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As active galactic nuclei (AGN) `turn on', some stars end up embedded inaccretion disks around supermassive black holes (SMBHs) on retrograde orbits.Such stars experience strong headwinds, aerodynamic drag, ablation and orbitalevolution on short timescales. Loss of orbital angular momentum in the first$\sim 0.1$~Myr of an AGN leads to a heavy rain of stars (`starfall') into theinner disk and onto the SMBH. A large AGN loss cone ($\theta_{\rm AGN,lc}$) canresult from binary scatterings in the inner disk and yield tidal disruptionevents (TDEs). Signatures of starfall include optical/UV flares that rise inluminosity over time, particularly in the inner disk. If the SMBH mass is$M_{\rm SMBH} \ge 10^{8}M_{\odot}$, flares truncate abruptly and the star isswallowed. If $M_{\rm SMBH}<10^{8}M_{\odot}$, and if the infalling orbit lieswithin $\theta_{\rm AGN,lc}$, the flare is followed by a TDE which can beprograde or retrograde relative to the AGN inner disk. Retrograde AGN TDEs areover-luminous and short-lived as in-plane ejecta collide with the inner diskand a lower AGN state follows. Prograde AGN TDEs add angular momentum to innerdisk gas and so start off looking like regular TDEs but are followed by an AGNhigh state. Searches for such flare signatures test models of AGN `turn on',SMBH mass, as well as disk properties and the embedded population.

Starfall: A heavy rain of stars in 'turning on' AGN