Knightley has appeared in several Hollywood films and earned nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress and Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in Joe Wright's 2005 adaptation of Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. Two years later she again was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, as well as the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Atonement.
In 2008, Forbes claimed Knightley to be the second highest paid actress in Hollywood, having reportedly earned $32 million in 2007, making her the only non-American on the list of highest paid actresses.
Knightley is filming under the direction of David Cronenberg in the feature film A Dangerous Method, where she plays the role of Sabina Spielrein, the real-life psychoanalyst who worked with people like Sigmund Freud and primarily Carl Jung. Viggo Mortensen, Michael Fassbender and Vincent Cassel will be co-starring. She is slated to appear in The Emperor's Children with Eric Bana and Richard Gere. The film, reportedly a dark comedy, will be directed by Noah Baumbach.
Knightley will star in London Boulevard with Colin Farrell, written by William Monahan, who will also make his directing debut. She successfully auditioned for the role of Eliza Doolittle in the Columbia Pictures planned remake of the stage musical My Fair Lady to be produced by Cameron Mackintosh, although no release date has yet been scheduled.
In 2008, she was attached to play Cordelia in a big screen adaptation of King Lear, which was subsequently abandoned.Knightley has confirmed that she will not be starring in the fourth installment of Pirates of the Caribbean.
On November 11, 2010, it was confirmed that Knightley along with six other actresses will meet with director, Christopher Nolan to audition for one of the two female leads in the upcoming film, The Dark Knight Rises, the third and final film in Nolan's Batman trilogy. One of the roles will be as the love interest to Bruce Wayne while the other will be as a villain.
