From Pride & Prejudice and Atonement, to Pirates of the Caribbean and Star Wars, Keira Knightley is one of the most versatile actors in the business. The 39-year-old has range, and recently, that’s lead her to starring in new Netflix spy thriller series Black Doves.
Black Doves had already been renewed for a second season before the first had even premiered, and it’s proving to be a hit among audiences. The series follows Knightley’s Helen Webb, the wife of the Secretary of State for Defence who is also a secret spy, unbeknownst to her husband. When her secret lover is killed, Helen’s true identity is at risk of being exposed, so her employers send Sam, another spy who just so happens to be an old friend (played by the voice of Paddington bear, Ben Whishaw) to protect her.
There’s plenty of action in the series, with combat sequences, chase scenes and a healthy helping of martial arts thrown in for good measure. It’s not a role audiences are accustomed to seeing Knightley in, and to prepare for it, she had to up her training regime.
Here’s how Keira Knightley trained for Black Doves, as well as her overall approach to fitness.
She loves a combat-heavy training routine
In Black Doves, Knightley gets her hands dirty in more than a few scrapes. To ready herself for fight scenes, she put herself in boot camp mode, spending a month training in jiu-jitsu, boxing and knife fighting.
“We were really lucky,” she told Extra. “We worked with an amazing stunt team and so the pieces, obviously, were very choreographed… we did a lot of training to get our bodies to understand how exactly they would do that.”
“I’ve really enjoyed learning all of the different martial arts that I have been taught,” she told Netflix’s Tudum.
She doesn’t love the gym, but worked with a personal trainer to tone-up
Knightley looks more than comfortable in her new action-packed series, but she has previously said that the gym simply isn’t her thing. “I just hate going to the gym,” she said in an interview with the Daily Express in 2014. “The most exercise I get is turning on the TV.”
Regardless of her aversion to gyms, Knightley has been working out with personal trainer to the stars Pierre Pozzuto to step up her fitness game.
She doesn’t have strict rules for her diet
Knightley admits she’s fond of junk food (who isn’t?). In an essay for Noble Rot, she wrote that she’s spent a “large part of my time and money stuffing myself in the most disgusting, luxurious and outrageous ways.” She has also said that she’s sought out caviar and truffle dealers, as she has a penchant for the pricey ingredients and only wants the best of the best.
So we know that Knightley isn’t too strict about what she eats, but surely she had to change some habits for her latest role? Nope. Knightley has made it clear in the past that she’s not into diets. “The very thought of a diet makes me want chips and ice cream,” she told the Daily Express.
She has struggled with body image and body shaming in the past
Throughout her on-screen career, Knightley has dealt with rumours that she suffers from anorexia. She has always denied the rumours, but the speculation around her weight has taken a toll – to such an extent that she’s trauma-blocked many of the bad experiences.
“In that classic trauma way, I don’t remember it,” she recently told The Times. “There’s been a complete delete, and then some things will come up and I’ll suddenly have a very bodily memory of it because, ultimately, it’s public shaming, isn’t it?”
Early on in her career, Knightley had a mental breakdown from the stress of her job. “I went deep into therapy and all of that and [my therapist] said, ‘It’s amazing – I normally come in here and have people that think people are talking about them and they think that they’re being followed, but actually they’re not. You’re the first person that actually that is happening to!’” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2018.
Knightley was 22 at the time of her breakdown and ended up taking a year off from acting. Once she returned to the big screen, she said she was feeling really good and that she “suddenly didn’t care” about what other people thought of her. She seems to still have that same mindset.
Why did Keira Knightley stop acting?
Keira Knightley took a year-long break from acting in 2007. When she was 22, she decided to take a step back from her job after suffering a mental breakdown and being diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
What learning disability did Keira Knightley have?
Keira Knightley has dyslexia, a learning disability that affects reading and writing. She was diagnosed with the disability at the age of six and struggled with reading in school.
Who did Keira Knightley have kids with?
Keira Knightley has two daughters, Edie and Delilah, with her husband James Righton. Knightley and Righton, who is a musician, have been married since 2013.
What type of accent does Keira Knightley have?
Born and raised in London, Keira Knightly has a standard English accent, also known as Queen’s English, BBC English and received pronunciation. Although, she has put on an American accent for many of her acting roles.
