- Name: Keira Knightley
- Date of Birth: March 26, 1985
- Place of Birth: England
Mini-bio:
Keira Christina Knightley is an Academy Award-nominated English actress. She began her career as a child actress, and came to international fame in 2003, after major roles in the films Bend It Like...( read more)
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KEIRA KNIGHTLEY
Keira was born in Teddingdon, Greater London, England, but lived most of her life in Richmond. Her parents are Sharman MacDonald and Will Knightley. She also has an older brother named Caleb. She is of English, Scottish and Welsh decent.
Keira suffered from dyslexia in school but still managed to be successful in school. She got her first agent when she was 6 - though she asked for one when she was 3!
She followed in her parents’ footsteps quite early, making her film debut at the age of 11 in A Village Affair (1994). By 1999, she appeared in her first Hollywood blockbuster, playing Padmé's double Sabé, in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999).
She later moved onto other things. In the TV movie, The Princess of Thieves (2001), Keira played the title role of Robin Hood’s daughter Gwyn, who takes on the family business after her father dies. Despite her lack of soccer experience, she was chosen for a lead role in the independent feature Bend It Like Beckham (2002), a movie based on soccer phenom, David Beckham. Along with Parminder Nagra, who played the lead role in the film, Keira trained full time with a coach for three months in order to successfully play a soccer-obsessed teenager. They learned Futebol de Salao -- the Brazilian method of playing soccer and repeated the tricky moves over and over, even practising them at home each night. At one point, when Keira sustained a concussion, the director suggested that they use doubles, but the girls refused, saying they wanted to do the soccer action themselves. When Bend it Like Beckham was number one in Britain and stayed there for several weeks, it was clear that the film was a hit. It spread its wings across Europe, then was shown in Australia, India and eventually opened in the United States to rave reviews and was proclaimed a sleeper hit in the States. Soon after, Keira landed a lead role in the Hollywood blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003) acting alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom after Jerry Bruckheimer (Pearl Harbor) discovered her in Bend It Like Beckham. He then cast her as Guienevere in the Disney update of King Arthur.
Around the same time, Keira was put in a movie called "Love Actually". The movie had an all-star cast including Emma Thompson, Alan Rickman, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Colin Firth and Bill Nighy just to name few. Keira played Juliet, a newlywed whose husband's Best Man is secretly besotted with her.
Keira's 2004 started off in Scotland and Canada filming John Maybury's time-travelling thriller The Jacket (2005) with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody. A planned movie of Deborah Moggach's novel, Tulip Fever, about forbidden love in 17th Century Amsterdam, was cancelled in February after the British government suddenly closed tax loopholes which allowed filmmakers to claw back a large proportion of their expenditure. Due to star Keira and Jude Law in the main roles, the film remains mothballed. Instead, Keira spent her time wisely, visiting Ethiopia on behalf of the Comic Relief charity, and spending summer at various grandiose locations around the UK filming what promises to be a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride & Prejudice (2005), alongside Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy, and with Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench in supporting roles. It was while making the movie she met her boyfriend Rupert Friend, who had a much smaller role.
Keira got an Academy Award nomination for her role as Elizabeth Bennett. She did not win that year, instead it went to Reese Witherspoon for her role as June Carter Cash in "Walk the Line".
The remainder of 2004 saw Keira once again trying a completely new genre, this time the part-fact, part-fiction life story of model turned bounty hunter Domino (2005). Her next movie to come out was Pirates of the Carribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest. The movie broke many box office records when it opens worldwide in July, becoming the third biggest movie ever by early September. That summer Keira spent early summer in Europe filming Silk (2007) opposite Michael Pitt, and the rest of the summer in the UK filming Atonement.Keira filmed a movie about the life of Dylan Thomas, The Edge Of Love (2008) with a screenplay written by her mother Sharman MacDonald. Her co-star Lindsay Lohan pulled out just a week before filming began, and was replaced by Sienna Miller. What was announced to be Keira's final Pirates movie in the franchise, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007), opened strongly in June, rising to all-time fifth biggest movie by July. Atonement (2007) opened the Venice Film Festival in August, and opened worldwide in September, again to superb reviews for Keira. Meanwhile, Silk (2007) opened in September on very few screens and disappeared without a trace. Keira spent the rest of the year filming The Duchess (2008), the life story of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, based on Amanda Foreman's award-winning biography of the distant relation of Princess Diana.
Keira has two upcoming projects; King Lear (2010) confirmed for filming in early 2009, in which she will play Cordelia opposite Sir Anthony Hopkins' Lear, and with Gwyneth Paltrow and Naomi Watts as her rival siblings. Talks are ongoing regarding Keira reprising Audrey Hepburn's role in My Fair Lady (2010), to be produced by stage show impresario Cameron Mackintosh.
VITAL STATS
| Keira Knightley Information: |
| Eye color: Brown |
| Height: 5' 7" |
| Nickname(s): |
| Notable feature(s): High defined cheekbones, strong square jawline |
| Education: Teddington School, At 16, She went to Esher College to study for her A Levels, but quit the course when offered the role of Lara in Doctor Zhivago (2002) (TV). |
| Family: Will Knightley (father), Sharman Macdonald (mother), Caleb Knightley (brother) |
| Resides in: London |
| Religious affiliations: |
| Political affiliation: |
| Personal interests/hobbies: Dancing, collects shoes |
Charities/Causes:
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Other:
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Meet Other Fans
Comments
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magarlaxmiposted 22 days ago -
Keira Knightley is so beautiful and talented..I absolutely looovveee her british accent
posted 44 days ago -
ya grg.. . i love to watch ya in any movie ... u got gd actor .. face .. ..:P ..
posted 60 days ago -
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hi, i just want to tell you that i think you are very beautiful and i love you and i love all of the movies that you have been in. i would love to be your friend.
posted 139 days ago -
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