Keira Knightley
Keira Christina Knightley (/ˌkɪərə ˈnaɪtli/; born 26 March 1985) is an English actress and singer. She began acting as a child on television and made her film debut in 1995. She had a supporting role as Sabé in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) and her first significant role came in the psychological horror film The Hole (2001). She gained widespread recognition in 2002 after co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham and achieved international fame in 2003 after appearing as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series. Since the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Knightley has become known for starring in period drama films such as Pride & Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), Silk (2007), The Duchess (2008), A Dangerous Method (2011), and Anna Karenina (2012). She has also appeared in a variety of genres of Hollywood films, including the romantic comedy Love Actually (2003), as Guinevere in the historical action King Arthur (2004), the psychological thriller The Jacket (2005), biographical action Domino (2005), the historical drama The Edge of Love (2008), the film noir London Boulevard (2010), the dystopian science fiction Never Let Me Go (2010), the romantic drama Last Night (2010), and the dark comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012). Knightley earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. Two years later she was nominated again for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Wright's Atonement. In its 2008 list, Forbes identified Knightley as the second highest-paid actress in Hollywood, with reported earnings of US$32 million in 2007, making her the only non-American on the list of highest-paid actresses that year. In 2014, Knightley appeared in four films, the action thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, the musical comedy-drama Begin Again, the romantic comedy Laggies and for her role in the historical thriller The Imitation Game as Joan Clarke she has been nominated for a Golden Globe, a SAG, a BAFTA Award, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In October 2015, Knightley will make her Broadway debut in the title role of Thérèse Raquin.