Ewan McGregor insists he did not pull strings to land his daughter Esther a role in “Obi-Wan Kenobi”.
The “Trainspotting” actor, 51, spoke out after the 20-year-old actress played the small role of spice dealer Tetha Grig, who has a brief run-in with Obi-Wan on the streets of Daiyu in the Disney+ series.
He told “The Late Late Show with James Corden” it was a coincidence after the show’s director Deborah Chow, 51, told him she had found a young actress who would be perfect for the series who turned out to be McGregor’s daughter.
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The actor said: “I’m sure everybody thinks she got the job because of me, but really she didn’t. She auditioned for the role.
“Deb, the brilliant director, said to me, ‘I found this great girl but she turns out to be your daughter. Are you happy with that?'
“I said that would be amazing.”
He added about his daughter’s acting skills: “She was just brilliant. You don’t really know with your kids until that moment when I was acting with her and it felt really normal and natural.”
Esther was dad-of-five McGregor’s third child with his wife Eve Mavrakis, from whom he split in 2017 before they divorced three years later.
He married his actress girlfriend Mary Elizabeth Winstead in April after they had son Laurie in June 2021.
McGregor also told Corden how he bonded with a camel called Silas on “Obi-Wan Kenobi”.
He said: “In the original films, I literally rode a gym horse that was painted blue.
“This time I had a real camel called Silas and a trainer called Titus. He was a lovely man and he called me ‘cowboy’ all the time, which I really liked.
“As a Scotsman we don’t get called cowboys a lot.
“I have a little baby and I’ve got probably enough on my plate without having the camel, too.”
“Obi-Wan Kenobi” begins 10 years after the dramatic events of “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith” where the Jedi faced his greatest defeat – the downfall and corruption of his best friend and Jedi apprentice, Anakin Skywalker, who turned to the dark side as Sith Lord Darth Vader.