Keira Knightley Fears for Wannabe Stars

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Keira Knightley has advised would be Hollywood stars to pursue a career in financial services, rather than try to make a career in the movie industry.

The Pirates of the Caribbean actress said that it “frightens” her when she hears young people saying they want to be famous.

Knightley, who has been known to struggle with the pressures of fame, advised those who want to follow her lead to “go work in the stock market”.

“The magic is in the screen, not knowing what’s behind it, because that ruins the magic,” she told British magazine, the Radio Times.

She also spoke of her discomfort with the media constantly focusing attention on her looks.

“I’m on the cover of a magazine but somebody else does the hair, and the make-up, and airbrushes me. It’s not me, it’s something other people have created,” she said.

The 22-year-old, who received a Best Actress Oscar nomination in 2006 for her role in Pride and Prejudice, has also struggled with confidence since she made a name for herself in 2002’s Bend It Like Beckham.

She received criticism for the quality of her acting in that movie, but she now says she has at last overcome her self confidence issues.

Knightley, who is the new face of Chanel, said: “I completely agreed on every level. I didn’t go to drama school, so I didn’t get the training.

“It was difficult to get over that: ‘What am I doing? I’m pretending that I can do this and everybody’s telling me I can’t.’”

However, Keira Knightley says she has at last put that behind her and is completely happy with her acting in her newest film Atonement, which opens at the Venice Film Festival this month.