Keira Knightley started her career in television by appearing in several made-for-television films during the mid and late 90’s. This was before she landed the role as Sabe, Padme Amidala’s decoy in George Lucas’ blockbuster comeback movie Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. She was chosen for the role since the actress has this very close resemblance with Natalie Portman who played Amidala in the movie. The two looked so much alike that when they both have full make up on, people where having a hard time telling who’s Natalie and who’s Keira. Knightley made her first starring role in a movie in 2001 when she played the role of Robin Hood’s daughter in the Walt Disney Production feature Princess of Thieves. It was also during this time that she starred in the thriller The Hole that was released in the United States. Knightly also appeared in the TV adaptation mini-series Dr. Zhivago which was aired in 2002. The series garnered high viewership ratings despite mixed reviews.
It was her appearance in this football-themed film entitled Bend It Like Beckham on August 2002 that Knightley made her breakthrough role as an actress, the movie earned $18 million on its initial run and when it was released in the United States on March 2003, it grossed over $32 million. Her profile as a promising actress raised her profile to the hilt that she was included one of the biggest budgeted film of 2003 Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl where she starred opposite Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. The movie was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and on its premiere release on July, the movie received positive reviews and was a box office success. This was Knightley’s ticket to Hollywood stardom and she eventually became the new “it” girl of that particular year. The actress had a role for the British romantic comedy Love Actually which was released on November 2003 and the following year saw the release of the epic film King Arthur where she was part of the cast and the movie received negative reviews. Knightley was voted by readers of Hello! magazine as the most promising star in the film industry while Time magazine noted that Knightley is one dedicated individual who wanted to become a serious actress rather than being a film star.
In 2005 she made three films, starting off with the suspense thriller The Jacket where she co-starred with Adrian Brody. Knightley was made to speak her dialogues with an American accent but the entire movie was scrutinized for being “unoriginal, silly and messy”. She then made a true-to-life story of bounty hunter Domino Harvey in Tony Scott’s Domino and up to this day, it was considered as Knightley’s biggest and critical movie flop in her acting career. Her third movie Pride and Prejudice would become her best film for that year as she played the role of Elizabeth Bennet where she was praised by film critics for her superb acting skills. The movie earned $100 million worldwide and the actress earned herself a Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Dramatic Actress and an Oscar nomination but was lost to Reese Witherspoon. In 2006, Knightley was invited to join the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and it was also on July of this year that she made her biggest box office financial hit Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest. The following year, Knightley was nominated for the Best Performance category during the MTV Movie Awards but her co-star Johnny Depp bagged the trophy. 2007 saw the release of several other movies for which Knightley starred that included Silk which was based on the novel by Alessandro Baricco, Atonement, a film adaptation of Ian McEwan’s novel where she co-starred with James McAvoy, Brenda Blethyn and actress Vanessa Redgrave and the third instalment of Jerry Bruckheimer’s box office adventure movie Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. It was her role for the movie Atonement where Knightley was generating buzz in and out of Hollywood even before the movie was released and she was eventually nominated for a Golden Globe nomination for Best Dramatic Actress as well as a BAFTA.
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