Keira Knightley's breakthrough came when she played a tomboy footballer in the sports film Bend It Like Beckham, and went on to achieve global stardom for playing Elizabeth Swann in the swashbuckler fantasy series Pirates of the Caribbean, beginning in 2003.
122 Facts About Keira Knightley
2.
Keira Knightley appeared in the romantic comedy Love Actually and was labelled a promising teen star.
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Keira Knightley starred in a number of more period pieces, playing a complex love interest in Atonement, tastemaker Georgiana Cavendish in The Duchess, and the titular socialite in Anna Karenina.
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Keira Knightley forayed into contemporary dramas, appearing as an aspiring musician in Begin Again and a medical student in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit.
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Keira Knightley returned to historical films playing Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game, earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, and starred as the eponymous writer in Colette.
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On stage, Keira Knightley has appeared in two West End productions: The Misanthrope in 2009, which earned her an Olivier Award nomination, and The Children's Hour in 2011.
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Keira Knightley starred as the eponymous heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Therese Raquin.
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Keira Knightley is known for her outspoken stance on social issues and has worked extensively with Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Comic Relief.
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Keira Knightley is married to musician James Righton and they have two daughters.
10.
Keira Christina Knightley was born on 26 March 1985 in the London suburb of Teddington, to stage actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald.
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Keira Knightley was meant to be named "Kiera", the anglicised form of "Kira", after the Soviet figure skater Kira Ivanova, whom her father admired; however, Macdonald misspelt the name when she registered her daughter's birth certificate, writing the e before the i Her father is English and her mother is of Scottish and Welsh descent.
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Keira Knightley's parents encountered substantial financial difficulties following the birth of her brother; her father, a "middling" actor, agreed to a second child only if her mother sold a script first.
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Keira Knightley was diagnosed with dyslexia at age six, but by the time she was eleven, with her parents' support, she says, "they deemed me to have got over it sufficiently".
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Keira Knightley is still a slow reader and cannot read out loud.
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Keira Knightley acted in a number of local amateur productions, which included After Juliet, written by her mother, and United States, written by her drama teacher.
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Keira Knightley began studying her A-Levels at Esher College, but left after a year to pursue an acting career.
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Keira Knightley then played Natasha Jordan, a young girl whose mother is involved in an extramarital affair, in the romantic drama A Village Affair.
18.
Keira Knightley's dialogue was dubbed over by Natalie Portman, who played Padme.
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Keira Knightley was cast in the role because of her close resemblance to Portman; even the two actresses' mothers had difficulty telling their daughters apart when they were in full make-up.
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Keira Knightley took on the role of Lara Antipova in the 2002 miniseries adaptation of Doctor Zhivago, to positive reviews and high ratings.
21.
Keira Knightley landed a breakthrough role when she starred in Gurinder Chadha's sports comedy film Bend It Like Beckham, which was a box office hit in the UKand US Keira Knightley portrayed Jules, a tomboy football player struggling against social norms who convinces her friend to pursue the sport.
22.
Keira Knightley portrayed the role of Elizabeth Swann, in the 2003 American fantasy swashbuckler film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
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Also in 2003, Keira Knightley appeared in Richard Curtis's Christmas-themed romantic comedy Love Actually, featuring an ensemble cast, which included her childhood idol Emma Thompson.
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Keira Knightley played Juliet, a woman whose fiancee's best man is secretly in love with her.
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Keira Knightley believes the film's trajectory to be "extraordinary", given that its popularity resurfaced a few years after the film's release.
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The critic A O Scott praised Knightley for "throw[ing] herself bodily into every scene".
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Keira Knightley appeared in three films in 2005, the first of which was the psychological thriller The Jacket, co-starring Adrien Brody.
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Keira Knightley next played the titular character in Tony Scott's French-American action film Domino, based on the life of Domino Harvey.
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Keira Knightley earned "Best Actress in a Leading Role" nominations at the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards for her performance at age 20, becoming the third-youngest nominee for the latter.
30.
Keira Knightley was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, among other artists in 2006.
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Keira Knightley's continued association with period dramas yielded varying results, as seen with two of her 2007 releases, Francois Girard's Silk, and Joe Wright's Atonement, the feature film adaptations of the novels by Alessandro Baricco and Ian McEwan respectively.
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Keira Knightley played Cecilia Tallis, the elder of the two Tallis sisters, who struggles with a wartime romance with her love interest, played by James McAvoy.
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Keira Knightley admitted that the pacing on the smaller, more intimate film was an adjustment compared to the Pirates franchise.
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In preparing for the film, Keira Knightley studied the novel as well as the "naturalism" of the performance as seen in films from the 1930s and 1940s, such as In Which We Serve and Brief Encounter.
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Keira Knightley admired the multi-layered and "fascinating" nature of her character's behaviour.
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Keira Knightley's performance won the Empire Award for Best Actress, and earned her nominations for the BAFTA and the Golden Globes awards, in the leading actress categories.
37.
Keira Knightley appeared alongside Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, and Matthew Rhys in John Maybury's 2008 wartime drama The Edge of Love.
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Keira Knightley wrote the script with her mother, Sharman Macdonald, with Macnamara in mind.
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Keira Knightley connected to Vera's quietness, and described her as "tragic and beautiful".
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Keira Knightley initially felt embarrassed to do so, saying she "[shook] like a leaf" but eventually went through with the plan.
41.
Keira Knightley then starred as the 18th-century English aristocrat Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire in Saul Dibb's period drama The Duchess, based on the best-selling biographical novel, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman.
42.
The script Keira Knightley was sent was covered in "huge white ostrich feathers" and a gold ribbon.
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Gabrielle Tana, the film's producer, stated Keira Knightley "brought an instinctive understanding" of such aspects of Georgiana's life as a celebrity from her own experiences.
44.
Keira Knightley was attracted to her character's strength and status as a political influence and fashion prowess, while being inwardly vulnerable and isolated.
45.
Keira Knightley made her West End debut with Martin Crimp's version of Moliere's comedy The Misanthrope.
46.
Keira Knightley portrayed Jennifer, a shallow, amorous, and vulnerable American film star who is courted by an analytical and veracious playwright.
47.
Keira Knightley chose the role as she felt that "if I don't do theatre right now, I think I'm going to start being too terrified to do it" and described the production as an "extraordinary and incredibly fulfilling" experience, she was sceptical of her performance.
48.
Paul Taylor of The Independent remarked that Keira Knightley was "not only strikingly convincing, but, at times, rather thrilling in its satiric aplomb".
49.
In recognition of her theatre debut, Keira Knightley was nominated for the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role and an Evening Standard Award.
50.
Keira Knightley began the new decade with three films; she remarked that her work during this period helped her "empathise with people or with situations that I don't necessarily find it easy to empathise with".
51.
Keira Knightley described the script as unique, one that made the reader think.
52.
Co-starring Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley played Ruth, one of three graduates of an autocratic boarding school that discovers their fates in a dystopia.
53.
Keira Knightley appeared in a video installation by artist Stuart Pearson Wright titled Maze.
54.
Keira Knightley starred in a 2011 revival of The Children's Hour by Lillian Hellman at the Comedy Theatre in London.
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Keira Knightley portrayed Karen Wright, an engaged schoolteacher accused of lesbianism in 1934.
56.
Keira Knightley portrayed Spielrein, the troubled but beautiful young psychoanalyst who comes between Jung and Freud.
57.
Keira Knightley spent four months reading and discussing her character's behaviour with psychologists to prepare for the role.
58.
Keira Knightley appreciated the depth and variety of her character arc, which she viewed as rare for female roles.
59.
The film premiered at the 68th Venice International Film Festival to a positive reception, while Keira Knightley earned generally favourable reviews by critics, with Andrew O'Hehir of Salon hailing her as "the real star of this film".
60.
Keira Knightley co-starred with Steve Carell in the 2012 comedy-drama Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, which was critically panned.
61.
Keira Knightley deemed this collaboration the most important of her career.
62.
Keira Knightley viewed that her character's complex "moral culpability" was in question, but attracted compassion.
63.
Keira Knightley received positive reviews for her performance, prompting early Oscar buzz.
64.
Batsy Sharky of the Los Angeles Times wrote that Keira Knightley "puts hearts and anguish on the line in trying to bring an emotional reality".
65.
Keira Knightley later apologised to her via Twitter for his comments.
66.
Keira Knightley later remarked that music "never sinks in" for her, and she is more interested in books and drama.
67.
In July 2014, Keira Knightley stated that she had reached the end of the first stage of her career, and wished to depart from "neurotic" roles.
68.
Keira Knightley sought to do a lighter film than her previous work, looked forward to working with director Kenneth Branagh.
69.
Keira Knightley empathised with her character's delayed maturity and appreciated the film's telling from a female perspective.
70.
Laggies opened to mostly positive reviews from critics, with Keira Knightley's performance praised by critics.
71.
Keira Knightley portrayed cryptanalyst and numismatist Joan Clarke, who decrypted German intelligence codes for the British government during World War II with Turing.
72.
Keira Knightley researched interviews with Clarke, and sought to keep her "upper-class quality", drawing on the depth of her emotions and protectiveness of Turing from the script.
73.
Conversely, Lady Jean Forde, who worked with Clarke and Turing, felt Keira Knightley was "nothing like" Clarke and was "too beautiful" to play her.
74.
The film was based on the 1996 Mount Everest disaster with Keira Knightley portraying mountaineer Rob Hall's wife.
75.
Variety wrote that Keira Knightley gave a "deeply felt performance" as a woman "haunted by the possibility" of losing her spouse.
76.
In October 2015, Keira Knightley made her Broadway debut playing the title role in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Emile Zola's Therese Raquin at Studio 54.
77.
Keira Knightley found interest in her character's "caged" circumstance, as well as her dark, active role in the play, as she sought to depart from passive supporting roles.
78.
In 2016, it emerged that Keira Knightley was set to star in a feature biopic about 18th-century Russian empress Catherine the Great, directed by Barbra Streisand, which has not come to fruition.
79.
Keira Knightley appeared in the ensemble drama Collateral Beauty, alongside Will Smith, Edward Norton, Kate Winslet, and Helen Mirren.
80.
Keira Knightley starred in the biographical drama Colette as the titular French author.
81.
Keira Knightley believed the film connected strongly to modern-day feminism, and depicted cultural change in gender politics.
82.
Keira Knightley found the author "inspiring", and admired her imperfections as well as her courage.
83.
The film, released at the Sundance Film Festival, was critically successful, with Keira Knightley's performance receiving acclaim.
84.
In 2019, Keira Knightley co-starred in The Aftermath, a film adaptation of the novel by Rhidian Brook, alongside Alexander Skarsgard.
85.
Keira Knightley played Rachel, a "cold and complex" British army wife traumatised by her son's death by a German bomb.
86.
The Boston Globes Ty Burr credited Keira Knightley for adding "conviction, grace, heart, and nerve" to the film, while Katie Walsh of the Los Angeles Times felt Keira Knightley and Skarsgard were too reserved.
87.
Keira Knightley portrayed whistleblower Katharine Gun in Official Secrets, which was premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on 28 January 2019 to positive reviews.
88.
Keira Knightley believed the film's depiction of Iraq War and government accountability connected with modern politics.
89.
The film discusses the nuances of intersectionality in second wave feminism; Keira Knightley was drawn to the political aspects of the project.
90.
Keira Knightley was due to produce and star in The Essex Serpent, an Apple TV+ adaptation of Sarah Perry's novel, but dropped out over concerns about access to childcare during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
91.
Keira Knightley starred in the 2021 holiday comedy Silent Night.
92.
Keira Knightley voiced the lead role in the dramatic animated film Charlotte, a true story about a young artist during the Holocaust.
93.
Keira Knightley took a year off work to spend time with family.
94.
Keira Knightley has been described as "famously open with media", though she has asserted the contrary.
95.
Keira Knightley has been widely recognised for her extensive repertoire of period dramas throughout her career.
96.
Keira Knightley identifies with "break[ing] out of that image of femininity" and appreciates period films' "overt cage" to demonstrate such.
97.
Keira Knightley is reputed for her signature "strong female lead" roles and she has been compared to actresses Katharine Hepburn, Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, and Nicole Kidman.
98.
Keira Knightley has often been ascribed to the "English rose" archetype.
99.
Keira Knightley was part of the American editions of the list from 2004 to 2006, and was placed ninth on the Maxim Hot 100 list in 2006.
100.
Keira Knightley received media attention for her perspectives on feminism, voiced in an interview with Harper's Bazaar UK published in the February 2014 edition.
101.
Keira Knightley explained that women face greater hurdles in the film industry compared to their male counterparts, and revealed that she was perplexed by the use of "feminist" in a derogatory sense.
102.
Keira Knightley is the face of an Amnesty International campaign to support human rights, marking the sixtieth anniversary of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
103.
Keira Knightley posed for photos for WaterAid in 2005 and for the American Library Association's "Read" campaign.
104.
In November 2010, Keira Knightley became patron of the SMA Trust, a British charity that funds medical research into the disease spinal muscular atrophy.
105.
In July 2014 Keira Knightley travelled to South Sudan on behalf of Oxfam to meet refugees of the South Sudanese Civil War and raise awareness of the conflict.
106.
In May 2016, Keira Knightley signed a letter imploring Britain to vote "remain" in the UK EU referendum.
107.
In September 2016, Keira Knightley co-hosted A Night to Remember, part of the Green Carpet Challenge, a charity event highlighting sustainability within the fashion industry.
108.
In September 2017, Keira Knightley traded stocks on behalf of the spinal muscular atrophy charity SMA Trust as part of the BGC Charity Day, which was set up to commemorate the stockbrokers who were killed during the September 11 attacks.
109.
Keira Knightley participated in a skit entitled 2020 The Movie, commemorating Red Nose Day 2021.
110.
Keira Knightley was the celebrity face for the luxury goods brands Asprey and Shiatzy Chen as well as Lux haircare products in Japanese television commercials.
111.
Keira Knightley has appeared in television commercials for Chanel directed by Joe Wright since 2007, and has endorsed Chanel Fine Jewellery's collection Coco Crush.
112.
In 2008, Keira Knightley was the highest-earning British Hollywood star according to the Forbes Celebrity 100 list and was named amongst the most bankable actors in 2009.
113.
Keira Knightley previously dated actors Del Synnott, Jamie Dornan, and Rupert Friend.
114.
Keira Knightley began a relationship with musician James Righton in February 2011.
115.
In 2007, Keira Knightley won a libel case against the British tabloid Daily Mail after it falsely claimed that she had an eating disorder.
116.
Keira Knightley took a break from working in 2006, suggesting that she wanted to take some time off acting to travel and focus on her personal life.
117.
In 2018, Keira Knightley revealed that she had a mental breakdown at age 22 and had been later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, since she struggled to adjust to her sudden rise to stardom.
118.
Keira Knightley recounted how she did not leave her home for three months up until early 2008, and needed to have hypnotherapy to prevent panic attacks so she could be able to attend that year's BAFTA Awards, where she was nominated for her performance in Atonement.
119.
On stage, Keira Knightley has starred in The Misanthrope and The Children's Hour at the Harold Pinter Theatre, as well as in Therese Raquin at the Roundabout Theatre Company.
120.
Keira Knightley has twice been nominated at the British Academy Film Awards: Best Actress in a Leading Role for Atonement, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role and for The Imitation Game.
121.
Keira Knightley received nomination for a Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Play for The Misanthrope.
122.
Keira Knightley won the Empire Award for Best Actress for her performance in Atonement after five nominations.