# Oona Chaplin

Oona Castilla Chaplin (Spanish:; born 4 June 1986) is a Spanish-Swiss-British actress. Her roles include Talisa Maegyr in the HBO TV series Game of Thrones, Kitty Trevelyan in the BBC drama The Crimson Field, and Zilpha Geary in the series Taboo.

## Early life

Chaplin was born in Madrid to English-American actress Geraldine Chaplin and Chilean cinematographer Patricio Castilla. She has a half-brother named Shane from her mother's previous relationship with film director Carlos Saura. Her paternal grandmother, Hilda Valderrama, was a Mapuche human rights lawyer. A member of the Chaplin family, she is a granddaughter of English filmmaker and actor Charlie Chaplin, and great-granddaughter of Irish-American playwright Eugene O'Neill. She was named after her maternal grandmother Oona O'Neill, Charlie Chaplin's fourth and final wife.
Chaplin spent her childhood mostly in Spain, the United Kingdom, Switzerland and Cuba, but travelled often because of her mother's film career. She started dancing ballet, salsa and flamenco at an early age.
When Chaplin was 15, she began studying at Gordonstoun School in Scotland on a drama scholarship. She appeared in several school plays; toured the United Kingdom in an adaptation of Romeo and Juliet; and impersonated her grandfather in the role of Bottom in an adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. After leaving Gordonstoun, she was accepted into the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she graduated in 2007.

## Career

Since graduating from RADA, Chaplin has acted in mainly British and Spanish short and feature films. She has played alongside her mother in the feature films Inconceivable, ¿Para qué sirve un oso?, Imago Mortis and Anchor and Hope. She has also had supporting roles in British and American television. She appeared as a Brazilian cage dancer in ITV's Married Single Other (2010); as Marnie Madden, the wife of main character Hector Madden, in the BBC period drama The Hour (2011–2012); as John Watson's girlfriend in an episode of BBC's Sherlock (2012); and as Talisa Maegyr in HBO's Game of Thrones (2012–2013).
She plays Kitty Trevelyan, a lead character, in the BBC drama The Crimson Field (2014), and Ira Levinson's wife Ruth Levinson in The Longest Ride (2015).
She stars as Zilpha Geary in the eight-part historical fiction series Taboo (2017) on BBC One and FX.
Chaplin joined the cast of James Cameron's Avatar film series in June 2017. Her character, Varang, is described as "a strong and vibrant central character". In 2024, she presented the BBC radio documentary Hollywood Exiles, which covered her grandfather's blacklisting by the House Un-American Activities Committee.

### Activism

Chaplin is a trustee of The Boa Foundation, an international organization that works with indigenous communities to regenerate degraded ecosystems and protect biodiversity.

## Filmography

Key :
| † | Denotes works that have not yet been released |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2008 | Inconceivable | Laura Chappel | |
| 2008 | First, Love? | Laura – Flower Girl | Short film |
| 2008 | Quantum of Solace | Perla de las Dunas receptionist | |
| 2009 | Imago Mortis | Arianna | |
| 2009 | Pelican Blood | Linda | |
| 2010 | High and Dry | Sandra | Short film |
| 2010 | Vampyre compendium | | Short film |
| 2011 | ¿Para qué sirve un oso? | Rosa | |
| 2011 | The Devil's Double | Beauty | |
| 2011 | Salar | Sandra | Short film |
| 2012 | The Sorrows | Sarah | |
| 2013 | Powder Room | Jess | |
| 2013 | What if... | Julianne | |
| 2014 | Purgatorio | Marta | |
| 2014 | Aloft | Alice | |
| 2015 | The Longest Ride | Ruth Levinson | |
| 2015 | Dancing for my Havana | Rosa | |
| 2016 | Realive | Naomi | |
| 2017 | Anchor and Hope | Eva | |
| 2020 | Epicentro | Herself | Documentary |
| 2022 | Lullaby | Rachel Brown | |
| 2025 | Avatar: Fire and Ash † | Varang | Post-production |
| 2029 | Avatar 4 † | Varang | Filming |

### Television

| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 2007 | Spooks | Kate | Episode: "The Virus (Part 2)" |
| 2008 | Spooks: Code 9 | Kate | Episode 2 |
| 2009 | Married Single Other | Fabiana | 3 episodes |
| 2010 | El Gordo: Una historia verdadera | Silvia | 2 episodes |
| 2011–2012 | The Hour | Marnie Madden | 12 episodes |
| 2012 | Sherlock | Jeanette | Episode: "A Scandal in Belgravia" |
| 2012–2013 | Game of Thrones | Talisa Maegyr | 11 episodes |
| 2013 | Dates | Mia | 5 episodes |
| 2014 | Inside No. 9 | Sabrina | Episode: "A Quiet Night In" |
| 2014 | The Crimson Field | Kitty Trevelyan | Main role, 6 episodes |
| 2014 | Black Mirror | Greta | Feature-length special: "White Christmas" |
| 2016 | El padre de Caín | Mercedes | |
| 2017 | Taboo | Zilpha Geary | Main cast, all 8 episodes |
| 2018 | My Dinner with Hervé | Katie | Television film |
| 2020 | The Comey Rule | Lisa Page | miniseries |
| 2022 | Made for Love | Alice | Episode: "Alice? Are You Listening?" |
| 2022 | Treason | Maddy De Costa | Main cast, all 5 episodes |