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Today's Birthday March 24: Australian-born actress Keisha Castle-Hughes (1990-)
Australian-born, New Zealand-raised schoolgirl Keisha Castle-Hughes received worldwide recognition after she was plucked from obscurity to star in the acclaimed movie Whale Rider.
Born on March 24, 1990 in Donnybrook, Western Australia, Castle-Hughes moved to New Zealand as young child and settled with her family in Mt Wellington.
She was a pupil at the local primary school when Whale Rider's director, Niki Caro, and a casting agent chose her for the lead role.
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Although she was a newcomer to acting, Castle-Hughes's portrayal of the extraverted Paikea - a part-Maori youngster like herself - in the 2002 film brought her international fame and the praise of critics and audiences alike.
She was nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award when she was 13 years old, becoming the youngest actress ever in the running for the award. The Oscar was eventually won by the bookies' favourite, Charlize Theron, for Monster.
Castle-Hughes has since shied away from the limelight but still acts, mostly in Australian and New Zealand films.
She did however, score a role as Regal in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith (2005).
Two years later she had her first child, a daughter named Felicity-Amore.
The teen didn't let motherhood stop her.
She starred in the films Hey Hey It's Esther Blueburger in 2008, A Heavenly Vintage in 2009, and Red Dog in 2011.
In 2011 she started acting in the New Zealand series The Almighty Johnsons. She played Gaia on the show until last year.
On Valentine's Day 2013 Castle-Hughes married DJ Jonathan Morrison after a whirlwind romance that began on Twitter.
