Cary Elwes

Elwes in 2013, photo by Prphotos.com

Birth Name: Ivan Simon Cary Elwes

Place of Birth: Westminster, London, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 26 October, 1962

Ethnicity: English, Scottish, Irish, one eighth Ashkenazi Jewish, one eighth Serbian

Cary Elwes is a British actor, screenwriter, producer, and author. His roles include The Princess Bride, Liar Liar, and Saw, among many other films. He is the son of Dominick Elwes (Bede Evelyn Dominick Elwes), a portrait painter, and Tessa Kennedy (Tessa Georgina Kennedy), a socialite and interior designer. His brothers are producer Cassian Elwes and artist Damian Elwes. Cary is married to photographer Lisa Marie Kurbikoff, with whom he has a daughter.

Cary’s father was of English, with some Scottish, descent. Cary’s maternal grandfather had English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry, while Cary’s maternal grandmother was of half Croatian Jewish and half Serbian descent. Some of Cary’s distant ancestors were American-born.

Cary’s paternal grandfather was Simon Elwes, a war artist and society portrait painter (born Simon Edmund Vincent Paul Elwes, the son of Gervase Henry Cary-Elwes, a tenor, and of Winefride Mary Elizabeth Feilding). Simon was born in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England. Gervase was the son of Valentine Dudley Henry Cary Elwes, Esq., of Great Billing, and of Alice Geraldine Ward. Winefride was the daughter of Rudolph William Basil Feilding, 8th Earl of Denbigh, and of Mary (Berkeley) Feilding, Countess of Denbigh.

Cary’s paternal grandmother was Gloria Ellinor Rodd (the daughter of James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell, a diplomat, and of Lilias Georgina Guthrie). Gloria was born in Marylebone, London, England. James was the son of James Rennell Rodd and Elizabeth Anne Thomson. Lilias was the daughter of James Alexander Guthrie, 4th of Craigie, who was born in Dundee, Scotland, and of Ellinor Stirling.

Cary’s maternal grandfather was Geoffrey Alexander Farrer Kennedy (the son of John Macfarlane Kennedy and Dorothy Farrer). Geoffrey was born in Croydon, Surrey, England. John was the son of Sir Alexander Blackie William Kennedy, a prominent civil and electrical engineer and academic, and of Elizabeth Verralls Smith. Dorothy was the daughter of Thomas Charles Farrer and Ann Richards McLane, who was American, from New York.

Cary’s maternal grandmother was Daška/Dashka Dafina Marija Ivanović-Banac (the daughter of Ivan Rikard Mendel Kraus, later Ivan Rikard Ivanović, and of Milica Popović). Daška was the daughter of parents from Osijek, Croatia. Daška’s brother, Cary’s great-uncle, was Yugoslavian hurdler Vane Ivanović. Cary’s great-grandfather Ivan, a Croatian industrialist and politician, was the son of Ivan Mendel Kraus/Ivanović and Bettina. Cary’s great-grandfather Ivan was born to a Jewish family, that had converted to Catholicism and changed their surname from Kraus. Cary’s great-grandmother Milica was of Serbian descent, and was the daughter of Stevan Popović and Milica Bela/Bella Nikolajević. Cary’s great-grandmother Milica’s brother, Cary’s great-great-uncle, was politician Dušan A. Popović.

Sources: Genealogies of Cary Elwes – https://www.geni.com
http://thepeerage.com

Genealogy of Cary Elwes (focusing on his father’s side) – http://www.wikitree.com