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Q’Orianka Waira Qoiana Kilcher (born February 11, 1990) is an American singer and actress. She is best known for her role as Pocahontas in the 2005 film The New World. It is also noted she shares a resemblence to Keisha Castle-Hughes, who starred in the 2003 movie The Whale Rider, both girls were born in 1990.

Kilcher was born in Schweigmatt, Germany; her first language was Spanish, although she also speaks English, a little German and limited Algonquian (which she learned for her part in The New World). Her father is a Peruvian artist of Quechua/Huachipaeri Native American descent. Her mother, Saskia Kilcher, a human-rights activist of Swiss descent, was born in Alaska and raised in Switzerland.

Kilcher’s maternal grandfather was Ray Genet, a famous Alaskan mountaineer, while her grandmother, Wurtila Kilcher, is the daughter of Yule Kilcher, an Alaskan politician who was also the grandfather of singer Jewel Kilcher (whose father was Wurtila Kilcher’s brother), making Jewel and Q’Orianka first cousins once removed.

When she was two, her parents moved to Hawaii, where her brother, Kainoa, was born. Her father, from whom she is now estranged, was absent most of the time and her parents often fought. Kilcher was inspired by the local Hawaiian dancers and trained in West African and Hawaiian dance, performing in over 250 dance contests by the age of nine, earning money to support her family.

She subsequently moved with her family to California, where she busked on the Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica. When she was ten, her sound equipment was stolen from the family’s van. The story made front page news in Los Angeles and shortly thereafter, Kilcher received new sound equipment plus an audition for the film How the Grinch Stole Christmas, in which she had a role as a background chorus member.

In 2002, she appeared on Star Search singing “Adagio”, but came in second place, with one of the judges, Naomi Judd, commenting that she needed vocal lessons. Although she has had little acting training, she was cast in the leading role of Pocahontas in the 2005 film, The New World. The film was released in December 2005 to mixed reviews.

The film’s love scenes between Colin Farrell’s character and the then-14-year-old Kilcher caused some controversy, resulting in the film’s studio deleting several key scenes with Farrell in order to avoid child pornography accusations. Kilcher admitted in several interviews that kissing Farrell during filming was her first kiss.

Kilcher has several projects planned, including charity work, a line of buckskin clothing, and a CD of songs inspired by The New World. She noted in a Canadian interview that she misses singing and would also like to return to the Third Street Promenade.