Keisha Castle-Hughes hits the Roadie for punk new role

Keisha Castle-Hughes has swapped a spear and shield for a mixing desk in new musical TV sitcom Roadies.

The Kiwi actress shot to fame as a 13-year-old in the movie Whale Rider. She also played warrior Obara Sand in the fifth series of the wildly popular HBO series Game of Thrones.

Now, at 26, she is playing it for laughs as a "punk-funk lesbian with blue and red hair" in Cameron Crowe's Roadies, which premieres in New Zealand next month.

Castle-Hughes portrays outspoken sound engineer Donna Mancini in the show, which follows behind-the-scenes dramas of the crew working for a successful rock band.

"It is a super-fun role," she told Red Carpet News. "I learned lots of things I wouldn't have done otherwise, about sound boards and how audio circuit boards work and what microphones you should and shouldn't use."

Roadies is being hotly tipped to be a smash when it hits small screens in the United States later this month. It also stars Luke Wilson from The Royal Tenenbaums and Imogen Poots from 28 Weeks Later.

Castle-Hughes said working with Oscar-winning writer/director Crowe is a dream job.

"Cameron is the guru of this world of rock and roll and music," she said. "It is so nice to be working in the hands of someone who believes in that and believes in the stories and is still doing it at a grass-roots level, despite his success.

"It is my ideal working situation. I love it."

Roadies is not Castle-Hughes' first foray into the world of music.

Last year she teamed up with Kiwi entertainer Mika in Los Angeles to record her debut single.

Castle-Hughes has also indicated she has no idea if her character on Game of Thrones will last another season.

"The craziest thing about the show is we are almost as in the dark as anyone else," she said. "I actually learn more from the fans than I do from working on it."

Roadies starts on July 4 at 8.30pm on SoHo.