Ewan McGregor has Star Wars in his blood

Ewan McGregor Brandishes Lightsaber, Explains Family's 'Star Wars' Pedigree on U.K. TV (Video)The Scottish actor tells Britain's Graham Norton that he nearly turned down the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi in the George Lucas trilogy.

Ewan McGregor has Star Wars in his blood. The actor played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the latest trilogy of the George Lucas film series while his uncle, Dennis Lawson, had a role in the first three. But had McGregor listened to Lawson about taking the job, he have never been a part of Star Wars lore.

McGregor reportedly told the BBC's Graham Norton on Friday, "I was really familiar with the first three because my uncle Dennis Lawson had been in them, but when they were casting the new ones it didn't feel like something I was doing at the time.

"I was making British independent films and I didn't think it was really me but as I got closer and closer to being cast in it I wanted to do it more and more so I rang people like Dennis, who said, "If you want to have a career after 30 don't do it.' Luckily I didn't listen to him."

Lawson played rebel fighter pilot Wedge Antilles in Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. The character is believed to be the only background character going against the powerful Empire that survived all three films.

It has been more than six years since McGregor donned his Jedi robe in Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith, but he still knows how to brandish a lightsaber. Watch below as he demonstrates his skills on the British talker using toy lightsabers worth more than $200 dollars.

McGregor is currently on screens opposite Christopher Plummer in Beginners, Mike Mills' film about a man who learns that his father is gay after his mother's death.