Princess of the Caribbean

By: Sunil Noronha
Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Keira Knightley was born on the 26th of March, 1985 in London. Her parents Will Knightley and Sharman MacDonald were both in the entertainment business. Her father Will was a TV actor himself. His notable credits include The Hound Of The Baskervilles (the TV adaptation of the Arthur Conan Doyle story). Her mother Sharman MacDonald was a playwright. When she was three years old, she asked her parents if she could get into the field (which they both were in). This request of hers was granted three years later, which resulted in her role in The Royal Celebration -A TV show-at the age of seven.

When she made this first venture of hers into the industry, she was found to be dyslexic, a disability she had overcome with a lot of effort by the time she had reached her teens. Despite her difficultly, she bagged gigs in A Village Affair, The Bill, Treasure Seekers and Coming Home during the next five years. Her next gig gave her worldwide recognition's an actress-Star Wars: Episode I -The Phantom Menace in 1999. Her role in the movie was that of a decoy Queen PadmÉ Naberrie Amidala. Natalie Portman played the real queen.

With this role her career was starting to kick of and for the first she had to actually choose between her studies in school and her film offers as a result of which she had to refuse many. Later additions to her portfolio included an Alan Bleasdale take on the classic Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist of the same title, Princess of Theives- an off shoot of the orignal Robin Hood story where the daughter of Robin Hood, Gwyn (played by her) does the outlawing to prevent the kings throne being taken away from him, Thunderpants and The Hole. The Hole contained a scene where she had bared all and hence had to be shelved till she turned sixteen for it to be "releasable".

By the time, she was doing her final year exams in school she got her gig in Bend It Like Beckham under the direction of Gurinder Chadha. It didn't really open the door but it put her on the international actresses list. She then continued college whilst continuing to act. She hadn't yet set her eyes on an acting career. Pure followed. She did a couple of films The Seasons Alter and New Years Eve probono. After a meeting with Andy Harries, she was convinced to take up the profession seriously. She made her next step in this direction with the movie Love Actually in which she plays the role of Juliet, a recently married woman who "smites" her husband's best man.

None of these credits did her fame as an actress as much good as her next film-Pirates Of The Caribbean-The Curse Of The Black Pearl. She ran late for the auditions but the wait till the end of the day was worth it. She bagged the role of Elizabeth Swann in the movie. At about the same time, Bend It Like Beckham was released into the American Movie market but did not do as well as I did back home in the UK. Pirates Of The Caribbean-The Curse Of The Black Pearl came and swept the market. Keira's performance caused a re-release of Bend It Like Beckham (which banked on her fame in Pirates Of The Caribbean-The Curse Of The Black Pearl), which went upto No. 12 while Pirates Of The Caribbean-The Curse Of The Black Pearl was at the No. 3 spot for almost five months straight. Following these movies were King Arthur, brand ambassadorship of Asprey (Luxury store), The Jacket and Pride and Prejudice (for which she bagged her first Oscar nomination). She won the Best Break through Actor Award in the Hollywood Film Awards in 2004. One movie titled Tulip Fever due to be filmed in 2004 was cancelled due to tax issues in Blighty. Her upcoming movies are the next two instalments of the Pirates of the Caribbean Series - Part 3 and The Dead Mans Chest apart from The Other Boleyn Girl and Silk which will be released during this year and the next.

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