ACTOR SPOTLIGHT: KEIRA KNIGHTLEY

Age: 24 years old

Birthday: March 26, 1985

Height: 5' 7"

Full / Real Name: Keira Christina Knightley

Birthplace: Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK

The relatively brief but remarkable career of Keira Knightley has now culminated with 2005 Academy Award® and Golden Globe® nominations as Best Actress for her luminous, internationally acclaimed performance as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's screen adaptation of "Pride & Prejudice." The celebrated body of work already amassed by Keira Knightley at her tender age has demonstrated not only extraordinary versatility, but also an artistically adventurous spirit in selecting a wide range of projects in diverse genres.

Keira Knightley first made headlines in Gurinder Chadha's sleeper hit, "Bend It Like Beckham," as teenage soccer player Jules Paxton opposite Parminder K. Nagra. Keira Knightley was then selected by director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer to portray Elizabeth Swann opposite Johnny Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, Orlando Bloom's Will Turner and Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa in the 2003 worldwide blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." Demonstrating equal amounts of beauty and backbone as an aristocratic young woman swept into a fantastical adventure, Knightley is again portraying Elizabeth in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

After wrapping "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," Keira Knightley went straight into production on another epic Jerry Bruckheimer Films production, "King Arthur," in which she portrayed Guinevere. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, the film also starred Clive Owen as Arthur.

Released in November 2003, Keira Knightley appeared in Richard Curtis' "Love, Actually" as part of an impressive ensemble cast that included Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Laura Linney, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman and Emma Thompson. In addition to "Pride & Prejudice"—in which she starred with Matthew Macfadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Judi Dench and Donald Sutherland—2005 also saw Keira Knightley starring as controversial model-turned-bounty-hunter Domino Harvey in Tony Scott's innovative action drama, "Domino."

In 2006, Keira Knightley traveled to Western Europe, during a break in the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," to star for director Francois Girard ("The Red Violin") in his film adaptation of Alessandro Baricco's best-selling novel, "Silk." The romantic drama also stars Michael Pitt, Alfred Molina and Koji Yakusho. This was immediately followed by Keira Knightley's starring role in "Atonement" for her "Pride & Prejudice" director, Joe Wright. Chanel also announced in April 2006 that Keira Knightley would be the new face of its Coco Mademoiselle fragrance.

Making her professional acting debut at the age of seven on British television in "Royal Celebration," some of Keira Knightley's early credits include the features "A Village Affair," "Innocent Lies" and "Star Wars: Episode 1-The Phantom Menace," as well as performances in the TV series "The Bill," the television movies "Treasure Seekers," "Coming Home," and Walt Disney's "Princess of Thieves" (starring as Robin Hood's daughter Gwyn) and the miniseries "Oliver Twist" and "Doctor Zhivago," in which she portrayed Lara Antipova in the adaptation of Boris Pasternak's classic novel. Keira Knightley's other feature films have included "The Hole," "Pure" and "The Jacket," a thriller in which she starred opposite Adrien Brody.

The daughter of playwright Sharman Macdonald and actor Will Knightley, Keira Knightley was born in Teddington, Middlesex, England. Knightley currently makes her home in London.