Keisha Castle-Hughes

Actor

Keisha Castle-Hughes is the youngest person ever nominated for a best actress Oscar. She earned the honor in 2004, when she was nominated for her performance in the 2003 film Whale Rider. (The Oscar went to Charlize Theron instead, for the movie Monster.) Castle-Hughes was eleven years old when Whale Rider was filmed, and was cast for the lead role despite having no acting experience. After Whale Rider, she had a small role in George Lucas's Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005, starring Natalie Portman). At the age of 16 she starred as Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, in the feature film The Nativity Story (2006). Just prior to the film's release, Castle-Hughes announced she was pregnant by her boyfriend of three years, Bradley Hull; their child, named Felicity-Amore, was born on 25 April 2007.

Extra credit: Castle-Hughes's mother is Maori, her father Australian... Her father told The New Zealand Herald in 2004 that Hughes was born at Donnybrook in Western Australia, then moved to New Zealand as a child... According to a 2006 BBC story, Hughes became a New Zealand citizen in 2001.

Other Oscar-nominated youngsters include Patty Duke (The Miracle Worker, 1962), Linda Blair (The Exorcist, 1973) and Judy Garland (given a special Oscar for 1939's The Wizard of Oz).