Jacob Kogan

Jacob Kogan – “Star Trek” DVD Los Angeles Release Party – Arrivals – Griffith Observatory – Los Angeles, CA, USA, 2009 – Keywords: DVD and Blue-ray release party of Star Trek at the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles – 0 – – Photo Credit: Carla Van Wagoner / PR Photos

Birth Name: Jacob Pavlovich Kogan

Place of Birth: New York City, New York, U.S.

Date of Birth: May 28, 1995

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish, as well as possibly one eighth ethnic Russian

Jacob Kogan is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the films Joshua (2007), Wherever You Are, and, as Young Spock, Star Trek (2009), and on television’s Wonder Showzen, Delocated, and The Tomorrow People.

He is the son of Deborah Copaken Kogan, an author and photojournalist, and Paul Kogan, who was a child actor. His mother, who is American, is Ashkenazi Jewish; from a family from Ukraine, Russia, Romania, Lithuania, and Austria. His father is a Russian immigrant of either mostly or entirely Jewish background.

Jacob’s paternal grandfather was named Pavel Sokolov. Pavel’s mother was Jewish; it is not clear if Pavel’s father was of ethnically Russian descent, or possibly Jewish.

Jacob’s paternal grandmother was named Rachel Kogan. Rachel was Russian Jewish.

Jacob’s maternal grandfather was Richard Daniel Copaken (the son of Albert Copaken and Sylvia Wienshienk). Richard was born in Missouri, and was a White House Fellow, and lawyer. Albert was born in Guberniya, Ukraine, the son of Morris Copaken/Kopeykin and Sarah Gettel Keirman/Cherman. Sylvia was born in Missouri, the daughter of Charles Wienshienk, who was born in Kotezan, Romania, and to Rebecca Schultz/Shieltz, who was born in Vilna, Lithuania.

Jacob’s maternal grandmother is Marjorie Ann Schwartz (the daughter of David Schwartz and Kate Livenstein Zera). David was born in Austria.

Source: Genealogy of Jacob Kogan – http://www.geni.com

6 Responses

  1. ann says:

    His father 3/4 Jewish and 1/4 Russian. They started that Jacob’s grandfather Pavel Sokolov had Jewish mother and Russian father. http://www.more.com/relationships/attitudes/russia-love?page=5

    • follers says:

      I was a little confused about that. They say that Pavel had a Jewish mother (whose name they don’t mention, I think?).

      But is it clear that Pavel’s father wasn’t Jewish? I couldn’t find anything about that, so I wrote that Pavel Kogan “is a Russian immigrant of either mostly or entirely Jewish background”.

      BTW, do you know anything about the ancestry of Michelle Trachtenberg? I have long been confused about that.

      • ann says:

        Paul grew up without a father, because the mother of Pavel (yes, whose name is not mentioned) was against his relationship with Rachel (and they thought that because of the large difference in the age and that she (the mother of Pavel) was anti -semitism). But in Moscow, they learned that Pavel’s mother was also Jewish, accordingly it is possible to understand that Pavel’s father Russian, because they thought that Pavel had no Jewish blood at all. And Sokolov is Russian name anyway.
        About Michelle. I do a lot of time looking for information about her roots in Russia. But all what found was that her mother Svetlana (later Lana) and that she was born in the USSR. :\

        • follers says:

          Yes, it is confusing. They thought that Pavel Sokolov was not Jewish at all, but at least his mother seems to have been Jewish; they don’t really mention the father. I added a bit more on it.

          “Sokolov” can be Jewish sometimes (i.e. Marla Sokoloff or Leon Trotsky’s first wife, Aleksandra Sokolovskaya).

          Did you find anything detailed on Mila Kunis?

          • ann says:

            Yes, that’s true. But logically, if Pavel’s father was not a Jew, and with the lastname Sokolov (which can be only Russian or Jewish), it says that he was Russian.
            Nothing new about Mila’s ancestry.

          • follers says:

            Well, I put Russian up there.

            Odeya Rush is another person with recent family from Russia (I believe her mother, Maia Grinfeld, was born there). Also Margarita Levieva.

            BTW, do you know if Maksim Chmerkovskiy’s mother is of Russian descent, or Ukrainian?

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.