keira.jpg

Born: 26-Mar-1985
Birthplace: Teddington, London, England
Gender: Female
Race or Ethnicity: White
Sexual orientation: Straight
Occupation: Actor

Nationality: England
Executive summary: Bend It Like Beckham

Keira Knightley’s father was a theater actor and her mother was a noted playwright and novelist, so she grew up immersed in stage and celebrity. Knightley decided by the age of 6 that she would be an actress. Long before her breakthrough role as the soccer-playing friend in Bend It Like Beckham, she had small parts in very British films beginning at the age of 8 (A Village Affair). Her long list of pre-fame TV shows and movies includes the fart comedy Thunderpants, and Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace, where she was one of Queen Natalie Portman’s five handmaidens (Knightley was the girl who impersonated the Queen). She has since been featured prominently in several big-budget films: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Love Actually, King Arthur, and the upcoming science-fiction thriller The Jacket.

From endless hours spent improving her soccer game for Bend It to mastering archery for her role as King Arthur’s Guinevere, Knightley has developed a reputation as a serious “practicer”. Playing on- and off-camera soccer for Bend It, she got two black eyes from repeatedly heading the ball.

One of Knightley’s mother’s plays, The Winter Guest, was made into a movie in 1997, directed by Alan Rickman and starring Emma Thompson.

Father: William Knightley (British actor, b. 23-Apr-1946)
Mother: Sharman MacDonald (playwright, b. 1951)
Brother: Caleb (b. 1979)

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