Babylon Breakout Diego Calva Says Making His Mom Proud Feels 'Amazing': 'Like a Blessing'

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Diego Calva

Diego Calva is feeling grateful.

In Babylon, from Oscar-winning La La Land director Damien Chazelle, the Mexican actor, 30, makes his major Hollywood debut leading a star-studded ensemble that includes Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt, Jean Smart, Tobey Maguire, Flea, Eric Roberts and more.

Calva — who scored a Golden Globe nomination for best actor in a comedy — tells PEOPLE that "hanging out with superstars" wasn't even the best part of his Babylon experience. Rather, it's seeing his proud mother witness his success.

"My favorite part has been the emotion in my mother's eyes. She's living like a movie too with me. Being able to give her this kind of emotions — I mean, for me, it's overwhelming; for her, it's like a blessing in a way. It's always beautiful to see someone you truly love having success or having the time of his life, and that's happening to me right now. To share that kind of joy with her, it's just amazing."

As Manny Torres in Babylon, Calva plays an ambitious gofer with dreams of being part of the movie-making world. It's 1920s Hollywood, just as silent films are making way for talkies, and Manny makes friends with Pitt's seasoned movie star Jack Conrad and falls in love with Robbie's up-and-coming actress Nellie LaRoy while rising the ranks.

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He says the character has several striking similarities with his own life, but makes clear the major differences.

RELATED: Margot Robbie Makes Babylon L.A. Premiere a Mother-Daughter Date Night — See the Sweet Photos

Scott Garfield/Paramount Pictures Diego Calva in Babylon (2022)

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"I feel pretty similar to Manny, but I think time has changed and it's different. For example, I never had to disguise or hide my Mexicanity or me being Mexican. There's a couple of moments with Manny — I mean, we're talking about 100 years ago — when he's like, 'Hey, where are you from?' 'Madrid, Spain.' Yeah, that's never happened to me. I never lied."

Calva says Pitt, 59, was "so helpful" as a costar.

"I remember this day when I was literally having a problem with the scenes. Sometimes you as an actor get stuck and the idea of 'I can't do it' comes to your mind. It's so hard to put it away. I think Brad saw me having this inner struggle. He came to me and said, 'Diego, what's going on?' I didn't know him well yet, so I was trying to hide it. He just realized, 'Okay, he doesn't want to talk about it, but I'm going to say something.' He told me something very beautiful about acting and decisions and protecting our craft, like, 'No one can take your craft from you, because that's the only thing that we actors have, our decisions. After the actions, we're free.' "

He adds, "It sound very easy, like something we all know, but it was something I needed. ... After, every time I hear 'action' I'm free."

Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty From left: Brad Pitt, Damien Chazelle, Diego Calva, Margot Robbie

And with Robbie, 32, their "pretty magical" chemistry was apparent from the start. In fact, "I really believe that Margot is my friend now," he says.

"When we started doing this chemistry reading, something happened," he recalls of working with Robbie the first time. "I was super scared of acting face to face with a superstar. But then we start acting, like take one, take two, and something happened. [There's] something about her energy and commitment. She's such a good actress that something raised in me, like, 'Okay, I have to be at her level.' And then poof, we start playing and it was so much fun. I forgot about acting — we started playing."

He adds, "After that, every single scene we had together was just a challenge in a beautiful way. Like siblings playing. She's serious, of course, but after the 'action' she's just free. I love that. She's magnetic."

Babylon is in theaters Friday.