Overview (2)
| Born | in Donnybrook, Western Australia, Australia |
| Height | 5' 2" (1.57 m) |
Mini Bio (1)
Keisha Castle-Hughes was born on March 24, 1990 in Donnybrook, Western Australia, Australia. She is an actress, known for Whale Rider (2002), The Nativity Story (2006) and Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). She has been married to Jonathan Morrison since February 14, 2013.
Spouse (1)
| Jonathan Morrison | (14 February 2013 - present) |
Trivia (30)
She was a fortunate discovery for Whale Rider (2002). The casting director and casting assistant went to her primary school in Mt Wellington, New Zealand and went through a few hundred children to choose their Paikea. They found her, only because she was playing up and being smart to them: she stood out.
Discovered by the same agent who discovered Anna Paquin.
During an interview with Jay Leno, she confessed she didn't know how to swim when she was cast in Whale Rider (2002).
In 2004, at 13 she became the youngest actress ever to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award.
Moved to New Zealand from Australia when she was 4 years old. (Her father is Australian and her mother is New Zealand Maori.).
Her parents, Tim Castle and Desrae Hughes, met in Australia, but were never married. They had 3 children together, during their 9 year relationship.
Has 3 younger brothers, Rhys (born February 21, 1992), Liam (born 1996), and Quade (born July 2006), and a little sister Maddisyn (born 2001).
Is a fan of Johnny Depp; was able to meet him at the 76th Academy Awards when they were both nominees.
Has been learning Maori dances since she was 6.
Is a fan of Julia Roberts.
Originally it was thought she was born in New Zealand as she was part Maori and became famous after a New Zealand film. It wasn't until her Oscar nomination that her Australian father revealed that she had in fact been born in Australia.
Filmed all of her Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) scenes in just one day.
Her best school subjects used to be maths and science, but now she enjoys drama.
Spent seven hours in make-up for her cameo in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005).
Her younger brother Rhys Castle-Hughes has followed in his sisters footsteps; he is a talented young actor who is appearing in a New Zealand series called The Lost Children (2006) and has also appeared in a NZ Short Film.
She often used to compete in and win speech competitions at school.
One of her biggest challenges in making Whale Rider (2002) was having to go barefoot all the time.
Shares the role of Mary, Jesus' mother, with Pernilla August. She and August have also both appeared in the Star Wars prequels.
Began attending AA meetings in 2009, having battled alcoholism since her early teens.
Attending school in Auckland, New Zealand. [January 2005]
Currently sailing on the Greenpeace ship MV Esperanza in the Cook Islands talking to people about climate change. [June 2009]
Has a life-long fear of dangerous birds, which she openly expressed in her Intrepid Journeys appearance to Tanzania, during the time she encountered several birds.
She is the first female born in the 1990s to have received an Academy Award nomination for acting (for Whale Rider, receiving a Best Actress nomination for 2003's movie year). The first males born in the 1990s to have received an acting Oscar nomination were Lucas Hedges (for Manchester by the Sea (2016)) and Dev Patel (for Lion (2016)), both 13 years after Keisha's nomination.
She is the first millennial to have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress (for Whale Rider, for 2003's movie year). 'Ryan Gosling' is the first millennial nominated for the Best Actor Oscar (for Half Nelson (2006)). Eddie Redmayne and Natalie Portman are the first millennials to have won in those two respective categories.
Was in a relationship with Bradley Hull from 2003 to 2010. They have a daughter, Felicity-Amore Castle-Hughes (b. April 25, 2007).
The first of two Oscar-nominated actors, and only woman, to join the cast of Game of Thrones (2011). She joined the cast in 2015 and twice Oscar-nominated actor Max von Sydow joined the cast in 2016. In 2017, the Oscar-winner Jim Broadbent joined the cast.
In early 2014, revealed that she has bipolar disorder, in the wake of television personality Charlotte Dawson's suicide.
(February 14, 2013) Married her boyfriend of 8 months Jonathan Morrison following a 6-month-long engagement.
Delivered her daughter Felicity-Amore via forceps.
Personal Quotes (12)
I keep having to pinch myself to make sure I'm actually awake. The Oscars are so big -- they're huge ... I'm totally humbled and ecstatic. No words are enough to explain ... it's like, wow. It's absolutely incredible. - after finding out about her Academy Award nomination
[on being asked if acting what how she expected it to be] "Definitely not what I expected it to be. All I ever saw were famous people getting what they wanted when they wanted it and I was shocked at the fact that I actually had to work."
[on Whale Rider] "Watching that film made me proud to be a New Zealander."
[on whether she wants to be an actor when she's older] "I want to be a science teacher. My friends asked me why, but I'm intrigued by it and I'm quite good at science at school."
I'd always wanted to act but it wasn't just that, it was because all the ladies wore pretty dresses.
[on her Whale Rider character] "I think we're both strong willed and independent, and Pai has a great unique quality about her. She's an 11-year-old girl who's confident about who she is and knows exactly who she is. Not many 11-year-old girls are like that. She's a great role model for young girls. I think I'm like that too."
[on her role in Star Wars III] "I was on for 10 seconds and if you see me you're lucky."
Your private life should be private. I reckon that's a good thing that you talk about your work and you talk about what you're doing, but without having to go into how your brother's been and how your mum's been because none of that's really relevant.
[on roles she's been offered since Whale Rider] "They're all really sexual roles or they all think that I'm still 11. They send me scripts and I say that I'm too young or not old enough and they're like, 'Well just come in and see us.' And so I go in and they're like, 'Oh, you've got tall and you've got hips and you've got boobs.' And I'm like, 'Yeah. That's what happens.'
[on being interviewed during Oscar time] "For four weeks straight I didn't know what I was doing. It was like I had this little tape in my head and I'd sit there and they all would ask the exact same thing and I'd hit play and I'd be like, 'Blah blah ... ' in this monotone and they'd be like, 'Are you OK, dear?"'
When I found out this was going to be the last Star Wars film that was ever going to be made, I felt pretty privileged to be in it.
It hurt at the time because it's supposed to be a huge celebration. I was supposed to be able to go, 'Wow, I'm having a baby and this is amazing'. I felt like that I had to hide. I felt like it was bad for me to be happy about it. I felt scared in my own home and it was horrible. I should be entitled to walk around my front yard without worrying that these people are watching me.
