South African-born Caleb Payne has been in front of the camera since he was in diapers. A natural-born talent, the young star has quickly climbed his way to the top of the film industry and into the hearts of audiences worldwide. Having recently won the Feature Film Leading Young Artist ward at the Young Artists Academy Awards in Los Angeles for his role as Jet in the Netflix film “Good Life” his career trajectory continues to rise. The win is no small feat, with Payne being the first South African to do so in the award’s 43-year history. Previous winners of the award include the likes of Zendaya, Regina King, Julia Roberts and Leonardo DiCaprio.
We sat down with the young star and unpacked what the recent win means to him, how he holds his own in an ever-changing industry and what the future holds.
What was your reaction when you heard you were nominated for the Young Artist Academy Award?
When I heard about the nomination, my dad actually told me. I was in Bloemfontein with my aunt. At first, when I heard about it, I thought it was just this small nomination that didn’t mean anything. But clearly, I was wrong; now I’m here.
What does it feel like to be the first South African to be nominated and win this award?
To me, to be the first South African to be nominated and win doesn’t matter because no matter where you are, dream, dream big.
How did you feel when the presenter announced that you won the award?
When they called my name, at first, I was shocked that I had actually won. It is so unreal for the Young Artist Academy to nominate and give me this award. And also, I was shaking the whole time I was giving my speech.
How did you celebrate your BIG win?
After we won and had the ceremony, we took a few pictures with the award. We celebrated by going to the Chateaux Marmont. But it was really cool. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any celebrities, but I mean, that’s fine. The food was really good.
Now that you’ve won the award, are you excited about what the future holds?
I am super excited and nervous about what lies in the future. Being in the big leagues now is going to bring a lot of changes and challenges my way, but I’m willing to take those challenges.
You won the Young Artist Academy Award for your role as Jet, the Albanian refugee. Was nailing the accent difficult? What other accents can you do, and how do you go about learning new accents?
Being Jet wasn’t that hard because I kind of have an ear for stuff. Like the piano, I can play by ear, so that helps me learn accents. Robyn Scott, who’s in Good Life as well, actually helped me at first with my Albanian accent. The other accents I can do are American, British, Italian, Irish, Russian, Greek, and Albanian, of course. When learning new accents, we just watch videos of people speaking. For example, if I wanna learn Irish, we just watch a video of people speaking Irish. And we practice pronunciation.
What do you do to prepare or get into character when working on a new production?
For me, getting into character is not that hard on a new production because I usually just get the accent if I need an accent. And then I would just go on set, see what lines I have, and just before we roll, I just jump into character.
What was your most challenging role to date, and why?
My most challenging role to date was Donkerbos, directed by Nico Scheppers. Unfortunately, it’s in post-production, so I can’t really say why.
Can you give the younger members of our audience your top piece of advice for pursuing their acting careers?
To the young actors out there, I would just say, “Don’t give up, have lots of confidence, and believe in yourself no matter where you are. It doesn’t matter where you are; just believe in yourself. If anyone tries to rip you apart, saying you’re not good enough, don’t believe them.
Where to from here?
We’re now in Los Angeles. After this, we’re going to New York for a week. Seeing the statue of Liberty and taking subways, and then from there, we’ll be going home, back to South Africa. And hopefully soon back to Los Angeles.
