'Omg I think I've become a meme': San Francisco photographer mistaken for Brazilian soap opera heroine becomes a viral star in South America

Helena Price, 26, has been inundated with tweets about a character from new Brazilian soap opera Em Familia named Helena



Blonde and part-Norwegian, Price looks nothing like the two brunette actresses who play Helena at different stages in her life

Fans of the show have been sharing Photoshopped pictures featuring Price

San Francisco photographer Helena Price has become an overnight viral sensation among Brazilian Twitter users - and all thanks to her name.

Since Monday, Price, 26, has been inundated with thousands of tweets from fans of the new Brazilian soap opera Em Familia, which features a character named Helena.



In the series premiere Monday, the troubled Helena nearly drowned, undressed in front of her uncle and fell in love with her cousin.



It girl: San Francisco photographer Helena Price, 26, landed on the cover of a Brazilian magazine after she was mistakenly associated with a character from a new soap opera also named Helena

Early adopters of the new show immediately took to Twitter to share their thoughts of Em Familia, and that is how many of them stumbled upon Price’s handle, @Helena, San Francisco Chronicle reported.



Price, who is blonde and has Nordic feautres, is not an actress and looks nothing like her fiery brunette namesake on the show, but that did not stop thousands of strangers from tweeting at her.



The photographer, a North Carolina native, was initially blindsided by all this unsolicited attention, but quickly embraced it and decided to enjoy her 15 minutes of cyber-fame.

To set things straight, the 26-year-old Bay Area resident clarified on her Twitter page exactly who she was, writing: 'Tall, pale, and half-Norwegian. Full-time photographer who occasionally dabbles in tech. Not the actress, DJ, Brazilian soap opera star, or state capital.'



But the tweets kept pouring in and Price, who does not speak Portuguese, began responding to the best of her ability.



No resemblance: The blonde, part-Norwegian Price looks nothing like either Bruna Marquezine (left), who plays the young Helena, or Julia Lemmertz (right), who portrays the character later in life

Fifteen minutes of fame: Brazilian news media breathlessly wrote about the American woman who has won over the hearts of local soap opera fans

When one soap opera fan wrote to her that in the first episode Helena made a blood pact with her boyfriend (who is also her cousin), and then nearly drowned while swimming, Miss Price wrote a dead-pan response: 'I do not remember this.'



Before long, the full-time photographer, who only last year ditched her previous career in Silicon Valley, turned into an Internet phenomenon.

'Omg i think I've become a meme,' a stunned Price shared with her skyrocketing number of followers.



In one picture, Price’s head was digitally inserted into the opening credits of Em Familia. In another, the blonde beauty was Photoshopped into an image of a scantily clad Samba dancer.



In an email to MailOnline Thursday, Miss Price said she does not expect the hullabaloo over Helena to die down in the near future.



'A few thousand Brazilians have let me know that the show is continuing for the next 8 months or so, so I don't think this will be over anytime soon,' Price wrote.



Carrer change: Price worked in Silicon Valley's technology industry until last year, when she quit and reinvented herself as a professional photographer

New opportunity: Price hopes she would be able to travel to Brazil for a photo-shoot

Brazilian news media quickly caught on, breathlessly reporting about the American mystery woman who has won over the hearts of local soap opera fans, many of whom took to Twitter to profess their love for the real-life Helena.



‘I'm officially in Brazilian news for becoming a meme,’ Price wrote two days ago. ‘Life is funny.’



One user inquired whom Helena would choose as a love interest in the show, Virgilio or Laerte, while another begged her to pose naked for Brazilian Playboy.



Thereza Chammas gushed: 'Please come to Brazil for Carnival! You are our queen.'

The photographer told MailOnline that her friends and family are baffled as to why she is getting all this attention online.



'It is still pretty hard to explain, but we all think it's pretty funny,' she wrote.

Born to dance: The blonde beauty had her face digitally inserted into this picture of a Brazilian Samba dancer

Protagonist: With the help of Photoshop, Price made it into the opening credits of Em Familia

Adored: Soap opera fans on Twitter professed their love to Price, and some urged her to visit Brazil, where she has never been

‘Still getting thousands and thousands and thousands of tweets. Brazil you are funny,’ Price tweeted.



The San Francisco woman now boasts more than 21,000 followers on Twitter, many of them Brazilian. She said that she hopes one day to visit the country that has shown her so much love.