The film has grossed more than $50 million since its debut in early 2002, and $3 million in its first three months in limited markets in the United States. (Beckham is David Beckham, star player of the English national squad and formerly of the Premier League's Manchester United team. He now plays for Real Madrid of Spain).

For Knightley, performing in "Bend It," among other things, was a crash course in Indian culture. The crew often spoke Punjabi on the set. "I didn't have a clue what they were saying," she told Lorraine Alt of Newsweek. Plus, Knightley and Nagra trained three months with a soccer coach.

"Keira, she got concussions from doing headers," director Gurinder Chadha said; Nagra, meanwhile, badly hurt her toe. When Chadha offered for doubles to play the soccer roles, "They were like, 'What! Doubles! Are you nuts!' And that was the magic word when I said 'doubles.' They forgot about the concussion and the toe."

Hit Gold With Pirates

While kissing Bloom and hanging out with Depp were among the perks of starring with "pirates," she got seasick and struggled with wearing corsets during filming. Knightley played Elizabeth Swann, the governor's daughter whom a mad pirate (Depp) abducts and teen heartthrob Bloom rescues. The corset, she said, left her grasping for air.

"It was really that bad," Knightley told Lindsay Clydesdale of Glasgow, Scotland's Daily Record. "It's fine in the fitting as they're only five minutes long, but as soon as I was in it for 12 hours my eyes started rolling and I began to faint."

To help battle her seasickness, she took pills, but found herself drowsy amid takes.

"Pirates," based on the Walt Disney Company's theme-park attraction, pulled in $46.4 million its first weekend in early July, 2003.

Success Came With a Price

Success, Knightly said, came at a cost. She regrets not attending college and admitted having trouble making friends as an adolescent. "I did a film called The Hole when I was 16," she told Das, "and, when it came out, a couple of the popular girls at school said, quite loudly, 'She's in a crap movie, so it doesn't count.' It was rude and I was upset, but if you let that stuff bother you, you're going to be in for a tough time.

"I wasn't popular at school. I learned to let those comments wash over me. I toughened up quite quickly."

Despite her whirlwind, Knightley, according to Clydesdale, is still "chaperoned everywhere by her mum and claims she's too poor to move out of her parents' home." Macdonald insisted on accompanying her to Los Angeles. "We're very close," Knightley told Clydesdale. "She came on location with me which is great as I don't think L.A. is a place where a teenage girl should be on her own."

In Love, Actually, Knightley will appear with Grant and Colin Firth in a romantic comedy. Later in 2003, she was expected to start filming the King Arthur legend, in which she will play Guinivere.

AWARDS
Golden Wave, Best Actress, 2002, for Bend It Like Beckham; ALFS Award, British Newcomer of the Year, 2003, for Bend It Like Beckham.

WORKS
Films As Actress

* A Village Affair, 1994.
* Innocent Lies, 1995.
* Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace, 1999.
* The Hole, 2001.
* Deflation, 2001.
* Pure, 2002.
* Thunderpants, 2002.
* Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, 2003.
* Love Actually, 2003.
* Bend It Like Beckham, 2003.
* Tulip Fever, 2003.
* King Arthur, expected 2004.

* Television

* Treasure Seekers, 1996.
* Coming Home, 1998.
* Oliver Twist (mini-series), 1999.
* Princess of Thieves (mini-series), 2001.
* Dr. Zhivago (mini-series), 2002.