Keira Knightley

Knightley grew up in a show-business family. Her father, Will Knightley, is an actor, while her mother, Sharman Macdonald, is a playwright and novelist. She asked for an agent at three and obtained one at six, beginning with commercials and small television roles. Her early credits included Screen One, A Village Affair, The Treasure Seekers, Coming Home and Oliver Twist.

She struggled with dyslexia during her school years and worked with support from her family to improve her reading. Knightley attended Teddington School and later began studying at Esher College, but left after a year to pursue acting. Her early screen work expanded with Princess of Thieves, The Hole, Pure and the miniseries Doctor Zhivago.

Knightley's first major film role came in Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace (1999), in which she played Sabé, the handmaiden and decoy of Queen Amidala. Natalie Portman played Amidala, and Knightley's close resemblance to Portman led to Knightley's dialogue being dubbed over by Portman. Their similarity was so pronounced that even their mothers had difficulty distinguishing them in full make-up.

Knightley's breakthrough came with Bend It Like Beckham (2002), in which she played Jules, a tomboy footballer who encourages her friend to pursue the sport despite social pressures. Knightley and co-star Parminder Nagra underwent three months of football training with coach Simon Clifford. The film's success brought Knightley international attention before Pirates of the Caribbean made her a global star.

Knightley played Elizabeth Swann in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), alongside Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom as Will Turner. The film became a major box-office success, and Knightley reprised the role in Dead Man's Chest (2006), At World's End (2007) and Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). Elizabeth's progression from a governor's daughter to an adventurous pirate became one of the defining roles of Knightley's career.

In the same year as the first Pirates film, she appeared in Richard Curtis's ensemble romantic comedy Love Actually. She later played Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice (2005), earning her first Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. Knightley and Wright reunited for Atonement (2007), in which she portrayed Cecilia Tallis opposite James McAvoy. Her performance brought Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe attention, and she won the Empire Award for Best Actress.

Knightley continued to work extensively in historical films, appearing as Georgiana Cavendish in The Duchess (2008), Sabina Spielrein in A Dangerous Method (2011) and Anna Karenina in Joe Wright's Anna Karenina (2012). She also took contemporary roles in Never Let Me Go, Last Night, London Boulevard, Laggies and Begin Again, in which she performed as a singer-songwriter opposite Mark Ruffalo.

Her portrayal of cryptanalyst Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game (2014), alongside Benedict Cumberbatch, earned Academy Award, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations for Best Supporting Actress. Other later film roles included Everest, Colette, The Aftermath, Official Secrets, Misbehaviour, Silent Night, Charlotte and Boston Strangler. In Black Doves, she played a spy and received Critics' Choice Television Award and Golden Globe nominations.

Knightley made her West End debut in The Misanthrope in 2009, earning a Laurence Olivier Award nomination. She later appeared in The Children's Hour and made her Broadway debut in 2015 as the title character in Thérèse Raquin.

Knightley has worked with Amnesty International, Oxfam, Comic Relief, Women's Aid and the SMA Trust. Her advocacy has included women's rights, domestic-abuse awareness, refugee support and dyslexia education. She has also spoken publicly about feminism and the unequal pressures faced by women in the film industry.

She has been married to musician James Righton since 2013. They have two daughters, Edie and Delilah. Knightley was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 2018 for services to drama and charity.