While it's no secret that critics were far from kind to 2010's The Last Airbender, the
imminent arrival of a new live-action TV series based on the property has some fans re-evaluating
M. Night Shyamalan's film. Many have taken to its strange and singular vision and particularly,
to the performance of the young actress who portrays Katara: Nicola Peltz.
If you're having a bit of trouble placing her face, it might be because you've seen
her in a bunch of wildly varied projects, on screens both big and small, at several
different ages. Here's why Katara from The Last Airbender looks so familiar.
If you're a pop music fan, you might recognize Peltz from her appearances in a pair of videos,
although they dropped eight years apart. At the age of 13, she landed one of her first
gigs, appearing in the video for "7 Things" by Miley Cyrus. A spunky song with a universal
message about kicking worthless ex-boyfriends to the curb, Peltz was one of many young girls
to appear holding various keepsakes from their exes.
Peltz wouldn't appear in another video until 2016, this time in a more central role. She
portrayed the wayward love interest of former One Direction singer Zayn Malik in the video
for "It's You," which also happened to be the lead single from his first solo album.
The artfully shot black-and-white clip clued the music-buying public in to Zayn's second
direction as a singer of well-crafted, thoughtful pop tunes and the simmering star power Peltz
brought to the video certainly didn't hurt.
The A&E horror drama Bates Motel, based on the classic Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho,
enjoyed a five-season run with its inventive take on the classic characters of Norman Bates
and his extremely protective mother. If you happened to be among those fans who were captivated
with the eerie and atmospheric series since its beginning, then you certainly recognize
Peltz from its cast: she appeared in 14 episodes over the show's first three seasons as Bradley
Martin, a love interest for Norman.
Peltz was certainly hitting her stride as an actress at this time, and it's little wonder
that casting directors for major features would begin to sit up and take notice. Just
a year after her Bates Motel debut in 2013, she was cast in her first big-budget blockbuster
the only film of its year to break $1 billion at the worldwide box office.
Transformers: Age of Extinction from 2014 saw the series finally moving away from the
travails of the first three movies' protagonist, Sam Witwicky, in favor of a slightly more
conventional hero: Cade Yeager, an inventor and single father who just happens to sport
the ripped physique and chiseled jaw of Mark Wahlberg. Of course, a single dad in a Transformers
movie is going to need a beautiful young daughter who is secretly dating a rally car driver,
and Peltz fit the bill. She was cast in the role of Yeager's daughter Tessa, earning her
first taste of tentpole stardom.
She didn't reprise the role in 2017's Transformers: The Last Knight, which also wasn't quite as
successful as its predecessor. The flick's tanking certainly had nothing to do with Peltz's
absence, though. According to most reviews, it was just an underwhelming film all around
although kids probably still loved it, of course.
"Okay, so now I'll be Mark Wahlberg…"
"No!"
With the success of the smaller, more character-driven Transformers spin-off Bumblebee, the franchise
is currently undergoing a bit of a course-correction. As such, it seems unlikely that we'll be seeing
Peltz tangling with giant alien robots opposite Wahlberg or anyone else again.
Peltz demonstrated her indie leanings early in her career, following up The Last Airbender
with writer-director Jesse Wolfe's drama Eye of the Hurricane in 2012. Even as she was
enjoying blockbuster success with Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014, she was popping
up in the small drama flick Affluenza opposite Steve Guttenberg. And in 2016, she starred
in the indie comedy Youth in Oregon, sharing the screen with such legends as Frank Langella,
Billy Crudup, and Christina Applegate.
More recently, she's taken on some pretty meaty roles in movies like the 2018 indie
crime drama Back Roads, in which she starred as the eldest sister of a young man who finds
himself caring for his three siblings after their mother goes to prison for murdering
their father. The weighty, atmospheric film was well-received by critics, and Peltz demonstrated
remarkable range in taking on the role of an extremely troubled young woman scarred
by her family's tragic dynamic.
That same year, she appeared in the supernatural horror flick Our House, as the girlfriend
of a young man who inadvertently attracts the attention of restless spirits while experimenting
with a wireless power source of his own invention. We've all been there, right? The film received
mixed-to-positive reviews, but the sure-footed performance from Peltz proved once again that
the actress is comfortable working in virtually any genre.
Most recently, she appeared in the 2019 time loop drama The Obituary of Tunde Johnson opposite
Steven Silver. The actress certainly appears to be picking up steam which means, of course,
that she has more intriguing projects on the horizon.
It certainly seems like the sky is the limit for Nicola Peltz, both personally and professionally.
The actress enjoys a robust dating life; within the last few years, she's been linked with
such stars as Canadian pop icon Justin Bieber and model and actor Anwar Hadid.
As for her professional life, her next project appears to be a film called Above the Line,
which has been described on the web as "a dark heist comedy." Starring comic greats
like Thomas Middleditch, Cedric the Entertainer, and Taryn Manning - better known as Pennsatucky
from Orange is the New Black - not much else is known about this film just yet.
It's safe to say that Nicola Peltz has come a long way from her Last Airbender days but
even back then, it was obvious that she was a talent to watch. We can't wait to see what
lies ahead for the young actress as she continues to build her interesting and varied filmography.
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