Keira Knightley celebrates her 40 years With pride and a renewed awareness. The British actress, who turns off the candles on March 26, says he is happy with this goal, feeling satisfied both professional and personal level.
Since 2013 she is married to James Righton, Klaxons rock band keyr, and together they have two daughters: Edie, nine years old, and Delilah, four. “Most of my friends have already turned 40 and looks fantastic” he declared in an interview with Sunday Times. “My girls are now big enough to afford some freedom, and I feel that it will be fun.”
Despite the young age, the star of Black Dues boasts a career of over 25 years. Raised in a family of artists – the father, Will Knightley, is an actor and his mother, Sharman Macdonald, a screenwriter – has shown a passion for acting since he was a child. At just six years old he obtained his first agent and, three years later, his first important role: Sabé in Star Wars: Episode I – The ghost threat (1999) by George Lucas. His resemblance to Natalie Portman played a crucial role in choosing the casting.
International success came in 2001 with The Holefollowed by Dreaming of Beckham in 2002. But it is with The curse of the first moon (2003), where he plays Elizabeth Swann next to Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom, which Hollywood definitively opens the doors. He was only 18 years old, but he already showed great scenic presence and an innate expressiveness.
Knightley has also faced personal challenges, such as dyslexiawho has transformed into a push for his career. “At six I didn’t know how to read and my teachers said to my parents: ‘We need to spur her, what do you like?’. They replied that I wanted an agent,” he told iheartpodcast. The acting motivated her to commit himself also to the study, although in the end he abandoned the school, a decision that repented: “especially if you are a young woman, you need a piece of paper that you say that you are intelligent, otherwise people think you are stupid, especially in the way I belonged”. As a mother, she would encourage her daughters to study before embarking on a career in the world of entertainment. For now, however, Edie and Delilah seem completely disinterested in his films. “Edie has not seen any of my films, it doesn’t matter anything,” he confessed.
Oscar candidate and Golden Globes for Pride and prejudice (2005), Knightley never stopped working between cinema and TV, but he learned to say no. “In recent years I was surprised by what I refused. I wanted lighter roles, perhaps because I needed it. They offered me films on children who died, mothers in tears … I can’t do it anymore” he explained. Today, the thing that gives you the most joy? Watch Strictly as Dancing (the British equivalent of Dancing with the stars) with his nine -year -old daughter.
At 40, Keira Knightley continues to write her story with awareness, talent and the courage to choose what makes her really happy.
Here, then, the 10 best films that have marked his careerdemonstrating his versatility and extraordinary talent.
Dreaming of Beckham (2002)
The film that has shown Keira Knightley on the international scene, one of the most significant British comedies of the last twenty years. Directed by Gurinder Chadha, Dreaming of Beckham It tells the challenges of multiculturalism in contemporary European society through sport. Although not the protagonist – role entrusted to Parminder Nagra as Jess Bahmra – Keira has left its mark with her interpretation of Jules, a determined and charismatic young footballer. Apparently self -confident, his character actually hides deep fragility, making it a complex and extraordinarily authentic figure.
Love Actuary – Love really (2002)
It is impossible to think about Love Actuary – Love really Without remembering Keira Knightley. In the magical London Christmas directed by Richard Curtis, the lives of several characters intertwine in a choral story about love in all its forms. Keira is Juliet, a young bride who, shortly after the wedding with Peter (Chiwetel Ejiofor), discovers that she is Mark’s great secret love (Andrew Lincoln), the best friend of her husband. With her simple look – wide sweater and gathered hair – the girl next door embodies perfectly. And precisely with Andrew Lincoln he is the protagonist of one of the most iconic scenes of romantic cinema: that of the signs, an unforgettable moment that continues to make the hearts of the spectators beat.
Pirates of the Caribbean (2003)
The role that consecrated Keira Knightley to cinema icon and made it unforgettable for the general public. His Elizabeth Swann is one of the most charismatic and fascinating heroines of modern cinema: intelligent, determined and capable of keeping up with pirates and nobles with the same ease. It is difficult to establish in which chapter of the saga has shone more, but one thing is certain: its evolution from a young aristocratic to fearless fighter has marked an era and made Pirates of the Caribbean A timeless cult.
Pride and prejudice (2005)
Without a doubt his most extraordinary interpretation, the film that marked a turning point in his career. In the role of Elizabeth Bennet, a rebellious and brilliant young nineteenth -century England, Keira Knightley has become the perfect symbol of a heroine out of time: witty, independent and determined to challenge the conventions of bourgeois society. His performance in Pride and prejudice Joe Wright earned her an Oscar candidacy (later won by Reese Witherspoon), confirming his talent well beyond the teenage icon label. The film, made more accessible to a young audience, conquered public and criticism, thanks also to the perfect alchemy between Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen. The Guardian He called her “simply perfect”, decreeing her Elizabeth Bennet as the best ever seen on the screen. A more than deserved judgment: not only because his age was ideal for the role, but because he managed to transform Elizabeth into a free, ironic and combative spirit, in search of truth and authenticity in a world dominated by Pride and prejudice.
Direction (2007)
One of the most acclaimed melodramas of the last twenty years, Atonement – taken from the novel by Ian McEwan and directed by Joe Wright, Keira Knightley’s trusted director – he obtained seven Oscars nominations, winning the one for the Best soundtrack. At the center of history, an irreparable mistake: the young Briony Tallis, aspiring thirteen -year -old writer, unjustly accuses Robbie (James McAvoy) of a crime he has not committed, thus breaking the lives and love between him and his sister Cecilia, played by a magnetic Keira Knightley. His intense and sophisticated character perfectly embodies the regret and tragedy of an unfair fate. During his life, Briony will try to redeem himself by writing a novel that tells the truth, but can the atonement really exist? A poignant and powerful film, embellished with one of the most iconic scenes of Keira’s career: the meeting between Cecilia and Robbie in the library, a moment of passion stolen before everything collapses.
La Duchess (2008)
Keira Knightley returns to play the role of a strong and unforgettable heroine, interpreting Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonhire. Among the most influential figure of the 18th century English society, Georgian was an icon of style, intelligence and rebellion, but also a woman forced to undergo the rigidity of an unhappy marriage and the criticisms of an era that did not forgive female independence.
Directed by Saul Dibb, The Duchess It is a refined historical drama, embellished with scenography and sumptuous costumes and an exceptional cast: Ralph Fiennes in the role of the cold and authoritarian husband, the Duke William Cavendish; Dominic Cooper in the role of Count Charles Gray, a lover and great love of Georgiana; Hayley Atwell as Lady Bess Foster and Charlotte Rampling as the protagonist’s mother.
A DANGEROUS METHOD (2011)
An intense and disturbing film, A DANGEROUS METHOD by David Cronenberg explores the conflicts and passions that have marked the birth of psychoanalysis, staging the complex relationship between Sigmund Freud (Viggo Mortensen), Carl Jung (Michael Fassbender) and their brilliant but tormented patient, Sabina Spielrein, played by an extraordinary Keira Knightley. In an era in which the science of the mind overlooked with arrogance on the academic world, Sabina is initially considered incurable, victim of an insidious and suffocating hysteria. But thanks to Jung, who frees her from her trauma, becomes much more than a simple patient: assistant, lover and finally one of the first psychoanalysts women in history.
Anna Karenina (2012)
In 2012 Keira Knightley confronts one of the most complex female characters of literature: Anna Karenina. Directed by Joe Wright, the actress brings a woman prisoner of a suffocating marriage to the screen with the rigid Aleksej Karenin (Jude Law), but overwhelmed by an irresistible passion for the young and fascinating Count Vurskij (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).
Although the film divided the criticism by its theatrical and bold style, the test of the Knightley was welcomed with unanimous consent. His Anna is magnetic, tormented, suspended between duty and desire, between the weight of the conventions and the urgency of a love that consumes it. An intense interpretation, made of looks full of tension and palpable fragility, which precisely restores the tragedy of a soul in perennial conflict.
The imitation game (2014)
A film that tells one of the most incredible and unjust events in history: the life of Alan Turing, the mathematician who managed to decipher Enigmathe Nazi secret code, changing the fate of the Second World War, to then be persecuted due to its homosexuality.
In this film directed by Morten Tyldum, Benedict Cumberbatch offers an extraordinary Turing interpretation, while Keira Knightley shines in the role of Joan Clarke, a brilliant and trusted friend of the protagonist. Clarke was one of the few women to work in the British intelligence sector, distinguishing himself for his brilliant mind and for the deep bond with Turing, who considered her his most precious collaborator.
Knightley brings a strong and determined female character to the screen, able to emerge in a world dominated by men. Her interpretation earned her an Oscar nomination.
Colette (2018)
Another powerful and revolutionary role for Keira Knightley, who in Colette It gives life to one of the most daring and influential writers of the Belle Époque. Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, simply known as Colette, was a multifaceted and nonconformist artist, capable of breaking the rules of his era with his pen, his talent and his freedom of thought.
Directed by Wash Westmoreland, the film retraces the transformation of beets from young provincial to literary icon, initially forced to write under the name of her husband Willy, until her emancipation as an independent author.
