PEORIA — On the face of it, Seth Boyer’s body of work might make him the first member of a Mount Rushmore for content creators in the Peoria area.
The 28-year-old actor and rising social media star dominated the nominations and the voting in the Journal Star’s 2026 inaugural Content Creators project.
He has made himself a must-watch on TikTok, captivating more than 100,000 followers with a single word:
“PeORRiaa!”
That is Boyer’s trademark video opening line for trips to local restaurants, showing off his favorite menu finds at an array of local eateries.
The man whose acting credits include over 20 speaking roles is comfortable as a main character in both film and content worlds.
So is he an actor who is also a content creator? Or is he now a content creator who also works as an actor?
“I think deep down 20 years from now it would be sweet to be known as an actor,” Boyer said. “But I consider myself a creator now. The videos even scratch my artistic itch. I love posting my guitar, my music, and skate-boarding videos. I still act.
“But I do think what I’m doing right now with the food content will be forever. I’m having a blast sharing more music stuff. I promote the city I was born and raised in and share everything I do. At the end of the day, it will always be about Peoria.”
Writing his own script
Boyer, a 2016 Peoria Heights High School grad, headed to Bradley University as a pre-dental major.
He soon switched majors to teaching. Then personal training. Eventually he settled on theater for his last few semesters on the Hilltop. Inspired, he left school and moved to Chicago to pursue acting, training under professional actors.
“Chicago Fire” was his break into big-budget television. He had a speaking role as a studio musician who survived a fire in Season 12, episode 9 around 2024.
He starred in a 2025 short film, Mara, for which he won a lead actor award. And he’s cast in a supporting role alongside Dee Wallace (“ET”) and Kathy Garver (“Family Affair”) in “The Thing About Pickles,” a movie shooting now in the Chicago area.
“It’s a drama, and I’ve already met Dee,” Boyer said. “My character dies in it and is a ghost.”
Boyer is also an elite-level skateboarder, with an array of trick moves. And he knows his way around a guitar, too.
“Good old fashioned metal riffs,” he said. “I’m a big supporter of that. I just love metal guitar.”
Setting the table for Peoria food content
Boyer discovered the Chicago market was packed with content creators for food, often visiting a restaurant to make a video and seeing six or seven others there doing the same thing.
He moved back down to Peoria and saw an untapped market.
“When I first started there were not really any food creators around Peoria for me to follow in their footsteps,” Boyer said. “It seems like every day now I am seeing new ones showing up on the platforms. I hope in some way I was able to build a template, a path for others to follow.
“For me, the invitations from restaurants are nonstop, almost overwhelming. They are usually very happy to see me.”
His TikTok videos have surpassed 10 million views. He’s putting content on Facebook now. He’s approaching 10,000 subscribers on YouTube and 33,000 on Instagram.
“Really, when posting became fun, when it became easy, is when I was posting to an audience of pretty much me,” Boyer said. “Videos I’m proud of. Videos I would watch. Like-minded people.
“Be authentic and you’ll get support eventually.”
Coming to life
Boyer is not just a creator, he’s also a content consumer, and two of his favorites in the Peoria area are media/drone operator Chris LeCrone, who creates majestic flyovers of the Peoria area, and Zack Belk, the self-proclaimed “Best Hooper in the P.”
“Chris LeCrone amazes me with his talent and his skill,” Boyer said. “It takes some guts to put yourself on camera. But what he does, to capture those angles, those views, the right time, the right place. I love it.
“Zack Belk, the energy he has, and the encouraging message he puts out, it’s rewarding. His show is funny, it’s the longest-running joke I’ve ever heard, just fantastic. He’ll invite anyone to that beautiful outdoor basketball court he has. Whatever he’s doing, I’m a fan of it.”
The bottom line
For Boyer, his social media influencer role is rewarding for the intangibles it brings him.
He’s not chasing dollars.
“I see a clear pathway for me to make a living at this,” he said. “But do I want to turn something I love doing so much into a job? There is a way to make a living from this. But I’m content with where I’m at.”
He has a steady job outside influencing and acting, handling technology for a company in the area.
“I get asked for merchandise from followers on my platforms, but I don’t have any,” Boyer said. “I get asked to do meet-and-greets, too. Hey, you can meet me at the Beck’s every day, I’m there all the time. You don’t need to pay me $5 to do that.
“So what is the reward? When I do this, I really come to life.”
Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men’s basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at deminian@pjstar.com. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: ‘It will always be about Peoria’: Actor plays leading role among local content creators
Reporting by Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star / Journal Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Dave Eminian, Peoria Journal Star | USA TODAY Network
