Avatar: Fire & Ash's Oona Chaplin Reveals She Thought About Changing Her Name to Distance Herself From Famous Grandfather

Oona Chaplin is opening up about her iconic last name.

The 39-year-old Avatar: Fire and Ash star is the granddaughter of the legendary late actor Charlie Chaplin.

In a recent interview, Oona revealed that there was a point of consideration on changing her name to avoid the nepotism talk.

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“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 told The Times. “It’s definitely tricky to feel undeserving of the place you’re in.”

Instead of changing her name, she changed her mindset “from guilt to gratitude by working really hard and knowing that whatever I do is never going to compare to what my grandfather did,” she shared. “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.”

While Oona didn’t get to meet her grandfather – he passed away nine years before she was born – she has heard plenty of stories from her mom and other relatives.

She describes her late grandfather as “a workaholic, a Victorian man, very strict and very brilliant. There’s millions of layers to him as a father, as a husband, as a friend.”

Oona also revealed that she thinks Charlie “would’ve been on board” with Avatar, and even compared him to director James Cameron.

“I feel like James Cameron is probably one of the closest things that we have to Chaplin now, even though they’re really different. They know what they’re talking about, so people listen,” she said.

While not confirming if she’ll be returning for Avatar 4, it’s likely she is. Find out who else is slated to return for the next installment and when it comes out.