The Year 2003: Here Comes Keira Knightley

Age 18 Why Her? After taking headers in the sleeper hit ''Bend It Like Beckham,'' the English actress traded in her soccer shorts for something more, uh, constricting -- that corset she keeps griping about in the trailer for July's ''Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.'' Crimes of Fashion While she had to don ridiculous headgear to play Queen Amidala's doppelgänger in ''The Phantom Menace,'' Knightley says the tummy tightener she tied on in ''Pirates'' was particularly obnoxious. ''I nearly passed out,'' she says. ''There was one scene I had to walk down some stairs and Gore [Verbinski], the director, started seeing my eyes rolling back in my head. He told me to go outside and take the corset off and get some air.'' Who Should Play Her in ''The Keira Knightley Story''? ''Jim Carrey,'' she deadpans. ''He'd look great as me in drag. I mean, he can play everything so well...and he has great legs.'' Favorite Act of Civil Disobedience ''I paint boots,'' she says. Seriously. ''I think my brother's not very happy with me at the moment because he stupidly left a pair lying about, and I've painted sunflowers all over them.'' Next A supporting role in November's Hugh Grant romantic comedy ''Love Actually''; sharpening her sword-fighting skills to play Guinevere in the upcoming ''King Arthur.''