Forbes calculated she was Hollywood’s second highest earning actress in 2007. FHM voted her the world's sexiest woman, and with two movies out right now, Keira Knightley can't be accused of living off the interest.
Dylan Thomas biopic Edge of Love paired Knightley up with fellow Brit it girl Sienna Miller. Her co-star in The Duchess is somewhat more thespian, Ralph Fiennes plays her Duke.
Campbell Live recently caught up with Knightley, and discovered the world's sexiest woman is not above a bit of teasing in the bedroom.
Like any bodice-ripper worth its weight in corsets, The Duchess certainly gets a little hot and steamy. And Keira Knightley confesses her co-star Dominic Cooper may never be quite the same.
“I am very ashamed of myself. Sex scenes are always very difficult. He was wearing a skin coloured nappy, which is a great look, and I couldn't look at him, without laughing until I cried. And I have probably ruined his life forever, he'll have so many complexes now, and I am very sorry,” explains Knightley.
Dominic Cooper was a relative unknown until earlier this year, when he was propelled into Abba folklore and box office fame with Mamma Mia! But, despite the nappy, Cooper didn't appear too worse for wear after his Keira Knightley love scene.
“That was my first scene where I had to bare all, really. Actually it was a very funny day of filming. Where Keira was basically abusing me,” remembers Cooper.
The Duchess is based on the story of Georgina Spencer, who married the Duke of Devonshire, and who became the "it" girl of her generation.
Keira Knightley is one of the most photographed actresses of her generation, and she has turned that fame into fortune. Forbes maintains, and she denies, that she was second only to Cameron Diaz as the highest paid Hollywood actress last year, earning just under 50 million dollars from her role in Pirates of the Caribbean: at World's End and Atonement.
She is currently the face of Coco Chanel, she is a red carpet gossip mag staple, tops various best-dressed and sexiest women lists, and women-in-need-of-a-good-feed lists. She has starred alongside Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, James MacAvoy and now, with The Duchess, Ralph Fiennes.
“He's such a wonderful actor, a complete privilege to work with him and watching him work was extraordinary,” Knightley says of her co-star Ralph Fiennes.
Knightley confessed she is right at home in these period romps, and they have been successful for her. Pride and Prejudice won her an Oscar nomination. Atonement a Golden Globe and BAFTA nomination, and if we can call them a period romp - certainly the romp bit anyway - the Pirates trilogy saw her cinematic share price go through the roof.
“It is the fantasy of them. It is what I want film to do - take me out of my reality, I love that you can really dive in, and as an actress you have so much freedom. You can read books biographies, and learn about that period, but we don't actually know, so there is scope for moving around and inventing your own things,” says Knightley.
As The Duchess hits cinemas globally, Knightley has chosen not to bite the gloved hand that is feeding her.
She is soon to give Shakespeare a crack. as Cordelia in King Lear. Perhaps hoping the golden Oscar glow of her two co-stars, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow, might reflect on her.