Farida Joyce
Caleb Payne, who is just 11 years old, has made history after becoming the first South African actor to be nominated for a Young Artist Academy Award, popularly known as the “Youth Oscars”.
The young actor, who was born in the Cape Winelands, has been nominated in the Feature Film Artist category for his performance as Jetmir, an Albanian refugee, in the Netflix movie Good Life.
The movie was made in Greece and Cape Town and directed by Bonnie Rodini.
The story of the movie revolves around a woman in her 30s who, after experiencing heartbreak, flees from Cape Town to Greece.
There, she becomes involved in an unusual friendship with Jetmir, who shows her the value of living a decent life.
It’s not Caleb’s first movie. He played the lead role in the Netflix movie The Kissing Booth 3.
In an interview with the Young Artist Academy, he said, “The support and friendships are what will stay with me forever, especially as it was filmed in the hard lockdown of winter mid-2020.”
So will some unusual memories: “I will never forget playing hand squash with Sven Ruygrok,” he said, “in the old torture chamber of the Castle in Cape Town.”
The Youth Oscars award ceremony will take place in Los Angeles on 2 October.
Image source: @TheSouthAfrican
