Keisha prepares for toughest role

Motherhood won't take Keisha Castle-Hughes out of the spotlight - as she has already been offered roles to be filmed once her baby is born. Picture / Martin Sykes

She has mixed with Hollywood's A-list and won acclaim on the big screen, but Keisha Castle-Hughes' toughest role has no script.

Thrust into the spotlight at 13 as the youngest actress to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar - for her role in Whale Rider - the Auckland teenager now has a whale of a job ahead of her as a mother after becoming pregnant at age 16.

New Zealand and the United States have the developed world's highest rate of teenage pregnancy.

Figures revealed this week at a child health summit show that for every Kiwi teenager who gives birth, another terminates her pregnancy.

But despite the concerns of some, including her grandmother, Castle-Hughes and boyfriend Bradley Hull, 19, say they are happy at the prospect of becoming parents.

And the Family Planning Association says there is no reason why they can't do a good job of it. Its national medical adviser, Christine Roke, said girls of 16 were emotionally capable of being mothers.

"It depends a lot on maturity. Being in the public eye can often make people mature quicker than average."

Dr Roke said teenage motherhood did not necessarily harm a person's career.

"It doesn't have to, particularly in these days where all of us throughout life can go back to education and change jobs."

Dr Roke said teenagers with good career prospects were less likely to become pregnant than those with poor prospects.

The Weekend Herald has learned that Castle-Hughes has been offered another movie role once her baby is born.

She has not spoken publicly about her pregnancy, and refused Weekend Herald requests for an interview.

But a source close to her said the offer came after Castle-Hughes' pregnancy was revealed a week ago.

The film industry source did not want to be named, and would not reveal details of the movie or role, but said it showed Castle-Hughes' impending motherhood was not an impediment to her work.

"She's shooting a movie and she's already been offered another movie right after she has the baby, as soon as she's ready to go back to work, so I don't think it's having any career impact," the source said.

The source also revealed Castle-Hughes had a two-month-old brother, "so she's very comfortable around children and babies".

Castle-Hughes would probably take a break around the time of the birth.

"I think she's in the same situation as any working mother," the source said.

She is filming Hey, Hey, It's Esther Blueburger in Australia with Toni Collette.

News of her pregnancy has not affected her role as a 13-year-old girl trying to fit in at two schools.

Castle-Hughes also follows in the footsteps of many leading Hollywood ladies who have worked during pregnancy.

At the child health summit this week, experts said teenage girls from New Zealand's most deprived areas were almost 10 times more likely to become pregnant than those from the wealthiest areas.

The birth rate among girls aged 15 to 19 in the most affluent areas was 6.92 per 1000.

It was 65.8 for girls in the most economically deprived areas.


On screen and pregnant

* Catherine Zeta-Jones filmed Traffic while pregnant and said she got "really spoiled" on set: "My feet were getting massaged, my toes were getting rubbed, and people would even come over and rub my belly from time to time".

* Julia Roberts was pregnant with twins while filming Ocean's 12, which presented little problem, as one of her character Tess Ocean's traits was an uncanny resemblance to movie star Julia Roberts.

* Gwyneth Paltrow lived by a simple philosophy when pregnant during the production of Proof: "Just take one day at a time".

* Debra Messing sat strategically on a couch to disguise her baby bump when doing scenes for TV's Will & Grace.

* Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker felt pressure not on set, but from the paparazzi. "It's madness," she said. "First because, you know what, being skinny four weeks after the birth, especially if you're nursing, is not necessarily such a great goal."

* New Zealand's Lucy Lawless announced she was pregnant just days into filming a new season of Xena Warrior Princess. Production finished two months before she gave birth.

* Danielle Cormack inspired the film Topless Women Talk about Their Lives when she told director Harry Sinclair she was pregnant. She played a young pregnant mother.