Film star James McAvoy says he inherited a fearless streak from his grandmother.
The X-Men actor is usually guarded about his upbringing in a housing scheme in Glasgow’s Drumchapel where he was raised by his maternal grandparents, James and Mary.
But the 41-year-old said the fearlessness an actor needed to stand in front of an audience was a quality he inherited from his grandmother.
He also revealed this is something he would like to pass on to his own children. He has a son, Brendan, with his ex-wife Anne-Marie Duff.
“It’s very difficult for anybody, whether you’re an actor or not, to not care what people think of you,” McAvoy said. “Strangely, I think I’ve been blessed. I think it might have been my grandmother that either taught me it or just gave it to me with her extremely powerful DNA, that I have not always cared what people think of me.”
McAvoy said that his self-confidence is, however, very different from the “entitlement” that others, from wealthier backgrounds, might feel.
He said: “I’ve got nothing against people that had a more privileged background and had more opportunity. I never noticed a glass ceiling above my head.”
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