Girl Power! Keira Knightley Sounds Off On Strong Female Characters

Keira Knightley may be every fashion designer's dream, but she isn't just a pretty face. Like her fellow Brit, Emma Watson, Knightley is for girl power on the screen and off. When asked by a reporter at last night's Hollywood Film Awards how she balanced work and career, she shot back: "Are you going to ask all the men that tonight?" Like the consummate pro, she smoothly added: "You just do. I think in the same way that everybody else does. You have your work that you love and then you make sure that you have time for your life and all the people who are important to you."

On the big screen, Knightley also impresses as the cryptanalyst and numismatist (translation: badass mathematician and code breaker) Joan Clarke opposite Benedict Cumberbatch's Alan Turing in The Imitation Game. (She took home the best supporting actress award for her work.) The smart female role in a male-dominated cast was a prize. "It’s such an opportunity to play such a strong character, particularly when there are so few women in that field – in mathematics and science and technology. But there are a few of us in every field," she said. "So really what’s amazing is when you see that great minds need space and need time and need the opportunity in order to do great things and I hope that that can happen."

Knightley also proved that intelligence and style is the best kind of pairing. Wearing a stunning Giambattista Valli white gown, which she described to InStyle as "kind of '70s" and she picked because she "liked the embroidery," she practically glowed on the red carpet. But awards season dressing isn't going to mire her down. It was pretty much a snap decision. "Should I have thought more about it? Maybe I should," Knightley said. "No. I just went with what I liked, and this seemed to be it."

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