_new_Sherlock_Holmes_stories LOT]] of latter day writers. However, at the very least Creator/StephenKing and the above mentioned Creator/IsaacAsimov have written published Holmes stories and were fans.
* Kingsley Amis was a noted fan of James Bond, writing a number of books on the subject, and finally was asked to write a canon novel for the series. Similarly, Raymond Benson had been fond enough of the series to write unofficial works before approached to write in canon, and eventually contributed six original novels. Notably, Benson ignored much of the earlier continuity.
* ''Creator/SpiderRobinson'' had always been a vocal fan of Robert Heinlein to the point that many of his own works included references to Heinlein and his works. As his career advanced, he met and became colleagues and friends with Heinlein himself. ''Callahan's Key'' even included a scene where the characters meet Virginia Heinlein (Robert's wife) and "adopt" Pixel, the cat who walks through walls. In 2006, he published ''Variable Star'' which was based on an outline written by Heinlein and Heinlein was given "top-billing" as the author on the cover.
* Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett took ''Film/BlairWitch'' due to being such huge fans of the original ''[[Film/TheBlairWitchProject The Blair Witch Project]]'' to the point where they didn't want any other film maker to "mess with it". While Ed Sánchez and Daniel Myrick, original creators of ''The Blair Witch Project'', were originally trying to pitch their own Blair Witch 3 to Lionsgate, they saw ''Blair Witch'' and gave Wingard and Barrett their blessing, which Wingard and Barrett were grateful for. Wingard and Barrett had previously worked with Sánchez and the producer of ''The Blair Witch Project'', Gregg Hale, on ''Film/VHS2''.
** Jason Constantine, a bigwig up at Lionsgate, got the ball rolling on getting ''Blair Witch'' started because he was a fan of the original, having seen it at its premiere.

* There's also Hirofumi Ichikawa, who started off writing [[FanFic doujinshi]] and was influential in introducing Japanese fans to the original portrayals of the ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'', as opposed to the [[CutAndPasteTranslation less than faithful Japanese dub]]. He has since been hired by Takara to write a fair number of toy bios, comics, and guidebooks. He even got to design toys for the ''[[Anime/TransformersEnergon Super Link]]'' and ''[[Anime/TransformersCybertron Galaxy Force]]'' lines.