"Avatar" Star Oona Chaplin Reveals What Connects the Blockbuster Franchise to Grandfather Charlie Chaplin (Exclusive) Jack SmartDecember 26, 2025 at 1:30 AM 0 Wiktor Szymanowicz/Anadolu via Getty Oona Chaplin at the London premiere of 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' on Dec. 11 Oona Chaplin chats with PEOPLE about her work joining the Avatar franchise in new installment Fire and Ash The actress, who is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, sees "a lot of parallels" between the late filmmaker and Avatar's writerdirector James Cameron She says, "Charlie Chaplin made millions of people all over the world l...
- - "Avatar" Star Oona Chaplin Reveals What Connects the Blockbuster Franchise to Grandfather Charlie Chaplin (Exclusive)
Jack SmartDecember 26, 2025 at 1:30 AM
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Oona Chaplin at the London premiere of 'Avatar: Fire and Ash' on Dec. 11 -
Oona Chaplin chats with PEOPLE about her work joining the Avatar franchise in new installment Fire and Ash
The actress, who is the granddaughter of Charlie Chaplin, sees "a lot of parallels" between the late filmmaker and Avatar's writer-director James Cameron
She says, "Charlie Chaplin made millions of people all over the world laugh and cry together, and nobody will ever do that like he did… but Avatar comes really close!"
Avatar: Fire and Ash star Oona Chaplin can't help but draw a connection between the hit sci-fi franchise and her grandfather, Charlie Chaplin.
"I feel like this film, in particular, James Cameron, I feel a lot of parallels with going back to Charlie Chaplin," the actress, 39, tells PEOPLE while chatting about playing the villainous Varang in the newest Avatar installment (in theaters now).
"Because they're both working with cutting-edge technology," the Game of Thrones alum continues. "They're both telling stories in innovative ways, but they both are absolutely rooted and centered in the human heart and the human condition. And they are stories that touch us all because we can all relate — because they're real truthful and real simple, real honest."
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Oona Chaplin as Varang in 'Avatar: Fire and Ash'
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Oona's grandfather Charlie, who died in 1977 at age 88 before she was born, is widely recognized as one of cinema's most groundbreaking pioneers. A silent film star and multi-faceted filmmaker, he married the young Oona O'Neill (daughter of legendary playwright Eugene O'Neill), from whom the Avatar star gets her first name.
"Charlie Chaplin made millions of people all over the world laugh and cry together, and nobody will ever do that like he did," says Oona. With a smile, she quips, "but Avatar comes really close!"
Born in Madrid, Spain to English-American actress Geraldine Chaplin and Chilean filmmaker Patricio Castilla, Oona grew up all over the world, including the U.K., Switzerland and Cuba. She was settling in the latter country and volunteering at a refugee camp in France when she was approached about bringing fearsome Na'vi leader Varang to life.
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Oona Chaplin on Dec. 9; Charlie Chaplin circa 1918
"It made me fall in love with acting again," Oona says of filming Fire and Ash. "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."
All credit goes to Avatar's chief visionary, she adds. "I would be a cactus in the corner for James Cameron if he asked me to be. It's like, 'Whatever you want me to do, let's go.'"
Avatar: Fire and Ash, starring Zoe Saldaña, Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang, Kate Winslet and more, is in theaters now.
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Source: Entertainment
Published: December 25, 2025 at 10:36PM on Source: ANDY MAG
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