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Keisha Castle Hughes sped through the

0:41

water, clinging to the back of

0:43

a giant whale. She

0:46

held her breath, tightening her grip so

0:48

she wouldn't fall off as they dipped

0:50

beneath the waves, and

0:54

then came rushing back to the surface.

1:01

Keisha felt like her whole body

1:03

flushed with adrenaline as the

1:05

sun bathed to her skin. She

1:08

was scared, thrilled, and

1:11

having the time of her life. Now,

1:14

Keisha was an actress filming a

1:16

movie, and that whale she was

1:19

riding was actually... just

1:22

a life-size model of a whale tied to

1:24

a boat. But those

1:26

waves were very real, and

1:29

Keisha and the film crew were miles from shore.

1:32

Holding on while plunging underwater was

1:34

extremely tricky, and yet Keisha was

1:36

excited to have this chance to

1:38

shine. She felt

1:40

like she was diving into her

1:42

ancestral mouldy roots, gathering strength

1:45

from all the people who'd come before

1:47

her and shouting, Here

1:49

I am. Ready

1:52

to do it again? Asked the director.

1:54

Keisha nodded. She

1:57

was more than ready. She was born for this

1:59

role. And

2:01

action. I'm

2:10

Jo Holley and this is Good Night

2:13

Stories for Rebel Girls, a

2:15

fairy tale podcast about the real

2:17

life rebel woman who inspire us.

2:20

On this episode, Keisha Castle

2:22

Hughes, a young, mouldy

2:24

actress who is excited to celebrate

2:26

her heritage and her mind

2:29

on and off screen. Keisha

2:37

Castle Hughes was born in 1990

2:39

in Australia and moved to Aotearoa,

2:41

New Zealand with her family when

2:43

she was four. Keisha's

2:46

mother was Maori, which means

2:48

their Polynesian ancestors were the

2:50

first people to populate New

2:52

Zealand over a thousand years

2:54

ago. During school,

2:56

Keisha got to practice the

2:59

ceremonial Maori dances called Hakka.

3:02

There were so many rhythms and movements

3:04

to study. She

3:06

also dreamed of becoming an actress, but

3:09

everyone told her that wasn't a very

3:11

realistic dream. So Keisha

3:14

figured she'd be a science

3:16

teacher, science was interesting, and

3:18

she was pretty good at it. And

3:22

then one day, when Keisha was 11

3:24

years old, a casting director

3:26

who was looking for a young, mouldy

3:28

girl to star in a new movie

3:31

came to observe her class. The

3:34

movie had to do with the legend

3:36

of Paikea, who was said

3:38

to have led the mouldy people

3:40

from the Pacific Islands to Aotearoa,

3:42

New Zealand, on the back of

3:44

a whale. And

3:50

Keisha, that sounded terrifying, and

3:52

amazing all at once. When

3:57

the director interviewed some of the children, Keisha

3:59

was very happy. Keisha was unapologetically

4:01

herself. Smart, outgoing

4:04

and funny. Hi

4:07

Keisha, it's nice to meet you. Tell

4:09

me, can you ride a bike? Keisha

4:12

smiled and answered quickly. Yes,

4:15

can you smile underwater? Sure,

4:17

I mean she hadn't ever

4:19

tried, but how hard could it be?

4:23

The filmmakers met with over 10,000 kids.

4:28

And in the end, Keisha

4:31

won the lead role in a

4:33

new movie called Whale

4:36

Rider. Filming

4:40

Whale Rider was a

4:43

two-month-long whirlwind adventure. The

4:45

film told the story of a young

4:48

girl named Pi, who proves

4:50

her worth to her mouldy community when

4:53

she helped save a beached whale riding

4:55

it out into deep waters. Keisha

4:58

felt so honoured to play Pi,

5:00

who was written as an ancestor

5:03

of Pi Kea, the original whale

5:05

rider from mouldy legend. The

5:08

film showed the strength of women

5:11

and young girls and introduced people

5:13

all around the world to mouldy

5:15

traditions. And it

5:17

became a massive success. Keisha

5:22

was so convincing in her role that

5:25

at 13, she became the

5:27

youngest person to ever be

5:29

nominated for an Academy Award.

5:32

That's the biggest acting award there

5:34

is. Keisha's

5:40

life changed after that. She

5:43

had to do hundreds of interviews and

5:46

walk down red carpets and fancy

5:48

gowns. She

5:50

went from being a pretty normal kid

5:53

to someone who was taking limo rides

5:55

and staying in luxury hotels all the

5:57

way across the world in Los Angeles.

6:01

All of it was a dream come true.

6:05

But at the same time, there was

6:07

a big part of Keisha that just

6:09

wanted to be back home, hanging out

6:11

with her friends and going

6:13

to school. People would

6:15

say to her, you've done it,

6:18

you're in the prime of your career.

6:21

But she was only 13. How could

6:24

this be her prime already? Keisha

6:27

also felt like everyone expected her

6:29

to be perfect, but

6:31

nobody's perfect. Growing

6:33

up is about learning, trying

6:35

new things and often making

6:38

mistakes. She felt

6:40

torn between two different personas.

6:43

There was Keisha Castle

6:45

Hughes, Academy Award-nominated actress.

6:48

And then there was just Keisha.

6:52

A girl who worried a lot and

6:54

would get sad sometimes without

6:57

even knowing the reasons. A

6:59

girl who missed her friends and would talk to

7:01

them on the phone for hours when she was

7:03

away. A

7:06

girl who just wanted to

7:08

feel normal. Can't

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get enough of Rebel Girls? Well,

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luckily, the Rebel Girls app is

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now completely free. That's right,

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you can listen to the entire library

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of Goodnight stories for Rebel Girls ad-free.

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Plus check out the app's cool

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features like activities, trivia, custom playlists

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and more. All parent trusted and

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kids safe. Find out

7:37

more at rebelgirls.com/audio and download the

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Rebel Girls app today. Thanks

7:42

for listening. The

7:50

Bourne Knight, a fantasy musical podcast suitable

7:52

for all ages. Brought to you by

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Fool and Scholar Productions. Follow Nathaniel the

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Bourne Knight and the friends he meets

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along his journey. as he's bitten

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by a wereman and must break the curse

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before the full moon. Listen to The Boar

8:05

Night wherever you get your podcasts or learn

8:07

more at foolandscholar.com. As

8:10

Keisha got older things felt more

8:12

and more complicated. On the one

8:14

hand she was a

8:20

successful actress

8:36

busy filming movies and

8:38

she was so grateful for all of her

8:40

experiences. At

8:43

the same time though life

8:45

felt really unpredictable and scary

8:47

like she was still riding on that model

8:49

of a whale being pulled through the ocean.

8:53

The littlest ups and downs would

8:55

seem to be plunging below the

8:57

surface and then blasting back into

8:59

the air. Eventually

9:03

Keisha was diagnosed with bipolar

9:06

disorder. She learned that her

9:08

brain was structured in a different way from

9:10

other people's. Highs felt

9:12

higher and lows

9:16

felt lower and

9:19

that wasn't Keisha's fault it was just how

9:21

she was built. Sometimes

9:24

Keisha felt hopelessly sad without

9:26

any specific reasons that she

9:28

could explain and

9:30

sometimes she felt like she had

9:32

unlimited momentum and could do anything.

9:38

Keisha never knew which way she was going

9:40

to feel or why she was feeling that

9:42

way which was really confusing

9:44

and upsetting. For

9:47

Keisha understanding her diagnosis and

9:49

talking about it made all

9:52

the difference. Now

9:54

that she knew why she felt the way she

9:56

did she could learn about

9:58

things that might help her more

10:00

balanced and centered. Keisha

10:03

started going to therapy, eating

10:05

healthier foods and exercising more.

10:09

It took some time, but these

10:11

things helped her a lot. She

10:13

began to feel like Keisha the

10:16

actress and Keisha the human could

10:18

coexist. They were both important

10:20

parts of her. She'd never be

10:22

perfect or exactly who anyone else expected

10:24

her to be, but she

10:27

was honest, open and truly

10:29

herself. If

10:33

you were to ask Keisha today if she would

10:35

ever ride a whale again, she'd

10:37

say, no way, it was

10:40

way too scary. But

10:42

she's proud of herself for doing it

10:44

and for how it changed her life.

10:47

It gave her a chance to connect

10:49

with her malty traditions and feel the

10:52

strength of her ancestors living inside her.

10:54

Keisha is still acting today. She

10:57

also works hard to use her fame for

10:59

good, fighting against climate

11:02

change and talking publicly about

11:04

mental health. As

11:07

she says, we need to talk

11:09

more and worry less about what other

11:11

people think. If

11:13

you are lucky enough to have a brain

11:15

that works differently than other people, celebrate

11:18

it. Because we

11:21

are all riding waves of

11:23

unpredictability and adventure, bursting

11:25

into the air with a new chance

11:28

to smile. Just

11:31

like Pykeir and Keisha, we are drawing

11:34

from the strength of our past and

11:37

our present to greet a

11:39

new and magnificent future. This

11:50

podcast is a production of Rebel

11:52

Girls. It's based on

11:54

the book series Good Night Stories for

11:56

Rebel Girls. This episode

11:58

was narrated by me. It

12:01

was produced and directed by

12:03

Hailey Dapkus with sound design

12:06

and mixing by Mumble Media.

12:08

The story was written by

12:11

Emily McManuatay and edited by

12:13

Abi Shaw. Fact

12:15

checking by Joe Radigan. Our

12:17

executive producers were Joy Smith and

12:19

Jess Wolf. Original

12:22

theme music was composed and

12:24

performed by Elechtra Bajaki. A

12:27

special thanks to the whole Rebel

12:29

Girls team who make this podcast

12:31

possible. Until next

12:33

time, stay Rebel. You

12:43

probably think you know fairy tales.

12:45

Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood. You

12:48

probably think that they're cute and

12:50

boring. But the

12:52

real stories aren't cute and

12:54

boring at all. The

12:57

Grimm fairy tales were weird and

12:59

sometimes gross and often scary.

13:02

And in the podcast Grimm, Grimmer, Grimist,

13:04

you can listen along with a group

13:07

of other kids as I tell them

13:09

those tales. The episodes

13:11

are sometimes grim, sometimes

13:13

grimmer, and sometimes

13:15

grimist. But no matter

13:17

how creepy it gets, we'll always have a

13:20

great time guessing what'll happen next. Cracking jokes

13:22

and discussing what these tales mean to

13:24

us. You

13:26

can listen to Grimm, Grimmer, Grimist

13:29

now wherever you get your podcasts.

13:32

And be sure to follow the show so

13:34

you don't miss new episodes.