Keira Knightley gets nominated for best actress Oscar, teased by Depp

Keira Knightley, nominated for the Oscar 2006 Best Actress award for her performance in Pride and prejudice, faces a stiff challenge. If she wins, she will be the youngest to win the best actress Academy Award.

16 February, 2006
LOS ANGELES, USA

Oscar-nominated British actress Keira Knightley was told that she has been nominated for the best actress award by her mother, who woke her up in Bahamas, but the sleepy actress crashed into the bed after hearing that, only to wake up with a “giggling feeling” afterwards.

The British actress is the youngest nominee for the 78th annual academy awards. She has been nominated for her role in Pride and Prejudice, in which she made a stunning performance as Elizabeth Bennet.

The 20-year-old actress revealed this while talking to the media during the annual Oscar nominees' luncheon at Beverly hills.

Keira Knightley was on the sets of "Pirates of the Caribbean” in Bahamas in which she stars with Johnny Depp when the glad news came.

Knightley said her fellow actors including Depp were not giving her any special consideration, but, instead, was making fun of her most of the time.

"He just laughed at me," Knightley told reporters who asked her about Depp's reaction on knowing that she has won a nomination.

"They've all been taking the piss out of me mercilessly," Knightley said laughing.

She said every time she did a take, her co stars asked “Is that an Oscar-nominated take, then?". Knightley has acted with Depp in "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 3."

The actress also had a chance to meet her screen heartthrob George Clooney at the luncheon. 

But she is facing tough competition for the coveted prize from a star-studded list of nominees including Reese Witherspoon (Walk the Line), Felicity Huffman (Transamerica), Judi Dench (Mrs Henderson Presents) and South African actress Charlize Theron (North Country).

An 18th century love story, Pride and Prejudice, has been entirely filmed in Britain.

Pride and Prejudice is the story of five Bennet sisters – Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), Jane (Rosamund Pike), Lydia (Jena Malone), Mary (Talulah Riley), and Kitty (Carey Mulligan), their parents and suitors including a wealthy bachelor who becomes their new neighbour, and deals with the complex relationships in a class conscious era.

The movie adaptation has got wonderful reviews from eminent critics and Keira has been singled out for her brilliant portrayal of Elizabeth, the second daughter of the Bennets.

While the youngest Oscar best actress nominee is Keisha Castle, who got nominated for Whale Rider in 2003, when she was just 13 years.

The youngest winner is Marlee Matlin. She bagged the coveted prize for Children of a Lesser God in 1986, at the age of 21 years.

Can Keira break that record? We will have to wait till March 5, 2006 to know.