Payton Kemp

Payton Kemp, an actor and a singer from American Fork, Utah, was born on 17 May 2000 to John and Leanne Kemp. His musical talents were first discovered by his grandmother when he was the young age of 3, and since then he has sung in front of thousands, and has been a guest soloist on albums of other artists.

Payton loves to perform and he loves to be on stage. When he was 9 years old, he was cast as Young Tarzan in Tuacahn Ampitheater’s first Disney Broadway Show. In that same year he was also cast as Admetus in “Cats.” The next year, he played Flounder in Tuacahn’s “The Little Mermaid.”

In 2013, at the age of 12, he competed against some amazing talent to win the Dixie’s Got Talent competition. With the audience counting as half of the vote that he needed to win, he wowed them with the mix of two popular songs from the music group One Direction – “One Thing” and “What Makes You Beautiful.” Although he loves acting, winning the competition and having a chance to sing in front of an audience and owning the stage, was a definite highlight for him. The description of the YouTube video of his performance reads in part, “He was born with an angelic voice and ever since he was little he has been told that he will do something big with his voice someday, be on America’s Got Talent, be on American Idol, or be the next Justin Bieber.”

In 2013, he was also cast as the first live boy in Tuacahn;s production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Starlight Express” playing the role of Control. The Utah Theatre Bloggers Association described the story of “Starlight Express” as follows:

Mom (Jennifer Evans) interrupts her young son Control (Payton Kemp) as he sets his toy train up for a major race. Starlight Express gives a voice to this young boy’s imagination as he sneaks out of bed to give directions to each race contestant. Nintendo (Eric Badique), Turnov (Michael McGurk), Ruhrgold (James Blashaw), and Greaseball (Todd Dubail) represent the diesel trains, with Greaseball as the clear favorite to win the race. But as Electra (Dustin Dubreuil) arrives with his posse to advocate the power of the new electric engine, loyalties begin to shift. Rusty (Steven M. Goldsmith), an old steam engine, must decide if it is even worth racing to defend steam engine pride. As the underdog, Rusty must overcome a variety of challenges ranging from insecurity to lost love to a rigged race in order to secure a spot in the championship. And when things get particularly bad, he must turn to a higher power, The Starlight Express (C. Mingo Long), to help find his own personal strength.

In 2014, he was cast as Flounder once again in Disney’s newly-written “The Little Mermaid.”

Payton Kemp is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He works hard to continually improve himself, and with all of the success that he has had thus far, he manages to stay grounded and true to his beliefs. He loves playing basketball and football, and frequently volunteers his time and talents singing at Church functions and other events, lifting up those around him with the gifts and talents he’s been blessed with. He has stated, “I believe if you surround yourself with Greatness, you will learn to become your best SELF.  I am continually blessed to meet and surround myself with some amazing, uplifting, and VERY talented people and because of them, my family and my Father in Heaven, I am learning to become ‘supremely Happy’.”

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