Keira Christina Knightley (born 26 March 1985) is an English actress, singer and fashion model. She was born in the South West Greater London suburb of Richmond, England. Both her father Will Knightley and mother Sharman Macdonald had acting careers. Keira began acting as a child on television and made her film debut when she was only 10 years old. She had no formal training in acting and did it out of pure enjoyment.

Her first multi-scene performance came in A Village Affair (1995), an adaptation of the lesbian love story by Joanna Trollope. She followed that with a small part in the British crime series The Bill (1984), an exiled German princess in The Treasure Seekers (1996) and a much more substantial role as the young "Judith Dunbar" in Giles Foster's adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's novel Coming Home (1998). In this film, she worked alongside Peter O'Toole, Penelope Keith and Joanna Lumley. In 1999, Keira played Natalie Portman's decoy "Padme" to Portman's "Amidala" in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. In 2001, she had her first significant role in the psychological horror film The Hole. The next year, she gained widespread recognition by co-starring in the film Bend It Like Beckham (2002). Her role as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series help her achieve international fame in 2003.

Keira continued to appear in a number of films between 2003 and 2012, starring in Pride & Prejudice (2005), Atonement (2007), Silk (2007), The Duchess (2008), A Dangerous Method (2011), and Anna Karenina (2012). She also played different roles in a variety of genres of Hollywood films, including the romantic comedy Love Actually (2003), as Guinevere in the historical action King Arthur (2004), the psychological thriller The Jacket (2005), biographical action Domino (2005), the historical drama The Edge of Love (2008), the film noir London Boulevard (2010), the dystopian science fiction Never Let Me Go (2010), the romantic drama Last Night (2010), and the dark comedy Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012).

In 2014, Knightley appeared in four films, the action thriller Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit, the musical comedy-drama Begin Again, the romantic comedy Laggies and the historical thriller The Imitation Game. For her role in the latter film, she has been nominated for a Golden Globe, a SAG, a BAFTA Award, and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. In October 2015, Knightley will make her Broadway debut in the title role of Thérèse Raquin.

Keira earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. In 2007 she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Wright's Atonement.

In 2008, Forbes named Keira as the second highest-paid actress in Hollywood, with reported earnings of US$32 million in 2007, making her the only non-American on Forbes list of highest-paid actresses that year.