Keira Knightley has had a stellar career. After crash-landing on the scene in the early 2000s, the Londoner seemed to be in absolutely everything: crowdpleasing comedies, swashbuckling blockbusters, heartwarming rom-coms, sweeping period dramas, you name it. She quickly earned a devoted fan following and two Oscar nods to boot—for her charming lead turn in Pride & Prejudice and scene-stealing supporting performance in The Imitation Game—and then became slightly less ubiquitous but, in truth, never really went away.
In more recent years, you’ll have seen her in a string of darker crime dramas, the latest of which, Netflix’s Black Doves, features her transformation into a gun-toting, punch-throwing action hero—proof that she can do absolutely everything, and that, after more than three decades in front of the camera, she’s still only just getting started.
Now, in honor of her 40th birthday, we take a look back at her most memorable roles to date, from playing plucky footballers and frazzled Englishwomen to a French literary legend and Jane Austen’s greatest heroine.
