Keira Knightley´s nudity importance

10 September 2007 - Keira Knightley refuses to keep her clothes on in her movies.

The Oscar-nominated actress - who nearly bares all when she emerges from a pond dripping wet in see-through underwear in new movie 'Atonement' - insists nudity is important in acting.

Keira told Britain's The Times newspaper: "If I wasn't prepared to take my clothes off on screen there would be a whole area of my job that I couldn't explore. And I can't sacrifice my job because of that.

"If I didn't do that scene then maybe my life would be easier. There are plenty of actresses, and certainly a lot of American actresses, who wouldn't have done this part because of that.

"But I was passionate about it, and had to do it no matter what it demanded."

The 22-year-old British star believes Hollywood is sexist because there is so much focus on women's bodies, but not men's.

She said: "I do think that we live with sexism. I think that that's very obvious. It's a huge issue. But I'm just not going to go into my usual rant about it."

(C) BANG Media International