Meet Charlie Chaplin’s granddaughter Oona Chaplin, who plays Varang in Avatar: Fire and Ash
The granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin has a long family legacy in film, and is perhaps best known for her appearance on Game of Thrones
One of 2025’s most highly anticipated films, Avatar: Fire and Ash, has officially hit the silver screen – and it is an epic spectacle.
“There’s a sexuality; there’s a dominating psychology, and there’s a lot of fury. There are a lot of layers to what she’s doing there and the forces that are driving her. Oona was able to move fluidly back and forth between those in a way that I wasn’t seeing with the others,” the filmmaker explained.
So, who is Oona Chaplin, who called auditioning for James Cameron “one of the most surreal moments of [her] life”?
What’s her background?
If Oona’s name reminds you of Hollywood icon Charlie Chaplin, that’s because she is his granddaughter.
But he’s not the only Hollywood connection in her family tree. Her mother is actress Geraldine Chaplin – Charlie Chaplin’s daughter with Oona O’Neill, the daughter of legendary playwright Eugene O’Neill – while her father is Chilean film director Patricio Castilla.
Chaplin was born in Madrid, spent her early childhood in Cuba, and was briefly based in Switzerland and London. Speaking of her multicultural identity, she told the Golden Globes that it gave her “the great luxury of knowing a great deal, connecting with my heart and with my feelings”.