Miles Caton: From Jay-Z Sample to BAFTA Nominee in Ryan Coogler's 'Sinners'
At only 20 years old, Miles Caton is still adjusting to waking up each morning as one of Hollywood's most rapidly ascending stars. When his film Sinners secured an astonishing 16 Academy Award nominations, shattering the previous joint record held by All About Eve, Titanic, and La La Land, the BAFTA EE Rising Star nominee did not receive the news at a glamorous champagne breakfast or exclusive Hollywood party.
'I set my alarm for 8.30am Eastern Time, so I woke up out of bed and immediately turned on the Oscars feed,' he reveals. 'Everybody else was in the house watching it in their rooms and as the nominations were read out they started just screaming. It was crazy.'
A Once-in-a-Lifetime Voice Discovered
A former musical prodigy whose voice once captured the attention of rap icon Jay-Z, Caton made a remarkable acting debut in Ryan Coogler's 1930s-set vampire horror masterpiece. He portrays Sammie, a preacher's son and sharecropper endowed with extraordinary musical talents, who is enlisted by his gangster cousins—both played by Michael B. Jordan—to perform at their newly established juke joint. This demanding role required profound emotional depth and a voice that, within the film's narrative, transcends the boundaries of time and space.
Coogler discovered Caton through a self-taped audition, which he detailed to Variety: 'He was just in the dark—like he didn't turn his lights on. Something about that was so intriguing. This kid looked like he was in his basement, like in between homework assignments. But he had this voice—a once in a lifetime voice—and he also felt like the character.'
The Collaborative Spirit Behind 'Sinners'
Caton dismisses the notion of his casting being mere luck. For him, the film's immense power stemmed directly from its deeply personal origins. 'Because it started with Ryan wanting to make a tribute to his Uncle James,' he explains. 'Ryan put his all into this film, this is his story and I think that made everybody else put their all into the film too.'
He believes this sense of personal investment permeated the entire production process. 'The environment that was created on set was extremely collaborative,' he continues. 'It felt like a family environment. It felt like no ideas were shunned and everybody could kind of express how they felt. Creativity was just flowing consistently every day and I think people can feel that through the screen.'
Navigating a Surreal Awards Season
The film industry has certainly taken notice. Alongside Sinners' dominant awards campaign, Caton has earned a BAFTA EE Rising Star nomination—a surreal achievement for someone who, until very recently, was largely unfamiliar with the intricate prize culture of the film world.
Regarding the upcoming ceremony, scheduled for Sunday, he admits: 'This being my first year in film, a lot of this stuff was super foreign to me. Now I'm on the flip side, I've done my research, and I've grown more knowledge and respect for acting and learned more about things like the Baftas and stuff.'
While music has always been an intensely personal endeavor, acting presented Caton with a unique opportunity: the chance to step outside of himself. 'Film, it's personal to a certain point,' he elaborates, 'because you have to draw from your own personal experiences to be able to understand and embody the character, but you're also playing somebody else. Acting allows you to think from a different perspective, a different point of reference—that's the cool thing about it.'
Drawing from a Musical and Spiritual Upbringing
Those personal experiences proved invaluable in his portrayal of Sammie. Raised in a profoundly musical and religious household—his mother is acclaimed gospel singer Timiney Figueroa—Caton possessed an intuitive understanding of the connections between music and spiritualism.
'You want to make your family proud, but at the same time you want to do your own thing,' he says, drawing a parallel to his character's journey. 'Those are a lot of the same subjects that the Sammie was going through.'
Music entered Caton's life at a very young age. 'I was three,' he recalls, describing a moment that still feels pivotal. 'I have this formative memory where I was at my grandfather's church and I sung A Change Is Gonna Come by Sam Cooke and everybody in there went crazy.'
The Path from Viral Sensation to Touring Artist
This early start led to performances at birthday parties and local events, then to social media fame. A viral video of him singing Nina Simone's Feeling Good was eventually sampled by Jay-Z on his album 4:44. Before even graduating high school, Caton was touring internationally with Grammy-winning artist H.E.R.
Despite experiencing life on the road as a teenager, Caton maintained a grounded perspective. 'I've always been a "get the work done first and then have fun" type of person,' he states. 'So after shows, there would be some days where I could stay out a little bit later, have fun and chill. And there will be other days where I was like, "All right, I gotta get back to the hotel room and get this assignment done."'
A Fearless Approach to Horror and the Future
Given Sinners' abundance of spine-chilling moments, one might wonder what truly frightens the young actor. His answer suggests very little. 'I literally grew up watching horror films,' he says, listing titles his uncle used in increasingly futile attempts to scare him. 'None of them would ever scare me. I've always been like a daredevil type of person. I love adrenaline rush things.'
His immediate next stop is London, where he is preparing for his inaugural BAFTA red carpet appearance. 'I'm working on it with my stylist,' he says regarding his outfit. 'But yeah, I'm excited. I love London.'
For an individual who once filmed his pivotal audition in near-total darkness, it is abundantly clear that the lights are now shining brightly upon him, with the entire world eagerly watching his next move.
