Esther McGregor Can Do It All—but for Now, She’s Focused on Acting

Her father is Ewan McGregor—who knows about the galactic obscure side too—and her mother is Eve Mavrakis, an art director and production designer for films. Last year McGregor put her own spin on her renowned last name in two high-profile movies, playing Nicole Kidman’s daughter in the erotic thriller Babygirl and Tilda Swinton’s younger self in Pedro Almodóvar’s meditative drama The Room Next Door. In June she’ll appear in the Prime Video series We Were Liars, based on the gripping YA novel of the same name about a group of friends sifting through secrets on a private island off Massachusetts. McGregor plays Mirren, a character she found eerily similar to herself: “She’s this cheery sunshine girl who has this allure and charm because she’s a bit of a weirdo.”

That tracks, except for the weirdo part. In person, McGregor is effervescent and kind but clearly feels emotions deeply. She moved from London to Los Angeles with her family when she was 11. Her mother is French and not only taught her and her three sisters to speak the language, but also instilled in them a worldly sensibility. “I rely on my mother quite a lot,” she says. “She is my rock and my inspiration for a huge amount of myself and my ambitions.”

Bodysuit by Dolce & Gabbana; boots by Jimmy Choo; sunglasses by Ray-Ban; tights by Wolford.Photograph by Nick Riley Bentham; Styled by Jake Sammis.

McGregor loved drawing from an early age—“it was a really good way for me to focus and keep my mind still”—and, during COVID, started to learn about tattooing through her then girlfriend. (She gave one of her first tattoos to her father, of a scarf he’d seen in a dream.) McGregor discovered that she loved the craft, both as an art form and a means of making connections. Four years ago, while a student at NYU, she and a friend opened a women-and queer-friendly tattoo shop in New York called Pink Ether. “Getting to meet people in this environment where my social anxiety isn’t off of the rocker because I’m working—I got to open up so much because it’s this true transaction of trust,” she says.