Keira Knightley
| Keira Knightley OBE | |
 Keira Knightley | |
| Background information | |
| Born as: | Keira Christina Knightley |
| Born | Mar 26, 1985 London, England |
| Spouse(s): | James Righton (4 May 2013 - ) |
| Parents: | Will Knightley Sharman Macdonald |
| Children: | 2 |
| Occupation: | Actress |
| Height: | 5' 7" (1.7m) |
| Weight: | 115 lbs (52 kg) |
| Measurements: | 32A-23-32 in (81A-58-81 cm) |
Keira Christina Knightley (born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received numerous accolades, including nominations for two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, four Golden Globes, and a Laurence Olivier Award. In 2018, she was appointed an OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to drama and charity.
Born in London to actor Will Knightley and playwright Sharman Macdonald, Knightley obtained an agent at age six and initially worked in commercials and television films. Following a minor role as Sabé in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), her breakthrough came when she played a tomboy footballer in Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and co-starred in Love Actually (2003). She achieved global recognition for playing Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series (2003–2007; 2017).
For her portrayal of Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005), Knightley was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. She starred in several more period films over the next few years, including Atonement (2007), The Duchess (2008), A Dangerous Method (2011), and Anna Karenina (2012). She took on contemporary-set parts in Begin Again (2013) and Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit (2014), and returned to historical films playing Joan Clarke in The Imitation Game (2014), earning a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. She has since starred as the title character in Colette (2018), journalist Loretta McLaughlin in Boston Strangler (2023), and a spy in the thriller series Black Doves (2024). On stage, Knightley has appeared in two West End productions: The Misanthrope in 2009, which earned her an Olivier Award nomination, and The Children's Hour in 2011. She also starred as the titular heroine in the 2015 Broadway production of Thérèse Raquin.
Knightley is known for her outspoken stance on social issues and has worked extensively with Amnesty International, Oxfam, and Comic Relief. She is married to musician James Righton, with whom she has two daughters.
Early life and education
Keira Christina Knightley was born on March 26, 1985, in the southwest London suburb of Teddington, to stage actors Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald. She was intended to be named "Kiera," the anglicized form of "Kira," after the Soviet figure skater Kira Ivanova, whom her father admired; however, Macdonald misspelled the name when registering her daughter's birth, writing the e before the i. Her father is English, and her mother has Scottish and Welsh roots. Knightley has an older brother named Caleb. Macdonald worked as a playwright after her acting career ended. Knightley's parents faced significant financial challenges after her brother was born; her father, a "middling" actor, agreed to have a second child only if her mother sold a script first. Nonetheless, her parents' varying levels of success did not dampen Knightley's curiosity about acting. Macdonald introduced her children to theater and ballet at a very early age, fueling Knightley's interest in acting.
Knightley attended Teddington School. She was diagnosed with dyslexia at six, but by the age of eleven, with her parents' support, she says, "they deemed me to have got over it sufficiently." She is still a slow reader and cannot read aloud. Knightley has said she was "single-minded about acting." At age three, she asked to get an agent like her parents and secured one at six. This led to her taking several small parts in television dramas. She acted in multiple local amateur productions, including After Juliet, written by her mother, and United States, written by her drama teacher. Knightley started studying her A-Levels at Esher College in Surrey but left after a year to pursue an acting career. Her mother's friends encouraged her to attend drama school, which she declined for financial and professional reasons.
- Keira Knightley gallery
Filmography
- Wikipedia article: Keira Knightley Filmography
External links
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Keira_Knightley ]
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