Keira Knightley Biography
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A slender but lean brunette beauty, pixyish British actress Keira Knightley hitched herself to a star with memorable roles in such hits as Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and Pirates of the Caribbean (2003). Knightley has appeared in several Hollywood films and earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel Pride and Prejudice.
Two years later she again was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Atonement. In 2008, Forbes claimed Knightley to be the second highest paid actress in Hollywood, having reportedly earned $32 million in 2007, making her the only non-American on the list of highest paid actresses.
Born in Teddington, London, England, in 1985, young Knightley was enticed by the lure of cinema at an early age. Reported to have asked her parents for a manager at the age of three, playwright mother Sharman McDonald and actor father Will Knightley were at first reluctant to let their daughter follow them into show business. Although they would accommodate her wish three years later, their strict demand that their daughter study through school holidays and only take jobs that didn’t interfere with her education ensured that Keira would keep her priorities straight.
Trained in dance from an early age, Knightley made her film debut when she was 12 in Moira Armstrong’s romantic drama A Village Affair. Gradually climbing the credits with subsequent roles in Innocent Lies (1995) and the made-for-TV features Treasure Seekers (1996) and Coming Home (1998), she got her first big break when cast as the decoy queen in the eagerly anticipated Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. Knightley resembled the actual queen (portrayed by Natalie Portman) so much that her mother couldn’t distinguish the two and some fans still insist both were portrayed by Portman.
Taking back her own face for the television miniseries Oliver Twist (2000), Knightley stayed with the small screen as Robin Hood’s daughter in the 2001 adventure Princess of Thieves. Although audiences would truly begin to take note of her talent in the thriller The Hole that same year, her star-making turn in the sleeper comedy drama Bend It Like Beckham endeared her to audiences everywhere and ultimately served as her breakthrough role.
Playing the best friend to star Parminder K. Nagra, Knightley proved that she could turn what might have been little more than a noteworthy supporting role into a truly memorable, scene-stealing performance.
As Lara Antipova in the 2002 miniseries Doctor Zhivago, the actress gracefully slipped into a role that was previously made famous by Julie Christie, and the timeless romantic drama proved a hit with U.K. television viewers.
With the release of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, audiences marveled at eccentric actor Johnny Depp’s quirky portrayal of pirate Jack Sparrow, although, as the beautiful young maiden whose blood may hold the key to life for a group of undead pirates, Knightley once again turned in a memorable performance.
Knightley had a role in the British romantic comedy Love Actually, which opened in November 2003. Her next film, King Arthur, opened in July 2004 to negative reviews, however in preparation for the role she took fighting and horseback-riding lessons. In the same month, Knightley was voted by readers of Hello! magazine as the film industry’s most promising teen star. Additionally, Time magazine noted in a 2004 feature that Knightley seemed dedicated to developing herself as a serious actress rather than a film star.
2005 saw the release of three films, the first of which was The Jacket. The complex thriller starring Adrien Brody was derided by critics as unoriginal, silly and messy. Knightley was taken to task for her American accent but was otherwise dismissed by critics. Next came Tony Scott’s Domino, an action film based on the life of bounty hunter Domino Harvey. The film has been Knightley’s greatest critical flop to date. Knightley’s critics often suggested she was nothing more than a pretty face, which led the young starlet to comment to Elle magazine, “I always feel like I’m the one with everything to prove.”
Pride & Prejudice rounded out 2005. Variety wrote about her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet: “Looking every bit a star, Knightley, who’s shown more spirit than acting smarts so far in her career, really steps up to the plate here, holding her own against the more classically trained Matthew Macfadyen, as well as vets like Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Penelope Wilton, and Judi Dench with a luminous strength that recalls a young Audrey Hepburn. More than the older Jennifer Ehle in the TV series, she catches Elizabeth’s essential skittishness and youthful braggadocio, making her final conversion all the more moving.”
The film grossed more than $100 million worldwide, and Knightley earned a Golden Globe nomination and an Oscar nomination (the Oscar ultimately went to Reese Witherspoon). The Academy Award nomination made her the third-youngest performer ever nominated. BAFTA’s decision not to nominate her drew criticism from Pride & Prejudice producer Tim Bevan.
In 2006, Knightley was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Her biggest financial hit thus far, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, was released in July.
2007 saw the release of several films starring Knightley: Silk, an adaptation of the novel by Alessandro Baricco, Atonement, a feature film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel of the same name (co-starring James McAvoy, Vanessa Redgrave, and Brenda Blethyn), and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, which was released in May 2007. Knightley’s performance in Atonement began to generate buzz before the film was released; she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award in the Best Dramatic Actress category for the role, as well as a BAFTA Award. Critic Richard Roeper was puzzled by both Knightley’s and McAvoy’s Academy Award snubs, stating “I thought McAvoy and Knightley were superb.”
In the late spring of 2007, Knightley shot The Edge of Love with Cillian Murphy as her husband, Matthew Rhys as her childhood sweetheart, Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, and Sienna Miller as Thomas’ wife Caitlin MacNamara. She received, for the most part, very positive reviews for her role.
The 2008 release was penned by her mother, Sharman Macdonald, and directed by John Maybury. She then filmed The Duchess, based on the best-selling biography, Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire by Amanda Foreman in which she played Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire; the film was released in cinemas on 5 September 2008 in the U.K.
Knightley appears in the present-day drama Last Night, in which she co-starred with Eva Mendes, Sam Worthington, and Guillaume Canet; it was directed by Massy Tadjedin.
In April 2009, Knightley began work on an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian novel, Never Let Me Go. Filming took place in Norfolk and Clevedon. Upcoming films for 2010 include London Boulevard with Colin Farrell, the script of which is written by William Monahan, who will also make his directing debut.
Knightley successfully auditioned for the role of Eliza Doolittle in the Columbia Pictures planned remake of the stage musical My Fair Lady to be produced by Cameron Mackintosh, although no release date has yet been scheduled. She will also work on The Beautiful and the Damned, a biopic about the life and relationship of American novelist F. Scott Fitzgerald and his novelist wife Zelda Sayre. The film is directed by John Curran and released in 2010.
In 2008, she was attached to play Cordelia in a big screen adaptation of King Lear, which was subsequently abandoned. Knightley has confirmed that she will not be starring in the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Knightley made her West End debut in Martin Crimp’s version of Molière’s comedy, The Misanthrope, at the Comedy Theatre in London alongside Damian Lewis, Tara Fitzgerald, and Dominic Rowan. in December 2009. Reviews for her portrayal of Jennifer in the play were generally positive. The Daily Telegraph described her performance as revealing “both power and poignancy” and The Independent called her performance “not only strikingly convincing but, at times, rather thrilling in its satiric aplomb” The Guardian, however, noted that due to the nature of the role “one could say that she is not unduly stretched” and The Daily Mail described her as “little better than adequate”.
Knightley has been nominated for the prestigious Laurence Olivier Theatre Award as Best Supporting Actress as Jennifer in The Misanthrope, recognizing her theatre debut.
Knightley is slated to appear in The Emperor’s Children (2011) with Eric Bana and Richard Gere. The film, reportedly a dark comedy, will be directed by Noah Baumbach.
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