Celebs You Didn't Know Were Multiracial

[Deleted]

Re: Phoebe Cates being part Filipino... she is also part Jewish.

Her father's name was originally Katz and all names that are similiar sounding such as James Caan, Coen (as in the Coen Brothers), Dyan Cannon, Madeline Kahn came from the original... which is Cohen (meaning "priest").

[Deleted]

Isn't Vanna White 1/2 Mexican? I thought I heard that somewhere...

[veronicamars]

She is and from I have gleaned, she has tried to obscure that fact.

What is Paula Abdul?

[messageunit]

Re: Phoebe Cates being part Filipino... she is also part Jewish.

Her father's name was originally Katz

Does it count as part Jewish if it's on your father's side? I thought Jewish descent was matrilineal.

[hillbillylover]

I thought Jewish descent was matrilineal.

I thought so too. But her hubby Kevin Kline is considered by many people to be Jewish because of his surname, despite the fact that he was brought up as a Roman Catholic.

[materialgirl]

veronicamars said:

What is Paula Abdul?

According to the IMDB, her dad is a Sephardic Jew from Syria. Her mother is also Jewish (from Canada), no specific ethnicity mentioned.

[Deleted]

Does it count as part Jewish if it's on your father's side? I thought Jewish descent was matrilineal.

Jewish law dictates the mother must be Jewish but a person can still be "part" Jewish...

Re: Phoebe Cates... Her mom may have converted so she would be technically Jewish or maybe she was just raised Jewish, without "technically" being so, the same way that Gwyneth Paltrow considers herself Jewish because of the way she was raised. I don't think her mom, Blyth Danner, converted.

But her hubby Kevin Kline is considered by many people to be Jewish because of his surname, despite the fact that he was brought up as a Roman Catholic.

Kevin Kline had a Jewish father (Jewish surname) but maybe he was raised what his mom was... which was Catholic.

[veronicamars]

Jewish isn't a race, it's an ethnicity, so being Jewish doesn't make you multiracial.

Loretta Lynn's grandpa was Cherokee.

[jollityfarm]

I am sure I have read that Mariah Carey's father is black, although my mum refused to believe it when I told her. Still, genetics can be a funny thing, and mixed race families can turn up great varieties in the skin colour of their children (such as one black twin and one white twin, which is very rare but has happened).

I have seen pictures of Vin Diesel as a youth, and he certainly had an afro. But I've also heard that he has some Puerto Rican ancestry somewhere (or something similar). My memory is v. hazy on that.

[sueli769]

JollityFarm said:

...Still, genetics can be a funny thing, and mixed race families can turn up great varieties in the skin colour of their children (such as one black twin and one white twin, which is very rare but has happened).

I have seen pictures of Vin Diesel as a youth, and he certainly had an afro. But I've also heard that he has some Puerto Rican ancestry somewhere (or something similar). My memory is v. hazy on that.

Diesel's twin brother is also a blue-eyed blond.