Oona Chaplin, who is currently promoting her name film, James Cameron’s latest installment of his series, Avatar: Fire and Ash, has revealed why she decided to ditch her famous last name in an attempt to separate herself from her famous grandfather.
Charlie Chaplin is a name perhaps known to people around the world across generations. Born in London, England, he first shot to fame in the era of silent films during his childhood, which was in the Victoria era. He remained famous and well-loved around the world till his death in 1977. Even today, he is regarded as one of the pioneers of the art of cinema.
Oona Chaplin is now opening up what happens when you grow up in the family and decide to follow the footsteps of your late grandfather, who you never met but have undoubtedly heard a lot about.
The 39-year-old actress said, “It’s been a journey to feel deserving, because I know that doors have opened for me that potentially wouldn’t have opened if I wasn’t associated with this brilliant man.”
She went on to say, “It’s definitely tricky to feel undeserving of the place you’re in,” she went on to reveal that she considered changing her last name when she was graduating from the London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.
But she changed her mind and focused on changing her mindset from ‘guilt to gratitude’ after ‘working really hard and knowing that whatever I do is never going to compare to what my grandfather did’.
“If all my purpose in this realm is for people to say, ‘Oh, Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter,’ and they google him and watch a movie of his, then I’m happy because he’s such a genius.”
She gets her name from not just her late grandfather but also her grandmother.
Charlie’s fourth wife was Oona O’Neill, who was the daughter of famed playwright Eugene O’Neill. She inspired Oona’s first name.
Oona Chaplin was born in Madrid, Spain to English-American actress Geraldine Chaplin and filmmaker Patricio Castilla. She has travelled the world over and then decided to spend her life in Cuba. She said, “I pretty much kind of was practicing quitting acting and I built myself a treehouse in the jungle in Cuba, and I was like, ‘I’m going to live here now, so I’m done’.”
But then the opportunity of Avatar came and she decided that she did not want to quit acting just yet.
“It made me fall in love with acting again,” the actress said. “It helped me also develop this immense gratitude for my profession and for the gift of telling stories that I’d kind of forgotten about.”
This is such an interesting story. It’s amazing to hear from the Chaplin family as they are still very much involved in the world of cinema even today. Share this with others to see what they think.
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