Keisha calls the shots
With a new man, a new job as a film producer and an appreciation for motherhood, Keisha Castle-Hughes is finally settled, writes Aroha Awarau.
There’s a sense of deja vu watching Keisha Castle-Hughes in her new film Find Your Voice. Dressed in a kapa haka costume and leading a cultural group, the scene is reminiscent of her most memorable moment in Whale Rider, the classic Kiwi film that catapulted the Ma¯ ori actress to international stardom, including an Oscar nomination.
In that Whale Rider scene, Castle-Hughes, then 11, was also dressed in kapa haka attire and gave a heartbreaking performance as Paikea, where she pleaded for acceptance from her koro.
The two scenes – of the young and adult Keisha – bookends an extraordinary life to date for the actress: instantly famous as a child, and now at just 28, she’s publicly overcome addiction, a marriage break-up, a battle with bipolar disorder and teenage pregnancy.
Today Castle-Hughes is more settled and she says her life is great. She’s been in a relationship for two years, she’s juggling motherhood with a busy acting career and has just finished producing her first feature film.
‘‘I know who I am now. I’m older and more comfortable within my skin,’’ she says. ‘‘I had a unique upbringing as a teenager. It’s bizarre to have so much attention at such a young age, especially during your formative years.
‘‘I did not want all that attention, especially as a teenager when you feel strange within your own body and uncomfortable in the world.’’
Castle-Hughes is based in Los Angeles, living a life free from the attention she gets in New Zealand from the media and the public.
‘‘New Zealand will always be my home but it’s a lot easier living in America because you are in a bigger pool of fish.
‘‘That’s easier to manage in terms of how much of your life is publicised. You can control what is out there about you.’’
Before she left, Castle-Hughes often dominated local magazines and headlines. Her Valentine’s Day wedding in 2013 to DJ Jonathan Morrison was on the cover of Woman’s Day. The pair have since divorced and she says she is very happily in a relationship.
‘‘Jimmy [Uddo] is an American from New Orleans. We’ve been together for two years. He works in the film industry in visual effects. He’s awesome.’’
Although she’s based in LA, Castle-Hughes makes regular trips home to see her 11-year-old daughter Felicity, who lives with her father Bradley Hull, and attends school in New Zealand.
Castle-Hughes became a mum to Felicity at 17 and says her daughter is her motivation to live a good life.
‘‘I’m a huge believer that the best thing you can do for your children is give them happy parents. I’m proud of the woman that she is becoming.
‘‘We’ve both grown together and I think she’s more mature than I am.
‘‘She has no desire or inkling to do anything in the film world. She’s much more sensible than that.’’
After roles in hit TV shows Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead, Castle-Hughes has found constant acting work, including a major role in a new Australian mini-series, On the Ropes, about a woman’s boxing gym run by an Iraqi family.
Castle-Hughes is most excited about her new venture as a film producer. ‘‘I became a producer because I just wanted to make something cool,’’ she says. ‘‘As an actor, your career is governed by other people so it’s liberating to take charge.’’
She’s in the final stages of editing her film Wellwood, a sci-fi alien saga set in New Orleans, in which she also stars.
‘‘I love acting and it will always be my passion, but it’s nice to sit on the other side of the fence and give those acting opportunities to others.’’
Los Angeles seems to be the place where many bright-eyed Kiwi actors go to find fame and fortune. But Castle-Hughes says when she first arrived a decade ago, she had no intention of mingling with familiar faces.
‘‘There was no way I was going to hang out with Kiwis. I was going to America to make all these American friends.’’
But Castle-Hughes says the Kiwis living in LA have become her second wha¯ nau.
‘‘Rena Owen has been a huge influence and a mentor. I see Taika [Waititi] a lot, I see Cliff Curtis a lot. We have these moments when we’ll be sitting there and thinking how cool it is for all of us to be over here.’’
Castle-Hughes recites the cliche ‘‘there’s no place like home’’ whenever she thinks of New Zealand. And it inspired her return home to make a film when she was approached by actor and writer Adam Saunders to star in his passion project, Find Your Voice.
The low-budget film took seven years to make and is based on Saunders’ journey to discover his Ma¯ ori heritage after growing up in Australia. Castle-Hughes, Australia-born and Auckland-raised, says she took the role mainly because she could relate to Saunders’ story.
‘‘I didn’t grow up where my wha¯ nau is – Tokomaru Bay on the East Cast. It wasn’t until I was older when I connected and learned more about my Ma¯ ori heritage. I remember that feeling of displacement and trying to figure out where I fit in.’’
Juggling motherhood, film sets and international travel means that life for Castle-Hughes has been extremely hectic. But in July, she grasped the opportunity to discover her place here in New Zealand.She took six weeks off away from Hollywood and family to travel around the South Island by herself to re-energise. ‘‘I was a tourist in my own country and that was amazing.’’
For more information about how to view Keisha’s new film Find Your Voice, visit nz.demand.film/find-your-voice/.