Keira Knightley wallpaper's & Biography
Keira Knightley born March 26, 1985, Teddington, Middlesex, England is an English actress best known for her roles in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise and a number of period dramas, including Pride & Prejudice (2005). Highly versatile, she is particularly noted for portraying courageous heroines and tragic figures.
Knightley is the youngest of two children born to Sharman Macdonald and Will Knightley, both of whom acted; her mother was also a playwright and novelist. Her older brother Caleb Knightley later composed music for films. From a very young age, Keira Knightley knew she wanted to act, and when she was six, her parents helped her get an agent. In 1993, Knightley made her television debut with a brief appearance in an episode of Screen One. Two years later she starred in her first film, Innocent Lies.
For the next few years, Knightley was cast in small roles, appearing in projects such as the TV movie The Treasure Seekers (1996) and the miniseries Coming Home (1998). During this time she was also attending school, and there she struggled initially due to dyslexia. By reading books and screenplays, she was able to overcome this disability to some extent.
Stardom: Pirates of the Caribbean, Pride and Prejudice, and Atonement
The actress had begun to receive more leading roles, but it was the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise that made Knightley a global star. In Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), starring Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, Knightley played adventurer Elizabeth Swann. The film was a major box-office success, and Knightley reprised her role in three other Pirates of the Caribbean films: Dead Man's Chest (2006), At World's End (2007), and Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). The popularity of the franchise also sparked renewed interest in Bend It Like Beckham, which became a minor hit in the United States.
Other films of the early 2000s included the hugely popular rom-com Love Actually (2003) and the action-drama King Arthur (2004). In 2005, Knightley played the spirited Elizabeth Bennet in an adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. For her role in the romantic film, Knightley received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actress. The film was directed by Joe Wright and the two reunited for Atonement (2007), which was based on Ian McEwan's novel of the same name. Knightley played the wealthy Cecilia Tallis, whose secret affair with a maid's son (James McAvoy) in pre-World War II England leads to a series of tragic events. For her performance, she earned Golden Globe and BAFTA Award nominations.
Later Films and Theatrical Work
Knightley subsequently appeared in The Duchess (2008), a biopic about the scandalous Georgiana Cavendish, the Duchess of Devonshire; Never Let Me Go (2010), an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel about the ethics of genetic engineering; and Anna Karenina (2012), an adaptation of Leo Tolstoy's classic novel, also directed by Wright. In 2013 she showcased her vocals in Begin Again, a crowd-pleasing film about a singer-songwriter and a struggling record-label executive (Mark Ruffalo). The following year she appeared in the action thriller Jack Ryan: A New Recruit; it was directed by Kenneth Branagh and starred Chris Pine and Kevin Costner
In 2014, Knightley played a supporting role in The Imitation Game, a World War II film about Alan Turing (Benedict Cumberbatch). Her portrayal of cryptanalyst Joan Clarke earned Oscar, BAFTA, and Golden Globe nominations. Knightley subsequently appeared in the action-drama Everest (2015), about an ill-fated expedition to the mountain, and Colette (2018), a biopic of the celebrated French author. Her 2019 credits include The Aftermath, a romantic drama about the wife of a British colonel who has an affair with a German widower (Alexander Skarsgård) in post-World War II Hamburg. Knightley subsequently appeared in Misbehavior (2020), a drama about a beauty pageant, and the true-crime drama The Boston Strangler (2023), in which she played the reporter who broke the story about the infamous serial killer.
In addition to film and television, Knightley has occasionally acted in theatre. She made her West End debut in an updated form of Molière's comedy The Misanthrope (2009). Despite mixed reviews, she earned an Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In 2015–16 Knightley starred in her first Broadway production, an adaptation of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin.
Other activities and Personal life
Knightley frequently appeared on the covers of fashion magazines, particularly Vogue. In 2006 she was introduced as the face of the Chanel line of perfumes Coco Mademoiselle.
Knightley married musician James Righton in 2013, and the couple later had two daughters, Edie (2015) and Delilah (2019). In 2018, Knightley was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE).
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