Game of Thrones star Oona Chaplin for FAULT Issue 12
Oona Chaplin – or Talisa when she’s hanging out in Westeros – might be the descendent of Hollywood nobility, but the sprightly young actress wasn’t always keen on embracing the family tradition. She spoke to FAULT about her impressive heritage, her cosmopolitan upbringing and how she finally caught the acting bug after landing a starring role on the hit HBO series Game of Thrones.
FAULT: As the granddaughter of the great Charlie Chaplin, the greatgranddaughter of Nobel Prize-winning playwright Eugene O’Neill and the daughter of actress Geraldine Chaplin, you have an impressive lineage. How has it impacted your own career as an actress?
OONA: At first I tried to resist it as much as possible. I thought, ‘No way am I going to be an actress! I want to study politics’. But the virus eventually got me. The heritage is, however, a wonderful reminder [of] what one person can do in a lifetime, no matter the path. My grandfather is a shining example. In that respect, it is a good kind of pressure.
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From the BBC to the hit HBO series Game of Thrones—what is it like to be involved in an enormous action-packed franchise?
I don’t have Sky, so I didn’t really know about the series until I got the part. I watched the whole thing in a day with my neighbour while sitting on the sofa with popcorn. We couldn’t stop: We watched ten hours in a row! More than anything, it’s so clever, and it really appeals to every spectrum of society. It’s got blood, but it also has the psychology of the games of power. I’m as much of a fan as I am a cast member. To go into something that has 300 people daily on set and to have that depth is so surreal!
