Keira Knightley

Born: 22nd March 1983
Where: Middlesex, England

The actress is now firmly established in the Hollywood big league after commanding performances in the likes of Pride & Prejudice and Atonement.

She has also shown her ability to play an action hero with her recurring role of Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean series opposite Johnny Depp.

The daughter of little known actor Will Knightley and playwright Sharman MacDonald, Knightley apparently requested an agent of her own aged just three.

She trained as a dancer and landed her first TV role in Screen One: Royal Celebration aged seven.

Subsequent appearances included Joanna Trollope's A Village Affair and small parts in The Bill and The Treasure Seekers in 1996.

She made an appearance in the TV film Coming Home alongside Peter O'Toole and Joanna Lumley aged 12 and got her big break two years later in Star Wars, Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

Her role as the decoy queen was kept a secret in order not to spoil the surprise and was maintained throughout promotion.

At just 16, she tackled raunchy nude scenes in her role as Lara in the steamy adaptation of Dr Zhivago starring Sam Neill.

Bend It Like Beckham brought Knightley - playing a football mad schoolgirl - to the attention of moviegoers and critics alike and she switched styles to star as a drug-addicted waitress in the gritty drama Pure.

Her next project, The Pirates of the Carribean, took her to Jamaica to work alongside Johnny Depp. The initial hit would go on to spawn two lengthy sequels.

Richard Curtis's Love Actually showcased her talent as a romantic lead while she played Guinevere in the limp blockbuster King Arthur.

In 2005, she starred in John Maybury's disturbing thriller The Jacket, alongside Oscar winner Adrien Brody.

However, it was her acclaimed portrayal of Elizabeth to Matthew MacFadyen's Darcy in Pride & Prejudice that really established her as a first division star.

Despite her normally sound judgement deserting her for the woeful Tony Scott thriller Domino, she was back on course with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest.

In 2007, she successfully sued the Daily Mail for libel when it published an article about a girl who had died from anorexia which falsely suggested that Knightley was also anorexic.

Recent work includes a stunning portrayal of the doomed Cecilia in Joe Wright's splendid adaptation of the Ian McEwan novel Atonement.