Keira Knightley’s slender frame, sharp features, and expressive eyes give her a stunning presence on screen. She carries herself with grace and poise, even in gritty roles.
She debuted in a major film when she was just 12 years old, playing Sabé in Star Wars: Episode I—The Phantom Menace (1999).
Knightley got big roles, but it was Pirates of the Caribbean that made her a global star. In the first movie in 2003, she played Elizabeth Swann alongside Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom.
Yet, the fame wasn’t enough for the actress as she admitted to feeling “constrained” in her career after starring in the famous franchise.
Keira Knightley Holds Resentment Towards Pirates of the Caribbean
Keira Knightley avoided taking similar roles after being in the Johnny Depp franchise. She said in a 2023 interview with Harper’s Bazaar that she felt restricted by them:
“I felt very stuck. So the roles afterwards were about trying to break out of that. She [Elizabeth Swan] was the object of everybody’s lust. Not that she doesn’t have a lot of fight in her. But it was interesting coming from being really tomboyish to getting projected as quite the opposite.”
The Teddington native felt stuck and “quite powerless” in her early career from 2003 to 2008. She was just 17 when she played Elizabeth Swan in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. The Hollywood star added that she “didn’t have a sense of how to articulate it,” and it very much felt like she “was caged in a thing I didn’t understand.”
It’s understandable that during this era, she starred in many successful movies like Love Actually, Pride & Prejudice, Atonement, and two more Pirates of the Caribbean movies with Depp and Orlando Bloom. These roles were different from what she did before, going from being tomboyish to being projected as the opposite.
Keira Knightley Reflected on Career Pressure and Burnout Struggles
Keira Knightley revealed that she was really tough on herself, and her ambition quickly led to burnout. The Love Actually actress said in the same interview:
“I was never good enough. I was utterly single-minded. I was so ambitious. I was so driven. I was always trying to get better and better and improve, which is an exhausting way to live your life. I am in awe of my 22-year-old self, because I’d like a bit more of her back. And it’s only by not being like that any longer that I realize how extraordinary it was. But it does have a cost.”
Despite the trauma Knightley faced, she wouldn’t want anything to be different. The 38-year-old feels extremely fortunate now, enjoying “a level of fame that’s much less intense.” The British actress asserted that she can “deal with it now,” which took her “many years of therapy to figure it out.”
Watch Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Disney+.
