Today we’d like to introduce you to Kevin Clayette.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I was originally born in Noumea, New Caledonia (a little French Island right between Australian and New Zealand) to a French dad and a Mauritian mum. Growing up I was always into sports. It’s not until after graduating from high school in 2010 that things started shifting.
After high school I spent a year doing nothing, which had my parents telling me “okay, what are you gonna do with your life Kevin, you need to decide something..! All I knew was that I didn’t want to be stuck behind an office desk for 40 years of my life (no offense to those who do it, there is nothing wrong with that, I just knew it wasn’t for me.).
Right around that time one of my best friends was going to Australia, to Sydney, to learn English in an English school. I decided to tag along, and three years later I officially obtained my IELTS exam, which is a certificate that allows you to study in English in Universities, etc. in Australia.
About a week before finishing that course, I still had no idea what I was going to do next… and then somehow I heard about this audition for a Drama School (Back then called the Australian Academy of Dramatic Art (AADA), part of AIM (The Australian Institute of Music). I decided to go for it and somehow got in.
Even though I really believed in myself, it still came as a big surprise as I had just learnt English and still had a really strong French accent. I also didn’t have any Acting experience what so ever. A month later, I started Drama School. It was a Bachelor of Performance that went on for about two and a half years. This was by far one of the hardest things I had done.
36 hours of classes a week without counting rehearsal time outside of school etc. etc.. It was really intense. I worked extremely hard not only on learning all these new disciplines I was thrown at (dance classes, movement classes, dramaturgy classes, sound, and lighting design classes, dialect classes, etc..) but also on perfecting my English.
I will never forget my 2nd semester in the school when Alistair Toogood, one of my teachers told me in the nicest way possible that if I still sounded that French at the end of Drama school it would be very hard for me to get a job acting wise other than parts that require “a French tourist” or a ‘European guy”.. etc., etc.. which is pretty rare in Australia and therefore very limiting.
So on top of all the work we had, I became obsessed with getting rid of my French accent and trading for an Australian accent.. which I’m really happy to say, I managed to do fully after two years of hard work. During this whole time I Drama school, I really fell in love with Acting and realized that I couldn’t see myself doing anything else.
After Drama School, I got myself a not so good agent for about a year or so… then through Networking and a lot of determination (going to acting classes, putting together a showreel, getting headshots, etc. etc..) managed to change to a better one. That’s when things started happening.
The first part on a TV show that I got was for an American TV series called ‘Deadly Woman.’ Not long after I did my first short film called ‘DoKtor’ in which I was the lead. This project went on to win Best Experimental Short Film at the Cutting Edge International Film Festival.
During that time, I went for more and more auditions and really started perfecting and working on my craft hard. I also started taking American accent lessons.
A few months later, I got an audition for the TV show ‘Neighbours’ which is Australia’s longest running TV show. Lots of really famous Australian actors had their start on Neighbours (Kylie Minogue, Margot Robbie, Liam Hemsworth, etc..). That was a huge deal, and I was very nervous. I flew to Melbourne (I lived in Sydney at the time) and did the audition. I think it went relatively well.
Whilst I was waiting for an answer, The Casting Director asked me to self-tape again not long after for another part in a Feature film called ‘Emo The Musical’… which I ended up getting! That was my first movie, it was all very exciting, I had to perform a song in the movie.
Being on set on a bigger project like this was everything I had dreamt off. It made me love Acting even more. (The project went on to do very well. It won a few awards and is currently on Netflix worldwide)
A few months later, I received a call from my Agent. The Casting Director from Neighbours called them to offer me a part on the show. I didn’t get the part I had auditioned for originally, but they liked me a lot and thought of me for another role.
That was another dream come true. I was on the show On and Off for about three months. Was on the cover of a Magazine for the first time. Started getting recognition. That was an amazing time. I learned a lot from being on a production like that where everything is a very fast pace. At that point, things were really on the up in my career.
Not long after that I auditioned for an ‘Unknown’ project.. which I did and quickly forgot about, only to receive a call two months later telling me that the project was actually ‘Aquaman’ and that they wanted to see me again for the part of young Aquaman (young Jason Momoa). I went on to have 2 or 3 more callbacks for the project but unfortunately didn’t get it.
Fun story though: At the time, I wanted that role so bad that I booked myself a ticket to a Comic-Con convention where I knew that Jason Momoa (The star of the film) was gonna be at)… all in the hopes of getting to speak a few words with him and that maybe he would have some kind of say on who gets cast as ‘young him’.. That was a long shot haha. It didn’t pay off, but it was awesome meeting him, and it only added fuel to my fire.
I went on to audition for a lot more project of that caliber such as ‘Aladdin,’ ‘Teen Titans,’ etc.. before having to put an end to it all last year, unfortunately. Australia is very strict on Immigration policies, and even after seven years in the country, unfortunately, there still wasn’t anyways for me to get Permanent Residency.
I tried everything.. as a matter of fact, what allowed me to stay in the country all these years after graduating from Drama School was to study little courses (I did a Personal Trainer course, a Business course, etc..). It gave me access to a Student Visa which was what I needed to keep hustling on my Acting and keep my journey going.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. I mentioned several of the obstacles in the previous question, but one of the toughest one was probably to learn to speak English fluently and to neutralize my French accent completely in order to perfect new ones.
The constant rejection from the auditions is also very hard at first, but you quickly realize that the best way to go about it all is to just see every audition as a gift. The gift to get to perform in front of an audience. Once you leave the room, onto the next one! And that’s that.
We’d love to hear more about what you do.
As an actor I’m self-employed. I do more film and TV although I did quite a lot of theatre at Drama school and a little bit outside too. I’m most known for my role as ‘Dustin Oliver’ on ‘Neighbours’ and for playing ‘Josh’ in ‘Emo The Musical.’
I think I have a very distinctive look and the fact that I’m bilingual and very comfortable with three different accents (French, Australian and American accents) makes me quite unique. I’m also very Physical, always have been. I’m a Certified Personal Trainer on the side. And I can play the guitar and sing.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
The first one that comes to mind is flashbacks of the first time I went to Disneyland in Paris with my parents. I don’t remember much of it, simply how incredibly magical it all was. I must have been six years old.
Or maybe my first kiss on a swing age five after which I fell off my swing from sheer surprise. Or maybe every time I scored a goal playing football, and I heard the sound of the ball going through the net.
… and later on, being on stage, and then in front of the camera.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kevinclayette.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kevin.clayette/?hl=en
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