Exclusive, Calvin Jeremy Rises From Depression, Uses Acting As A Cure

JAKARTA - Starting his career in the entertainment industry as a singer, Calvin Jeremy has been seen acting more often since then. A change in focus in his career, the man who has Batak blood started from the depression he had experienced.

As a singer and songwriter, he feels that his creativity stops producing songs that his listeners like.

Calvin also admitted that he had decided to stop as an entertainer. Hoping to have a career outside the entertainment industry, he attended college to become a professional.

But fate said otherwise. Calvin's acquaintance with Nikita Willy earned him the role of Kibo in the film Terlalu Tampan in 2019. He called this moment a turning point for him as an entertainer.

"When I continued my study, Nikita Willy called and asked me to be cast in the film Terlalu Tampan. There, I feel that I have nothing to lose in trying, if I get accepted it's okay, if I don't get accepted I will continue my studies,” Calvin explained when visiting the VOI office in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta some time ago.

"That was a turning point, because it turned out that I was chosen as the character Kibo and the reception was good, from the audience, producers to casting producers," he continued.

Since then, Calvin began to enjoy his career as an actor. Out of depression and finding new pleasures in acting, he feels indebted to the world of acting.

“You could say I owe a lot to this acting. I feel that I can become a person who understands myself more after I played several roles in my previous films. Because in my opinion acting is how we can create new people, but at the same time I learn about myself," he said.

Trying to understand and comprehend the character he gets, Calvin admits that he learns a lot about humans and their lives. He also always tries to reflect these characters with himself.

"Maybe that's what made me finally refer back again, research again the reasons why I'm in this industry, like as an entertainer, as an actor, as a musician, also as a host. So acting really taught me myself. Finally grateful for things that may have been considered small. Because actually in those small details, I can interpret something bigger,” said Calvin.

“Even I can also exist in this world of acting because I started in music, right, so I will forever be indebted to music. So music and acting will always be in my life," he continued.

Calvin Jeremy returns as an actor in the latest film produced by Rezky Aditya, Hantu Baru. As of 2019, Hantu Baru is the sixth title from the films and series that Calvin has starred in.

Playing the role of Viki, Sasa's younger sister, played by Acha Septriasa, the 31-year-old man got a role that is close to him.

"Actually, you can say that it's close to Calvin Jeremy's daily life, because we were asked from the start if this was a light drama, comedy, horror, so there wasn't too much complexity in the characters," said Calvin Jeremy.

Even though he got a role similar to himself, Calvin actually called it a challenge. The reason is, he is required to be able to be the younger brother of his brothers as well as the older brother of his younger siblings as naturally as possible.

The actor called meeting Acha Septriasa as his co-star in Hantu Baru as a dream come true. Since childhood, Calvin has seen Acha acting on the television screen, and getting the opportunity to play a role is something he is grateful for.

Although he was nervous when he first collided acting with Acha who was more senior, said Calvin, he went through a fun shooting process. Much more experienced in acting, he sees Acha being able to bring a more comfortable shooting atmosphere for her juniors.

He also sees working with Rezky Aditya as the producer as a blessing in itself. Calvin, as an actor who is still relatively new, had the opportunity to see Rezky make his debut in producing films.

Like his views on Acha, Calvin also saw Rezky, who had been acting since dozens of years ago, as a figure that made him feel quite intimidated.

However, after working on a film project together and getting closer, Rezky became a friend and a place to study for a new career in the entertainment industry.

“Precisely with the two of us whose terms are both learning and showing vulnerability, in the end, it actually exposes the human side of us both. Later we became close, we chatted, we shared with each other what we can do, both in terms of promos and conveying this film to film fans," he said.

Hone Himself to Become a Better Actor

Feeling indebted to acting, Calvin said he was trying to continue to improve the quality of his acting. The husband of Novia Santoso admits that he always makes a special assessment of how he plays a character.

“When I saw the enthusiasm of the audience from previous films, I felt that I didn't really take acting seriously, and felt like I wasn't going anywhere. So one of the things I do, I do justice for what I do. In that way, I can do the best," he said.

Now, Calvin also admits that he does not want to be satisfied with his achievements in acting. He wants to continue learning to better understand everything related to acting.

"Because I have one motto in life, every opportunity that comes to my way, I will not take it for granted. So I studied acting, especially at the beginning of this year to better understand what the method is like, what character creation is like, and I'm still learning," he added.

With that dissatisfaction, Calvin even dreamed that acting could lead him to be nominated and even win Oscars.

Not wanting to forget the world of music that made his name known and brought him to the entertainment industry in Indonesia, Calvin still wants to continue working.

"I also can't neglect music, I feel like I have to keep making music. But the point is never to stop working and every opportunity that comes along should not be taken for granted," he said.

Going forward, Calvin also plans to re-release songs. Currently, he has started to collect material to create a work that is not only liked by the market, but most importantly a song that can make him happy.

Remaining confident that he could focus on acting and music, Calvin didn't see it as a big problem. The balance between the two, said Calvin, can be overcome by dividing the time.

"Actually, it's just time management, simply, about how we manage our time," said Calvin Jeremy.