Keira Knightly has had quite a career.
She made a name for herself after starring in a slew of massive films, including Pirates of the Caribbean , Love, Actually , King Arthur , and Atonement .
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But you might not know that she actually took a break from acting for a while. This, plus 10+ other interesting facts, is coming your way.
1. Both of her parents are actors.
No wonder the actress is such a natural talent!
Her father, Will Knightley, has appeared on several TV shows, including The Bill , Forst , and Midsomer Murders and EastEnders .
Meanwhile, her mother, Sharman Macdonald, is an actress and an author.
2. She has performed with the Royal Court Theatre.
Her writing, though, is exceptionally talented, as she had some of her screenplays turned into BBC radio plays.
Keira actually gets a lot of her feminist ways from her mom, who earned more than her husband.
3. She has a unique hidden talent.
It’s always so fun to discover celebs’ hidden talents .
For Keira, her favorite party trick is playing with her teeth . Yes, really.
In case you don’t know what “teeth singing” is, her teeth don’t actually make noise on their own.
She uses her fingers to tap against her teeth to make the sound.
While promoting Hope From Home on World Health Day, she performed “Yesterday” by the Beatles.
You can also watch her perform “Despacito” on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon .
4. She has two kids.
She and her husband, James Righton, are the proud parents of two daughters: Delilah and Edie.
Keria does parenting a little differently, as she once banned fairy tale movies from their home.
Yes, this includes the classics, *Cinderella* and *The Little Mermaid*.
That ban has since been lifted — to surprisingly good results.
Keira told PORTER magazine that when she let her kiddos watch Sleeping Beauty , something miraculous happened.
“When we watched Sleeping Beauty, she said, ‘It’s not okay that man kissed her without her permission!’”
“I can’t tell you how pleased I was,” she said. “If I don’t do anything else, I’ve managed to drum that in!”
5. She is best buds with Benedict Cumberbatch.
The English actors have starred in two films together so far — Atonement and The Imitation Game — and both have received Oscar nominations.
Keira even told Elle magazine that Benedict once punched a r**e journalist for her!
This happened after r**e journalist, Mark Kermode, criticized her acting ability while on *BBC Radio*.
“When I saw him [Benedict] again, I said, ‘Did you punch a journalist?’ and he was like, ‘I [expletive] did.”
6. She is against Photoshop.
When posters for the movie King Arthur came out, there was something different about Keira’s chest.
It was edited to appear noticeably bigger, a fact that the actress quickly made known.
“Those things certainly weren’t mine,” she once revealed.
Then, when she was asked to pose t*****s for Interview Magazine , she agreed, but on one condition: the photos couldn’t be edited .
“Because it does feel important to say it really doesn’t matter what shape you are.”
7. She dated Jamie Dornan.
This happened way before Jamie became Christian Grey.
The pair started dating in 2003 after they met shooting an ad campaign for a jewelry company. But Keira’s rising star soon caused friction.
“There is a big pressure when you go out with someone such as Keira,” Jamie told the *Daily Mirror* after their split.
“The man is meant to be the alpha in the relationship on the money and power front, and clearly I was not. You feel like you have to be dominant in other areas and that causes problems …” he continued.
8. She has dyslexia.
“I had tutors for years and I used coloured plastic sheets to put over the text, which helps some people but didn’t really help me,” she told the Daily Mail about trying to overcome it.
Thankfully, perseverance has helped a lot — especially when it comes to memorizing scripts.
“A lot of it is down to perseverance and, hopefully, you will have parents who will work hard with you, because that’s what mine did. I still have days when reading just won’t work, but most days it will.”
9. She played Natalie Portman’s body double in *Star Wars: The Phantom Menace*.
This was the perfect casting since the pair look incredibly alike.
She told Total Film magazine that she was only 12 when she took on the role. She forgets a lot about the experience, except for the headache she got from the heavy headdress.
10. She’s a proud feminist.
“I’ve been raised by a feminist and my mum (Sharman Macdonald) was raised by a feminist,” she said in an interview with Whimn .
“I think I’ve always been a feminist. I was always raised to think that I could do everything.”
11. She suffered a mental breakdown at 22.
This all stemmed from the massive press attention she got from starring in Pirates of the Caribbean , Love, Actually , King Arthur , and Atonement .
“I remember waking up one day and there were 10 men outside my front door,” she told The Sunday Times .
“They didn’t leave for about five years.”
This soon led her to be diagnosed with PTSD.
“I had PTSD and panic attacks. I literally couldn’t work for a year and I didn’t know whether there would be an end to that.”
Thankfully, her family and a close group of friends saved her.
“I think, without that, it would have been a very different story.”
Last Updated on September 28, 2020 by Sarah Kester
