Few
actresses enjoy the kind of success Keira Knightley saw
in 2003. First, her major picture starring debut, Pirates Of The
Caribbean,
entered the all-time Top 20 of box-office hits. Then, due to this
success, her earlier low-budget effort, Bend It Like Beckham, already
a cult smash, found its release widened dramatically, taking it into
undreamed of profit. Following these with Love, Actually, the latest
cute rom-com from Richard "Notting Hill" Curtis, her rise
in a few short months would be nothing short of phenomenal. And still
she was only 18.
Yet, despite her tender years, Keira
Knightley already had a fair amount of working experience. Like such American
actresses as Kirsten Dunst
and Julia Stiles, she had begun her career at an absurdly young age.
Unlike them, though, she had not done so through the actions of "pushy" parents.
Knightley's focus was all her own, and had first become apparent
at the absurdly young age of 3.
She was born Kiera Knightley on the 22nd
of March, 1985, in Teddington, south-west London. Her name would
become Keira as her Hollywood career
took off, the change shamelessly breaking the golden rule of "I
before E except after C" but making the name more easily pronounceable
on a worldwide basis. Her father was stage actor Will Knightley,
who'd make the occasional foray into television, such as starring
as Mr Glegg in the BBC's 1997 production of The Mill On The Floss.
Her Ayrshire-born mother, Sharman MacDonald, had also been a stage
and TV actress (she once appeared in Shoestring). Having joined the
Drama Society at Edinburgh University in 1972, then worked as a go-go
dancer to pay her Drama School fees, she'd battled against stage
fright for 12 years. Eventually, pregnant with Keira and having borne
son Caleb five years earlier (he'd go on to teach music to underprivileged
kids), in 1984 she gave up acting and concentrated on her family.
She also took up a career in playwriting and, after debuting with
When I Was A Girl I Used To Scream And Shout, she proceeded to deliver
such notable efforts as After Juliet, All Things Nice, The Brave,
Sea Urchins, Shades and The Winter Guest, the last being taken to
the big screen by Alan Rickman. On top of this, she'd write Wild
Flowers and The Music Practice for TV, and a BBC documentary would
be made about her, called Mindscape and featuring the young Keira.
|
| |
|
 |
Cate Blanchett Stars
in the Return of Indiana Jones
Everyone's favorite archeologist adventurer dusts off his hat and trusty whip
for yet another globetrotting trek as Indiana Jones returns to the big screen
nearly 20 years after racing for the Holy Grail alongside his father in Indiana
Jones and the Last Crusade (1989). Harrison Ford reprises his role as the iconic,
snake-loathing screen hero. View
Full Story |
| |
|
 |
Cameron Diaz and Ashton
Kutcher in What Happens in Vegas
Two strangers find themselves
wed and in bed after a wild night of Las Vegas shenanigans in
this 20th Century Fox comedy.
When they both recover to find that one of them won a jackpot the night before,
the game is on as the two greedily vie for the loot, eventually discovering that
maybe this ill-planned love connection isn't quite as off the mark as they originally
believed. View the Movie Trailer
Cameron Diaz Bio and Photos |
| |
|
 |
Sexy Kate
Hudson Stars in Fool's Gold
Ben "Finn" Finnegan
is a good-natured, surf bum-turned-treasure hunter who is obsessed
with finding the legendary 18th century Queen's Dowry--40 chests
of exotic treasure that was lost at sea in 1715. In his quest,
Finn has sunk everything he has, including his marriage to Tess
Finnegan and his more-rusty-than-trusty salvage boat, "Booty Calls."
Continued
in Movie News |
| |
|
 |
Gwyneth Paltrow in Marvel's Iron Man
Gwyneth
Paltrow It
would only seem natural that this daughter of TV producer Bruce
Paltrow and stage and screen actress Blythe Danner would chose
to follow a path in show business. Nevertheless, Gwyneth Paltrow's
parents tried to dissuade her from a career as an actress, but
she was determined Continued
in Movie News |
| |
|
 |
Lindsay Lohan to
Portray Manson Cult Girl
US actress Lindsay Lohan is to portray one of the cult followers
loyal to convicted murderer Charles Manson, in a new
movie called "Manson Girls," US media reported on Thursday. E! News said it had
learned Lohan, 21, would star as Nancy Pitman in the movie, produced by Brad
Wyman of Junction Films. Full Article |
| |
|
 |
Beautiful Blake Lively from Gossip
Girl
Blake Lively started
out in film with a bit role in Sandman in 1998. In 2005, Lively
played Bridget in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, for which
she received a Teen Choice Award nomination for "Choice Movie
Breakout - Female". Full
Bio on Blake Lively |
| |
|
 |
Jennifer Lopez Gives
Birth to Twins
NEW YORK (AP) — Jennifer Lopez gave birth to twins early Friday,
making the singer and husband Marc Anthony the parents of a boy and a girl after
one of pop music's most closely watched pregnancies. Lopez representative Simon
Fields told People magazine the babies were born shortly after midnight on New
York's Long Island, with the 5-pound, 7-ounce girl arriving first, followed by
her 6-pound brother minutes later. Full Article |
| |
|
 |
Carrie Underwood to
Join Grand Ole Opry
NASHVILLE (Billboard)
Country superstar Carrie Underwood, who once told Billboard
that if she hadn't won American Idol in 2005, "I probably wouldn't have pursued
music much further at all," has been invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. The
invitation was extended March 15 by Opry member Randy Travis Full article |
| |
|
 |
Elisha Cuthbert Returns to TV in CBS
Drama
Former "24" heroine Elisha
Cuthbert is returning to television as the female lead
in CBS' drama pilot "Ny-Lon." Cuthbert will play a New York literacy
teacher/record store clerk who embarks on a transatlantic romance
with a London stock broker. The project is based on a British
series starring Rashida Jones and Steven Moyer. After her breakthrough
role as Kiefer Sutherland's daughter in the first three seasons
of Fox's "24," the Canadian actress focused on movies. Her upcoming
features include "My Sassy Girl" and "The Six Lives of Henry
Lefay. |
| |
|
 |
Mariah
Carey to Rule U.S. Singles Charts
Mariah Carey is on
track to collect her 18th No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles
chart
next
week. "Touch
My Body," the
first single from her upcoming album, dipped one place to No.
15 on the latest survey, issued Thursday. But the fresh availability
of a digital download should send the song hurtling to the
top next week. Full article |
|