Kiawentiio Grew Up with 'Avatar: The Last Airbender.' Twice.
The 17-year-old Kiawentiio Tarbell, now known mononymously as Kiawentiio (pronounced gya-wuhn-dee-yo), is fortunate to have grown up with older siblings: They had the raised-on-cable insight to show her Avatar: The Last Airbender. The hugely popular animated series, which premiered on Nickelodeon in 2005—almost a full year before Kiawentiio was born—slowly became a backdrop to her childhood on the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation in Ontario known as Kawehno:ke, or Cornwall Island. When, years later, all three seasons dropped on Netflix and topped the streamer’s charts, Kiawentiio watched the show again with new eyes—and a new appreciation. She was mere months away from an official announcement, introducing her to legions of Avatar fans as the actress who’d play Katara in Netflix’s live-action adaptation.
Katara, as Kiawentiio puts it, is “the heart of the group” of characters that round out the main Avatar cast. Among them, of course, is Aang, a century-old Air Nomad with the ability to manipulate the elements and (in theory) save the world from the terrorizing Fire Nation. But his closest partners are siblings Sokka and Katara, the latter of whom is herself a water-bender, capable of moving water with tai chi-inspired motions. “She is the optimistic, hopeful person in this group that keeps them moving forward,” Kiawentiio says. “I feel like that was something that you could definitely tell in the original series, and that’s what I really wanted to keep about her in our adaptation.”
Fidelity to the source material is a sore spot for many Avatar devotees, who were burned during Hollywood’s first attempt at a live-action adaptation. The disastrous 2010 The Last Airbender is notoriously one of the most-hated films ever produced, and it remains something of a warning sign lurking over the latest Netflix adaptation. Don’t make the same mistakes. Kiawentiio understands the fans’ fears and desires, and she welcomes their input, if not exactly the pressure that comes with it. “It definitely is a huge spotlight, and I think it’s important to protect yourself from those things,” she says. But, she admits, “I can understand a lot of opinions and a lot of point of views, so I think, for me, seeing good or bad is helpful to understand ... that point of view of the outside watcher.”
As the new adaptation makes its long-awaited debut on Netflix, Kiawentiio is relishing the opportunity to celebrate what the series has meant to her—not merely as a fan herself, but as an active participant in its impact. She grew up with Avatar twice: first as a child, then as a teenager, having been cast at 14 years old before filming and promoting the project into near-adulthood. When it came time to walk the premiere red carpet as one of the series’ stars, she knew she wanted a gown that would honor the show itself. Working with Indigenous designers Tasha Marie and Evan Ducharme, and stylist Benjamin Holtrop, she dreamed up a beaded corset and mermaid skirt etched with Avatar Easter eggs, and an overall effect like cascading water.
Ahead, Kiawentiio takes ELLE.com behind the scenes of her premiere look, and deeper into her hopes for Avatar’s future.
For the soft, peachy makeup her premiere look called for, Kiawentiio turned to artist Dom Della, who perfected a smudged wing and sun-kissed glow. “For the makeup, I definitely wanted to keep it more subtle, not too in-your-face,” Kiawentiio says. “Especially with the hair and the outfit, I just wanted to keep it—glam, definitely, but simple as well.”
Hair stylist Laura Rugetti affixed Kiawentiio’s long, swooping braid into a crown atop her head, then draped the tail down the actress’s side to hang just below her hip. “In our culture, braids are really significant, and they are actually a form of protection as well, so it was really important to me to incorporate that,” Kiawentiio says.
As proud as she is of her work bringing the new Avatar to life, Kiawentiio is already looking forward to returning to set, should the series get its anticipated green light for season 2. She feels more comfortable as Katara now that she’s spent a few years in the character’s skin.
“I was learning her as we went,” she says, “and I feel like you could see that on screen—when I kind of sank into her character. So I feel like the Katara that we see in [episodes] 7 and 8 is what I would hope to bring to next season. As we all know from the original series, she becomes so much more confident in herself and in her capabilities to stand on her own, so I think that’s something that I’d love to focus on for season 2.”
Kiawentiio’s premiere-night gown was entirely custom-made, and composed of two separate pieces: a corset by Tasha Marie and a skirt by Evan Ducharme. Having walked in one of Marie’s fashion shows before, Kiawentiio capitalized on her relationship with the artist, and drew up a sketch of what she hoped to incorporate in a corset. “We did go back and forth, and she gave me her ideas and I gave her my ideas,” Kiawentiio says. “I thought it would be really cool to incorporate each symbol for the four nations, so that’s in there.”
Other Avatar Easter eggs incorporated into the beadwork include a Pai Sho tile—a piece from a fictional game in the Avatar universe, beloved by the character Uncle Iroh—and a fan used by the show’s Kyoshi warriors.
“Then another favorite thing of mine, a personal touch, was the wolf prints on the side,” Kiawentiio says, “which is actually kind of a double meaning, because I am Wolf Clan, and also Wolf Cove for Katara and where she comes from.”
On the back of the corset are the twin Koi fish Tui and La, which—as fans of the animated series will know—represent the moon and ocean spirits of Avatar. “I knew that that was something I wanted to incorporate,” Kiawentiio says, “and it just turned out so beautifully, and I definitely praise Tasha for how amazing her work has been.”
Ahead of the big night, stylist Benjamin Holtrop reached out to BYCHARI to design custom drop earrings to pair with rings from Dean Davidson. “It was so sweet,” she says. “He surprised me with those custom earrings and they just went perfectly with the whole outfit, and it really was the cherry on top.”
To turn Katara’s water-bending motions into muscle memory, Kiawentiio trained for six weeks ahead of production. “That contained mostly going over tai chi forms and building fight scenes and getting my body used to those movements,” she says. “Also, exercises to get my legs strong enough to handle them, because tai chi consists of a lot of horse stance; you really need strong legs.”
The actress wants to keep Avatar in her life for as long as possible. “I definitely hope for season 2 and season 3—I think we all really want that for this show,” she says. “I am proud of what we’ve done for season 1, but I think there’s just so much to look forward to as well. In the animated series, it just gets better and better each season. So there’s a lot of scenes that I’d love to recreate and relationships that I’d love to see.”
You Might Also Like
