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The actress first made waves playing the fiery Paikea in 2002's Whale Rider – a role for which she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. At 13, she was the youngest Best Actress nominee in history.
"I thought I was still dreaming," she told PEOPLE about the honor at the time.
Since Whale Rider, Castle-Hughes has taken few roles, though she did play the Queen of Naboo in 2005's Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith and will appear as Mary in the upcoming movie The Nativity Story co-starring Shohreh Aghdashloo.
The Australia-born actress grew up and still lives in New Zealand and – like her character in Whale Rider – is part Maori.
