BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — Keira Knightley, at age 26, has proven herself much more than just a pretty face. Born March 26, 1985, she requested a showbiz agent at age 3 — not all that surprising, considering that her father, Will Knightley, is an actor and her mother is the acclaimed playwright Sharman Macdonald. After making herself internationally known with her soccer-playing role in the 2002 British movie "Bend It Like Beckham," her model looks and English charm scored her roles in blockbusters such as the "Pirates of the Caribbean" and British classics from "Pride and Prejudice" to "Atonement." She now appears in a film based on the dystopian novel "Never Let Me Go" by Nagasaki-born writer Kazuo Ishiguro.

It's not her first connection with Japan, however; in 2003, Knightley narrated the voice of a British student in Japan for an animated short titled "Gaijin" ("Foreigner"), directed by Fumi Inoue. Her character programs an English robot to play Japanese music, in the hope that it will help her make friends — but the robot, it appears, has other ideas.

"I never believed that 'never the twain shall meet,' " Knightley says. "Anybody can communicate, particularly nowadays. All it takes is some imagination and initiative."