Her first multi-scene performance came in “A Village Affair” (1995). 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).

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) (TV) 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.

“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' “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. 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."

Keira's 2004 started off in Scotland and Canada filming John Maybury's time-travelling thriller “The Jacket” (2005) with Oscar-winner Adrien Brody. 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.”

“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. 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.” “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.

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.

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. 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 rumors, it is confirmed that Keira is on the shortlist to play Eliza Doolittle in a new adaptation of “My Fair Lady.”

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. 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. Meanwhile, in late October it was finally confirmed that Keira had won the role of Eliza Doolittle in a brand new adaptation of “My Fair Lady.” With a script by Emma Thompson and produced by Duncan Kenworthy and Sir Cameron Mackintosh, its director was also finally confirmed as Joe Wright (after Danny Boyle and Stephen Daldry were linked at various stages).