Miles Caton is okay with being called a child prodigy. The vocalist-turned-actor had his first brush with viral fame as a kid when he covered Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” spurring a riotous reaction from his church community on youth day.
“That first line [of the song], it went crazy. It's actually on YouTube,” Caton says with a laugh. “From then on, that's when I knew this is what I wanted to do.”
In the video, Caton still has his baby teeth, and the microphone he’s holding is the same length as his forearm. Yet he commands the room as that once-in-a-generation voice floats out of his small, suited frame, and grown folks erupt out of their seats in praise and awe.
The 20-year-old actor, who hails from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, has had multiple breakout moments: the aforementioned Sam Cooke cover; his cover, at age 10, of Nina Simone’s “Feeling Good,” which Jay-Z used to open his 4:44 short film; his stint on the kids talent competition Little Big Shots, hosted by Steve Harvey. Still, all of those breakout moments pale in comparison to his acting debut in Ryan Coogler’s critically acclaimed film Sinners, which shattered box office records and has been hailed as one of the best films of 2025, if not the best.
Caton has never shied away from shooting for the stars. He auditioned to be one of H.E.R.’s backup vocalists when he was 16, and ended up living a Hannah Montana lifestyle, finishing high school online while performing on international tours, including opening for Coldplay for two years; flying from the New Orleans Jazz Festival to his senior prom; and traveling directly from Global Citizen Live: Paris to his high school graduation. (“Literally, off the plane, Global Entry, into the car — my mom had my cap and gown already in the car, and we drove straight there,” he recalls.)
It was the time on tour with H.E.R., when Caton caught the eye of an agent at CAA while performing, that led him to Sinners. Within a matter of weeks, and after two callbacks, Caton got a call from an Oakland, California, area code — Coogler was calling to change his life once more.
Caton’s performance in Sinners has earned the celebration surrounding it, as his portrayal of protagonist Sammie “Preacher Boy” Moore is a sweeping tribute to Black storytellers reifying the concept of freedom. Below, we speak with Miles Caton for Teen Vogue's New Hollywood Class of 2025.
Miles Caton: It's been busy! I was just in LA for three weeks, working on music and taking meetings and stuff. But now I'm back home for a couple days, chilling, still working in the studio, and just gearing up for this awards season, [which] I'm feeling good [about]. I’m really proud of the work that I've done this year.
This year has been unbelievable in so many different ways. My life has changed, and it's been really dope just seeing the effects of everything after the film, and the reception I've been getting.
MC: Everybody in my family has huge personality. We talk loud. We're New Yorkers. I grew up just being a loud, wild kid, trying to make my family laugh. So I feel like once I reached a certain point in my music career, I would of course branch off into different things, but it was never on the forefront [of my mind], like, I gotta be an actor. That wasn't the plan.
The plan was to do music and pursue music. So when [Sinners] came, I was like, “Yeah, I'll do it.” I didn't really have much of an expectation for what it could do and the impact that it could have. Being on the flip side of it now, I've grown such a love for acting and the craft of it.
MC: It really goes all the way back to my grandfather and my grandmother — they were and still are incredible vocalists. My grandfather is the one who paved the way for all of us to do everything that we're doing. [Growing up I was taught that] you gotta be ready to perform. You can never be caught off guard. You never know what opportunity is going to present itself.
My mom and my aunt, they're both gospel singers. My aunt has sung with Kirk Franklin, my mother sung with Kurt Carr, and I sung with Kurt Carr as a kid.
As far as the storytelling, when you live by faith, all of those things show themselves in the lyrics. A lot of times I think we find out a lot about a person by what they're saying in their songs and how they're conveying the message.
MC: [Laughs.] I didn't even know that it was a bad or low-quality video until they said that, because that was my first time doing a self-tape! I thought I was making it a moody, ambient type of vibe, and they was like, "Nah… that's not it."
MC: It did what it needed to do!
MC: It was really an “If it's meant to be, it'll be” type of thing…. I remember when I found out [I got the part], I immediately called everybody on the family chat, and everybody just started bursting into tears. Our grandmother was like, "You're going to win an Oscar!" [Laughs.] I'm like, "Grandma, you don't even know what role I have. We don't even know how much I'm in the movie. I can be an extra. We don't even know what's going on."
MC: Then when I told them the story behind it, they was like, "Yeah, this is really different. It could be something really special." So just a lot of excitement and hopefulness.
MC: I always talk about the last day we did on set together. We wrapped the entire film, and they put a 10-minute sizzle reel of everything we had did so far, and we all watched it: the crew, audio, sound, hair and makeup, visual effects. Everybody was there, and we watched it on the last day. By the end of the reel, everybody was really emotional and in tears, just looking at the work.
We knew it was going to be something special. Regardless of the reception or what people felt about it, we were proud of the work that we did — and we hadn't even seen the entire movie yet. We just knew…. The energy that was on set and the vibe that Ryan created, it [made] for a really creative, positive environment. Nobody's ideas were shunned. It was really dope.
But to see the reception and the impact that it had, especially that first week, it was just mind-blowing. The calls started coming in, the press run — it was so intense. It was crazy. It was a lot to adjust to…. I wasn't prepared for it. I remember Mike and a lot of cast mates, they were telling me, "The acting is the fun part, but the pressure, that's when everything really kicks in and you're going to have to work." So I'm like, "Okay."
I did media training and stuff, but nothing could have really prepared me for what happened. I had to make that quick adjustment to that lifestyle and the interviews and the questions and spotlight…. It's been really, really fun since.
MC: That's what Ryan said! He said, "We put him in the water with the sharks, and he stayed above the surface. He was soaring." That meant a lot. Yeah, I definitely feel like I'm ready for anything now.
MC: It's been a lot…. One was, I went to the Louis Vuitton show — Pharrell's fashion show in Paris — and literally everybody was there. I met Beyoncé and Jay-Z there. So being around those people, and seeing some of the people I grew up watching in their careers, that was definitely a pinch-me moment.
I recently did a show in Brooklyn, one of my first live shows with my own music, my own stuff, and seeing the turnout that it got was really crazy. There was people [lining up] down the block, and getting to interact with people genuinely just rocking with me, for me, that was a pinch-me moment. That's been one of my biggest goals, to perform and eventually work up to stadiums.
MC: It was hectic. I can't even say I really met them. [Laughs.] Once everybody sat down, they were the last two people to walk in, and we could hear the crowd outside screaming, so we knew somebody big was coming. They walked up the steps and everybody was, like, watching them walk by, and then they sat maybe two or three people down [from me]. I sat next to Spike Lee, which was crazy. Legend. So I was talking to Spike, and then they walk by, and they're just saying what’s up to everybody. Super nice people. Then, after the show ended, everybody was swarming around them, like, security locked hands and built a whole fortress around them.
MC: This year has taught me that I am definitely more capable than I thought in almost every aspect. Taking on this role and this challenge — I feel like it was bold to take on something like this and to have this type of introduction.
Acting is no joke. Acting is so much fun, but it requires so much. You are on a project for four months and you're getting called in every day. You gotta put the wardrobe on and the prosthetics and the long hours and the night shoots and the heat and all the elements, and you still have to be on your A-game. You still have to be a good person. You still have to be interactive, and you still have to be involved in the process.
I learned a lot about myself during that time, building the confidence to know that I can accomplish certain things. I learned a lot about myself mentally, building that strength and that sureness in what I'm doing and where I'm supposed to be.
MC: You learn a lot from Ryan just by seeing what he does and how he interacts with people; the energy and the tone he brings on set. He's such an inclusive person. He's invested in every aspect of filmmaking. We were on set warming up, getting ready for an intense scene, doing push-ups or whatever, and he's doing push-ups with us; he's sweating with us, he's involved with us.
To see that kind of character on set, especially as a Black man, seeing it being done at that level, was really inspiring. He always told me to stay humble, to keep working, to stay locked in: “Don't get comfortable. You are always striving for greatness and for the next thing.”
MC: I'm really, really excited to get into action and adventure. I [also] love sci-fi, Stranger Things. Drama, too, like Euphoria. But I'm excited to get into an action-adventure film. Those are the types of movies I've always been drawn to, so that's what I'm excited to do next.
MC: Ohhhhh, yeah. Yeah. MCU is going to happen. It's going to happen.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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