Keira Knightley is a famous British actress who has played many memorable roles in Hollywood films. She not only acts in films, but also tries herself as a singer and promotes her own brand, under which they produce clothes and perfumes. The biography of Keira Knightley tells the story of the life of a beautiful and purposeful girl who managed to become famous throughout the world thanks to her brilliant acting talent.
Childhood and youth
Keira was born in 1985 in Paddington, London, into the family of actors Sherman McDonald and Will Knightley. The actress has an older brother, Caleb, who also tried his hand at films. It is known that the unusual name for the future actress was chosen by her father Will, who really liked the famous Soviet figure skater Kira Ivanova.
From early childhood, the girl found herself in an acting environment; her parents often took her with them to the theater and to the filming of films in which they took part. The baby liked the imitation so much that even then she firmly decided to connect her life with acting. At the age of three, she asked her mom and dad to find her an agent who would promote her on stage.
Kira's parents set a condition for her to study diligently, in which case she could count on the help of a professional.
At the age of six, the young actress got her first agent, who immediately found her a small role in the film Royal Celebration. By the age of eleven, Kira, who looked older than her age, had participated in various television shows and mini-series, as well as several minor film roles. Keira Knightley starred in the following films as a child:
- "Homecoming";
- "Treasure Seeker";
- "Innocent Lies";
- "Village business".
In the movie “Coming Home,” filmed in 1998, the young actress played alongside British film star Peter O’Toole. According to Kira, she subsequently maintained friendly relations with this titled actor, who helped her with advice and suggested how to act in films correctly.
The young actress was helped by the fact that she looked similar to Natalie Portman, so Knightley was invited to star in the film Star Wars: Episode 1. The similarity was such that after applying simple makeup, even the girls’ mothers could not tell them apart. In accordance with the script of this film saga, the young Queen Amidala had a double, Sabé, whose role was played by young Knightley, who looked exactly like Natalie Portman.
This work became the starting point for the conquest of Hollywood and the emergence of Kira as one of the most famous American actresses.
First recognition and glory
The first serious role for Kira was participation in the English series “Oliver Twist ,” which was released on television in 1999. At the same time, the actress starred in the film Doctor Zhivago, which received excellent reviews from critics and was popular with viewers. Knightley's first major role was in the film Robin Hood's Daughter: Princess of Thieves, released in the UK in 2001.
The film Bend It Like Beckham, in which Knightley played a teenage girl interested in football, was a commercial success. At the worldwide box office, this film brought the creators $76 million, more than 20 times recouping the filming costs. One day, Keira Knightley woke up famous; she began to be invited to interesting projects in Hollywood, including leading roles in blockbusters.
In 2002, Kira entered a prestigious college in London, where she planned to study English history, literature and classics. However, it was impossible to combine the career of a famous actress with getting an education, so the girl left college and moved to Hollywood. In 2003, Kira received an offer to play the main role in the film Pirates of the Caribbean, where her partners were Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp.
After the release of this film, Kira became on a par with the most famous Hollywood actresses. She subsequently starred in two sequels and a number of films, most of which were commercial successes. List of popular films:
- "Real love";
- "King Arthur";
- "Blazer";
- "Domino";
- "Pride and Prejudice".
For her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the film Pride and Prejudice, Kira was nominated for an Oscar and a Golden Globe as best actress.
However, she still failed to win the coveted statuettes. Critics positively assessed her work in “Pride and Prejudice” and “Love Actually,” noting the confident and interesting performance of the young actress.
Kira's figure parameters were close to ideal, her charming smile, impressive leg length and size two only add to the charm of the actress. The girl starred in various photo shoots for fashion magazines, and soon she began a successful career as a fashion model. Today, the actress is the face of several fashion houses in Paris, earning millions of dollars a year from advertising alone and promoting her classic style of clothing.
Career in Hollywood
Kira's career in Hollywood is reminiscent of the American dream, when after one successful role in Pirates of the Caribbean, the actress woke up the next day famous and fabulously rich. Subsequently, she starred in the sequels to “Pirates,” which were a resounding success and brought in more than $1 billion at the box office. At the end of the 2000s, the actress played leading roles in the drama “Silk”, the biopic “The Duchess”, the war melodrama “Atonement”, as well as in the films “Forbidden Love” and “Never Let Me Go”.
Knightley emphasizes that after the release of the epic “Pirates of the Caribbean,” she no longer needed money and could strictly approach the choice of films in which she was offered to star. Many films in which this actress plays have deep, subtle subtext and psychological meaning, forcing viewers to empathize with the main character and follow the development of the plot from the first to the last minute.
Kira prefers to act in psychological dramas, honing her acting skills in complex plots. The actress decided to return to London in 2009, where she began playing leading roles in local theaters. In 2010, she moved to New York, where she successfully debuted on Broadway. In parallel, during these years, Knightley starred in the psychological drama “A Dangerous Method” directed by David Cronenberg. The actress played a neurotic patient of Carl Gustav Jung, for whose treatment controversial and ambiguous methods of influencing the psyche were used.
Another significant acting work was the role of Anna Karenina in the work of director Joe Wright . Knightley was able to fully get into the character, soulfully and subtly conveyed the drama and character of the main character, and Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Jude Law became Kira’s partners in this film. This role received a lot of generous praise from film critics, who noted that the actress “is increasingly gaining strength and is able to transform into any, even the most complex, character.”
At this time, the musical “At least once in a lifetime” is released on television, where Kira plays along with Mark Ruffalo. This movie was a hit with audiences. The low-budget film, which cost $8 million, brought in $63 million at the box office, paying for itself many times over.
However, during the filming of this film there was a scandal - Kira quarreled with director John Carney, who even wanted to stop work and reshoot the entire film with another actress.
Worldwide success in cinema
Keira Knightley's breakthrough came in the romantic sports comedy Bend It Like Beckham (2002), where she played a girl passionate about football. The famous football player David Beckham himself also appeared on the screen as a cameo - as himself.
Still from the film “Bend It Like Beckham”
In preparation for filming, Kira and her partner Parminder Nagra had to learn to play football for several months under the guidance of a highly qualified coach. Subsequently, Kira recalled: “When I told my friends that I was starring in a movie about girls football players, no one imagined that anything worthwhile could come of it.”
But the film unexpectedly turned out to be successful and grossed more than $76 million at the worldwide box office, recouping production costs more than 12 times. Critics also praised the film, emphasizing that "... Mr. Beckham should certainly be proud that his name went to such an excellent film."
Keira Knightley 2002
The next film, in which Kira starred, was a truly fantastic success and brought the young actress long-awaited world fame, making her a Hollywood star of the first magnitude. It was the fantasy adventure film Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), in which she played the role of the brave beauty Elizabeth Stone.
"Pirates of the Caribbean": Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Stone
For the first time in her life, Kira had the opportunity to work on the same team with such established Hollywood stars as Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, and for a long time she could not believe her luck. When getting ready for filming, the girl took with her only the bare minimum of things: “I was absolutely sure that in a couple of days I would be fired,” she recalled. But everything worked out: Kira fit into the role perfectly, not lagging behind her partner Orlando Bloom, who played her lover William Turner.
The role of Elizabeth Stone brought Keira Knightley worldwide fame
The result exceeded all expectations: the film instantly became a cult classic and brought record box office receipts of $654 million. However, the budget of this film was also unheard of at that time - 140 million. “Pirates” received nominations for an Oscar and a Golden Globe, and later four more sequels were added to them.
After this, success never left the young actress. Her next work was also successful - her role in the Christmas romantic comedy Love Actually (2003), where such famous British actors as Hugh Grant, Alan Rickman, Emma Thompson (who was a childhood idol for Kira), Liam Neeson, Colin Firth took part. and etc.
The actress again tried on historical costumes in the historical action film “King Arthur” (2004), playing Queen Guinevere. Despite the star cast (Arthur was played by Clive Owen), the film was dubbed nothing more than “a stupid action film devoid of the atmosphere of the time.” However, this did not stop King Arthur from being a success in cinemas, and many critics noted that Knightley herself began to strive for serious dramatic roles.
Keira Knightley in the movie "King Arthur"
In 2005, after starring in the films "Secrets of Lost Souls", "The Jacket" and "Domino", Knightley played one of the most significant roles in her career, playing Elizabeth Bennet in the drama "Pride and Prejudice" based on the famous Jane Austen novel about unequal love in Victorian society. The actress values this work especially highly, especially since she has loved Austen’s book since childhood.
Critics o. For her role as the wayward, simple country girl Elizabeth, who challenged the stereotypes of Victorian society, the actress was nominated for an Oscar, a Golden Globe and several other prestigious awards, although she did not receive any of them.
Keira Knightley as Elizabeth (Pride and Prejudice)
It is interesting that director Joe Wright at first did not want to invite Keira Knightley to this film, considering her too beautiful for the role of Elizabeth, but upon meeting her personally, he saw her slightly boyish movements and realized that the heroine should be just like that. The actress herself jokingly commented on this in an interview: “He thought I was too beautiful, and then he looked at me and said: Oh, no, you’re good enough.”
The actress often plays in costume dramas
After this, the sequels to Pirates of the Caribbean were filmed: Dead Man's Chest (2006) and At World's End (2007). The actress was very worried: 4 years had already passed since the release of the first film, and she had noticeably matured. The result of this work was simply stunning: each of the two sequels brought in about a billion dollars at the global box office, making Pirates one of the most successful franchises in history.
Keira Knightley and Johnny Depp on the set of the sequel to "Pirates of the Caribbean"
In 2007, Knightley also starred in the drama Silk and the war melodrama Atonement, in 2008 in the biopic The Duchess and the drama Forbidden Love, and in 2010 in the dystopia Never Let Me Go. .
Stills from the film "Atonement"
Each of these films will be highly appreciated by lovers of quality cinema with meaning. Thus, in the drama “Atonement,” where the actress played with the Scot James McAvoy, the story of two lovers who were separated not only by the First World War, but also by the drama that unfolded in the past is told. Knightley’s heroine in “The Duchess” is the aristocrat Georgiana, who falls from a “stifling” marriage into the pool of love.
In each of these dramas, Knightley honed her skills more and more. For the same purpose, she returned to the theater stage - she played in several performances at the Comedy Theater in London, and then made her debut on Broadway.
Keira Knightley not only acts in films, but also plays in the theater
In 2011, Kira played the role of a neurotic patient of Carl Gustav Jung (played by Michael Fassbender) in David Cronenberg's complex psychological drama A Dangerous Method about the psychoanalyst's relationship with another famous founder of this movement, Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen).
This role required a lot of dedication from Knightley, because the actress had to convincingly show the difficult path of transformation from an inadequate and bestial creature to a girl who rediscovers life, who became the mistress of her doctor, and then his confident psychiatrist colleague.
Keira Knightley's mansion
Another significant acting work of Kira was the role of Anna Karenina in the film adaptation by Joe Wright. Knightley, in her own way, but nevertheless subtly and soulfully conveyed the character and drama of the main character in the acting trio with Jude Law (Karenin) and Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Vronsky). Her work was lavishly praised, with critics noting that Keira was “going from strength to strength” as an actress.
Anna Karenina as portrayed by Keira Knightley
However, another film with Knightley’s participation, which was released soon, enjoyed greater success among the general public than “Anna Karenina” - her first musical “At least once in my life” (2013), where the actress played with Mark Ruffalo. Despite the fact that the actress’s participation brought great profit to the film (with a budget of $8 million, the film grossed more than $63 million), the director of the musical, John Carney, subsequently mercilessly criticized Kira’s work. According to him, he was making “a small personal movie, and there is no place for any Keira Knightleys in it.”
Despite the girl’s rich acting experience, the director stubbornly called her a model, obviously hinting at her advertising contracts: “I will never cast a supermodel in my film again in my life.” He lamented that he was “asking her to do something that she was fundamentally incapable of.” Professional film critics, however, did not share this negative assessment of the actress’s performance and her “surprisingly pleasant singing voice,” but Kira herself later admitted that the musical genre “does not fit” her character, and she is more attracted to drama.
“At least once in my life” - behind the scenes
In 2014, the spy thriller “Jack Ryan: Chaos Theory” was released based on the detective novels of Tom Clancy. During its filming, Keira Knightley worked on the same set with Chris Pine and Kevin Costner. This film was already the fifth film in the Jack Ryan series, but the authors positioned their creation as a completely separate work without a plot or artistic connection with the previous parts, in which Alec Baldwin, Harrison Ford and Ben Affleck played the main roles. As a result, the film was quite a success, and critics praised it for its logical plot, good detective work and good acting, although many noted the lack of originality in the script.
Keira Knightley at the premiere of "Jack Ryan: Chaos Theory"
Keira Knightley's next film, the romantic comedy Baby (2014) starring Chloe Grace Moretz and Sam Rockwell, was again classified as a non-commercial film, and then the historical drama about World War II, The Imitation Game (2014), was released. In this film, the actress starred with the public's favorite Benedict Cumberbatch, who played the role of the famous cryptographer Alan Turing, who cracked the code of the German Enigma encryption machine for secret reports, which significantly changed the course of the war.
"The Imitation Game": Keira Knightley and Benedict Cumberbatch
In 2021, Kira took part in the filming of the drama “Phantom Beauty,” where her partners on the set were Will Smith, Edward Norton and Kate Winslet. Critics tore the film to smithereens, noting the awkward script and stupid dialogue. The film received a nomination for the Golden Raspberry anti-award in the category “Worst Acting Ensemble” - obviously, even the most excellent actors cannot always find a common language on the set. Nevertheless, the interest of the audience provided this work with a decent box office collection.
Keira Knightley without makeup
In 2021, the fourth sequel, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, was released (Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom did not participate in the filming of the third sequel, On Stranger Tides). Unfortunately, critics did not share the audience's enthusiasm for this installment of Pirates, calling it "an attempt to breathe fresh air and passion into a rotten franchise" - although many fans strongly disagreed with this assessment.
Keira Knightley returned to the fifth part of “Pirates of the Caribbean”
In 2021, the actress played the Sugar Plum Fairy in the film “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms,” a fantasy based on the fairy tale story by Ernst Theodor Amadeus Hoffmann. The project also features Mackenzie Foy, Morgan Freeman and Helen Mirren. In addition, the premiere of the drama “After the War” is expected in 2021, in which the famous Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård became Keira Knightley’s partner.
Another of the actress’s current works is her role in the film anthology “Berlin, I Love You” (a continuation of the fiction anthology about cities launched in 2006), which also features Helen Mirren, Mickey Rourke, Sophie Turner, Renee Zellweger, Orlando Bloom, Patrick Dempsey and other famous actors.
Keira Knightley at the International Day of Charity (2017)
Continuing her collaboration with the Chanel fashion house, the actress presents the “Coco Crush” jewelry collection; For this purpose, she even sang in a commercial in French.
Last works
In 2014, a low-budget film called “Baby” was released on television, in which Keira Knightley starred along with Sam Rockwell and Chloë Moretz. This movie, which touched on the theme of hackers, did not receive recognition from viewers, but critics responded warmly to the plot and acting.
The same year, a historical drama about World War II called “The Imitation Game” was released, in which Knightley starred alongside Benedict Cumberbatch. The film tells the story of the life of Alan Turing, who was able to unravel the code of the German Enigma machine, which made it possible to change the course of the war and break Nazi Germany. Selected filmography:
- "Everest";
- "Collet";
- "State secret";
- "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms";
- "Consequences".
In 2021, Kira is starring in the drama Transparent Beauty, in which her partners are Edward Norton, Will Smith and Kate Winslet.
Critics tore this film to smithereens and it failed at the box office. Subsequently, “Phantom Beauty” was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award in various categories, including the “Worst Actor” category. At the same time, the fourth sequel of the Pirates epic was released on television, but the first parts of this saga failed to achieve popularity, after which it was decided not to film the remaining episodes of the film.
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