Oona Chaplin, star of “Avatar: Fire and Ash,” told The Times that she nearly gave up the Chaplin surname in an attempt to distance herself from her grandfather’s fame.
“It was a journey to feel deserving, because I know that doors opened for me that might not have opened if I hadn’t been associated with that brilliant man,” said the 39-year-old actress.
“It’s definitely complicated to feel that you don’t deserve the place you’re in,” confided the former “Black Mirror” star, who revealed that she nearly abandoned the surname after graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.
However, Oona Chaplin said she eventually began to feel gratitude instead of the guilt she had carried because of her last name.
“If my whole purpose in this world is to make people say, ‘Oh, Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter,’ and they then Google him and watch one of his films, then I’m happy, because he is an absolute genius,” she reflected.
In addition to the Chaplin name, the actress also carries the name Oona O’Neill, Charlie Chaplin’s fourth wife. O’Neill was the daughter of renowned playwright Eugene O’Neill.
Oona Chaplin was born in Madrid, Spain, the daughter of Anglo-American actress Geraldine Chaplin and filmmaker Patricio Castilla.
The actress thought she would retire from acting, saying she even built a treehouse in Cuba, but she ended up accepting the role of the villain Varang in “Avatar: Fire and Ash.”
“It made me fall in love with acting again,” she said. “It also helped me develop immense gratitude for my profession and for the gift of storytelling, something I had kind of forgotten.”
Photos: Instagram @charliechaplinofficial and @oonacc. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
