Worlds Celebrities

Overview

Date of Birth: 30 September 1975, Paris, France

Birth Name:

Nicknames:

Height: 5' 6½" (1.69 m)

Trade Mark: Mole in the middle of forehead

Often plays femme fatales (Clarisse Entoven in A Private Affair (2002), Tina Lombardi in A Very Long Engagement (2004), Mal in Inception (2010), Adriana in Midnight in Paris (2011), Talia al Ghul in The Dark Knight Rises (2012) and Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (2015).

Spouse:

Bio Data: Academy Award-winning Actress Marion Cotillard was born on September 30, 1975 in Paris. Cotillard is the daughter of Jean-Claude Cotillard, an actor, playwright and director, and Niseema Theillaud, an actress and drama teacher. Her father's family is Breton.

Raised in Orléans, France, she made her acting debut as a child with a role in one of her father's plays. She studied drama at the Conservatoire d'Art Dramatique in Orléans. After small appearances and performances in theater, Cotillard had occasional and minor roles in television series such as Highlander (1992) and Extrême limite (1994), but her career as a film actress began in the mid-1990s. While still a teenager, Cotillard made her cinema debut in the film L'histoire du garçon qui voulait qu'on l'embrasse (1994) and had small but noticeable roles in such films as Arnaud Desplechin's My Sex Life... or How I Got Into an Argument (1996), Coline Serreau's comedy La belle verte (1996).

In 1996, she had her first leading role in the TV film Chloé (1996).

In 1997, she won her first film award at the festival Rencontres Cinématographiques d'Istres in France, for her performance as the young imprisoned Nathalie in the short film Affaire classée (1997).

Her first prominent screen role was as Lilly Bertineau in Gérard Pirès's Taxi (1998), a role which she reprised in two sequels: Taxi 2 (2000) and Taxi 3 (2003), this role earned her first César award nomination (France's equivalent to the Oscar) for Most Promising Actress in 1999.

In 1999, Cotillard starred as Julie Bonzon in the Swiss war drama War in the Highlands (1999). For her performance in the film, she won the Best Actress award at Autrans Film Festival in France.

In 2001, starred in Pretty Things (2001) as the twin sisters Marie and Lucie, and was nominated for her second César award for Most Promising Actress.

Cotillard's breakthrough in France came in 2003 when she starred in the box-office hit Love Me If You Dare (2003) as the daughter of Polish immigrants Sophie Kowalsky, starring opposite her friend at the time Guillaume Canet, with whom she would have a relationship four years later.

Her first movie in Hollywood was Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003), years later she starred in Ridley Scott's A Good Year (2006) alongside Russell Crowe.

In 2004, she won the Chopard Thophy of Female Revelation at the Cannes Film Festival.

In 2005, Cotillard won the César award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Tina Lombardi in Jean-Pierre Jeunet's A Very Long Engagement (2004).

In 2007, Cotillard received international recognition for her iconic portrayal of Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007). Director Olivier Dahan cast Cotillard to play the legendary French singer because to him, her eyes were like those of "Piaf". The fact that she can sing also helped Cotillard land the role of "Piaf", although most of the singing in the film is that of Piaf's. The role won Cotillard the Academy Award for Best Actress along with a César, a BAFTA Award, and a Golden Globe. That made her only the second actress to win an acting Oscar performing in a language other than English next to Sophia Loren (Two Women (1960)). Only two male performers (Roberto Benigni for Life Is Beautiful (1997) and Robert De Niro for The Godfather: Part II (1974)) have won an Oscar for solely non-English parts. Trevor Nunn called her portrayal of "Piaf" "one of the greatest performances on film ever". At the Berlin International Film Festival, where the film premiered, Cotillard was given a 15-minute standing ovation. When she won the César, Alain Delon presented the award and announced the winner as "La Môme Marion" (The Kid Marion), he also praised her at the stage saying: "Marion, I give you this César. I think this César is for a great great actress, and I know what I'm talking about".

Cotillard has worked much more frequently in English-language movies following her Academy Award recognition. In 2009, she acted opposite Johnny Depp in Michael Mann's Public Enemies (2009), and later that year had a role in Rob Marshall's musical Nine (2009) and received a Golden Globe nomination for her performance as Luisa Contini. Time magazine ranked her as the fifth best performance by a female in 2009. The following year, she took on the main antagonist role in Christopher Nolan's Inception (2010), and in 2011 she had memorable parts in Midnight in Paris (2011) and Contagion (2011) and reteamed with Christopher Nolan in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

In 2011 and 2012 respectively, she appeared on the top of the list of the highest paid actors in France that was released by Le Figaro, it was the first time in nine years that a female topped the list. Cotillard was also the highest paid foreign actress in Hollywood.

In 2012, Cotillard received wide-spread critical acclaim for her role as the legless orca trainer Stéphanie in Rust and Bone (2012). The film received a ten-minute standing ovation at the end of its screening at the 65th Cannes Film Festival. Cotillard won the Globe de Cristal (France's equivalent to the Golden Globe) and the Étoile d'Or award and was nominated for Critics' Choice, Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and César Awards for her performance in the movie. Cate Blanchett wrote an article for Variety praising Cotillard's performance in "Rust and Bone", the two actresses competed for the Academy Awards for Best Actress in 2008, Cate was nominated for her performance in Elizabeth: The Golden Age (2007) and Marion for her performance in La Vie en Rose (2007) and Cotillard won the Oscar.

Her first leading role in an American movie came in 2013 as Ewa Cybulska, a Polish immigrant who wants to experience the American dream in James Gray's The Immigrant (2013). Cotillard received wide-spread acclaim for her performance in the film at the 66th Cannes Film Festival, where the film premiered.

In 2014, Cotillard starred as Sandra in the Belgian film Two Days, One Night (2014) by the Dardenne brothers. Her performance was unanimously praised at the 67th Cannes Film Festival.

With long-time boyfriend Guillaume Canet, Cotillard gave birth to her first child, Marcel, in May 2011.

Trivia: If she had not been an actress, she would have liked to become a singer.

She's an ecologist.

Had to learn how to sing in one month to play Marie in Pretty Things (2001). Also co-wrote and performed the song "La Fille de Joie" and performed the song "La Conne" for this film.

Her onscreen debut was in 1993 at the age of 17, in the Canadian TV Series Highlander (1992). She had an uncredited cameo as the girl who gives birth in the episode 17 of Season 1: "Saving Grace". She then returned in the episode 21: "Nowhere to Run", as Lori Bellian. It was also her first English-speaking role.

Member and Spokesperson for Greenpeace since 2002. She is also one of several actors, singers and designers involved in "Dessins pour le Climat" ("Drawings for the Climate"), a book of drawings originated by Greenpeace and Glénat, available for sale beginning April 2005 (all proceeds to go to Greenpeace).

Played Joan of Arc in the concert "Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher" (Joan of Arc at the Stake) twice: in 2005 in Orléans, France and in 2012 in Barcelona, Spain. Her mother also played Joan of Arc in the same concert in 1992.

Born to Jean-Claude Cotillard, an actor and teacher, and his wife Niseema Theillaud, also actress and drama teacher.

Has two younger brothers: Guillaume and Quentin, they are identical twins (born on 6 November 1977). Guillaume Cotillard, is a screenwriter and director and Quentin Cotillard works as a sculptor, living in San Francisco, California with his Irish-American wife Elaine O'Malley Cotillard, a former Dutch National Ballet dancer and fashion designer.

She never had her ears pierced.

Grew up in Orléans and moved to Paris at the age of 16.

Cousin of Laurent Cotillard.

Is the Godmother of Costa Serena and inaugurated the ship in Marseille, France on May 19, 2007.

Best friends are Cécile Cassel, Élodie Navarre, Mélanie Laurent and Gilles Lellouche.

Companion of her Love Me If You Dare (2003) co-star Guillaume Canet since 2007. They met years before starring together in the film and had been friends since the 90s.

Having won the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for La Vie en Rose (2007) on 24 February 2008, she has become the second French actress to do so. The other one is Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1959). Claudette Colbert, who won in 1934 for It Happened One Night (1934), was French-born, but raised in the U.S. She is also the second French actress to win a BAFTA and a Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for the same performance. Simone Signoret was the first to win both awards with her performance in Room at the Top (1959). Simone Signoret's daughter, Catherine Allégret, portrayed Édith Piaf's grandmother Louise Gassion in "La Vie en Rose (2007)".

Re-enacted the iconic shower scene of Psycho (1960) in a photoshoot for Vanity Fair in 2008. In the film, the scene was made by Janet Leigh and Cotillard shares the same first name of Janet Leigh's character in "Psycho", who was called Marion Crane.

When she won the César Award for her performance in La Vie en Rose (2007), Alain Delon presented the award and announced the winner as "La Môme Marion" (The Kid Marion), he also praised her at the stage saying: "Marion, I give you this César. I think this César is for a great great actress, and I know what I'm talking about".

First and so far the only artist to win a Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for a performance in the French language and is also the first leading lady to receive the Best Actress Oscar for a non-English speaking role since Sophia Loren in 1962 for Two Women (1960).

Is the fifth actress to win the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for portraying a female singer in a biography; the first being Luise Rainer as Anna Held in The Great Ziegfeld (1936), followed by Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968), Sissy Spacek as Loretta Lynn in Coal Miner's Daughter (1980) and Reese Witherspoon as June Carter Cash in Walk the Line (2005).

Is one of six performers to win an Oscar playing a character that mostly spoke in a foreign language. The others are Sophia Loren, Robert De Niro, Roberto Benigni, Benicio Del Toro and Christoph Waltz.

One of 105 people invited to join AMPAS in 2008.

First French actress to win Best Leading Actress at BAFTA Film Awards since the integration of Best British Actress and Best Foreign Actress to one category: Best Leading Actress in 2008.

The dress she wore to the Academy Awards (where she won the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar) was especially designed for her by Jean-Paul Gaultier.

Was considered for the role of Hanna Schmitz in The Reader (2008) after Nicole Kidman dropped out due to pregnancy. However the part eventually went to Kate Winslet. In 2009, Cotillard presented and gave the Academy Award for Best Actress to Kate Winslet for her performance in The Reader (2008).

She was originally set for a role in Mesrine Part 1: Killer Instinct (2008).

Was in a relationship with French actor Julien Rassam in the late 90's until 2000. She had a long relationship with French actor Stéphan Guérin-Tillié from 2000 to 2005 and was in a relationship with French singer Sinclair from 2005 to 2007.

When she won the Best Actress in a Leading Role Oscar for La Vie en Rose (2007) in 2008, the statuette was presented to her by former co-star in Mary (2005), previous winner Forest Whitaker.

Announced that she and long-time boyfriend Guillaume Canet are expecting their first child together. [10 January 2011].

Ranked #48 in a 2011 study on the favorite celebrities of French kids aged 7 to 14, who gave her a grade of 6.21 on 10. The same study ranked her as the 53rd best-known celebrity by these kids, with 33.8% of the surveyed knowing her, either by name or by picture.

Was six months pregnant with her son Marcel when she completed filming on Contagion (2011).

Gave birth to her son Marcel Canet, with partner Guillaume Canet, in Paris (19 May 2011).

Was originally set to star in Cosmopolis (2012) but was replaced by Sarah Gadon after dropping out due to her pregnancy.

Was in consideration for the role of Ryan in Gravity (2013) but Sandra Bullock was cast instead.

Returned to work one month after giving birth to her son Marcel, to begin filming The Dark Knight Rises (2012). Most of her scenes were pushed back a month and director Christopher Nolan made room on the set for Cotillard's family. During an interview for Vogue in August 2012, Nolan marveled at Cotillard's ability to do her job so soon after giving birth, calling it "amazing to see" and describing her as "Superwoman.".

Ranked as having one of the most "Beautiful Famous Faces" by "The Annual Independent Critics List of the 100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World" for 13 consecutive years. She was ranked #14 in 2014, #1 in 2013, #2 in 2012, #7 in 2011, #12 in 2010, #15 in 2009, #4 in 2008, #3 in 2007, #8 in 2006, #17 in 2005, #35 in 2004, #20 in 2003, and #31 in 2002.

Three of her films, Chloé (1996), Love Me If You Dare (2003) and Inception (2010) have featured a song by Édith Piaf. "La Vie en Rose" was used in "Chloé" and "Love Me If You Dare", and "Non, Je Ne Regrette Rien" plays in "Inception" - Marion won the Academy Award for Best Actress portraying Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007).

Is one of 5 French actors to have won an Academy Award. The others in chronological order are: Claudette Colbert for It Happened One Night (1934), Simone Signoret for Room at the Top (1959), Juliette Binoche for The English Patient (1996) and Jean Dujardin for The Artist (2011).

Is one of 12 French actresses to have received an Academy Award nomination. The others in chronological order are: Claudette Colbert, Colette Marchand, Leslie Caron, Simone Signoret, Anouk Aimée, Isabelle Adjani, Marie-Christine Barrault, Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Bérénice Bejo and Emmanuelle Riva.

Is a fan of the British sitcom Absolutely Fabulous (1992).

Ranked on Askmen's list of the "Top 99 Most Desirable Women". She was ranked #39 in 2013, #58 in 2011, #54 in 2010 and #87 in 2008.

Cotillard, Leonardo DiCaprio, Tilda Swinton, Emma Thompson, Tom Hanks, Daniel Brühl and Jake Gyllenhaal are the only actors to receive a Golden Globe, SAG, BAFTA and Critics' Choice Award nomination for the same performance and then fail to be Oscar-nominated for it: for their performances in Rust and Bone (2012), The Departed (2006), We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), Captain Phillips (2013), Rush (2013) and Nightcrawler (2014), respectively.

Her name is pronounced "mah-ree-ohn ko-tee-ar".

She is the face of French fashion house Dior since 2008 and stars in the ad campaigns for the Lady Dior Handbags since then. In 2011, she also starred in the ad campaign for the Miss Dior Handbag Fall/Winter 2011/2012. Her ads for Dior have been shot by acclaimed photographers such as Annie Leibovitz, Craig McDean, Steven Klein, Tim Walker, Mikael Jansson, Peter Lindbergh and Jean-Baptiste Mondino. In 2012, Cotillard designed her own handbag for Lady Dior, the "360º Bag".

Is a fan of Kate Winslet, Will Ferrell, Seth Rogen and Jonah Hill and during an interview at The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (1992) in 2012, she said she would love to work with them in a comedy. In 2013, she had a cameo in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013), a comedy film starred by Will Ferrell. Cotillard also wrote a review for Variety praising Kate Winslet's performance in Labor Day (2013).

Filmed The Dark Knight Rises (2012) in USA and Rust and Bone (2012) in France at the same time and few months after she gave birth to her son, Marcel. She was flying back and forth between USA and France to shoot both movies.

Was originally set to star in The Past (2013) but was replaced by Bérénice Bejo after dropping out due to scheduling conflicts with the promotion of Rust and Bone (2012). If Cotillard had starred in the film, she would have played the mother of Pauline Burlet's character; Burlet played Édith Piaf as a child in La Vie en Rose (2007), while Cotillard played Piaf as an adult in the same film.

Named Harvard's Hasty Pudding Theatrical Woman of the Year in 2013.

Is a fan of David Bowie, Janis Joplin, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Otis Redding, Radiohead and Elvis Presley.

Wrote and performed the song "Lily's Body" for the fourth episode of the Lady Dior Web Documentary (2012) with the same title. An animated clip was made for the song, featuring an encounter between Cotillard and Christian Dior.

Starred in David Bowie's music video David Bowie: The Next Day (2013) alongside Gary Oldman, her co-star in The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

Shares birthday with fellow actresses Deborah Kerr, Angie Dickinson, Monica Bellucci and actor Ezra Miller.

Sings under the pseudonym Simone in Maxim Nucci's band Yodelice. "Simone" is her grandmother's name. In 2010, Cotillard went on tour with the band in different cities in France and Belgium and sang few songs on the album "Cardioid". She also recorded the song "The Eyes of Mars" alongside Franz Ferdinand especially for Dior's "Lady Rouge" campaign.

Time magazine ranked her performance as Luisa Contini in Nine (2009) as the fifth best performance by a female in 2009.

Ranked #13 on Empire Online list of the "100 Sexiest Movie Stars" in 2013.

She has appeared on more than 200 magazine covers around the world, including Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Variety, Harper's Bazaar, Vanity Fair, Madame Figaro, Glamour, W, The Hollywood Reporter and Wall Street Journal Magazine. She was also on the cover of the first issue of Dior Magazine in September 2012 and appeared in 3 covers of Vogue in August 2012 (USA, UK and France).

Was the Honorary President of the 35th Annual César Awards Ceremony in 2010.

Is a "injection-phobic" and stated that she won't have Botox, plastic surgery or anything else that you put inside yourself to look younger.

Was the first non-model on a Vogue Paris September cover in five years with her September 2010 cover.

Ranked #8 on Forbes list of Hollywood's Top Earning On-Screen Couples alongside Leonardo DiCaprio in 2012. They are the only couple from a non-franchise film: Inception (2010), the film made $825 million at the global box-office.

In 2011 and 2012 respectively, she appeared on the top of Le Figaro's list of the highest paid actors in France, it was the first time in nine years that a female has topped the list. She was also the highest paid foreign actress in Hollywood.

Received several honors, career tributes and "Actress of the Year" awards in 2012 at Hollywood Film Festival, Gotham Independent Film Awards, Telluride Film Festival, AFI Fest, Sant Jordi Awards, Irish Film and Television Awards, Hawaii International Film Festival and Harper's Bazaar Awards.

Beverly Hills, CA, USA: Attended Elle's 20th Annual Women In Hollywood Celebration at Four Seasons Hotel, where she was honored. [October 2013]

Starred in three movies with Jérémie Renier: Cavalcade (2005), Fair Play (2006) and Dikkenek (2006).

On November 15, 2013, she caged herself near Paris's Louvre museum to demand the freeing of 30 Greenpeace activists jailed in Russia over an Arctic protest. She entered the cage and held a banner proclaiming: "I am a climate defender." A few days later, the activists were released.

Appeared in two films that made their world premieres at the Cannes Film Festival in the same week: Blood Ties (2013) and The Immigrant (2013). [May 2013].

Starred in three movies with Benoît Magimel: Lisa (2001), Fair Play (2006) and Little White Lies (2010).

Named a Knight of the Order of Arts and Letters by France's Cultural Minister Frederic Mitterand alongside Tim Burton who directed her in Big Fish (2003) (he was named Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters). Recipients of the order are honoured for their significant contribution to the enrichment of French culture. [15 March 2010].

Starred in three movies with Billy Crudup: Big Fish (2003), Public Enemies (2009) and Blood Ties (2013). When Cotillard was honored at Gotham Awards in 2012, Billy Crudup introduced her tribute.

Co-wrote and performed the song "The Strong Ones" alongside Hawksley Workman for Olivier Dahan's short film for Cartier's Love range. [2008].

She plays guitar, bass guitar, keyboard and tambourine. She learned how to play the piano at home when she was a kid and learned to play the cello for her role as a soloist in the film Toi et moi (2006).

Starred in four movies with Gilles Lellouche: Boomer (2001), Love Me If You Dare (2003), Ma vie en l'air (2005) and Little White Lies (2010).

Was mentioned in Glee (2009)'s Season 2, Episode 7: "The Substitute", when Kurt asks Blaine about their favorite 2010 Vogue cover and they say: "Marion Cotillard".

Ranked #2 of Vogue's 10 Best Dressed of 2010.

Was chosen as one of the Best Dressed at Cannes Film Festival 2012 by Yahoo!.

Named "International Actor of the Year" at the Harper's Bazaar Women of the Year Awards for her performance in Rust and Bone (2012). [October 31, 2012].

Named "Sexiest Woman In The World" by the Hungarian magazine Periodika in 2012.

Chosen as one of the Best Dressed of SAG Awards 2013 by Huffington Post.

Starred in three movies about physical disability: Blue Away to America (1999), Cavalcade (2005) and Rust and Bone (2012).

Started taking Danish lessons after having seen The Celebration (1998), planned on meeting Thomas Vinterberg during the Cannes Film Festival in 1999 and also started learning Spanish after having seen Lovers of the Arctic Circle (1998) by Julio Medem.

She and Adrien Brody are the only actors to win both a César and an Oscar for the same performance. Cotillard won both awards in 2008 for La Vie en Rose (2007) and Brody won in 2003 for The Pianist (2002).

Has worked with Guillaume Canet in four movies. Two as co-stars: Love Me If You Dare (2003) and The Last Flight (2009) and starred in two movies directed by him: Little White Lies (2010) and Blood Ties (2013).

Being a huge fan of Canadian singer Hawksley Workman, she starred in two of his clips.

For her performance in La Vie en Rose (2007), she become the first actress to win a BAFTA and a César award for the same performance, the second is Emmanuelle Riva for Amour (2012).

She is the first non-Czech actress to win the Czech Lion for Best Actress for her performance in La Vie en Rose (2007).

Loving her job she nurtured her need for cinematic culture by going to the Cinematheque.

Her father, Jean-Claude Cotillard, played the mime in each episode of the popular PBS series French in Action (1987).

Named "Woman of the Decade" by Vogue Paris' list of the "40 Women of The Decade". [2010].

She and Guillaume Canet were ranked France's third Most Popular Couple by a Harris Interactive poll for Gala magazine. [August 2012].

She and Guillaume Canet were ranked #63 at Zimbio's list of the 100 Hottest Celebrity Couples. [2013].

Has played two characters of Polish origin. First in 2003 as the daughter of Polish immigrants Sophie Kowalsky in Love Me If You Dare (2003) and 10 years later, she played the Polish immigrant Ewa Cybulska in The Immigrant (2013).

Starred in 2 films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture in two consecutive years: Inception (2010) and Midnight in Paris (2011).

Travelled to Congo with Greenpeace to visit the tropical rainforests that are being destroyed by logging companies. It was shown in the documentary The Congolese Rainforests: Living on Borrowed Time (2010). [2010].

Designed her own doll for UNICEF France campaign "Les Frimousses Font Leur Cinéma", that was sold to help vaccinate thousands of children in Darfur. [2010].

Patron of Maud Fontenoy Foundation, an non-governmental organization which is dedicated to programmes that teach children about preserving the vital heritage the oceans represent.

In 2012, she was featured on Kate Winslet's book "The Golden Hat: Talking Back To Autism", with celebrity self-portraits to raise awareness and support for autism.

Chosen as one of the Best Dressed of Cannes Film Festival 2013 by Vogue.

Appeared in five films that are on the Top 100 of the highest-grossing French films of all time in France, as of 2014. In chronological order: Taxi (1998) at #48, Taxi 2 (2000) at #9, Taxi 3 (2003) at #57, La Vie en Rose (2007) at #93 and Little White Lies (2010) at #80.

Named Best Dressed Star of 2013 by Grazia Daily.

Starred in 3 films where her character was named Marie: Pretty Things (2001), The Last Flight (2009) and Little White Lies (2010).

Ranked #12 on Slate's list of the "100 Most Influential Women of France". [2013].

Was the 132nd actress to receive an Academy Award; she won the Best Actress Oscar for La Vie en Rose (2007) at The 80th Annual Academy Awards (2008) on February 24, 2008.

Filmed four movies at the same time in 2004, one of them is Edy (2005).

Starred in three movies with Julie Depardieu: A Very Long Engagement (2004), Sauf le respect que je vous dois (2005) and Toi et moi (2006).

She hates filming scenes, but stated that the first and only time that she liked filming sex scenes was in Rust and Bone (2012), because it was a special moment for her character, who was having sex for the first time after she lost her legs.

Appeared in 6 movies that were released in 2005: Cavalcade (2005), Ma vie en l'air (2005), Mary (2005), Sauf le respect que je vous dois (2005), The Black Box (2005) and Edy (2005).

Starred in three movies with Élodie Navarre: Le marquis (2000), Love Me If You Dare (2003) and Cavalcade (2005).

Has a look-alike puppet in the French show Les guignols de l'info (1988).

When she was honored at Hollywood Film Festival in 2012, Joseph Gordon-Levitt presented the tribute to her in French, her native language. Cotillard and Levitt were co-stars in Inception (2010) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012).

After starring together in Rust and Bone (2012), she recommended Matthias Schoenaerts for a role in her boyfriend's Guillaume Canet directorial-debut in Hollywood, Blood Ties (2013). Canet told that he chose Schoenaerts after hearing Cotillard praising his acting several times.

Starred in two films directed by Christopher Nolan: Inception (2010) and The Dark Knight Rises (2012). In both films she stabs someone.

She was one of the two French actresses who starred in French-language films to be nominated for a BAFTA award for Best Leading Actress in 2013, with her performance in Rust and Bone (2012), the other was Emmanuelle Riva for her performance in Amour (2012). It was the first time in the history of BAFTA that two French-language performances were nominated in the Best Actress category.

Learned to speak her Polish dialogue (20 pages) in The Immigrant (2013) in only two months.

Became a member of the Association for the Promotion of Cinema (APC), which governs the French Academy of Cinema Arts and Techniques, the group that votes on the César Awards. [July 2013].

Her favorite films are: The Great Dictator (1940), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), I Am Cuba (1964), The Party (1968), The Elephant Man (1980), The King and the Mockingbird (1980) and Tandem (1987).

Planned to star and produce a film entitled "Second Coming", directed by Nenad Cicin-Sain and with Mark Ruffalo, Ethan Hawke, Anjelica Huston and Thandie Newton in the cast. The project found a financier in 2010 but never happened.

In 2011, she was considered for the role of Morgana in Arthur & Lancelot when David Dobkin was attached to direct, but Warner Bros. cancelled the project over budgetary concerns.

She's a locavore, where possible, she eats locally produced food and has been recycling since the 80s, a habit learned from her Breton grandmother (Marion's paternal grandparents were both Breton).

Is a fan of Greta Garbo, Romy Schneider, Juliette Binoche, Peter Sellers, Charles Chaplin and Sir Laurence Olivier.

Member of the jury of the 13th Marrakech Film Festival that was presided by Martin Scorsese. [November-December, 2013].

Chosen as "The Most Beautiful Face of 2013" by TC Candler's list of the "100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World". [December 2013]

Was considered for the role of Sylvie in Three Hearts (2014).

Is the owner of two restaurants in France: Jaja and Glou.

Directors Jacques Audiard and James Gray have compared her to actress Maria Falconetti. Falconetti played Joan of Arc in The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and Cotillard played the character in the oratorio "Jeanne d'Arc au Bûcher".

Turned down a role in Bel Ami (2012). When Robert Pattinson met Cotillard in Cannes and told her he was doing a film of Guy de Maupassant's classic French novel, she expressed bemusement: "But why make it in English?".

Was the first person to wear Chopard's Green Carpet Collection jewels at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival.

Director James Gray who directed her in The Immigrant (2013), stated that Cotillard is the best actor he ever worked with. Gray wrote the character Ewa Cybulska especially for her.

Ranked #68 on Total Film's Top 200 Performances of All Time for her performance in La Vie en Rose (2007). [2013].

Brazilian brand Chara Rial named a shoe after her. [2014].

Chosen as one of the 'Best Film Femme Fatales' by Harper's Bazaar for her performance as Mal in Inception (2010). [March 2014].

Accepted to star in Two Days, One Night (2014) without seen the script. Cotillard is the first non-Belgian and the most famous actor to ever with Belgian directors Jean-Pierre Dardenne and Luc Dardenne, she was cast after they met her on the set of Rust and Bone (2012), which was co-produced by them.

Was director Benoît Jacquot's original choice to play Celestine in Journal d'une femme de chambre (2015), but dropped out. If she had starred in the film, it would have been the second time that she would have played a character that was played by Jeanne Moreau. Cotillard played the younger version of Moreau's character in Lisa (2001) and Moreau played Celestine in Diary of a Chambermaid (1964).

Was considered for the female lead of Untitled John Wells Project (2015).

Named "The Most Bankable French Actress of the 21st Century" in 2014. Her films have sold more than 38 million tickets in France from 2001 to 2014 and have grossed more than $3 billion worldwide.

Was considered to play Eleonora Duse in The Rivals, a biopic about the rivalry between Duse and Sarah Bernhardt.

As a big fan of Tim Burton, Cotillard slept with the script of Big Fish (2003) under her pillow for a month to hopefully help her chances to work with him.

With her second Oscar nomination in 2015, she became one of six performers with multiple Oscar nominations for foreign language films; the others are Marcello Mastroianni (Italian), Sophia Loren (Italian), Liv Ullmann (Swedish), Javier Bardem (Spanish) and Isabelle Adjani (French).

Personal Quotes: [on acting] I don't think you learn how to act. You learn how to use your emotions and feelings, and my first teacher was my mother [Niseema Theillaud] and then I worked with my father [Jean-Claude Cotillard], who helped me to find in myself all those emotions and how to play with the emotions.

[on accepting the best actress Oscar for La Vie en Rose (2007) (aka "La Vie en Rose")] Thank you life, thank you love, and - it is true - there [are] some angels in this city [Los Angeles].

Did a man really walk on the moon? I saw plenty of documentaries on it, and I really wondered. And in any case I don't believe all they tell me, that's for sure.

[on her French accent] The first thing I have to do to erase my French accent is think that it is actually possible, whereas for the moment, I think it's not. I have a lot of work.

My parents always told me that if you want something, you can do whatever you have to do to get it. As long as it's not against someone else.

I have a tendency to often share the point of view of the conspiracy theory.

[on extreme characters] I do like extreme characters, but I think they are extreme because they are full of passion - they are rich inside. Tina Lombardi [from A Very Long Engagement (2004)] was such a beautiful character. What I love in her is that she's not a cliché of the femme fatale. She's just a girl who loves her man and feels desperate about losing him. It's not just about revenge. She is in that huge country, searching for something. She's lost, destroyed inside.

[on the beginning of her career as a child] I started in musicals when I was very young. Both my parents are stage actors, and I was fascinated by their jobs. My father was a mime. When I was 5, a director friend of my family put me in his movie. I played a little girl with a dog, but I remember my scenes and I was entranced by acting. It was a dream to me - the passion of the profession was contagious.

The first English-language movie I saw might have been E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). I remember I was so into it, I cried so loud that the audience around me wanted to take me out of the theater.

[on her Public Enemies (2009) character] She's a real product of this really tough period in American history. Out of the Depression came all of these people who struggled to live. Billie had no money, and she came from an Indian tribe, which, at the time, was not easy. By the time she came to Chicago and met Dillinger, she had already lived several lives - she had been to military boarding school, to learn military manners, to "get the Indian out." She's a mix of someone really sweet and tough.

When I was a little girl, I always wanted to be in a musical, an American musical. I knew Singin' in the Rain (1952) by heart.

I think that when you don't see the boundaries, you cross them without even knowing they exist in the first place.

I need to feel that for a director it's a matter of life and death; he needs to tell this story.

I adore my own life, more and more I love being myself, but I love this work of totally changing personalities, of creating something radically different from myself. I want to go profoundly into my roles. If not, what's the point?

[on Rust and Bone (2012) in which she plays a woman who has lost both legs in an accident] In the beginning of the film she is empty, she doesn't know who she is or why she;'s alive. She is numb. It's as if she were drugged. I have never experimented with hard drugs, but I've been at certain moments of my life in a state of shock close to something where you lose your footing, your sense of reality. I think that's the gift of the actor, the ability to put ourselves in a state.

[on working with director Jacques Audiard in Rust and Bone (2012)] Once he stopped a scene and said, 'How dramatic are YOU? Dramatic, dramatic, dramatic! It's boring!' We laughed, and it could seem a bit rude, but he was right. We were happy to have someone with that kind of genius to help us avoid going in the direction of things that are perhaps realistic but are not at all cinematic. And that's why he's a great director.

[on reincarnation] I don't know if we have many lives of if I will be reincarnated into a next life, but I really do think that when you die, it doesn't stop.

[on her musical career] A friend called me up who is an amazing singer who goes by the name Yodelice (Maxim Nucci). He said, "Would you come to the studio? I would love for you to sing one of my songs." So I went down and ended up going from a background singer to being in a duet. Then my friend said he was playing at the Olympia in Paris. So he asked me if I would sing with him there and I said, "Oh, yeah, of course." I went to rehearsals with them and he asked me, "Would you play bass guitar?" I had never played bass guitar before but it has always been my dream to play bass guitar. He said, "Just try it for a few songs." I took the bass guitar and suddenly it was so organic. So he said to me, "Would you play piano on this song?" I said, "I don't even play piano!" He told me to try. I took piano lessons when I was like 5 or 6 but that was a long time ago. I stopped when I was 13. But suddenly it was very organic when I started playing it. So he said, "How about playing the drums?" He made me try, and it went on and on like this for a week. I was part of the band, playing all of the instruments. One day I arrived at rehearsal and my friend said, "Okay, now that you've done everything else, how about singing a song by yourself alone?" I said, "Man, you are way out of your mind." But we did it and I ended up on tour with Yodelice for two months, traveling around to shows in different cities in France and Belgium.

[on The Dark Knight Rises (2012)] I didn't have a major part in the Batman movie, but I had to be available for it at all times. The script changed constantly, and I needed to be ready to get on the next plane and be on set as soon as they needed me.

I'm not somebody who opens up to people very easily. With this form of expression,I think I've found a way to speak to a lot of people and share something of myself, while still keeping my distance. I don't have anything against people who bare their souls to the media. I just know I can't do it. I want to share things that seem practical to me. It's the same if I go to a dinner party with guests I don't know. I'm not going to share my life story with them.

[on her school days] At school I was that black thing in the corner. I was not popular at all. I think I was very boring... not boring because I didn't talk, no, no it was terrible. I was not interesting at all. I thought I had no personality. I thought everybody was so cool, and I was not. You think things about yourself and then you start to give a little bit of love at least enough, to enjoy life. But I was, oooh.

I couldn't leave the character on La Vie en Rose (2007). It was weird because I used to kind of judge actors who would stay in character on set or who would have a hard time leaving the character behind when the movie was done. I had this very dumb idea that "Okay, it's a big part of your life but it's your job. Go home and go back to yourself." It turns out it's not that easy. In the process I was in character almost all the time. Even when I went home, there was something that was not entirely me.

[on singing] I'm a very happy actress. But I've always loved to sing because in my childhood my mother would sing all the time. I cannot remember one journey in the car without singing. So music is part of my life.

[on blockbusters] I feel very lucky that I can travel from one very special universe to another very special universe. My experience in Hollywood with the big blockbuster, though, is very special too, because it's a blockbuster directed, written, produced by Christopher Nolan, who's not a studio director. I need to work with directors who have the need to tell a story - and he is definitely a director who needs to tell stories.

[on what changed her life] It's not the fame that changed my life but La Vie en Rose (2007), which was a turning point for me. It put me in a different universe and gave me the opportunity to really discover different worlds. But I'm not like some celebrities who live with paparazzi 24 hours a day. That's why I'm keeping my life in France.

[on becoming a mother] Since having Marcel, every day of my life has been alight with him. One of the things I have learned recently is that I have the ability to be happy. I have found that in my family. And that is a new thing. And that hasn't always been the case for me - so I know how lucky I am.

[on her character in Rust and Bone (2012)] I think Stéphanie has moved me more than any character I've ever played. She rediscovers the carnal, sexuality, love. Everything is very positive in the tragedy she faces.

[on the first time she liked filming sex scenes in a movie with Rust and Bone (2012)] I've never liked filming them as I don't feel comfortable. I am shaking; I feel very bad and I want to cry most of the time because I hate it so much. But here it was totally different. I was so involved with my character that I was happy she would enjoy something like that. It's a movie about love, about flesh, about rust and bone and heart and sex, so without the sex scenes the movie would have missed something. The most emotional scene was after Stéphanie and Alain (Matthias Schoenaerts) make love for the first time, because I felt something that I never felt for a character before. I felt very moved for her because it's the first time she's had sex since she lost her legs. I was very moved because I was so happy for her.

[on being exposed and judged because of her career] Nothing can ever be taken for granted in this métier. It makes you very exposed and that can be violent. I'm strong but also fragile, and sometimes it's not easy to be exposed to judgment, and to play with your emotions, to go searching inside yourself to make yourself naked to the world.

I think this desire to protect the Earth comes from my family - especially my grandmother. I remember when I was a little girl at her house in Brittany. When she cooked, she wouldn't waste anything. And my parents always raised me to believe that the most important thing was respect. Respect the place you live, be aware of the impact that you have on things. I was lucky to have this education growing up. I was born in Paris and raised in the suburbs and then lived in the countryside. We had a beautiful house with a huge garden. When I moved to the country, I was really connected to nature and the seasons. So when I finally went back to Paris, I had a very hard time connecting with the city again and the way we waste so much. I started to read and teach myself about the environment - and why it was not organic and natural to be living in the city. I'm very happy with what's happening now and how the awareness is spreading. Because 10 years ago my mind-set wasn't really normal for most people. I sounded like a crazy person talking about the environment. People saw me as a hippie who wanted to make my own cheese and live with animals in a house without electricity.

When I was younger, I considered a lot of things, but I couldn't choose, so I thought that being an actor would let me have many lives. It was a way to do all the jobs I wanted to do.

I just want to do my best. I just want to find the authenticity of each character. That's what matters to me. It would be horrible to have an audience saying, 'Oh it's her.' It would be horrible. I want to experience something new each time.

I was fascinated by this world of telling stories, of having a different day every day. And my parents were -- still are -- passionate people, and to be raised with passionate people who open the door of your imagination and your creativity, I think it's why I am an actress now.

[on working in Hollywood] I feel very lucky that I can work in Hollywood. When I was a kid, I watched a lot of American movies and I never thought this was something that would happen to me. But once I started acting I didn't see any boundaries. I wanted to be an actress. I didn't want to be a French actress.

[on her sex scenes in Rust and Bone (2012)] The sex and flesh is part of the story. It's not sensational or a statement at all, it had to be in there. You know how you feel when you rediscover your body, love, your life. That's what happens to both these characters and I think that is very sexy.

[on beauty] I was raised with the idea of beauty in a different way. To me, it is something that really comes out of you and surrounds you.

[on choose a different career] Well, I could have never done a profession that was not creative. You know, there's a fighter inside of me. When you have the capacity to fight, when you have the ability to love life and the ability to be happy, it's easy to be creative. And that's a treasure that my parents gave me.

[on fashion] To be honest, I didn't consider fashion to be an art until I became involved with Dior. They changed my vision of fashion whereas I never paid attention to it before. Although I loved to dress and I liked clothes, now I see it as a very special form of art.

I looked terrible while filming La Vie en Rose (2007), so my hat collection increased dramatically. I love men's hats because my father wears them.

[on her voice in Polish in The Immigrant (2013)] Language is part of a whole. I like creating characters who have their own approach, their own body language, their own voice. Learning a language helps to build something different. I play a Polish woman in the film, so I had to speak Polish fluently, with a Polish accent. I understood that, in order to speak correctly, I had to sink into the Polish culture. I had the same experience with English and Italian. Culture enriches language and vice versa.

I've always wanted to be an actress but I never really asked myself why. I know now that I have this career for two major reasons: First, because it allows me to take such pleasure in work that I happen to be overwhelmed with happiness while acting. And second, because this job puts me the most in danger in relation to my emotional past.

[on spending a day in a wheelchair in Paris with her co-star Samuel Jouy preparing for Blue Away to America (1999)] Others looking at us, us being dependent on others - we had a unique experience. The movie is a celebration of life and hope.

[about the dream roles of actresses (1999)] I would like to be offered to play Count Dracula as a consolation for not having been in The Idiots (1998) by Lars von Trier.

More and more I love being myself, but I love this work of totally changing personalities.

[on why she became an actress - Elle, November 2013] When I was a kid, I started to have a lot of questions about human beings, and I was a troubled child because of all of these questions. I guess that's why I became an actress. Not only because my parents were actors and, yeah, it's a beautiful thing to tell stories, but I think I became an actress because I wanted to explore this- to explore what a human being is.

[on getting old and wrinkly] You know what? I'm not looking forward to it. I know that it's going to come. Some of the women around me, they tell me it's not fun to get old. But it's not about your look, it's about the fact that you cannot run like you did when you were younger, or - it's just about when your body gets tired and you don't have the hundred percent energy sometimes. So it's not something that I look forward to. But I have to say, since I'm a mum, I'm really looking forward to being a grandma. This is kind of my obsession right now. I hope my kids won't wait so long, like me, to have kids, because I want to be a very healthy and young grandma. So it's not getting old but being a grandmother ... this is really something that I look forward to.

[on why she'll never have Botox] When I have to have an injection I'm like a four-year-old, running around the room with the nurse behind me trying to catch me. So I guess I won't have Botox or whatever you put inside yourself to look younger. In France... I was at my friend's house the other day, and all those women there, they were between 50 and 70, and they were so beautiful. Sometimes in LA, or even in New York, you run into a lot of products - a lot of women filled with all those products. It's not just about plastic surgery now, it's about injections... and all the women look kind of the same. It just shows fear, and that makes me sad.

[at Elle's 20th Annual Women In Hollywood] As far back as I can remember, I began questioning the world around me. Then I realized that by exploring different human beings and their stories, I felt the connection I was longing for. I know these women have also found answers in what they do, and share my passion for discovering the human soul.

[on why she thinks so many actors succumb to alcohol and drugs] Actors are fragile creatures. The wider the gap, the more vulnerable we are. Any form of escape can seem good. You have to navigate through the different emotions because you're placed in tough positions as an actor. Everything we give in a performance can come back to torture.

[on become enthralled with the ideals of the 'American Dream'] In a certain respect, yes (I love the American dream). And I love their language. Three years before La Vie en Rose (2007), I came to New York to take an English language course with Berlitz. I didn't become an actress with the aim of having a career in the US, my dream didn't have any geographical boundaries, but just after filming Tim Burton's Big Fish (2003), I was looking forward to speaking the language fluently because my poor English from my school days was a problem on set. This love of English comes from my childhood, I grew up on American culture. Their music, cinema and literature were part of me.

I always wanted to express myself by being someone other than myself.

It is much easier for me to understand something vast and complex than something light and uncomplicated. Perhaps that makes me very French.

[on if she was afraid to be stuck with Édith Piaf (June 2007)] I think those things only happen when you think about it too much. For example, when I first got into movies in France, I had great success playing bimbos. But I never believed that I would be put in a box. I think if you have that inside of you it won't happen.

[on if she would like to play any other iconic women that she finds fascinating] Each time I hear that question the first name that comes to my mind is someone I can't do because it's Aung San Suu Kyi. For obvious and emotional reasons I can't. But I think a movie has to be done.

Talking about myself to someone I don't know has turned me into a wild beast when it comes to press. I've noticed that it's creating something kind of out of focus about myself.

You don't turn away a great director. And I always wanted to work with James Gray without thinking it was possible.

I cannot speak Italian. That was my idea, actually, to have an Italian character in Blood Ties (2013). My self loves difficulties, and when my brain comes into play, it's like, Hello!

Being the same person everywhere, that's something that I would love to feel, to achieve. But I have a responsibility in creating this person who is not someone that I like at all.

An actor has a huge failure in him. And this is not a weakness -- this can make you strong. But it's deep.

Working with Joaquin Phoenix was something very special. His instinct is like the instinct of an animal. There's a pureness about him. We lost this animal instinct that we used to have.

My parents were actors too. I don't even know if when I wanted to be an actress, they went, "Oh, shit." I must ask them.

I admired Greta Garbo but I didn't want to be her. I wanted to be Charles Chaplin. And I wanted to be Peter Sellers.

The directors I dreamed of were Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Tim Burton, David Lynch, Steven Spielberg because of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). I wasn't considered an actress. I didn't want to get bitter while waiting for something to happen, so when I was 27, I told my agent I was stopping and going to work for Greenpeace. He said, 'Please just have this one meeting.' It was with Tim Burton, for Big Fish (2003), and I got the part. Now, Tim Burton was my idol. And so I told myself, 'Wow... This is exactly what I want. This is even more than what I want! So if I get this, it means that I really have a place in this business. If not, I'll do something else.

[on if a disturbing sex scene is harder to shoot than a romantic sex scene] It depends. I was always so reluctant to shoot love scenes. On those days, I'm not very friendly. I want it to be done and then start the movie again. But in Rust and Bone (2012) we had very naked love scenes, and it was totally different. I was very happy. Not because [co-star] Matthias Schoenaerts is superhot, absolutely not, because I had experience with Johnny Depp before [in Public Enemies (2009)] and it was also really hard for me. I was just very happy for my character. The whole day I was naked on set and I was totally fine with it.

[on her cameo in Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues (2013)] I'm a big fan of American comedies, especially Will Ferrell and all his team. And they have known that I was a fan, so they asked me if I would be a part of it, and of course I said yes right away. But I never question how people could see me.

I think that when you discover something that was unknown before, it opens your mind, your heart. Roles after roles, I learned a little more about human beings. I want to go as deep as I can in a character.

I met James Gray with my boyfriend (Guillaume Canet) and we became friends. I'm a huge admirer of his work but when I met him, I didn't even dare to tell him. Never in my mind was I thinking, "I'm going to do everything to work for him" because I was never able to be in that kind of seduction from the beginning of my career. When I had to meet a director, I preferred to have a screen test and show what I could do instead of sell myself in a discussion, because I was bad at it. When I met James, we became friends and I never thought I could work with him because he was my friend.

[on working with the Dardenne brothers in Two Days, One Night (2014)] That was one of my best experiences. They offered me everything I had always wanted in a relationship between an actress and a director - well, two directors in that case. They work a lot, and I love to work a lot. Their level of demand is the highest I've ever encountered in my career, and that's what I'm looking for. They pushed me as far as I could go and maybe beyond. I would have done anything they asked me.

When I began working in the U.S., I started to think that all those amazing, greatest directors I never thought I could work with, suddenly ... I realized it was not unreachable anymore. But there were two people for me who were unreachable: Bruno Dumont and the Dardenne Brothers. When my agent told me they wanted me to meet with them, I genuinely thought it was a joke. Then I thought it would be a totally different movie than what they do usually, because they do stories in their hometown. With all due respect for all the directors I worked with, this experience [Two Days, One Night (2014)] was the greatest of my life as an actress, so I hope it'll be good. They push the actors so far in the detail. That's the relationship that I'd always expected with directors. That was idyllic.

To me the best recognition I can receive is someone like James Gray writing a movie for me. The Oscar is the cherry on the cake, but what deeply changed was Olivier Dahan who was crazy enough to think that I could do this (play Édith Piaf in La Vie en Rose (2007)). I remember when I read the script I asked my agent "Which part am I gonna do?" and he said "He (Dahan) want you to do the whole thing". I said it wasn't possible, but I didn't say it too loud. I thought it was crazy and felt right away it would be an amazing experience. And then yeah, the greatest recognition is still working with amazing people.

[on working with Michael Fassbender in Macbeth (2015)] I saw a lot of movies he was in, and I have the feeling he's reached another level here. When you start a scene and you don't really know where you're going to go, that's a roller-coaster. Many times I was surprised by what he does in this movie, and this is priceless.

[on playing Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (2015)] I knew that one day I would play Lady Macbeth, but in my mind it would be on stage and in French. I never thought that one day I would say the original lines, which took me ages to understand. I was very honest when I read the text for the first time. I called the director and said. 'Thank God I know the story, because I didn't get any of the words'.

[on working with Michael Fassbender in Macbeth] I saw a lot of movies he was in, and I have the feeling he's reached another level here. When you start a scene and you don't really know where you're going to go, that's a roller-coaster. Many times I was surprised by what he does in this movie, and this is priceless.

 Salary:

Overview

Date of Birth: 26 March 1985, Teddington, Middlesex, England, UK

Birth Name: Keira Christina Knightley

Nicknames:

Height: 5' 7" (1.7 m)

Trade Mark: Often stars in period pieces

Spouse: James Righton (4 May 2013 - present)

It was discovered at an early age that Keira had severe difficulties in reading and writing. She was not officially dyslexic as she never sat the formal tests required of the British Dyslexia Association. Instead, she worked incredibly hard, encouraged by her family, until the problem had been overcome by her early teens. Her first multi-scene performance came in A Village Affair (1995), an adaptation of the lesbian love story by Joanna Trollope. This was followed by small parts in the British crime series The Bill (1984), an exiled German princess in The Treasure Seekers (1996) and a much more substantial role as the young "Judith Dunbar" in Giles Foster's adaptation of Rosamunde Pilcher's novel Coming Home (1998), alongside Peter O'Toole, Penelope Keith and Joanna Lumley. The first time Keira's name was mentioned around the world was when it was revealed (in a plot twist kept secret by director George Lucas) that she played Natalie Portman's decoy "Padme" to Portman's "Amidala" in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). It was several years before agreement was reached over which scenes featured Keira as the queen and which featured Natalie!

Keira had no formal training as an actress and did it out of pure enjoyment. She went to an ordinary council-run school in nearby Teddington and had no idea what she wanted to do when she left. By now, she was beginning to receive far more substantial roles and was starting to turn work down as one project and her schoolwork was enough to contend with. She reappeared on British television in 1999 as "Rose Fleming" in Alan Bleasdale's faithful reworking of Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist (1999), and travelled to Romania to film her first title role in Walt Disney's Princess of Thieves (2001) in which she played Robin Hood's daughter, Gwyn. Keira's first serious boyfriend was her Princess of Thieves (2001) co-star Del Synnott, and they later co-starred in Peter Hewitt's 'work of fart' Thunderpants (2002). Nick Hamm's dark thriller The Hole (2001) kept her busy during 2000, and featured her first nude scene (15 at the time, the film was not released until she was 16 years old). In the summer of 2001, while Keira studied and sat her final school exams (she received six A's), she filmed a movie about an Asian girl's (Parminder Nagra) love for football and the prejudices she has to overcome regarding both her culture and her religion). Bend It Like Beckham (2002) was a smash hit in football-mad Britain but it had to wait until another of Keira's films propelled it to the top end of the US box office. Bend It Like Beckham (2002) cost just £3.5m to make, and nearly £1m of that came from the British Lottery. It took £11m in the UK and has since gone on to score more than US$76m worldwide.

Meanwhile, Keira had started A-levels at Esher College, studying Classics, English Literature and Political History, but continued to take acting roles which she thought would widen her experience as an actress. The story of a drug-addicted waitress and her friendship with the young son of a drug-addict, Pure (2002), occupied Keira from January to March 2002. Also at this time, Keira's first attempt at Shakespeare was filmed. She played "Helena" in a modern interpretation of a scene from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" entitled The Seasons Alter (2002). This was commissioned by the environmental organisation "Futerra", of which Keira's mother is patron. Keira received no fee for this performance or for another short film, New Year's Eve (2002), by award-winning director Col Spector. But it was a chance encounter with producer Andy Harries at the London premiere of Bridget Jones's Diary (2001) which forced Keira to leave her studies and pursue acting full-time. The meeting lead to an audition for the role of "Larisa Feodorovna Guishar" - the classic heroine of Boris Pasternak's novel Doctor Zhivago (2002), played famously in the David Lean movie by Julie Christie. This was to be a big-budget TV movie with a screenplay written by Andrew Davies. Keira won the part and the mini-series was filmed throughout the Spring of 2002 in Slovakia, co-starring Sam Neill and Hans Matheson as "Yuri Zhivago". Keira rounded off 2002 with a few scenes in the first movie to be directed by Blackadder and Vicar of Dibley writer Richard Curtis. Called Love Actually (2003), Keira played "Juliet", a newlywed whose husband's Best Man is secretly besotted with her. A movie filmed after Love Actually (2003) but released before it was to make the world sit up and take notice of this beautiful fresh-faced young actress with a cute British accent. It was a movie which Keira very nearly missed out on, altogether. Auditions were held in London for a new blockbuster movie called Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), but heavy traffic in the city forced Keira to be tagged on to the end of the day's auditions list. It helped - she got the part. Filming took place in Los Angeles and the Caribbean from October 2002 to March 2003 and was released to massive box office success and almost universal acclaim in the July of that year.

Meanwhile, a small British film called Bend It Like Beckham (2002) had sneaked onto a North American release slate and was hardly setting the box office alight. But Keira's dominance in "Pirates" had set tongues wagging and questions being asked about the actress playing "Elizabeth Swann". Almost too late, "Bend It"'s distributors realised one of its two stars was the same girl whose name was on everyone's lips due to "Pirates", and took the unusual step of re-releasing "Bend It" to 1,000 screens across the US, catapulting it from no. 26 back up to no. 12. "Pirates", meanwhile, was fighting off all contenders at the top spot, and stayed in the Top 3 for an incredible 21 weeks. It was perhaps no surprise, then, that Keira was on producer Jerry Bruckheimer's wanted list for the part of "Guinevere" in a planned accurate telling of the legend of "King Arthur". Filming took place in Ireland and Wales from June to November 2003. In July, Keira had become the celebrity face of British jeweller and luxury goods retailer, Asprey. At a photoshoot for the company on Long Island New York in August, Keira met and fell in love with Northern Irish model Jamie Dornan. King Arthur (2004) was released in July 2004 to lukewarm reviews. It seems audiences wanted the legend after all, and not necessarily the truth. Keira became the breakout star and 'one to watch in 2004' throughout the world's media at the end of 2003.

Keira's 2004 started off in Scotland and Canada filming John Maybury's time-travelling thriller The Jacket (2005) with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody. A planned movie of Deborah Moggach's novel, "Tulip Fever", about forbidden love in 17th Century Amsterdam, was cancelled in February after the British government suddenly closed tax loopholes which allowed filmmakers to claw back a large proportion of their expenditure. Due to star Keira and Jude Law in the main roles, the film remains mothballed. Instead, Keira spent her time wisely, visiting Ethiopia on behalf of the "Comic Relief" charity, and spending summer at various grandiose locations around the UK filming what promises to be a faithful adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel Pride & Prejudice (2005), alongside Matthew Macfadyen as "Mr. Darcy", and with Donald Sutherland and Judi Dench in supporting roles. In October 2004, Keira received her first major accolade, the Hollywood Film Award for Best Breakthrough Actor - Female, and readers of Empire Magazine voted her the Sexiet Movie Star Ever. The remainder of 2004 saw Keira once again trying a completely new genre, this time the part-fact, part-fiction life story of model turned bounty hunter Domino (2005). 2005 started with the premiere of The Jacket (2005) at the Sundance Film Festival, with the US premiere in LA on February 28th. Much of the year was then spent in the Caribbean filming both sequels to Pirates Of The Caribbean. Keira's first major presenting role came in a late-night bed-in comedy clip show for Comic Relief with presenter Johnny Vaughan. In late July, promotions started for the September release of Pride & Prejudice (2005), with British fans annoyed to learn that the US version would end with a post-marriage kiss, but the European version would not. Nevertheless, when the movie opened in September on both sides of the Atlantic, Keira received her greatest praise thus far in her career, amid much talk of awards. It spent three weeks at No. 1 in the UK box office.

Domino (2005) opened well in October, overshadowed by the death of Domino Harvey earlier in the year. Keira received Variety's Personality Of The Year Award in November, topped the following month by her first Golden Globe nomination, for Pride & Prejudice (2005). KeiraWeb.com exclusively announced that Keira would play Helene Joncour in an adaptation of Alessandro Baricco's novella Silk (2007). Pride & Prejudice (2005) garnered six BAFTA nominations at the start of 2006, but not Best Actress for Keira, a fact which paled soon after by the announcement she had received her first Academy Award nomination, the third youngest Best Actress Oscar hopeful. A controversial nude Vanity Fair cover of Keira and Scarlett Johansson kept the press busy up till the Oscars, with Reese Witherspoon taking home the gold man in the Best Actress category, although Keira's Vera Wang dress got more media attention. Keira spent early summer in Europe filming Silk (2007) opposite Michael Pitt, and the rest of the summer in the UK filming Atonement (2007), in which she plays Cecilia Tallis, and promoting the new Pirates movie (her Ellen Degeneres interview became one of the year's Top 10 'viral downloads'). Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2006) broke many box office records when it opens worldwide in July, becoming the third biggest movie ever by early September. Keira sued British newspaper The Daily Mail in early 2007 after her image in a bikini accompanied an article about a woman who blamed slim celebrities for the death of her daughter from anorexia. The case was settled and Keira matched the settlement damages and donated the total amount to an eating disorder charity. Keira filmed a movie about the life of Dylan Thomas, The Edge Of Love (2008) with a screenplay written by her mother Sharman Macdonald. Her co-star Lindsay Lohan pulled out just a week before filming began, and was replaced by Sienna Miller.

What was announced to be Keira's final Pirates movie in the franchise, Pirates Of The Caribbean: At World's End (2007), opened strongly in June, rising to all-time fifth biggest movie by July. Atonement (2007) opened the Venice Film Festival in August, and opened worldwide in September, again to superb reviews for Keira. Meanwhile, Silk (2007) opened in September on very few screens and disappeared without a trace. Keira spent the rest of the year filming The Duchess (2008), the life story of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, based on Amanda Foreman's award-winning biography of the distant relation of Princess Diana. The year saw more accolades and poll-topping for Keira than ever before, including Women's Beauty Icon 2007 and gracing the covers of all the top-selling magazines. She won Best Actress for Atonement (2007) at the Variety Club Of Great Britain Showbiz Awards, and ended the year with her second Golden Globe nomination. Christmas Day saw - or rather heard - Keira on British TV screens in a new Robbie The Reindeer animated adventure, with DVD proceeds going to Comic Relief. At the start of 2008, Keira received her first BAFTA nomination - Best Actress for Atonement, and the movie wins Best Film: Drama at the Golden Globes. Seven Academy Award nominations for Atonement soon follow. Keira wins Best Actress for her role as Cecilia Tallis at the Empire Film Awards. In May, Keira's first Shakespearean role is announced, when she is confirmed to play Cordelia in a big-screen version of King Lear, alongside Naomi Watts and Gwyneth Paltrow, with Sir Anthony Hopkins as the titular monarch. After two years of rumours, it is confirmed that Keira is on the shortlist to play Eliza Doolittle in a new adaptation of My Fair Lady. The Edge Of Love opens the Edinburgh Film Festival on June 18th, and opens on limited release in the UK and US. A huge round of promotions for The Duchess occurs throughout the summer, with cast and crew trying to play down the marketers' decision to draw parallels between the duchess and Princess Diana. Keira attends the UK and US premieres and Toronto Film Festival within the first week of September. The Duchess opens strongly on both sides of the Atlantic. Two more movies were confirmed for Keira during September - a tale of adultery called Last Night (2010), and a biopic of author F Scott Fitzgerald entitled The Beautiful and the Damned.

Keira spent October on the streets of New York City filming Last Night alongside Sam Worthington and Guillaume Canet. Keira helped to promote the sixtieth anniversary of the UN's Declaration of Human Rights, by contributing to a series of short films produced to mark the occasion. In January 2009 it was announced Keira had signed to play a reclusive actress in an adaptation of Ken Bruen's novel London Boulevard (2010), co-starring Colin Farrell. Keira continues her close ties with the Comic Relief charity by helping to launch their British icons T-shirts campaign. In the same week King Lear was revealed to have been shelved, it was announced that Keira would instead star alongside her Pride & Prejudice co-star Carey Mulligan in an adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel Never Let Me Go (2010). A new short film emerges in March, recorded in the January of 2008 in which Keira plays a Fairy! The Continuing and Lamentable Saga of the Suicide Brothers (2009) was written by Keira's boyfriend Rupert Friend and actor Tom Mison. It went to be shown at the London Film Festival in October and won Best Comedy Short at the New Hampshire Film Festival. Keira continued to put her celebrity to good use in 2009 with a TV commercial for WomensAid highlighting domestic abuse against women. Unfortunately, UK censors refused to allow its broadcast and it can only be viewed on YouTube. May and June asw Keira filming Never Let Me Go and London Boulevard back-to-back. In October, a new direction for Keira's career emerged, when it was announced she would appear on the London stage in her West End debut role as Jennifer, in a reworking of Moliere's The Misanthrope, starring Damian Lewis and Tara Fitzgerald. More than $2m of ticket sales followed in the first four days, before even rehearsals had begun! The play ran from December to March at London's Comedy Theatre.

Trivia: Daughter of actor Will Knightley and Sharman Macdonald.

Member of the Heathham House Youth Project.

Younger sister of Caleb Knightley.

Trained in dancing.

The similarity between Knightley and Natalie Portman meant that during the filming of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999), their own mothers could not tell them apart once in makeup.

Her role as the decoy queen in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) was kept secret in order to not spoil the surprise, it was maintained through the promotions that Portman played both the Queen and the decoy.

Is a supporter of West Ham United.

Mother is actress-turned-author Sharman Macdonald, who wrote "When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout" and "The Winter Guest".

Tatler announced that Keira is the most desirable single woman in the United Kingdom (2004).

Has dyslexia. She had to wear special glasses in adolescence to help her read.

Chosen by Glamour magazine for "Most Glamorous Film Actress" (2004).

(April 23, 2004) The Royal Shakespeare Company of Stratford, England, held a 2004 poll asking movie viewers to vote for the actor and actress they would love to see play Romeo and Juliet, and the winners were Knightley and James Marsters. More than 2,000 people voted for more than 150 different actors for both roles. Keira triumphed over Kate Winslet, Nicole Kidman, Scarlett Johansson and Juliet Landau in the vote. Knightley said, "I am absolutely thrilled to have come top of the poll, particularly as Juliet is a role I would very much love to play in the future.".

Voted #1 in New Woman magazine's 50 Most Beautiful Celebs 2004.

Voted the Sexiest Film Star of All Time by Empire magazine poll. [September 2004]

She did her first topless scene at age 15, in The Hole (2001), whilst the film was released in 2001 it was filmed in 2000. For legal reasons due to her age, her mother had to agree and the set was closed.

Auditioned for, and was accepted to the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) in London, England.

At age 16, she went to Esher College to study for her A Levels, but quit the course when offered the role of Lara Antopova in Doctor Zhivago (2002).

Ranked #18 in the 2005 FHM list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".

Her father, who is English, has English, and a small amount of Scottish, ancestry. Her mother, who is of Scottish and Welsh descent, was born in Scotland.

She's an idol in several forum communities from Heavengames.com, one of the most famous websites about Real Time Strategy computer games.

When auditioning for the role of Jackie Price in The Jacket (2005), she had suffered food poisoning a few days earlier. She decided to audition anyway and the film makers liked her "acting" for the scene, as Jackie Price was to be a woman with many issues of loss and pain as well as being physically sick in general.

She has bought a flat in Richmond Upon Thames (2005) but has said to have only have spent a few weeks there. However, she plans to fill it with her own painted canvases.

Voted second sexiest voice, behind Sir Sean Connery, in a poll by the UK's Royal National Institute for the Blind, commissioned to celebrate 70 years of their Talking Books service.

Named #53 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2005 list.

The Daily Mirror named her "Actress of the Year" in December 2005.

At age 20, she was the fifth-youngest woman in Oscar history to be nominated for Best Actress.

As of February 2006, says she plans on remaining living in London and will not move to Los Angeles to further her career in American films.

Loves to collect shoes.

Friends with Italian actor Andrea Logiudice and Sienna Miller.

Was considered for the role of Kate Meer in Neil James's "Ghost Seeker: Genesis" in 2006. Both Lindy King (Knightley's agent) and Knightley herself liked the script, but the shooting schedule of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) meant that the project had to move on without her.

Her hero is her castmate in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003), Geoffrey Rush.

Ranked #11 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2005" special supplement.

Ranked #9 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2006 list.

Employed a stylist to dress her for premieres and award ceremonies. The stylist also dresses Lindsay Lohan and Nicole Kidman.

Attended an engagement party for Jennifer Lopez and Chris Judd.

Trained four days a week for three months in preparation for King Arthur (2004). She did about two hours of weight lifting, and then three hours either boxing, fighting, or horseback riding - Cosmopolitan, August 2004.

Said auditioning for the role of Christine in The Phantom of the Opera (2004) was the singularly most embarrassing moment of her life because "I knew I couldn't sing it." The role eventually went to trained opera singer Emmy Rossum - Marie Claire, 2005.

Told NewWoman in 2004 that for King Arthur (2004), she endured an amazing seventh-month training session.

She has a personal trainer - Tatler, 2005.

Took elocution lessons at the beginning of her career.

Invited to join the Academy of Motion Pictures of Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in 2006.

She attended a pre-Emmy party where she purchased a $7,500 pair of earrings.

Her 21st birthday party cost more than $30,000. Actors, designers, and other industry types attended.

Ranked #5 in FHM magazine's "100 Sexiest Women in the World 2006" supplement.

Ranked #20 on Maxim magazine's Hot 100 Women of 2007 list.

Named Most Beautiful Woman and Most Beautiful Face by Independent Critics (indiecritics.com).

Her first name means 'dark'.

Made her debut on the Forbes 100 Most Powerful Celebrities in June 2007. She came in a #71 beating out other high profile actresses like Scarlett Johansson and Reese Witherspoon.

Voted #15 in the AfterEllen Hot 100, a list of the hottest women in entertainment as voted by lesbian and bisexual women. [June 2007]

Was considered for the role of Ann in Evening (2007), but was not able to do it due to schedule conflicts.

In January 2007, the Daily Mail newspaper published an article about a girl who had died from anorexia which falsely suggested that Keira was also anorexic and showed a photograph of her in a bikini alongside an emotive quote from the girl's mother "If pictures like this one of Keira carried a health warning, my darling daughter might have lived". Keira successfully sued the Mail for libel.

The face of Chanel's fragrance "Mademoiselle". [September 2007]

Ranked #10 on Forbes List of The 20 Top-Earning Young Superstars (2007).

Ranked #9 in Empire magazine's list of 100 Sexiest Stars.

The green satin gown she wore in Atonement (2007) was voted the public's favorite film costume of all time in a survey by Sky Movies and In Style magazine. [January 2008]

Ranked #5 on Entertainment Weekly's "30 Under 30" the actress list (2008).

Ranked #87 on the 2008 Telegraph's list "the 100 most powerful people in British culture".

Ranked #10 in the 2008 FHM list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".

Campaigned for the lead female role in The Rum Diary (2011), but lost out to Amber Heard.

Was originally cast as Mary Boleyn in The Other Boleyn Girl (2008), but dropped out before filming began and Scarlett Johansson was subsequently cast instead.

Was considered for the role of Peggy Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011), but Hayley Atwell was cast instead.

Was originally cast as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, but later dropped out of the project. Carey Mulligan was then cast instead.

Her film Bend It Like Beckham (2002) became the first Western film to be screened on North Korean television in 2010 (the screening was to celebrate 10 years of diplomatic relations between North Korea and the United Kingdom).

Is close friends with Carey Mulligan, having met on the set of Pride & Prejudice (2005).

Was in a relationship with Rupert Friend, having met on the set of Pride & Prejudice (2005) (December 2005-December 2010).

Was in a relationship with Jamie Dornan (August 2003-August 2005).

Was considered for the role of Selina Kyle/Catwoman in The Dark Knight Rises (2012), but Anne Hathaway was cast instead.

(April 24, 2011) Was bridesmaid at her brother Caleb Knightley's wedding to Kerry Nixon, held at the Pollokshields Burgh Hall in Glasgow.

Ranked #29 in the 2011 FHM Australia list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".

Ranked #69 in the 2011 FHM list of "100 Sexiest Women in the World".

Ranked #54 in the 2010 FHM UK list of "100 Sexiest Woman in the World".

Ranked as having one of the most "Beautiful Famous Faces" by "The Annual Independent Critics List of the 100 Most Beautiful Famous Faces From Around the World." She was ranked #15 in 2010, #12 in 2009, #4 in 2008, #1 in 2007, #1 in 2006, #2 in 2005, #7 in 2004, #9 in 2003, and #13 in 2002.

By age 23, Forbes magazine ranked Knightley as the the second highest-paid actress in Hollywood with estimated earnings of $32 million in 2007. She was also the only non-American actress to make the list at that time (2008).

Had a belly button piercing a week before she turned 13.

(May 4, 2013) Married James Righton before 11 guests in a private ceremony in the town hall of Mazan, just 12 miles away from Marseilles. The bride wore a strapless white tulle dress and pink pumps, along with a cropped Chanel jacket and a daisy-chain style garland on her head.

The first time she met with David Cronenberg to prepare their collaboration in A Dangerous Method (2011), they met through Skype. Here, she had to exhibit some of the eccentric expressions she had to use in the film, but Skype froze several times during their meeting, much to her embarrassment.

Fell asleep during the premiere screening of Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007) due to exhaustion and she has never seen the complete film. She has stated that she does not own her own films on DVD and that she never revisits them after she sees them at the first screening.

Recentlly awarded the TCFF North Star Award for Excellence, for performances in "The Laggies" and "The Imitation Game".

(December 11, 2014) Expecting her 1st child with her husband James Righton.

Personal Quotes: The problem for me was that by being in the film the magic was broken. I loved the first Star Wars film and my mum was really into it too, that's why I took the part. But the Force wasn't there when we were filming it, and they didn't have real light sabres, which annoyed me.

On wearing a corset on Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003): "I had a Scarlett O'Hara thing, she gets her waist down to 18 and a half inches--so I thought I would try that. For five minutes, it's fantastic--you have this tiny waist and fantastic cleavage, but oxygen deprivation is a big problem!

(on kissing Orlando Bloom in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)) There were these teenaged girls off-cam, and they were ready to kill me because I kissed Orlando Bloom!

I feel less blonde now and, er, smarter!

There's no point having an 18th birthday in America.

I've always been a snob about qualifications.

On Bend It Like Beckham (2002): I thought there would be doubles--stunt doubles--and I would just run in for the close-ups, but unfortunately they didn't have the money for that.

(After being called the new Hayley Mills) That was cruel! Nothing against Hayley Mills, but I'm trying to be cool here. I'm trying to be edgy.

Do you know that on all the sets I've been on, nobody has ever made a pass at me?

(on shoes) I see a pair of shoes I adore, and it doesn't matter if they have them in my size. I buy them anyway.

(on The View (1997)) I met Barbara Walters backstage and didn't know who she was. She's an American phenomenon, I was told later. I'm just sooo English.

(at a photo shoot) I'm a hooker in these pictures, and I must be a high priced one because I'm staying at the Ritz, which is good.

I'm a tomboy beanpole? I can't use a computer, so maybe I'm a bit out of the loop. I don't know whether to be flattered or not flattered. The beanpole bit, is that good? Can you be a sexy beanpole?

Katharine Hepburn and Vivien Leigh are my heroes. Not because of their ability, but because of their perseverance.

When in doubt, faint.

On making Love Actually (2003): We had kind of done all our wedding and we felt like the stars of the show, then sudden you've got all these other people with story lines and you think "Excuse me, I know you're Alan Rickman, but get out of my film, please, thank you.".

I know for a fact the work is going to dry up, and people will get bored of me. That's not bitterness, just the truth.

(on her conception) I was a bet. My mum was desperate for another child, and my dad told her that the only way they could afford to have one was if she sold a play. So Mum wrote "When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout".

I don't think I can call myself an actress yet. I just don't think my skill level is that high. I hope that with every job it gets better. But until I'm good, I can say I'm trying to be an actor, but I don't think I've completely made it.

As a moviegoer and a woman, I want to see that, so it's great to get to play parts like that. But Guinevere is a terrifying creature. If I saw a battle, I'd run in the other direction. I'm not strong in that way at all. But I'm certainly someone who has always known what I wanted and tried to get it.

In this business, fame lasts for a second. You can be blown up and be blown down. People keep losing interest in faces because new ones come along every single second. I'm one at the moment. Tomorrow, I won't be. That's cool. I'm not saying that when it does end, I'll be like, "Yay! It's ending." But I'll move on and do something else because that's what has to be done. It's about survival. If you're sad about it, then you're in the wrong job.

(on actresses living in Hollywood) I take my hat off to actresses there, particularly the young ones, because the emphasis is on trying to find perfection. But I think it's the imperfections in people that make them perfect. I don't find perfect faces very interesting.

Acting requires me to be very observant, which means being able to sit in cafes for hours and watch people.

I don't have a problem with my body. I'm not just going to strip off all my clothing, but if the part calls for it and I don't think there's any way round, I'm absolutely fine.

I'm a bit of a tomboy so the action stuff was fantastic.

It's also strange when people recognise you in the street and they know you but you don't know them. It's a little weird, but nothing to complain about.

I'd wanted to get stuck into the action on Pirates of the Caribbean and I asked Jerry [Jerry Bruckheimer] if I could have a sword fight in that, and he more than made up for it in King Arthur (2004) by giving me axe fights, knife fights, and all the rest of it. I absolutely loved it. It was like being 11 years old and in the playground again.

[on the love scene with Clive Owen in King Arthur (2004)] It was part of the job. There's no point in being embarrassed about it, because that is the name of the game. It was just another day at the office. A very nice day at the office.

I don't think about nutrition. The very thought of a diet makes me want chips and ice cream. And I just hate going to the gym. I cannot stand it.

The fact that we haven't focused on the love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere was actually one of the things that made me want to do the film. It's interesting to tell it in a completely new way.

Every part I've ever got, I always thought it was completely ridiculous that I was up for it. With Pirates, I only packed for a week because I was sure that I was going to get sacked. I thought they'd made the hugest mistake.

We're all fans of cinema, you know. Forget about being an actor, I love watching films. I really do. That's what I love doing, as a hobby. I find the whole process fascinating, as do my parents, they go to the cinema a lot.

I don't do a thing to keep fit, I just cannot make myself work out. My abs are just luck - my mum has good ones so it's a family trait.

I don't read any magazines or newspapers any more, because I find it really scary and I get really scared when I'm followed by photographers. I have, on many occasions, broken down in tears because I find it terrifying. I dropped out of school when I was 16 so there's nothing else that I can do.

I don't like parties very much. I'm not a very sociable being.

I've always been quite tomboyish.

In L.A., I'm twice the size - height and everything else - of most of the other actresses who are going for an audition.

Three years after that I was diagnosed as dyslexic, and we struck a deal: I was allowed to start acting on condition that I would read constantly and get good grades at school.

I always feel like I'm the one with everything to prove.

I paint and draw, but very badly.

On her possibly being anorexic: I've got a lot of experience with anorexia. It was in my family. My grandmother, and my great-grandmother suffered from it and I had a lot of friends at school who suffer from it so I don't think it's anything to be taken lightly.

A newspaper here voted me one of the scruffiest people in Britain. I'm quite proud of that. It's completely true.

I suppose I'm more of a tomboy than the girly-girl, which is why I can't walk on stilettos very well.

I do remember, at six, thinking I should be earning my own living. My mum says I was born 45.

The most fantastic date I've ever had was going bowling, because I don't bowl and I'm awful.

There are pressures to conform to a certain type, tall, blonde, thin, big breasts, you know - The Type.

Last year, I went to the Vanity Fair party after the Oscars and I stood in the corner and had a lot of champagne. It's very, very scary.

I'm dyslexic, and at six years old, they realized I couldn't read a word and had been fooling them. My mum said to me: "If you come to me with a book in your hand and a smile on your face every day through the summer holiday, I'll get you an agent.".

I don't court attention, which is why I've never been to nightclubs like Chinawhite.

I'm not a social person, so I really have very few friends in the business.

To be honest, I'd sooner be with my mates having a pint.

If I have a dark side, I haven't discovered it yet. How very boring of me.

Producers usually hire a stylist for me when I got to premieres because they think I'm so pathetic.

I'm incredibly self-conscious about my body.

There's no individuality on the red carpet. That's why I loved Björk's Oscar swan dress. I wish I had the courage.

[on Guinevere] She's very manipulative and calculating and would use whomever to get her own way, whether it was with her sexuality or by killing someone. It felt very empowering playing her!

People send over dresses for me to wear to these functions, but I often feel like a 5-year-old in my mom's clothes. So I just wear jeans and a top every single time.

People said to me yesterday, "How does it feel to be anorexic?". I had no idea that I was. I can safely say that I'm not. I've got a lot of experience with anorexia. My grandmother and great-grandmother suffered from it. In a way it's good that it's out there and people are talking about it. It's quite interesting because it's normally high-achieving women who suffer from it because, I guess, they're control freaks.

Nudity frightens me, but I will do it when I think it's necessary - or when it makes me giggle.

The most exercise I do is turning on the television.

I'm naturally an extremely lazy person, so if someone did everything for me, I really think I would do nothing at all.

I don't read anything and I don't look at newspapers. It's too weird, so I'm not really aware of hype anywhere.

I think I always disappoint people, because they always expect someone very pretty. Very done. There's so much pressure to be thin, blonde and busty. I'm skinny, but even I couldn't fit into some of the clothes there (in L.A.)! In a funny kind of way, I think you create it yourself. I think it's much better to go with the flow and embrace your body, whatever shape it is, and just be happy.

[on modesty over historical accuracy in King Arthur (2004)] The Celts would've been fighting naked and painted blue, but there was no way I was going to do that. Having a bare midriff and running around killing people was fun. But you don't want to see boobs bumping up and down on a battlefield. It would be distracting.

[on turning her back on Hollywood blockbuster adventure films]: I can't imagine ever doing another one. I had five months off from Pirates during the summer last year, when I made Silk and Atonement (2007), and it was so great - I want to be able to explore emotions in smaller projects. That's not to say I won't suddenly read a big Hollywood blockbuster and go "Oooh, that might be good..." But I haven't yet.

[on her costumes for The Duchess (2008)] I was literally sewn into these dresses. Because of that, and the hoops, I just couldn't fit into the loo at all - I just had to hang on all day.

I think it's important to make time for the people in your life who you love and who love you back.

[on her wardrobe] I go for whatever is clean.

[on being asked if she would go out with Robbie Williams] I don't know, I don't know him. He's very good looking though.

I tried college for three months but I was desperately unhappy. I just wanted to perform. I was getting straight As but I had no friends and cried every day.

I could never have an affair with any of my leading men, though. They always turn into brothers. I'm a classic turn-them-into-brothers kind of girl.

On screen these days, you rarely see a big, strong man. You see slender, androgynous-looking boys. I've worked with very few people whom I feel small against. The most manly thing ever is a guy who can cry, who's in touch with himself.

I love working in Britain because it is my home and it means I can be with my friends and family and work at the same time. If you are working in Britain, a lot of the time you are doing much smaller budget. I like doing a mixture of both. Early on in my career I did some enormously huge-budget films, and to be able to switch it up a bit and do small-budget ones is great as well.

(on being famous) I think it broke something in me. I was told very early on that if I didn't go out to openings and parties and events I would be left alone. I didn't, and they still didn't leave me alone. I knew it was part of the deal in the life I had signed up to, but the fear of it has never left me. I'm still not good at being recognized. I wear scruffy clothes and hats and keep my head down.

[on Never Let Me Go (2010)] I thought that Ruth was fascinating. For me, it was kind of a study of jealousy. She had a great path and I thought it would be an interesting thing to try and get into her head. I didn't like her. It's tricky playing people that you don't like and finding a way to empathize with them. It's challenging and very exciting for an actor.

I started acting when I was 7, but I asked for an agent when I was 3. I don't remember it, but that's what everybody says. I don't think I knew what agents did, but I thought it was kind of unfair that my mom and dad had one and I didn't.

I’m a total romantic — I love romantic films, but I don’t like being raped by sugar.

[on performing certain scenes in A Dangerous Method (2011)] I phoned up David (David Cronenberg) and said, "I love you, I love your work, but I really don't think that I want to do this." And he said, "Well it would be a tragedy if you turned the role down because of that, so if necessary we can take them out." And I said, "No, because I understand why they are there." He said, "Well, look, I don't want it to be sexy, and I don't want it to be voyeuristic, I want it to be clinical." We talked for quite a long time about exactly what it was, and trying to understand it psychologically. Once we discussed I said, "All right, fine, as long as it's not sexy. That brutal horrible aspect is kept, and it isn't a sexy spanking scene.".

The first thing I knew about Never Let Me Go (2010) was the script that came through my door. I thought it was a completely unique piece. I'd never read anything like it. I then started talking to friends and saying, "I might do this film. I think it's really interesting." And tons of them were saying, "This is my favorite book in the entire world." Actually, one said the most terrifying thing: "It sums up our generation." Which, now having read the book, I find it a bleak prospect indeed. But then when I said yes, I read the book, and I thought it was completely astonishing and, once again, completely unique. And it's very exciting to be part of something like that.

When you do the Hollywood vibe on a big film you are shot from the perfect angle and you do tests to make sure, so they won't shoot you from this or that angle. With The Jacket (2005) you look shit and that's great. It didn't matter what angle they wanted to film from. I didn't have to look perfect. It's all about finding the truth in any situation and the situation in this wasn't a pretty one.

[on picking her roles] I have to think, wow, I'm fascinated, but I also get to read this amazing book. For A Dangerous Method (2011), I didn't know anything about psychoanalysis, so to get to spend [months] reading as much as I could is one of the parts of the job I fucking love.

[on playing the title role in Anna Karenina (2012)] I think shame is a deeply difficult thing to live with, and I think she breaks her own moral code. What happens to your own perception of yourself when you break your own moral code? You always make yourself into the heroine, but equally you have self-hatred. She is the heroine and the anti-heroine. She is the perfect narcissist. She hates herself and she loves herself.

The thing about great fictional characters from literature is that they completely speak to what makes people human.

I'm good enough to fake playing guitar. I'm not necessarily good enough to actually play the guitar. I've found something really interesting, I don't really like singing, it's not really one of my strong points. Dancing as well, I dance a lot in Anna Karenina (2012) and that's really not a strong point either. But I'm good enough to fake both of them so that's fine.

[on being relieved that Mr. Cherkaoui never fixated on perfection] There was no point where he went, "Oh, I've got a bunch of actors who aren't dancers, so I'm going to simplify this." He was just, "That's what it is, so do it and do it better." Trying to tell this particular story in those two different ways was fascinating.

[on yoga classes being recommended to assist in developing her characterization of Anna Karenina] Marathon training would have been slightly more helpful.

[on being asked, for Anna Karenina (2012), to improvise - through movement - characters' relationships] I started off feeling incredibly stupid and going, "I don't know how to do this. What do you mean? Movement? I'm not a dancer." And he [Cherkaoui] said, "I don't care that you're not a dancer - just move in any way you want to within the story of these two people." That was incredibly liberating and something we used right through the film.

Without going into my own history with therapy, I think a lot of people seek therapy in England, whether it's therapy itself or something like acupuncture. To me, it's extraordinary when anybody recognizes in themselves that they need help and goes and seeks it. They have nothing but my utmost respect.

Anna Karenina did come home a couple of times. Because this was so stylized, we had to do it a million different ways, a million different times, through mirrors and twirling into something, so it meant everyone had to keep that level of emotion really high through different 14-hour days. So they did sometimes bleed over into one another.

They always pencil in my boobs. I was only angry when they were really, really droopy. For King Arthur (2004), for a poster, they gave me these really strange droopy boobs. I don't have boobs anyway but they digitally made them, and I thought, "Whoa if you're going to make me fantasy breasts, at least make them perky.".

It comes to a point where you think, "What kind of film can I make that will allow me to live a proper life?". And those tentpole movies make it difficult. I became aware of how much I was complaining about it and you can't complain about the attention you're getting while still doing the films that invite the most attention. I do actually love blockbusters but that decision has a lot that comes with it that I'm not prepared to go with.

People liked the spanking on A Dangerous Method (2011) an awful lot. In England, it was pretty much the only thing I got asked about.

There's always the moral question when you're playing real people. Is there any reason to do this, or are you simply exploiting somebody?

[on Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)] The movie itself has comic moments, but it's about the end of the world, so obviously it has an apocalyptic feel to it that's not that comic, because everybody dies.

I hate knowing too much when I'm going to the cinema. I don't want to know that the actor has just gone through a divorce. I don't want to know that the person is an alcoholic.

I think it's great that the discussions are finally being allowed to be had [about feminism], as opposed to anybody mentioning feminism and everybody going, "Oh, f***ing shut up." Somehow, it [feminism] became a dirty word. I thought it was really weird for a long time, and I think it's great that we're coming out of that.

Hollywood has a really long way to go. I don't think that anybody can deny that, really, and I think as much as you are getting more women playing lead roles... they're still pretty few and far between.

I like being private. I haven't asked a lot of the actresses who I really admire, "How do you do it?" because I don't want to know. Maybe I'm childish in that way; I just don't want to know about your life.

[on her choice of roles] I'm more interested in the idea of somebody trying to fight against something. I like to explore people that I don't necessarily understand in situations that I don't necessarily understand. I don't think I've played anyone who's stupid and maybe I should - maybe that would be a challenge.

[on her technique for discouraging potential suitors] I've used the "stare straight ahead, don't make contact" one. That's always good. I'm a bit of an ice queen. I think I have quite a frightening exterior. So unless I'm soliciting, unless I'm up for it, I'm far too intimidating.

If you are on social media and if you do put anything out in the public, you are opening yourself up now to a lot of criticism and a lot of people telling you they hate you.

[on plastic surgery] I look the way I look, I am not willing to cut my face up.

[on Alan Turing, the focus of the film The Imitation Game (2014)] I was shocked that I didn't know more about him, and didn't know what he'd done and what happened to him. You can't right a wrong, but you can at least let people know what happened and what he did. He should, at the very least, be a British icon, and a gay icon - and his status isn't that at the moment.

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