Exciting, massive and unbelievable!
This is how 11-year-old child actor from Stellenbosch, Caleb Payne, describes his nomination for Leading Youth Artist in a Feature Film at The Youth Artist Academy, also known as the Youth Oscars.
The awards will take place in Hollywood Los Angeles on 2 October this year.
“The nomination was for his performance in Good Life, a small independent South African movie, filmed in Cape Town in hard lock- down 2020,” Caleb’s father Stanford said.
“Previous nominees and winners include Scarlett Johansson, Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence.”
Caleb’s nomination is the first South African nomination for acting. The only South African presence at the awards in the last 43 years has been in 2020 when Trevor Noah received a honouree award for Journalistic Excellence and The Gods Must Be Crazy was given a merit award in 1984 for Best Foreign Film.
“This is a massive step for me. I didn’t think a small movie from South Africa would be recognised in this way. We shot the movie in the heart of lockdown, during the cold winter, in 2020. The sacrifices were definitely worth it,”Caleb said.
He says his favourite roles to play are emotional, sad and that of someone that have experienced losses. “I like the feeling of stepping into someone elses shoes and exploring new things,’ he said.
Caleb started his acting career at the age of six in commercials and then moved on to movies. “I am unschooled which gives me the freedom to work on movies and learn the way I want to,” he adds. “Other than acting, I am a regular child that loves exploring, skating and hiking with my dog.”
Caleb has launched a Back-A-Buddy campaign to assist him to getting to the awards in Hollywood.
