Reflecting on Kiwi actors’ roles
All too often one-time child stars make the headlines for all the wrong reasons. However, while some – like Lindsay Lohan, Amanda Bynes and the late Happy Days star Erin Moran – spiral out of control, others have continued to work and, in many cases, have found even greater stardom.
Take Natalie Portman, best known for her Oscar-winning performance in Black Swan. The 35 year old made her film debut at 12 when she starred as a child assassin in Leon.
TV Guide discovered there are also a surprising number of wellknown New Zealand actors who started their careers while their peers were still swinging from the monkey bars.
Beth Allen Most people remember her as Shortland Street’s Dr Brooke Freeman, but this actor has been on screen since she was nine. Now 33, her first major television role was in 1998’s The Legend Of William Tell. She found international success the same year, playing Amber in The Tribe.
Michelle Ang In 2016, this Christchurch-born actress was nominated for an Emmy for her work on the web series Fear The Walking Dead - Flight 462, but it was her singing and dancing skills that scored her a job on McDonald’s Young Entertainers at 13.
She went on to play Tai San in The Tribe, have roles in Neighbours and Outrageous Fortune and, since relocating Stateside, the MTV series Underemployed.
Keisha Castle-Hughes Now 27, at 12 she became the youngest person ever nominated for a bestactress Oscar for her role as Paikea in Whale Rider. Other starring roles have included Star Wars III (2005), Niki Caro’s The Vintner’s Luck (2009), the local series The Almighty Johnsons and US drama Roadies.
In 2014, she was cast as Obara Sand in the television juggernaut Game Of Thrones.
Russell Crowe The Aussies might claim him as theirs, but the Oscar winner is still a New Zealand citizen. He did, however, make his early acting debut – at age six – on Australian television series Spyforce. He also appeared a few years later in The Young Doctors. Best known for his Oscarwinning performance in The Gladiator, Crowe also received critical acclaim for The Insider, A Beautiful Mind and The Water Diviner. This year he co-starred with Tom Cruise in The Mummy.
Rose McIver She started acting in commercials at the age of two and the now 28 year old hasn’t really stopped since.
At three, she played an angel in the Oscar-winning The Piano and had starring roles in the television series Maddigan’s Quest, Rude Awakenings and Power Rangers. Her big break came when Peter Jackson cast her in The Lovely Bones.
Now based in the United States, she has been a regular on Once Upon A Time and Masters Of Sex and currently stars in iZombie.
Anna Paquin Canadian-born but New Zealand raised, few people can forget seeing the then 11 year old collect her Oscar for The Piano.
There was more success with Fly Away Home, Almost Famous and her role as Rogue in the X-Men franchise.
She won a Golden Globe as Sookie Stackhouse in the television drama True Blood and has gone on to star in Roots, Bellevue and Alias Grace.
Antonia Prebble Best known for her role as Loretta West in the hit New Zealand comedy-drama Outrageous Fortune, this now 33 year old was just 11 when she made her television debut in the series Mirror, Mirror.
International fame came in her teens with roles in The Tribe and Power Rangers Mystic Force. Antonia now works in Australia and New Zealand, starring in the Outrageous Fortune prequel, Westside, and also in the forthcoming Australian drama Sisters.