Rule 5 Saturday - Keira Knightley - Pict and Pirate?

I must be stuck in a rut, a good rut maybe, but a rut.  After watching one of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies on cable, I was inspired to pick Kiera Knightley as the subject of the Saturday Rule 5 post.  Not only another "K" girl (two weeks ago was Kate Beckinsale), but also English, the child of a theatrical family, and, oh yes, good looking (I guess that goes with out saying).









Probably best known for "Pirates" Kiera has starred in numerous movies including a unique version of "King Arthur" in which (probably closer to historical truth than most Arthurs), he was Roman Legion commander, and she starred as Guinevere as a Pict, a painted half-savage native Briton, fitting in that her mother is Scottish and Welsh.

There does seem to be some debate whether the Picts were actually painted in the way that history suggests, with designs as shown above, or with the blue dye woad.

She started acting as a child, getting her first agent (does she stuff them and hang them on the wall?) at 6.  She started college at Esher, but dropped out after a year to pursue acting.  Good, we scared another one away from the high life of academe...

She had a role in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999) , where she played Princess Amidala's decoy.  Unfortunately, her speaking lines were dubbed over by a previous Rule Fiver, Natalie Portman, who played Amidala.  Apparently, even their mothers had a hard time telling them apart under the makeup.

In 2001, she starred in "The Hole" a direct-to-video thriller that got her nominated for and Empire Award for "Best Debut".

In 2003, she starred in the first "Pirate" movie, starting her prolonged stint as the third corner of the "Eternal Triangle", to hark back to Tom Lehrer.

She has also starred in the theater ("The Misanthrope" and "The Children's Hour") and several TV appearances, including "The Treasure Seeker", "Oliver Twist", "Dr. Zhivago", "Prince of Thieves" and "Gajin".

She has been accused of being anorexic in the press, and indeed, some of her public photos look a mite thin.   But she denies it.

Although she is reputed to get along well with the press, she has expressed a longing for "the Private Life."

"It frightens me when kids go, 'I want to be famous.'" In a 2007 interview with the BBC Knightley said that she feels "de-humanised." She also said that when a person becomes a celebrity, the public doesn't care that the person's life is constantly watched.

 I guess she should have thought about that before becoming a world renowned actress...

As for charity work, she has supported Amnesty International, and WaterAid, as well as visiting Ethiopia to see the effects of government imposed anorexia.

She has three new movies pending "A Dangerous Method", "Seeking a Friend for the End of the Word", and "Anna Karenina."

In July 2006, Knightley said she has become a workaholic, detailing that "the last five years have blended into one.

I can't tell you what was last year and what was the year before" and specifying that she was "working too much" and was "quite frightened that if I continue at this rate I will start to hate what I love,"

A bonus feature, Keira and a previous Rule 5 star, Scarlet Johansson in a nude, but yet somehow not terribly revealing Vanity Fair photoshoot.

Ted is celebrating Alyson Hannigan from "Buffy" this week. As usual, I thank the Rule 5 Wombat for his link at The Other McCain's.  Go check out Jake Finnegan's Burkalesque Girl of the Week, Cheryl Cole.