With her role as Cecilia Tallis in Joe Wright’s Atonement Keira Knightley cements herself as a strong leading lady leaving behind her Pirates tag and finally silencing her critics. But it has been a steady rise to fame for the twenty two year old actress.She began her acting career at the age of six in the hit television series Ballykissangel in 1993. She appeared in several television projects throughout the nineties including the adaptation of Doctor Zhivago as Lara, which was her biggest role to date.But it was Gurinder Chadha’s football themed movie Bend It like Beckham that was to be Knightley’s big break. It did surprisingly well in America grossing $32 million.Her role in the film raised her profile and she landed the part of Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl alongside Johnny Depp, Geoffrey Rush and Orlando Bloom.Curse of the Black Pearl was a huge commercial hit which led to Knightley reprising the role of Elizabeth twice in Dead Man’s Chest and At Word’s End, which were met negatively by critics but enjoyed success at the global box office.Away from Pirates Knightley has played a diverse range roles including The Jacket with Adrien Brody, Arthur with Clive Owen and Toni Scott’s Domino.

Unfortunately they were all met negatively by the critics in particular Domino, which was to be her biggest critical flop.

But 2005 ended on a high for the young actress as she received the best reviews of her career as Jane Austen’s heroine Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright’s adaptation of Pride and Prejudice.

Her performance earnt her a Golden Globe and Academy award nomination for Best Actress, losing out on both occasions to Reese Witherspoon.

Her role in Atonement is already generating the Oscar buzz with many tipping her to receive her second Best actress nomination.

She will next appear in Silk, an adaptation of Alessandro Baricco’s best selling novel, as well as The Edge of Love, about Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, with Cillian Murphy and Sienna Miller. The script was penned by Knightley’s mother Sharman Macdonald.

While Pirates was no doubt a learning curve for Keira Knightley it’s the non blockbuster roles in which she seems to shine producing her best performances.

Helen Earnshaw

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