BWW Profile: Keira Knightley Oscar-Nominated Star of Stage and Screen

By: Feb. 16, 2015
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All right, guys, it's confession time: there was a time, when I was but a young lass, that I wanted desperately to be Keira Knightley. She was in Pirates of the Caribbean (which I may or may not be able to quote from beginning to end), she was ridiculously talented, she wasn't that much older than me, and she was British (which, for some strange reason, I always wanted to be when I was young). Then, in 2006, she was nominated for an Academy Award for her role of Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, and that made her even more awesome. As I got older, I began to recognize how good she actually was in all of those movies - a thought which ran through my mind once again when I saw her performance in The Imitation Game, for which she received her second Oscar nomination.

In this film, the thirty-year-old actress (is she really thirty!?) portrays Joan Clarke, the brilliant woman who worked at the famous Bletchley Park with fellow mathematician (and all-around genius) Alan Turing during World War II. She was one of Turing's closest friends at Bletchley, and stood by his side after he was prosecuted by the British government for being homosexual. A movie about a bunch of mathematicians and cryptologists certainly sounds like it could be...well, a little dull, but thanks in part to Knightley and her co-star Benedict Cumberbatch, the film keeps viewers on the edge of their seats throughout.

As I mentioned earlier on, Knightley's big break in the United States was 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. She was only 18 when she played Elizabeth Swan, the proper, yet tough as nails love interest to Orlando Bloom's Will Turner. The film was a huge box office success in the U.S., and Keira Knightley was now a well-known name. However, by then she had already achieved success in the United Kingdom, where the film Bend It Like Beckham was a smash hit. After the success of Pirates of the Caribbean across the Atlantic, the U.K. decided to re-release Bend It Like Beckham in theaters across the United States. Good move, U.K.: the film's re-release was quite successful.

Knightley has also found success on stage: in 2009, she made her West End debut in Molière's The Misanthrope. The play did very well financially, due largely to Knightley's starring role in the play. She received rave reviews from critics across the United Kingdom, and eventually earned a Laurence Olivier Award nomination for her performance. Two years later, she returned to the West End stage in Lillian Hellman's play, The Children's Hour.

Her theater career seems to mirror her film career: success in the U.K. followed quickly by success in the United States. Knightley will be making her Broadway debut later this year in Thérèse Raquin as the title character. If her West End track record is any indicator, her time spent on Broadway will be amazing.

Although she's yet to win any of the major awards that she's been nominated for, Knightley is still at the beginning of her career, and she's already had some incredible roles alongside some equally incredible actors. It's only a matter of time before she gets to walk off the stage, trophy in hand. I'll be cheering when she does.

What did you think of Knightley's performance in The Imitation Game? Do you think she'll go home victorious at the Oscars this year? Watch the show's live telecast on February 22 to find out for sure, and tell us what you think in the comments below!

Will you be rooting for Keira on Oscar night? Let us know your thoughts on her nomination, and the Oscars in general in the comments below.

The 87th Academy Awards telecast will air live coast-to-coast on Sunday, February 22, 2015 (8:30 p.m.ET/5:30 p.m.PT) on ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. And be sure to visit BWW TV for live coverage of the 2015 Oscar telecast.



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