LONDON, UK - British actress Keira Knightley faced tough times in her Hollywood career and nearly quit it has been revealed.

After attaining international acclaim for her role in British indie movie hit 'Bend It Like Beckham', the actress soon caught the eye of Hollywood producers including Jerry Bruckheimer, who has been involved with the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise.

Knightley become an overnight hit with American audiences opposite Johnny Depp and alongside co-star Orlando Bloom in 2003's smash hit summer movie Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Perl as Elizabeth Swann. The Disney movie was turned into a franchise with the 4th just finishing production.

The young starlet was so overwhelmed by the pressures of the Hollywood engine that she said "I think I intended not to work again. I wasn't enjoying what I was doing and I felt terribly guilty about that. I remember hating the idea that I was in a privileged position and couldn't see the point of any of it..I had worked solidly since I was 16, till 22, and I had not been on holiday in all of that time. I didn't know if I was going to go back to acting at all. I think for a long time I thought I wouldn't." - metro.co.uk

Keira Knightley movies

Keira's latest outing in 'Never Let Me Go' premiered at the BFI London Film Festival starring Andrew Garfield, who has been cast as the new Spiderman and Carey Mulligan.

To find out more about Keira Knightley's work check out her latest films here