Keira Knightley

"One of the hardest roles to cast was that of Sabé, the handmaiden that fills in for the Queen when she is in hiding. Originally we were going to use a stand-in, but that was before we found a girl by the name of Keira Knightley."

―Robin Gurland, Episode I Casting Director^[3]

Keira Knightley (born March 26, 1985) played Queen Amidala's handmaiden Sabé in Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace.

Knightley was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 2005 for her role in Pride and Prejudice. In 2007, she was nominated for a BAFTA Award and another Golden Globe Award for her role in Atonement. She is well-known for her role as Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.

Biography[]

Knightley was twelve years old when she was cast and during Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace filming in August 1997 at Leavesden Film Studios, England. The completed film was released two years later in the Summer of 1999, when she was fourteen years old. The actress is credited in the film's end credits as "Kiera Knightley," which is the standard spelling of the name. However, the actress's mother, Sharman McDonald, unintentionally misspelled her daughter's name with the "e" before the "i" during her birth registration in 1985.^[source?]

Knightley was chosen to play Queen Amidala's decoy in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace because of her close resemblance to Natalie Portman, who played the Queen. Many people (including their mothers) had trouble telling them apart during the filming of The Phantom Menace.^[4] Her voice was dubbed over with Natalie Portman's voice after filming; Natalie recorded both the Amidala and Sabé voices in post-production.^[source?] The character Kiera Swan was a reference to Knightley and her character Elizabeth Swann from Pirates of the Caribbean.^[5]