Keira Knightley

'Precocious Little Brat'

Knightley is sure she wants to be an actress from early on. At age 3, she demands her own agent from her parents because they both have one. (Her father Will is a stage actor, and her mother Sharman MacDonald is a playwright.) They persuade her to wait a few years and she signs with an agent at age 6. "That was the kind of precocious little brat I was," she later tells PEOPLE.

July

Bending It

The summer before her final year of high school, Knightley takes a brief hiatus to film Bend It Like Beckham, a boisterous cross-cultural comedy about an Anglo-Indian teenage girl who idolizes soccer star David Beckham. Knightley plays the main character's soccer-playing, tomboy, best friend. "Everything's changed for me since Beckham," Knightley says to PEOPLE. "It's been rather mad, but lovely."

August

A Pirate's Life for Keira

Knightley earns her sea legs in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, which takes in more than $650 million at the box office. After months of wearing a corset, "I wanted to burn it," Knightley tells Vogue. Of costar Johnny Depp, she says to PEOPLE: "Lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely, lovely. He's very cool. He's a gorgeous guy. Eye candy." As for Orlando Bloom? "I can report that he's a very good kisser," she adds.

September

Addressing the Rumors

Though she is rumored to be dating Australian deejay Kaz James, Knightley tells PEOPLE, "I've never met him. Never!" At least she takes their reported breakup in stride. "Apparently he has dumped me now," she says. "It's the easiest breakup I've ever been through." A month later, she takes on the role of Domino Harvey, a model turned bounty hunter, in the film Domino.