Since she played the tomboyish Juliette in the hit comedy Bend It Like Beckham, Keira Knightley's rise has been meteoric. After playing the role of Lara in the TV miniseries Doctor Zhivago, the London-born actress went on to star opposite Johnny Depp in the swashbuckling adventure drama Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. After wrapping King Arthur, she starred opposite Adrien Brody in the upcoming The Jacket directed by John Maybury.

Knightley, who is the daughter of playwright Sharman MacDonald and the actor Will Knightley, first acted in school and youth club productions. She made her movie debut as Natasha Jordan in A Village Affair and followed that with parts in Innocent Lies, Treasure Seekers, and Coming Home. But her first major role was as a handmaiden to Queen Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Since then, she has been seen in the TV mini-series Oliver Twist, Princess of Thieves, and the psychological thriller The Hole. After Bend it Like Beckham, she appeared in Gillies MacKinnon’s Pure.

Knightley was most recently seen as part of an impressive ensemble cast that included Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson in Richard Grant’s Love Actually and Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur.