I don't normally cover Game of Thrones here, leaving that up to our resident Westeros expert Rocky Hadadi, but when the news involves one of my favorite actresses who has basically fallen off the map, that piques my interest. According to a story from The New Zealand Herald, Keisha Castle-Hughes, who was the youngest Best Actress Oscar nominee for her performance in Whale Rider, has joined the HBO series as one of the Sand Snakes.
The Kiwi actress was 13 when she was nominated for Whale Rider, an amazing film about a Maori girl who defied male traditions to become the chief of her tribe. She also had a small role in Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, and played the Virgin Mary in The Nativity Story (she became pregnant soon after, ironically) but has been fairly quiet on the big screen ever since.
Rumors suggest Castle-Hughes could be playing Nymeria Sand, one of eight lethal and illegitimate daughters of Prince Oberyn Martell aka the Red Viper. But others, such as Vanity Fair, claim she may be a better fit for the eldest and most violent daughter, Obara Sand. I'll leave that up to the GoT pros to sort out. Either way it's good to see Castle-Hughes back in the spotlight and hopefully this leads to her getting more feature film gigs.
