Rising Stars: Meet Austin Peyton of Santa Clarita

Today we’d like to introduce you to Austin Peyton

Hi Austin, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I grew up in the suburbs of Chicago doing community theatre from a very young age. I fell in love with musical theatre and acting and it quickly became my entire life. I realized I needed to get out of the town I grew up in cause I was not happy there and I found a performing arts high school named the Chicago Academy for the Arts. I was a musical theatre major and spent half of my day doing normal high school and the other half in acting classes, dance classes and voice lessons. During the second half of my junior year, Covid hit and I no longer had a space to turn to creatively every day. This led me to tiktok where I began creating videos that allowed me to express myself while stuck inside. I quickly gained a large following from my videos about the acting industry, fashion and myself (although I’m still sometimes confused as to why so many people followed me). During this time I also really started to fall in love with films and realized I wanted to be a screen actor. I mainly applied to colleges in LA and ultimately decided to attend the California Institute of the Arts as an acting major working towards a BFA. I’ve now lived in LA for almost three years and am going into my senior year of college. I audition regularly and am working hard to make a career for myself in this crazy city. I also occasionally still post on tiktok, which for some reason still has 2.4 million followers.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I don’t think there’s such thing as a smooth road in this industry. It’s one of the most unstable professions to pursue. Luckily I’ve been in school this entire time which has kept me grounded mentally and creatively. Rejection is a huge part of a career as an actor and unfortunately it is something I am still not great at balancing. The road to becoming a paid working actor with connections and opportunities is so much more challenging than most people think and it takes a lot longer than it seemed it would before I moved out here. Especially for a boy from the suburban midwest with no connections in the industry. You really learn how to grow thick skin. But that doesn’t mean that every time you don’t hear back from an audition or a callback, or every time you see someone book a role you auditioned for that it isn’t hard. Another big struggle for me has been social media and how to navigate that as an actor. I never wanted to be seen as an influencer over being seen as an actor. So navigating the types of content I should or could post and what on social media can help versus hurt my acting career has been really challenging. As an actor you also never want to be put into a box and I felt I was constantly being put into box with social media and I get so afraid that that will impact my opportunities. Social media also comes with a really horrible layer of negativity and hatred because you have millions of eyes watching you and you don’t get to hide behind a character, you are simply being yourself and everybody has an opinion about that.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I am an actor and a creative first and foremost. I want to spend the rest of my life making art that has an impact on people (and hopefully be able to support myself and one day a family financially while doing it). I grew up in musical theatre, however, my heart now lies in screen acting. My goal is to have the opportunity to be able to dip my toe in every aspect of this industry from stage to screen, contemporary theatre to devised abstract work, tv and film, blockbuster franchises to indie projects. I know that is a far fetched and large dream, but I truly believe I can make it happy because I love art so much, it is what motivates me. It is what I think about first thing when I wake up and the last thing I think about before falling asleep. I am most proud of how far I have come already. I got myself out of being the weird gay theatre kid in small midwest town where I was often not accepted and bullied, to now living in my dream city, going to school to pursue my dreams with amazing friends and family and a bright future. I am also really proud of the impact I’ve been able to have in other people’s lives through my social media. Even though it was never my goal or dream to be any kind of influencer, I think it found me when I needed it as an outlet and when I had something to share with the world.

We’re always looking for the lessons that can be learned in any situation, including tragic ones like the Covid-19 crisis. Are there any lessons you’ve learned that you can share?
Covid completely changed my life. Right before covid hit I was getting on the train every day at 6am to travel an hour to my performing arts high school, then getting home at 7pm and going to the local community theatre where I worked as a choreographer. Then covid hit and in less than 3 months I had gained 2 million followers on tiktok, I had a manager for acting and I was applying to schools in LA. Then I moved out here and never looked back.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @austin_peypey
• TikTok: @austinpeyton
• IMDb: https://m.imdb.com/name/nm11883645/

Image Credits
paulsmithphotography