Candace Payne

"Candace, you are an inspiration. Your attitude and lovely message really resonates with spreading the good word of Star Wars with a heart. It’s so much of why we do what we do."

- Peter Mayhew, in a note to Candace Payne

Candace Payne is a Star Wars fan who gained online viral fame as Chewbacca Mom. Her video, showing her wearing a talking Chewbacca mask and joyfully laughing as it spoke when she moved her mouth, was posted on May 19, 2016 to Payne's Facebook page and has since been viewed over 140 million times.

"Chewbacca Mom" video
"I'm such a happy Chewbacca!"

- Candace Payne, the "Chewbacca Mom"

On May 19, 2016, Candace Payne posted a video on her Facebook page after purchasing a Chewbacca mask at a Kohl's retail store. The video depicts Payne showing viewers the mask, which growls and speaks like Chewbacca when the wearer moves their mouth. As Payne does so, she begins to laugh hysterically over the sounds the mask makes. Payne, a stay-at-home mom, posted the video a few minutes before picking up her children from school because she wanted to show her Facebook friends that the mask was her&mdash;knowing full well that her children would likely want to claim it as their own. After posting the video, Payne was surprised to see that the video had racked up 1,000 views. By the end of the day on May 19th, the video had been viewed over one million times. As of May 24th, only five days after the video was posted, the video has over 140 million views.

On May 23rd, Payne was a guest on The Late Late Show with James Corden. They filmed a sketch in which Payne was shown driving host James Corden to work while wearing the Chewbacca mask. They were also joined by J.J. Abrams, the director of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. While on the show, Corden also read Payne a note from Peter Mayhew, who plays Chewbacca in the Star Wars films, calling her an inspiration and inviting her to a private meet-and-greet at Dallas Fan Expo.