starmix: 05/2010

10/05/2010

Edward Furlong

American actor Edward Walter Furlong is of Mexican, Russian and Native American descent.

Jack Dempsey

American boxer who held the world heavyweight title from 1919 to 1926, Jack Dempsey was of Irish and Cherokee descent.

André 3000

American performer André Lauren Benjamin is of African American and Native American descent.

Kevin Costner

American actor and director Kevin Michael Costner has German, Irish and Cherokee ancestry.

Charisma Carpenter

Best known as Cordelia in Buffy the Vampire Slayer, American actress Charisma Lee Carpenter is of Cherokee, Irish, Scottish, Spanish, French and German descent.

Ben Harper

Grammy Award winning singer songwriter Benjamin Chase Harper is of African American, Cherokee and Jewish descent.

Tori Amos

American singer Tori Amos is of European and Eastern Cherokee ancestry.

Lena Horne

American actress, singer and dancer Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was born in Brooklyn. Both sides of her family are of African, European, and Native American descent.

Dolly Parton

Iconic country singer Dolly Rebecca Parton is of Dutch, Irish and Cherokee descent.

Eric Bana

Australian actor, born Eric Banadinović, to a Croatian father and German mother.

Mixed Race/Culture

"The 2001 National Census revealed Mixed Race as the third largest and fastest growing ethnic minority group in the UK."
"In 2000, the US National Census revealed that there were nearly 7 million multiracial people living in the country. Mixed-race children under 18 make up the fastest-growing segment of the population."

From Elvis to Barack Obama, this is a light-hearted celebration of well-known people/celebrities who are, racially or culturally, of mixed heritage. I've left out people who are a mix of any of the Western European countries and American (such as Viggo Mortensen who is half American, half Danish) and people who are a mix of any nationality, but all of them Jewish (such as Natalie Portman - both her parents are Jewish even though they are of Austrian/Russian and Polish/Romanian descent respectively). Had to draw the line somewhere!