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Meet Miles Caton, the 'Sinners' breakout crashing Oscar season

Brian Truitt, USA TODAYJanuary 9, 2026 at 9:30 AM

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Miles Caton has toured the world with a Grammy-winning artist and tussled with vampires, all before turning drinking age.

In director Ryan Coogler’s 2025 genre-smashing horror movie “Sinners,” the 20-year-old musician/actor made his film debut surrounded by booze and blood. From being part of the movie to walking red carpets for the first time, “I’m still processing it, but it's been really an unreal experience, man,” Caton told USA TODAY last spring.

With "Sinners" (streaming now on HBO Max) looking like a strong Oscar contender, Caton is feeling the awards-season love: The New York City native scored a best young actor honor at the Critics Choice Awards and is nominated for best supporting actor at the Actor Awards (formerly known as the Screen Actors Guild Awards) on March 1.

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"Sinners" star Miles Caton accepts his best young actor trophy at Critics Choice Awards.

“Sinners” centers on Smoke and Stack, 1930s gangster twins played by Michael B. Jordan, who return to their Mississippi hometown and run afoul of bloodsuckers. Just as key to the narrative is Sammie (Caton), the brothers’ young sharecropping cousin – and son of a preacher – with a gift for blues guitar and a mesmerizing voice.

The movie was one of last year's biggest cinematic success stories, with a $368 million worldwide box-office haul. "Sinners" is up for five Actors Awards – including Caton's nomination as well as best ensemble – and will compete in seven categories at Jan. 11's Golden Globe Awards.

Here’s what new fans about Caton:

‘Sinners’ star Miles Caton toured with H.E.R. as a teen

Miles Caton and H.E.R. perform live at New York's Apollo Theater in November 2021.

The son of gospel singer Timiney Figueroa, Caton started singing with his family in church at age 3. The first tune he learned was Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” taught to him by his aunt. “That’s a song I’ve sung probably more times than I can remember,” he said. Caton spent his childhood “building up my own resume.” When he was a tween, a video of him singing Nina Simone's “Feeling Good” went viral and ended up in Jay-Z’s “4:44” short film, and Caton also appeared on the NBC competition show “Little Big Shots.”

When he turned 16, Caton snagged the opportunity to become a background singer for H.E.R., and juggled going on tour with his studies. He completed high school online, and two years ago, Caton came home from a Global Citizen show in Paris the same day he attended his graduation. That week "was lit, for sure,” he said.

Miles Caton got an acting masterclass from Michael B. Jordan and Delroy Lindo

Smoke (Michael B. Jordan, left) and Sammie (Miles Caton) endure a horrific night in "Sinners."

While music was his “main thing,” Caton grew up watching movies – his uncle turned him on to everything from comedy to horror – and acting was "something that always piqued my interest, just being like the family clown,” he said. “As a kid, that was something that I subconsciously wanted to do, but I didn't really know how.” When he got the script for “Sinners” and learned Coogler was directing, Caton enthusiastically sent in an audition tape: “I said, ‘Hey, maybe this is my chance.’ ”

Caton could relate to Sammie “in so many different ways,” he said. “We both had such a strong ambition, especially in music, just to pursue it and to be great.” The fledgling actor also learned to play blues guitar because his instrument means so much to Sammie: “When everything around you in the world is going crazy, the guitar was something that he could really hold onto that was kind of safety for him, and also his first love.”

Even though it was his first role, Caton had plenty of role models around him. Watching Jordan develop his twins was “really inspiring,” Caton said, while Delroy Lindo’s performance (as aging blues man Delta Slim) made the youngster “want to dive deeper into acting and just learn more about it.”

See which actors and films were nominated in top categories for the newly renamed Actor Awards. The 2026 honors will be handed out March 1 on Netflix.

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See which actors and films were nominated in top categories for the newly renamed Actor Awards. The 2026 honors will be handed out March 1 on Netflix.

">See which actors and films were nominated in top categories for the newly renamed Actor Awards. The 2026 honors will be handed out March 1 on Netflix.

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1 / 26The Actor Awards – See 2026's top nominees in photos

See which actors and films were nominated in top categories for the newly renamed Actor Awards. The 2026 honors will be handed out March 1 on Netflix.

‘Sinners’ youngster seeks to be both actor and singer

Caton is a Marvel superhero fan, and he gets a big grin when asked if Coogler has hit him up about “Black Panther 3” yet. “Man, that would be crazy. We’ve got to see,” Caton said. But he’s also fostering his other career, and a sound influenced by Donny Hathaway and Stevie Wonder.

He would like to bounce between the music and movie worlds, a la Jennifer Lopez or Will Smith. “I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds, but I'm a musician at heart,” he said. “I'm definitely excited to work on some more acting roles, for sure, and just see where everything goes.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'Sinners' singer Miles Caton breaks out as awards contender

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