Real life 'Lion'! Academy Award-winning British actress Olivia Colman finds her roots in Kishanganj, Bihar

British actress Olivia Colman, on Sunday, bagged Best Actress in A Leading Role Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Anne in Yorgis Lanthimos’s 'The Favourite'. 

Interestingly, a few months before her Oscar win, it was revealed that the actress has an Indian connection: in the form of an ancestor who was born in the subcontinent. On Season 15 of the British documentary show 'Who Do You Think You Are?', Olivia travelled to India to find her roots  

She was left quite surprised on learning that her family, that she thought 'have never lived anywhere but Norfolk (England)' have a link to India. Kishanganj (in Bihar, India), Ms Colman learnt, was where her great-great-great grandmother Harriot was born in the early 1800s, when the East India Company held sway. 

"It's very mystery at the moment. The thought that my family has lived here is amazing," she says in the video, published in September 2018.

Watch the full episode here:

 
“I’m so much more interesting than I thought I was... I hadn’t got a clue that India played any part of my family,” she adds.