Actress Carmen Ejogo speaks about her mom's Cumnock roots at Edinburgh Film Festival

  • Director Sam Mendes, left, with stars Carmen Ejogo and John Krasinski at the premiere of 'Away We Go', the opening gala of the Edinburgh International Film Festival Wednesday.
Cumnock got a mention last night at the Edinburgh International Film Festival premiere of the new Sam Mendes film 'Away We Go'.

The Herald's Arts Correspondent Phil Miller reported from Edinburgh:

One actress from the film has a slightly closer connection to the festival: Carmen Ejogo's mother Elizabeth comes from Cumnock in Ayrshire, and she said she was expecting the Ayrshire side of her family to be in the capital last night.

"I'm a Scots girl," she said, "I am not going to Ayrshire but they are coming to me, the whole family is coming to see me in this movie. My mother was 16 when she left, she headed down to London and decided London was for her, but the rest of the family are still there."

Carmen plays the role of Grace De Tessant in 'Away We Go'. According to IMDb, Carmen's father is Nigerian and her mother is Scottish. Her mother, Elizabeth, is a Scottish tour guide and her father, Charles, was a Nigerian entrepreneur (now deceased). Before becoming making it big in film and TV, she used to present Children's TV on Saturday mornings with former Blue Peter presenter Stuart Miles. She is married to esteemed actor Jeffrey Wright, who played Felix Leiter in the recent Bond films 'Quantum of Solace' and 'Casino Royale', and they have one child.

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