Kiera Christina Knightly was born on March 26 1985, in Teddington, London. She is the daughter of Sharman Macdonald who is an award winning play write and Will Knightly who is a theatre and television actor. Kiera has a older brother Caleb. While growing up the family lived in Richmond and she attended Stanley Junior School, Teddington School and then Esher College. Kiera was successful in school, although she suffers from dyslexia. After school she acquired a talent agent and went on to pursue a career in acting. Kiera had her first agent at age six. This was a reward for studying hard. She has always been very single minded about her having a career in acting. Kiera performed in many local amateur productions.

Kiera Knightly is an English actress whose career began as a child. She earned international recognition for her films Bend It Like Beckham and the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy. Kiera has appeared in many Hollywood movies. She has been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the Golden Globe for the Best Actress. These nominations were earned for her work in the 2005 film Pride and Prejudice. Kiera played the role of Elizabeth Bennet based on the novel by Jane Austen. There were also nominations for the Golden Globe for Best Actress and for a BAFTA for the Best Actress in a Leading Role for her role in Atonement.

Kiera is an ambassador for Amnesty International. She made a short film to help raise awareness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the abuses that continue. Kiera believes that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a statement of our common humanity. In 2009 Kiera appeared in a video to help raise awareness of domestic violence. The short film was titled Cut and was directed by Joe Wright, who had worked with her before when making Pride and Prejudice. The video created a huge amount of controversy as it showed very real looking scenes of domestic violence, the short film had cause a uncontrollable conversation in the community and all over the world.