10 Things You Never Knew About Ewan McGregor

'Hello There.'

By Culture SlatePublished 2 years ago • Updated 2 years ago • 3 min read

With Obi-Wan Kenobi set to premiere on the Disney+ soon, now seems like a good time to talk about some things that may not be widely known about Ewan McGregor, who will be reprising his role from the Star Wars prequel trilogy as the venerated titular Jedi-in-exile. Here is a list (in no particular order) of ten things that you may not know about the actor behind the robes.

1. Before he was even in a Star Wars movie, McGregor already has a connection to the franchise in the form of his uncle, Denis Lawson, who played X-Wing pilot Wedge Antilles in the original trilogy.

2. Upon learning that McGregor had been cast as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the prequel trilogy, Oasis songwriter Noel Gallagher challenged Ewan to a (toy) lightsaber duel. In an interview, Gallagher later claimed that he had "schooled" Ewan in the use of the lightsaber. I guess that makes Gallagher Obi-Wan's true “master”?

3. McGregor had an uncredited voice cameo as Obi-Wan in The Force Awakens during Rey's lightsaber vision in Maz's castle. He would later have a credited voice cameo as Obi-Wan in The Rise of Skywalker during Rey’s encounter with Palpatine when she heard the voices of Jedi past.

4. During the filming of the prequel trilogy, McGregor loved to do his own lightsaber sound effects. He had to be reminded several times by Lucas that the sounds would be added later. McGregor was quoted as saying, "I keep getting carried away." No word on whether he did this on the set of the Obi-Wan Kenobi series, but we are certainly curious about that now.

5. In 2013, McGregor was made an Officer in the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to drama and charity, including delivering vaccines around the world. Can actual knighthood be in the future for him?

6. McGregor has an honorary doctorate in Letters from the University of Ulster. He left school at the age of sixteen in order to become an actor and did not finish school when he was younger.

7. Ewan loves motorcycles, but motorcycles apparently do not like him much. He has had several near-fatal motorcycle accidents over the years, including one in 2000 when he was filming the prequel trilogy. Thankfully, he survived his many brushes with death. He must have a guardian angel watching over him.

8. Ewan was considered for and had turned down several roles in major franchises over the years. He turned down the lead role of Neo in The Matrix (1999) in order to play Obi-Wan in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. He was considered for the role of Will Turner in Pirates of the Caribbean (2003). He was also considered for the voice of Bumblebee and Ratchet in Transformers (2007), as well as the lead roles in Ant-Man (2015) and Doctor Strange (2016).

9. As a UNICEF ambassador, McGregor adopted a four-year-old girl from Mongolia named Jamayan. He met her while traveling around the world in 2004. He adopted another girl of unknown nationality, Anouk, in 2011.

10. Ewan McGregor has some musical chops. He did his own singing for movies such as Moulin Rouge (2001) and Down With Love (2003). At age 16, he played the French horn on the television show A Touch of Music.

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Written By Mara Butler

Source(s): Dork Side of the Force, Goliath, IMDb, Diply

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