"I did a film called The Hole when I was 16 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."

"I feel less blonde now and, er, smarter! I actually feel much stronger, too."

"Somebody thought it would be a great idea if they brought their teenage daughters along to the set on the day that we did the kissing scene - I thought I was gonna die! I thought they'd stampede me with the evil eyes I was getting from all of them."

"At the end of the two days it was time for me to jump off, and Gore (the director) said to me, 'you don't actually have to jump off, I can get a stunt girl to do that. But I told him: 'I've been standing up here terrified for two days, there is no way I'm not jumping off!' So I jumped off the plank, and I got a big pirate cheer at the end from all the guys, which was a very big compliment."

"I finished filming Pirates a couple of days before my 18th birthday, and made sure I was in London to celebrate it. There's no point having an 18th birthday in America, it doesn't mean anything as you can't go out and drink!"

"[My friends are] laughing at me after last night's premiere and taking the piss out of me mercilessly for pouting as much as I did in front of the cameras!"

"I've always been a snob about qualifications and it's the greatest irony that I left school before I could take my A-levels. I'll really feel bad when my friends get their results. And I'm going to regret not going to university. But acting has always been my dream and I have to pursue it while I can."

"I was told I didn't have to do it, but I said, 'No, it's a beautiful scene, we have to do it.' It's extraordinary that you can cause an uproar by getting your tits out."

"The problem for me was that by being in the film the magic was broken. I loved the first Star Wars film and my mum was really into it too, that's why I took the part. But the Force wasn't there when we were filming it, and they didn't have real light sabres, which annoyed me."

"It's scary because acting was always my salvation from school. So if anything had gone wrong at school, I could say, 'Oh, but I can do this.' But now it's the only thing. So you sort of think, 'Okay, but what happens if that goes wrong? What's the salvation?' That's a bit scary."

(on BILB) "I thought there would be doubles - stunt doubles - and I would just run in for the close-ups, but unfortunately they didn't have the money for that." "Apparently on the Internet I'm a sexy beanpole, tomboy beanpole."

(after being called the new Hayley Mills) "That was cruel! Nothing against Hayley Mills, but I'm trying to be cool here. I'm trying to be edgy."

"Do you know that on all the sets I've been on, nobody has ever made a pass at me?"

(on shoes) "I see a pair of shoes I adore, and it doesn't matter if they have them in my size. I buy them anyway."

(on The View) "I met Barbara Walters backstage and didn't know who she was. She's an American phenomenon, I was told later. I'm just sooo English."

(at a photo shoot) "I'm a hooker in these pictures, and I must be a high priced one because I'm staying at the Ritz, which is good."

"I'm a tomboy beanpole? I can't use a computer, so maybe I'm a bit out of the loop. I don't know whether to be flattered or not flattered. The beanpole bit, is that good? Can you be a sexy beanpole?"

"Katharine Hepburn and Vivien Leigh are my heroes. Not because of their ability, but because of their perseverance."

"When in doubt, faint."

"We had kind of done all our wedding and we felt like the stars of the show, then sudden you've got all these other people with storylines and you think: excuse me, I know you're Alan Rickman but get out of my film, please, thank you."

I know for a fact the work is going to dry up, and people will get bored of me. That's not bitterness, just the truth.

(On her conception) I was a bet. My mum was desperate for another child, and my dad told her that the only way they could afford to have one was if she sold a play. So Mum wrote When I Was a Girl, I Used to Scream and Shout.

I don't think I can call myself an actress yet. I just don't think my skill level is that high. I hope that with every job it gets better. But until I'm good, I can say I'm trying to be an actor, but I don't think I've completely made it.

As a moviegoer and a woman, I want to see that, so it's great to get to play parts like that. But Guinevere is a terrifying creature. If I saw a battle, I'd run in the other direction. I'm not strong in that way at all. But I'm certainly someone who has always known what I wanted and tried to get it.

In this business, fame lasts for a second. You can be blown up and be blown down. People keep losing interest in faces because new ones come along every single second. I'm one at the moment. Tomorrow I won't be. That's cool. I'm not saying that when it does end, I'll be like, 'Yay! It's ending.' But I'll move on and do something else because that's what has to be done. It's about survival. If you're sad about it, then you're in the wrong job.

(On actresses living in Hollywood) I take my hat off to actresses there, particularly the young ones, because the emphasis is on trying to find perfection. But I think it's the imperfections in people that make them perfect. I don't find perfect faces very interesting.

Acting requires me to be very observant, which means being able to sit in cafes for hours and watch people.

"I don't have a problem with my body. I'm not just going to strip off all my clothing, but if the part calls for it and I don't think there's any way round, I'm absolutely fine."

"I'm a bit of a tomboy so the action stuff was fantastic."

It's also strange when people recognise you in the street and they know you but you don't know them. It's a little weird, but nothing to complain about.

I'd wanted to get stuck into the action on Pirates of the Caribbean and I asked Jerry if I could have a sword fight in that, and he more than made up for it in King Arthur by giving me axe fights, knife fights and all the rest of it. I absolutely loved it. It was like being 11 years old and in the playground again.

It was part of the job. There's no point in being embarrassed about it because that is the name of the game. It was just another day at the office. A very nice day at the office. [On the love scene with Clive Owen in 'King Arthur']

I don't think about nutrition. The very thought of a diet makes me want chips and ice cream. And I just hate going to the gym. I cannot stand it.

The fact that we haven't focused on the love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere was actually one of the things that made me want to do the film. It's interesting to tell it in a completely new way.

"Every part I've ever got, I always thought it was completely ridiculous that I was up for it. With Pirates, I only packed for a week because I was sure that I was going to get sacked. I thought they'd made the hugest mistake."

"We're all fans of cinema, you know. Forget about being an actor, I love watching films. I really do. That's what I love doing, as a hobby. I find the whole process fascinating, as do my parents, they go to the cinema a lot."

"I don't do a thing to keep fit, I just cannot make myself work out. My abs are just luck - my mum has good ones so it's a family trait."

"I don't read any magazines or newspapers any more, because I find it really scary and I get really scared when I'm followed by photographers. I have, on many occasions, broken down in tears because I find it terrifying. I dropped out of school when I was 16 so there's nothing else that I can do."

"I don't like parties very much. I'm not a very sociable being."

"I've always been quite tomboyish."

"In LA, I'm twice the size- height and everything else- of most of the other actresses who are going for an audition."

"I think I always disappoint people because they always expect someone very pretty, very done."

"Three years after that I was diagnosed as dyslexic, and we struck a deal: I was allowed to start acting on condition that I would read constantly and get good grades at school."

"I always feel like I'm the one with everything to prove."

"I paint and draw, but very badly."

What Others Have Said About Her:
"Keira just steps into the ring and attacks. She's just as sweet as she can be and has a great sense of humour." - Johnny Depp [co-star, The Pirates of the Caribbean]

"Obviously we were looking for a beautiful young woman, but beauty alone is not enough. Keira is truly gifted and it is wonderful to watch her work. It seems so effortless. She's going to be a big star." - Jerry Bruckheimer [director]