Trivia

Birth name: Keira Christina Knightley 

Date of birth: 26 March 1985 

Place of birth: Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK 

Height: 5' 7" (1.70 m) 

Daughter of actor Will Knightley.

Member of the Heathham House Youth Project.

Younger sister of Caleb Knightley

Trained in dancing.

The similarity between her and Natalie Portman, meant that during the filming of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), their own mothers could not tell them apart once in makeup.

Her role as the decoy queen in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) was kept secret in order to not spoil the surprise, it was maintained through the promotions that Portman played both the Queen and the decoy.

Supports West Ham United

Mother is actress-turned-author Sharman Macdonald, who wrote 'When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout' and 'The Winter Guest'.

Tatler announced that Keira is the most desirable single woman in the UK (2004).

Has dyslexia. She had to wear special glasses in adolescence to help her read.

The most glamorous film actress chosen by magazine Glamour (2004)

The Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford, England, held a 2004 poll asking movie viewers to vote for the actor and actress they would love to see play Romeo and Juliet, and the winners were Knightley and James Marsters. More than 2,000 people voted for more than 150 different actors for both roles. Keira triumphed over Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman, Scarlett Johansson, and Juliet Landau in the vote. Knightley said, "I am absolutely thrilled to have come top of the poll, particularly as Juliet is a role I would very much love to play in the future." (April 23, 2004)

Shares a birthday with actress Amy Smart, Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler and singer Diana Ross.

Voted #1 in New Woman magazine's 50 Most Beautiful Celebs 2004.

Was born on same day as poet Robert Frost.

Shares birthday with playwright Tennessee Williams

Voted The Sexiest Film Star of All Time by Empire magazine poll. [September 2004]

She did her first nude scene at the age of 16, in The Hole (2001).

Auditioned for, and was accepted to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in London, England.

Quit school when she was 16.

Voted #18 in FHM 100 Sexiest Women 2005

Credits her dark looks to her mother's Black Scottish heritage, who were descendants of the Spanish Armada

She's an idol in several forum communities from Heavengames.com, one of the most famous websites about Real Time Strategy computer games.

When auditioning for the role of Jackie Price in "The Jacket" she had suffered food poisoning a few days earlier. She decided to audition anyway and the film makers liked her "acting" for the scene, as Jackie Price was to be a woman with many issues of loss and pain as well as being physically sick in general.

She has bought a flat in Richmond Upon Thames (2005) but has said to have only have spent a few weeks there. However, she plans to fill it with her own painted canvases.