Today marks Keira Knightley’s 30th birthday and amazingly in her career of 52 credits according to IMDB she has had two Oscar nomination to her name too. She has openly admitted she doesn’t need to do films for money anymore because of the Pirates franchise so you have to respect her decision to pick smaller more interesting projects to work on. Today I am looking at my favorite five roles of her career so far.
5. Juliet – Love Actually (2003)
Juliet isn’t the biggest role in the film but the story does manage to be one of the most memorable of the whole film. She is the newly wed who has caught the eye of the best friend of her husband, who knows he can’t have her but decides to tell her he loves her through cards.
4. Penny – Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)
Penny is the neighbor of our lead character whose lives become drawn together after the world is going to be hit by an asteroid. This is an alternative romantic comedy showing how disaster brings people together.
3. Ruth – Never Let Me Go (2010)
Ruth is one of the three friends caught up in a love triangle in one of the darkest and bleakest films you will see.
2. Joan Clarke – The Imitation Game (2014)
Joan is one of the most powerful characters she has played who happens to work on cracking the Enigma code system with Alan Turing. This role shows how Keira continues to select roles involved strong women who defined their time.
1. Elizabeth Swann – Pirates of the Caribbean Trilogy
Elizabeth is the daughters of the wealthy men in town destine to marry a rich man but she does against everything to become an independent young woman who wants to fight for what she wants. Elizabeth is one of the strongest female characters in modern mainstream film even if she does get overshadowed by Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow.