Candace Payne is a 37-year-old stay at home mother of two from Dallas, Texas and is married to Chris Payne. She graduated in 2000 with a degree in Musical Theater from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. She attended high school in H. Grady Spruce High School in Balch Springs, Texas. Candace volunteers as a worship leader at her local church.

Facebook Live

On May 19, 2016 Candace broadcast a video of her laughing and playing around with a Chewbacca mask on Facebook Live that went viral. The video was viewed by more than 130 million people and broke the record of the most watched Facebook Live video ever. The previous most viewed Facebook Live video was a BuzzFeed produced video of a watermelon exploding which had a little over 10 million views.

Candace Payne bought the mask on whim as she did not plan to purchase it when she went to her local Kohls department store, just outside of Dallas, Texas.

Kohls thanked Candace for her support of their store in a Facebook post by giving her family many toys and masks.

After the video went viral the $20 - $30 Chewbacca mask used in the video sold out and was out of stock online at Target, Walmart, Toys R Us, and Kohl’s. The masks are now being resold on eBay Inc. for much higher prices usually around $60-$90. The mask used in the video's full name is Star Wars The Force Awakens Chewbacca Electronic Mask and has a 4.6 out of 5 stars rating on the Walmart website.

Her celebrity brought her over $400,000 in endorsement deals.