Fame10 Hair Evolution: Keira Knightley

Published on March 3, 2015. Updated April 3, 2017

Keira Knightley is practically perfect. She has great fashion sense, a killer body and one of the greatest heads of hair we’ve ever seen. She’s also experimented a bit with it as well. About a decade ago, she debuted a cute crop cut. Around that same time, she decided to try out a shade of blond. We think she looks good no matter what she does; however, that being said, we love her hair the way it naturally is – long and luscious. We really enjoyed seeing Knightley during this award season, so we figured now would be a good time to take a look at her hair evolution!

8th Annual Hollywood Film Festival’s Hollywood Awards – 2004

Back in 2004, Keira Knightley got herself a short crop cut. This sort of hairstyle wasn’t in fashion then, which makes her a bit of a trendsetter. She also dyed her dark hair a dark shade of blond. Personally, we aren’t huge fans of the hairstyle or the dye job. We wouldn’t say it’s ugly, but we don’t think it flatters her at all – that could just be the way that it is styled. We personally prefer her natural hair color to whatever she is sporting in this photo. It almost looks like she was trying to go lighter, but her hairstylist couldn’t quite get it there, so she just gave up.

Fortunately, Keira has a ridiculously pretty face. She’s a naturally beauty who can get away with a lot of hairstyles other women can’t. There’s no doubt that Keira looks amazing no matter what, but this hairstyle isn’t the most flattering on her.

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Sundance Film Festival – 2005

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actress still had short hair at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival but it was a bit longer and much straighter than her previous style. She reportedly cut it off for her role in “Domino.” “The reason I cut my hair off was because I was so in Lizzy Bennett [Pride and Prejudice] mode that I couldn’t get my head into Domino until I was passing a hairdresser and thought, ‘I’ll cut her out of my hair,’ and that’s what I did, and that was extremely liberating. I’m one of those people who, when I have short hair I want long hair, and if I have long hair I want short hair,” she said.

We think she’ll think twice about cutting her hair off in the future. She hasn’t gone back to a crop since; however, she has had a number of other interesting hairstyles that really suit her and her sharp, angular features.

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Premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest – 2006

Keira Knightley’s hair was considerably longer at the premiere of “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which she kept in an updo. Unfortunately, she was still keeping her hair light at this point. It looks like a combination of reds and blonds. Highlights would be one thing, but dying her hair like this is quite another. We think it was a mistake.

Even with a bad dye job, Keira Knightley’s career was unstoppable in 2006. She had been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in “Pride & Predjudice,” had posed nude with Scarlett Johansson on the cover of Vanity Fair and she had starred in “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest,” which is her biggest financial hit in her career thus far. While filming started for “Pride of Prejudice,” Knightley found love on set. She began dating her co-star Rupert Friend, who played her on-screen love interest.

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64th Annual Venice Film Festival – 2007

By the 64th Annual Venice Film Festival, Keira Knightley’s hair had finally grown out. While it still had some highlights in it, the blonds and reds were mostly gone. We love how it looks in this photo. This is easily one of her best hairstyles, even though there is nothing noteworthy about it. Keira almost always looks best when she keeps everything really simple and classic.

We think that 2007 was another busy year for Knightley. She starred in three major films: “Silk,” “Atonement” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” For her performance in “Atonement,” she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Drama, as well as a BAFTA Award; however, she was snubbed by the Academy. Luckily she had great hair and great fashion, as well independent movies to help her move forward. Knightley isn’t one to sit around moping about what could have/should have been.

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Photocall for A Dangerous Method – 2011

At the Photocall for “A Dangerous Method,” the “Atonement” star debuted a really chic inverted bob. We have to say that this is probably our favorite hairstyle on her. It works so good with the sharp angles on her face. So many celebrities have sported a very similar hairstyle to this, like Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham. We think that this actually looks better on Keira Knightley though. She has the perfect face for it.

While all was good with her hair, all was not good with her boyfriend, Rupert Friend. They called it quits after five years together. Her father provided some insight into what happened. “It wasn’t a decision that either of them took lightly,” William Knightley told The Daily Mail. “I know they gave it a great deal of thought. I don’t think there was any one thing that led to their break-up – it was a whole raft of things, I think.”

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Screening of The Imitation Game – 2014

In 2014, Keira Knightley grew her hair out yet again! She debuted some long and flowing locks at the screening of “The Imitation Game.” We love how natural her hair looks. It doesn’t look dyed and it looks just so healthy. If she weren’t such a skilled actress, we’d say that she should become a hair model. She has some of the best hair  we’ve ever seen and it doesn’t look like it is dyed at all.

2014 was probably one of the most exciting years of Knightley’s life. She married James Righton and, a couple weeks before Christmas last year, she announced that she was pregnant with their first child. We all knew it was coming. She had been wearing some very unusually loose dresses in the month leading up to the announcement. In addition to her pregnancy, Knightley was also nominated for a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in “The Imitation Game.”

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Writers Guild Awards – 2015

The Academy Award-nominated actress hasn’t stopped growing her hair. It is now past her shoulders. We personally prefer her with a bob, but this style is nice too. It is just so healthy and beautiful. Not many women get blessed with this kind of hair, so we think Keira’s one lucky woman.

It’ll be exciting to see what Keira does with her hair after her pregnancy. She is one of those actresses who likes to switch things up regularly, so we don’t think she’ll keep her hair like this for too long. After the baby comes, she’ll be itching for a fresh new hairstyle and resume her reign as fashion queen.

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