Susan Blakely

Many critics believe that Blakely's best performance was in the 1980 television film A Cry For Love, in which she gave an acclaimed performance as a drug addict. Her next scheduled role will see her as the Queen of Naboo in Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Blakely's first major role was as Patty Simmons in the classic disaster movie The Towering Inferno. She received widespread critical acclaim and an Academy Award for Best Actress nomination for her performance. She first came to Hollywood in the early 1970s as a highly paid fashion model and then branched off into acting. Despite not possessing any previous acting experience, the then 11-year-old Castle-Hughes went directly from her Auckland classroom to the set when the film began shooting in New Zealand in 2002. As the daughter of a career Army officer, Blakely was born in Germany . On January 27, 2004, she became the youngest person ever nominated for the Academy Awards' Oscar for Best Actress, for her portrayal of Paikea Apirana (Pai) in the low-budget film Whale Rider.

Susan Blakely (born September 7, 1952) is an American movie actress who has mainly played supporting roles. Born in Donnybrook, Western Australia to a Maori mother and an Australian father, Castle-Hughes was four years old when her family moved to New Zealand. Her parents later separated. Keisha Castle-Hughes (born March 24, 1990) is an actress from Glen Innes, a suburb of Auckland, New Zealand.