Keira Knightley

  Keira Christina Righton OBE ( Knightley, born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. She is well-known for her performances in blockbusters and independent films, particularly historical dramas. She has been nominated for two Academy Awards, three British Academy Film Awards and the Laurence Olivier Award. She was awarded an OBE by Buckingham Palace in 2018 for her contributions to charity and drama. Knightley was born to actor Will Knightley and Sharman Mcdonald in London. When she was six years old, young, Knightley became an agent and started her career in television and commercials. She was in a minor role as Sabe in the space-opera Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Her breakthrough was when she played footballer tomboy in the sports film Bend It Like Beckham (2002) and achieved global stardom as Elizabeth Swann in the swashbuckler fantasy series Pirates of the Caribbean, which began in 2003. She was an actress in Love Actually (2003), an edgy romantic comedy, and was deemed to be a promising teenage actor. Knightley was nominated to the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Pride & Prejudice (2005). She appeared in a range of period dramas that featured a complex love interest in Atonement (2007) as well as the tastemaker Georgiana Cavendish in The Duchess (2008), as well as the socialite of the title in Anna Karenina (2012).