It seems like Keira Knightley took the saying “start them young” a little too seriously. The 39-year-old London native got her acting fix shortly after ditching diapers and demanding an agent at
the tender age of three; it took until she was six years old, however, before her dream came true. Under the tutelage of her stage acting parents,
Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald, she began to get tiny roles in TV dramas and amateur shows when most people her age were more into playground theater.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace cast Knightley, then 12-years-old, as Natalie Portman’s twin, catapulting her into more substantial roles.
After that, she landed parts in films such as Princess of Thieves (2001, released the same year she turned 16), The Hole, Doctor Zhivago, Pure, and Bend It Like Beckham, among others.
