The daughter of actor Will Knightley and playwright Sharman Macdonald. After she requested an agent at the age of three, her parents allowed her to work on productions in her summer holidays. Her first role was at the age of 9, in Moira Armstrong's A Village Affair (1995) (TV). However, Knightley's first high profile role came in 1999, as Sabe, Decoy Queen to Natalie Portman's Queen Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Since then she has completed an impressive array of films includi - www.imdb.com

Keira Christina Knightley was born to Will Knightley (also an actor) and Sharman MacDonald (actor-turned-playwright) on the 26th of March, 1985. She first asked her parents for an agent at the tender age of three, but they refused, not wanting their daughter to follow them onto the stage. Keira kept at them, and they finally gave in when she was six. However, her parents still had a few tricks up their sleeves. As part of the deal, Keira, who is dyslexic, had to study through the school holidays, and she - www.keiraknightley.com

Keira Knightley caught the notice of moviegoers in 2003 with major roles in the small-budget charmer Bend it Like Beckham and the big-budget extravaganza Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (opposite Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom). Knightley began acting as a child and appeared in films and on television in the U.K. before being cast in George Lucas's Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (1999). Hired for her porcelain-skinned resemblance to Natalie Portman, Knightley played Sabé, Queen A - www.answers.com