Keira Christina Knightley is a British actress. She is recognized for her performances in both indie films and major studio productions, especially historical dramas. Her talent has earned her various honors, including nods for two Oscars, two BAFTAs, four Golden Globe Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award.

Date of Birth: March 26, 1985 (currently 40 years old)
Place of Birth: Teddington, England
Husband: James Righton (married in 2013)
Notable Award: Teen Choice Award for Best On-Screen Kiss
Parents: Sharman Macdonald and Will Knightley
Height: 1.7 meters
Sibling: Caleb Knightley.

Keira Christina Knightley was born on March 26, 1985, in Richmond, a suburb located in the southwest area of Greater London. She is the daughter of actor Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald, a former actress who later became a playwright. Keira Christina Knightley, has an older brother named Caleb Knightley, who was born in 1979. Her father is of English descent, while her mother, originally from Scotland, has both Scottish and Welsh heritage. Growing up surrounded by both the creative and performance sides of the entertainment world, it’s no surprise that Keira expressed a desire to have an agent by the time she was three years old. She officially got one at age six and landed her first television appearance at seven, playing a minor role in Royal Celebration (1993).

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Early on, Keira Christina Knightley, struggled significantly with reading and writing. Although she was never formally diagnosed with dyslexia due to not undergoing the British Dyslexia Association’s standard tests, she faced many challenges. With strong support and motivation from her family, she worked diligently to overcome these issues by her early teenage years. Her first major acting role with multiple scenes came in the 1995 television drama A Village Affair, based on a romantic novel by Joanna Trollope about a same-sex relationship. This was followed by smaller roles, including a part in the British police drama The Bill (1984), and as a German princess living in exile in The Treasure Seekers (1996). She gained more attention with her role as the young Judith Dunbar in the 1998 adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher’s Coming Home, directed by Giles Foster and starring Peter O’Toole, Penelope Keith, and Joanna Lumley.

Keira Christina Knightley’s name first gained international recognition when it was revealed—after a twist kept under wraps by director George Lucas—that she portrayed Padmé’s decoy in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), a role that mirrored Natalie Portman’s Queen Amidala. For several years, fans and even crew members debated which scenes showed Keira and which featured Natalie, due to their striking resemblance.

During this period, Keira Christina Knightley, had begun her A-level studies at Esher College, focusing on Classics, English Literature, and Political History, while continuing to accept acting roles that she believed would broaden her skills as a performer. From January to March 2002, she worked on Pure (2002), a film about a drug-dependent waitress who forms a bond with the young son of another addict. Around the same time, Keira also made her first foray into Shakespeare, appearing as “Helena” in a contemporary take on a scene from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, titled The Seasons Alter (2002). This short was commissioned by the environmental group “Futerra”, for which Keira’s mother serves as a patron. She wasn’t paid for this role, nor for New Year’s Eve (2002), a short film directed by award-winning filmmaker Col Spector.

However, a pivotal moment came when Keira Christina Knightley, happened to meet producer Andy Harries at the London premiere of Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001). That encounter led to an audition for the character “Larisa Feodorovna Guishar”—the iconic heroine of Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago (2002), a role originally portrayed by Julie Christie in David Lean’s classic film. This adaptation was a high-budget television production, penned by screenwriter Andrew Davies. Keira Christina Knightley, secured the role, and the mini-series was shot in Slovakia during spring 2002, with co-stars Sam Neill and Hans Matheson as “Yuri Zhivago”.

She concluded 2002 with a few scenes in the directorial debut of Love Actually (2003) by Blackadder and Vicar of Dibley writer Richard Curtis. In the film, she portrayed “Juliet”, a newlywed whose husband’s best friend harbors hidden feelings for her. Although Love Actually was shot after another project, it was released first. That other project would propel Keira to international fame. She nearly missed her chance entirely when traffic delays caused her to be added to the end of the audition list for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003). Despite this, she landed the role. Filming took place in Los Angeles and the Caribbean between October 2002 and March 2003. When the film premiered in July, it became a box office hit and received widespread acclaim, bringing global attention to Keira’s fresh, youthful charm and distinctive British voice.

Around the same time, a modest British film titled Bend It Like Beckham (2002) quietly made its way into North American cinemas, initially struggling to make a splash at the box office. However, breakout Keira Christina Knightley, success in Pirates of the Caribbean began generating buzz, leading to growing curiosity about the actress portraying “Elizabeth Swann.” Almost as an afterthought, the distributors of Bend It Like Beckham recognized that one of the film’s leads was now the star everyone was talking about, thanks to Pirates. In response, they made the rare decision to re-release the film on 1,000 screens across the U.S., boosting its chart position from No. 26 up to No. 12. Meanwhile, Pirates was maintaining its dominance, holding a place in the Top 3 for a remarkable 21 weeks. Given her rising star power, it wasn’t surprising that producer Jerry Bruckheimer had Keira in mind for the role of “Guinevere” in a historically grounded version of King Arthur. Production occurred in Ireland and Wales between June and November 2003. That July, Keira became the face of British luxury brand Asprey. During an August photoshoot for the company in Long Island, New York, she met and fell for Northern Irish model Jamie Dornan. When King Arthur hit theaters in July 2004, reviews were mixed; it turned out that audiences preferred myth over historical accuracy. Still, Keira emerged as the film’s standout and was hailed by media worldwide as one of 2004’s rising stars.

Keira Christina Knightley, kicked off 2004 filming The Jacket (2005), a time-bending thriller directed by John Maybury and co-starring Oscar-winner Adrien Brody, with production taking place in Scotland and Canada. A planned adaptation of Deborah Moggach’s novel Tulip Fever—a romantic drama set in 17th-century Amsterdam—was scrapped in February after the UK government abruptly ended tax breaks that had previously benefited film productions. Keira Christina Knightley, and Jude Law were slated to lead the film, which remains on hold. Instead, Keira dedicated her time to worthwhile causes, including a visit to Ethiopia with the Comic Relief charity, and spent her summer shooting a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice (2005) in lavish UK locations, starring alongside Matthew Macfadyen as “Mr. Darcy”, and supported by Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench. In October 2004, Keira earned her first major award—the Hollywood Film Award for Best Breakthrough Actress—and was voted the Sexiest Movie Star Ever by Empire magazine readers. Later that year, she tackled yet another new genre by starring in Domino (2005), a semi-fictional biopic about a model turned bounty hunter.

2005 began with The Jacket premiering at the Sundance Film Festival and later debuting in Los Angeles on February 28. The bulk of that year saw Keira filming both Pirates of the Caribbean sequels in the Caribbean. She also took on her first major hosting gig in a cheeky late-night comedy clip show for Comic Relief alongside presenter Johnny Vaughan. In late July, promotional campaigns began for the September release of Pride & Prejudice (2005), although UK fans were disappointed to discover that only the U.S. version would feature a post-marriage kiss ending. Despite that, when the film premiered on both sides of the Atlantic, Keira received her highest acclaim yet, with awards buzz following the film’s strong reception. It held the No. 1 spot at the UK box office for three consecutive weeks.

Domino (2005) had a strong debut in October, though its release was somewhat overshadowed by the passing of the real-life Domino Harvey earlier that year. In November, Keira Knightley was honored with Variety’s Personality of the Year Award, and the following month brought even greater recognition with her first Golden Globe nomination for her role in Pride & Prejudice (2005). Her official fan site, KeiraWeb.com, was the first to confirm she would portray Helene Joncour in the screen adaptation of Alessandro Baricco’s novella Silk (2007). Although Pride & Prejudice earned six BAFTA nominations in early 2006, Keira was not nominated for Best Actress—though that disappointment was soon eclipsed by news of her first Oscar nomination, making her the third youngest nominee ever in the category. Around the same time, a provocative Vanity Fair cover featuring Keira and Scarlett Johansson (nude) stirred media frenzy leading up to the Academy Awards. Though Reese Witherspoon won the Best Actress Oscar, Keira’s Vera Wang gown drew significant attention. She spent early summer filming Silk (2007) in Europe with Michael Pitt, and the rest of the season working on Atonement (2007) in the UK—playing Cecilia Tallis—and promoting the latest Pirates of the Caribbean sequel. Her appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show became one of the most downloaded viral clips of the year. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) shattered box office records upon its July release, and by September had become the third highest-grossing film of all time. In early 2007, Keira took legal action against The Daily Mail after it printed a bikini photo of her alongside an article blaming thin celebrities for a girl’s death from anorexia. She won the case, matched the damages from the settlement, and donated the total to an eating disorder charity. Later that year, she began filming The Edge of Love (2008), based on the life of Dylan Thomas and written by her mother Sharman Macdonald. Originally cast co-star Lindsay Lohan dropped out just before filming started, with Sienna Miller stepping in as her replacement.