'''Keira Christina Knightley''' (born March 26 1985) is an Academy Award-nominated English
actress. She began her career as a child actress, and came to international fame in 2003, after major roles in the films ''
Bend It Like Beckham'' and ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl''. Knightley has since become a notable lead actress, having starred in several Hollywood films; in 2005 she received a "Best Actress" Academy Award nomination for ''
Pride & Prejudice''. Her most recent film is ''
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest''.
Biography
Early life
Knightley was born in Teddington, Middlesex, England to Sharman Macdonald, a Scottish actress turned award-winning playwright, and Will Knightley, an English theatre and television actor. She has an older brother, Caleb (b. 1979). Knightley lived most of her life in Richmond upon Thames, attending Teddington School and Esher College. Knightley suffers from dyslexia, but nevertheless achieved good grades in school to please her parents, and was thus permitted to have an agent and pursue an acting career. Knightley has noted that she was "so single-minded about acting" during her childhood.
She performed in a number of local amateur productions including ''After Juliet'' (written by her mother) and ''United States'' (written by her then drama teacher, John McShane).
Career
Knightley began her acting career at the age of seven, making her television debut in ''Royal Celebration'' (1993) and also appearing on the television series, ''The Bill'' (1995). She appeared in several more made-for-television films 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 they were heavily made up.
Knightley's first starring role followed in 2001, when she played the daughter of Robin Hood in a made-for-television Walt Disney Productions feature, ''
Princess of
