Ewan McGregor offered his daughter Clara McGregor a blunt reality check when she told him she wanted to pursue a career in acting.
The 55-year-old End of Oak Street star shares 30-year-old Clara with his former wife, Eve Mavrakis, 60.
Speaking earlier this week on the Camelot Films Podcast, Clara said her parents never tried to protect her from the difficult realities of the entertainment industry.
“When I first told him I wanted to be an actor, both my parents were like, ‘OK, well, good luck. It’s f***ing tough out there,’” she recalled.
Clara said her father was also conscious of the opportunities that helped launch his own career. “He is very good, but he – right out of drama school – got very lucky with agents and people kind of finding him,” she explained.
She said her parents made sure she understood that talent alone would not guarantee success. “They were very realistic with me about it being very tough, potentially not working out, and that I really needed a backup,” Clara said. “My mom was like, ‘You need to go to university and have something to fall back on.’”
Ewan McGregor gave daughter Clara a candid warning about the challenges of acting when she decided to pursue the same career; pictured in August
Clara McGregor said on the Camelot Films Podcast that neither Ewan nor her mother, Eve Mavrakis, shielded her from the realities of show business; pictured in February 2024
Clara also told hosts Luke Croft-Faulkner and Matt Hookings that her father has not used his influence to secure opportunities for her as she builds her acting career.
“He’s never really been one to make calls for me or anything like that,” she said. Instead, she added, he shares films he thinks she should watch.
McGregor has also discussed his own experiences on set with Clara and taught her the value of humility. “I think he taught me just how important it is to be humble and to be grateful to be working and that everyone around you on set is making you look better,” she said.
The pair eventually worked together in the 2024 drama Bleeding Love, which Clara produced and co-wrote.
In the film, they portray an estranged father and daughter attempting to confront the pain and unresolved issues in their past.
Clara said her father maintained a professional distance during production. “We were working together… and he never once gave me any notes or told me how to act at all. Because he’s a pro,” she recalled.
She added that McGregor understood the importance of respecting his scene partner. “He knows that you don’t do that to another actor or the best people don’t as well. If you’re great, you never need to get any notes… and also you just don’t give notes to a fellow actor.”
In August, McGregor said that appearing opposite his eldest daughter in Bleeding Love helped repair their relationship after his divorce from her mother.
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“When I first told him I wanted to be an actor, both my parents were like, ‘OK, well, good luck. It’s f***ing tough out there,’ Clara said; (Source: Camelot Films Podcast/YouTube)
Clara with her father at her 30th birthday celebration (Source: Clara McGregor Instagram)
Clara McGregor appears in a scene from Bleeding Love
During an interview at the Edinburgh International Film Festival, McGregor became emotional while discussing the experience of making the movie with Clara.
He described the period surrounding his divorce from Mavrakis in 2020 as an especially painful chapter for the family.
The Trainspotting star and Mavrakis were married from 1995 until separating in 2017. Along with Clara, they have daughter Esther, 25, and adopted daughters Jamyan, also 25, and Anouk, 15.
McGregor married Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 2022. The couple welcomed their son, Laurie, in 2021.
He said Bleeding Love brought him and Clara closer through its story of reconciliation during a road trip across the United States.
“It was a very difficult time because I had separated from Clara’s mum, and divorced from Clara’s mum, and it was a very painful time,” he said.
“My children were very hurt, and Clara was very hurt. And Clara was – I’m grateful for it now – she was very open with me and very vocal with me.”
McGregor said Clara was able to express her anger clearly during that difficult period.
“And so when she told me sometime later, after a year or two, that she was writing a story about us, I was scared that it was gonna be something like that,” he said.
However, he said the screenplay moved him when he read it. “It was so beautiful and moving, and about reparation of a relationship between a father and a daughter that hadn’t fully happened yet between us.”
He described the production as an important experience for both of them, saying it allowed them to work together while telling the story of an estranged daughter.
“It’s not autobiographical in any way but there are masses of elements in it that are,” McGregor said.
