KEISHA CASTLE-HUGHES
ACADEMY AWARD- NOMINATED ACTOR
At the age of 13, Keisha Castle-Hughes became the youngest actor to be nominated for a Best Actress Academy Award for her role as Paikea Apirana in Whale Rider. The breakout role had Keisha splitting her time between the land of the long white cloud and Los Angeles, the City of Dreams, for much of her twenties until she finally set up shop in LA. “At that time it was imperative to physically be in a place if you wanted to work in that place,” she says. In the coming years, she would go on to land roles in some of the world’s most epic and celebrated cinematic franchises such as Star Wars and Game of Thrones, while falling further and further in love with California’s foodie scene. “I grew up in Auckland. I wasn’t hugely familiar with Mexican cuisine beyond a burrito with avocado and sour cream and grated cheese – hard shell tacos!” she says. “It was amazing to move to the city where the Mexican and Latin food that’s available is incredible.”
Keisha then made the move to New York City where she resides in Brooklyn and stars as a series regular on CBS’ FBI: Most Wanted, a three-time Emmy-nominated procedural television series. “We shoot Monday to Friday, 10 months a year,” she says enthusiastically. “Stable employment is hard to come by so it is an incredible opportunity.” With the old-school 22-episode network model giving rise to a year-round shooting calendar, Keisha is often enjoying breakfast in the make-up chair.
“For someone like me who loves to eat, is motivated by food and inspired by food, that can be a little dangerous! From the morning onwards, the amazing caterers have muesli fruit bowls, banana pancakes with blueberries, full English breakfast, full American, smoothies, juices. Everything.” Although the options are endless, Keisha likes to keep it simple: “Oatmeal with brown sugar and cream. All my American counterparts think it’s very odd – they eat oatmeal with peanut butter and berries – so this is a definite throwback to my grandparents. We’ve perfected the perfect amount of ‘splash’ of cream – that’s the most diva thing about me!”
Outside of working hours, Keisha flips the ‘keep it boring’ breakfast ethos on its head, instead setting out to explore the new and staple foodie haunts both in her home borough of Brooklyn and further afield. One such place is Thai Diner in NoLita (thaidiner.com). Known for its gold-foil, disco-chic interior and to-the-sky plating, it’s a watering hole for cool kids and a reason to go below 14th Street for dining veterans. “I love going there for brunch. Their kabocha curry with roti is super, super spicy. The disco fries are fantastic. They also have this variation of bacon, egg and cheese in a roti wrap – really, really great,” Keisha says, conjuring the memory with a big smile. Corima (corimanyc.com), a 15-minute walk from Thai Diner, is also on Keisha’s list. “They just got their first Michelin star. The tortilla and butter is akin to Vegemite on Vogels!”
In her local neighbourhood, Keisha loves a small Ethiopian restaurant called Awash Ethiopian (awashny.com). “[I like] the lentil crêpes served with curries and different curries on the injera bread, it’s almost like crumpet bread. The texture is really yummy.” Also in the area is Baby Luc’s (babylucs.com), the baby sister to pizza giant, Lucali. “If you cannot be bothered waiting in the line for Lucali – which has gotten longer since Taylor Swift frequents there – the pizza is fantastic.”
