Keira Knightley
Photo: Iceposter.com
Keira Christina Knightley was born on March 26, 1985. She is a Golden Globe-, BAFTA-, and Academy Award-nominated English film and television actress. She began her career as a child actress, and came to international prominence in 2003, after co-starring in the films Bend It Like Beckham and Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Knightley has since become a notable lead actress, having appeared in several Hollywood films and earning an Academy Award nomination for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright’s 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. As of 2008, Forbes claims Knightley to be the second highest paid actress in Hollywood (behind Cameron Diaz), having reportedly earned $32 Million in 2007, making her the only non-American person on the list of highest paid actors or actresses.
Knightley appeared in several television movies in the mid to late 1990s, before being cast as Sabé, Padmé Amidala’s decoy, in the 1999 science fiction blockbuster Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Knightley was cast in the role due to her close resemblance to Natalie Portman, who played Padmé; the two actresses’ mothers had difficulty telling their daughters apart when the girls were in full makeup.
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. This 2008 release was penned by her mother, Sharman Macdonald, and directed by John Maybury. Knightley is due to make a low key visit with her mother to the Welsh premiere of The Edge of Love in Swansea on June 20th. She then began work on The Duchess in which she will play Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire; the film is currently in its post-production stages. She also lends her voice to the forthcoming Robbie the Reindeer in Close Encounters of the Herd Kind. Also in 2007, the young Knightley became the new face of Coco Mademoiselle, a fragrance from the fashion house of Chanel.
