Why Does Keira Knightley Always Look So Sad?

Most stars have their own trademark pose on the red carpet. Think Renee Zellweger with her pursed lips looking like she just took a shot of lemon juice, or Lindsay Lohan’s classic blowing kiss move. As for Keira Knightley, with her wildly perfect facial features and oddly appealing underbite, she’s patented “The Pout.” As she puts it:

“I was pouty when I was 16 or 17 and it’s sort of stuck…It’s when I’m nervous and my neck gets really really tense and then that pressure sort of squeezes up to my lips and they push out and there you go, that’s the pout.”

Though, if nerves are to blame for Keira’s moody look on red carpets, why pout her way through movie roles as well? We examine the Knightley Pout from both past and present, on and off-screen, after the jump.

On nearly every red carpet, Keira refuses to reveal a single chomper, instead opting for the “pushed out lip” look she blames on nerves and tension. Understandably, flashbulbs and shouting fans would make us nervous, but after four years of major fame, wouldn’t waltzing down the red carpet be a lesson learned way back in Fame 101?

And yes, her pout reappears in role after role. In each of the three Pirates flicks, that frown never leaves her face. And sure, fighting dead pirates and keeping your cool while filming scenes with the impossibly dreamy Johnny Depp would make us nervous too, but surely she could mix in the occasional smile. Can’t her agent find her a good old-fashioned, Love, Actually type rom-com next? Or, at the very least, slip her a Valium or two before her upcoming red carpet appearances?

[Photo credits: Getty, IMDB, Wireimage]

• KEIRA KNIGHTLEY BLAMES NERVES FOR HER POUT [Starpulse]