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At the age of 14, Q'orianka Kilcher emerged into the front ranks of young actors with her portrayal of Pocahontas opposite Colin Farrell and Christian Bale in Terrence Malick's The New World, an epic film about the dramatic encounter between English and Native American cultures in 1607. Her performance won her the National Board of Reviews best breakthrough performance of 2006 and the 2006 Alma Award for best Latin American actress in a feature film ,as well as numerous nominations and rave reviews. Having started her performing arts career at age 6, she is not only an award -winning actress with high critical acclaim, an amazing singer /songwriter and expert dancer , but also a committed human rights and environmental activist and fearless, powerful young force,who uses her voice as tool to bring the need for universal dignity, compassion, environmental justice and basic Human Rights, to the attention of the international community... Traveling frequently to speak at youth events, colleges and Universities Q'orianka has been invited as a featured keynote speaker and workshop facilitator at many international conferences and events for organizations such as Amnesty International, the IFG (international Forum on Globalization), Amazon Watch IFIP (International Funders for Indigenous Peoples) and The United Nations/panel discussions entitled "Indigenous Peoples: Human Rights, Dignity and Development with Identity, in collaboration with the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She also lends her celebrity, voice and energy as spokesperson,collaborator and supporter to several international and national NGOs and organizations such as Amazon Watch, Youth Ambassador Amnesty International (Global Youth Ambassador for woman's Rights) AIDESEP (Spokesperson and Voice) Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest Federations) The Community School for the Arts foundation (volunteer/spokesperson) and Thursdays Child (youth counselor) Turning The Tides ((volunteer/spokesperson) Save Americas Forrests IDEM (South Dakota Youth Project) and is a spokesperson for the American Literacy Campaign (The only teen Native American spokesperson in history. She is presently working with the National Endowment For The Arts " The Big Read" Campaign, and will be recording a Book Review for the Campaign. Qorianka is also frequently volunteering her time reading Howard Zinns "The People Speak" at various open to the community staged readings, and just joined the Cast and Starring-Ensemble for the first "People Speak" Film Series (Starring Matt Damon, Sean Penn, Josh Brolin, David Straithern) In her free time, Qorianka is an accomplished Singer Songwriter and recently launched her own youth driven human rights and environmental organization on-Q initiative, heading off campaigns to connect young Hollywood with youth activist leaders and projects from around the world, in support of environmental sustainability, corporate accountability, basic Human Rights and universal dignity and compassion in all its forms. Through her production company, IQ-Films, Qorianka is also producing several cause driven documentaries and youth-programming projects.
She competed in the first season of the new "Star Search" (1983), hosted by Arsenio Hall , in the Young Singers category. She lost in a preliminary round.Q'orianka translates to "golden eagle" in Quechua, the official language of the Inca Empire and an official language in Peru.Her Father is a Quechua-Huachipaeri, an native South American from Madre de Dios, Peru. Her mother is a Swiss national who grew up in Alaska.Mother is Saskia kilcher .In 2004, at age 14, following an extensive international search, she was cast by writer/director Terrence Malick in The New World (2005) opposite Colin Farrell and Christian Bale and emerged into the front ranks of young actors with her portrayal of "Pocahontas".Younger brother, Kainoa Kilcher , had a bit part in The New World (2005).Popular singer Jewel Kilcher is her first cousin once removed. Jewel is first cousin of Saskia kilcher , the mother of Q'orianka.Her grandfather, Ray "Pirate" Genet, was an Alaskan mountain-rescue and climbing legend who died in 1979 while making his descent from the summit of Mt. Everest.Older sister of Kainoa Kilcher and Xihuaru Kilcher .Won the National Board of Review's best breakthrough performance in 2006 and was the winner of the 2006 Alma Award for Outstanding Actress in a feature film for The New World (2005).Q'orianka has two younger brothers, Xihuaru Kilcher (d.o.b. 2000) and Kainoa Kilcher (d.o.b. 1992). They are both actors.Q'orianka is a global youth ambassador for Amnesty International, and Amazon Watch and is the Founder of on-Q Initiative, a Enviromental and Human Rights youth organization. She also is a speaker at the United Nations on the Panel on Indigenous human rights and is the voice for several International Indigenous Youth organizations.She is a speaker at the United Nations on the panel for Indigenous Rights.In September 2006 she became the celebrity teen spokesperson for Thursday's Child, an international charity for children that are anorexic, bulimic, suicidal, runaways, abused, exploited, missing or have problems with drugs, teen pregnancy or STDs.Teen celebrity spokesperson for Thursday's Child, an international charity for at-risk children.She is the world's first teenager driving a Hydrogen Fuel Cell powered car with pure water steam emissions.Co-starred in the music video for Mat Kearney 's "Breathe In, Breathe Out".Speaks fluent German, Spanish and English.An accomplished Blackbelt Wushu Kung Fu and Stunt performer and has trained at the National Wushu Training Center and Impact Stunts since the age of 12.