The Bend It Like Beckham star appeared in four of the franchise flicks, starting with The Curse of the Black Pearl
It’s hard to believe, but more than two decades have passed since Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl first hit theaters and introduced us to a new world of high-seas adventure.
This exciting Disney film starred Johnny Depp in the unforgettable role of Captain Jack Sparrow and Orlando Bloom as the brave Will Turner. Together, the duo sets out to save Elizabeth Swann—portrayed by Keira Knightley—from the fearsome Captain Hector Barbossa, played by Geoffrey Rush.
By the time she was cast as Elizabeth Swann, Knightley already had a few big roles under her belt. She appeared in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Bend It Like Beckham, and even a 1999 version of Oliver Twist with Julie Walters. According to director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, she was chosen for this major role because of her “indescribable quality reminiscent of motion picture stars from Hollywood’s heyday.”
Even now, many years later, The Curse of the Black Pearl continues to stand out as one of Keira Knightley's most memorable and defining performances.
But what’s truly catching fans off guard is discovering just how young she really was when she stepped into the role of Elizabeth Swann.
So, if you were to take a guess—would you say she was in her mid-20s? Maybe early 20s? Either way, you’d be wrong.
Believe it or not, Knightley had just turned 17 when filming on the blockbuster first began.
One shocked Twitter user reacted with: "This must be a LIE," while another chimed in: "Wtf, I never knew."
Someone else commented: "When I watched the movie I thought she was older than me."
"Can you believe Keira Knightley was only 17 when Pirates of the Caribbean the Curse of the Black Pearl was filmed," another user added, sharing side-by-side shots of the actress in character from the film.
"The fact Keira Knightley gave us these two iconic characters in the same year WHILE SHE WAS ONLY 17," wrote another fan, pointing out that Knightley also starred in Love Actually during the same year.
Thanks to the overwhelming success of the first Pirates movie—and the multiple sequels that followed—Knightley quickly shot to international stardom. But as she later revealed, that level of fame wasn't always easy to live with.
In a 2016 interview with Variety, the British actress opened up about how she felt during that period, saying: "I found it pretty horrific. I'm not an extrovert, so I found that level of scrutiny and that level of fame really hard."
Fans can't believe Keira Knightley was just 17 when she started filming for Pirates of the Caribbean in 2003 Disney
"It was an age where you are becoming, you haven't become, and you need to make mistakes. It's a very precarious age, particularly for women. You're in some ways still a child. It was traumatic, but it set up the rest of my career."
Even though those early years were difficult, and there were challenges she had to work through, Knightley made it clear she doesn’t regret how things unfolded.
"I'm unbelievably lucky now, and my career is in a place where I really enjoy it, and I have a level of fame that's much less intense," she told the magazine in a follow-up conversation two years later.
"I can deal with it now, and that's great. But at the time, it was not so great, and took many years of therapy to figure it out."
