Jordana Brewster

Brewster in 2011, photo by Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Place of Birth: Panama City, Panama

Date of Birth: April 26, 1980

Ethnicity:
*father – English, some Scottish and Irish
*mother – Portuguese-Brazilian

Jordana Brewster is an American actress and model. She is known for starring as Mia Toretto in The Fast and the Furious universe, the sister of Vin Diesel and John Cena’s characters; and for her roles in the films The Faculty, The Invisible Circus, D.E.B.S., Nearing Grace, Annapolis, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning, American Heist, Home Sweet Hell, Random Acts of Violence, Hooking Up, Simulant, and On Our Way, and on television’s As the World Turns, Dallas, American Crime Story, Secrets and Lies, and Lethal Weapon.

Jordana was born in Panama City, Panama, grew up in London, England and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, until the age of ten, and then moved to New York City. Her father, Alden Brewster, is an American-born investment banker, and has English, and some Scottish and Irish, ancestry. Her mother, Maria João Leão de Sousa, is Brazilian, and was a Sports Illustrated cover model. She is of Portuguese ancestry. A picture of her parents can be seen here. Jordana’s grandfather, Kingman Brewster, Jr., was an educator and diplomat, who was President of Yale University and U.S. Ambassador to the U.K.

Jordana talked about her Brazilian heritage in an interview with Craig Ferguson. Jordana is married to Mason Morfit, who is the CEO of ValueAct Capital. She has two children with her former husband, producer Andrew Form. Her sister, Isabella, was married to professional basketball player Baron Davis.

Jordana’s paternal grandfather was Kingman Brewster, Jr. (the son of Kingman Brewster and Florence Foster Besse). Jordana’s grandfather Kingman was born in Longmeadow, Hampden, Massachusetts, and served as the 8th Provost of Yale University, from 1960 to 1963, President of Yale University, from 1963 to 1977, U.S. Ambassador to the U.K., from June 3, 1977 to February 23, 1981, and Master of University College, Oxford, from 1986 to 1988. Jordana’s great-grandfather Kingman was the son of Charles Kingman Brewster and Celina Sophia Baldwin. Florence was the daughter of Lyman Waterman Besse and Henrietta Louisa Seger/Segee, who was born in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick, Canada, to American parents, from Massachusetts, her father from Wareham, Plymouth and her mother from Falmouth, Barnstable.

Jordana’s paternal grandmother was Mary Louise Phillips (the daughter of Eugene James Phillips and Mary L. Griffin). Jordana’s grandmother Mary Louise was born in Providence, Providence Co., Rhode Island. Eugene was the son of Riley E. Phillips, who was born in Connecticut, and of Frances L., who was Scottish. Jordana’s great-grandmother Mary L. was the daughter of John H. Griffin, whose parents were Irish, and of Kate.

Jordana’s maternal grandfather was Fernando Manuel Ramos de Sousa (the son of Anibal Marques de Sousa and Aurora da Silva Ramos). Fernando was born in Lisbon, Portugal.

Jordana’s maternal grandmother was Marieta Correia Leão (the daughter of Alfredo Artur Leão and Carminda Reis Correia). Marieta was born in Cascais, Portugal. Alfredo was born in Vila Real, the son of Albertina de Jesus. Carminda was born in Cascais, the daughter of João Raimundo Esteves Correia and Mariana dos Reis.

Jordana’s patrilineal line traces to William Brewster (c. 1566-1644), a Mayflower passenger and noted Pilgrim. Among many of William’s other descendants are actors Paget Brewster, Austin Butler, Chevy Chase, Taylor Lautner, Seth MacFarlane, and Elisabeth Shue, actors and models Noah Mills and Brandon Routh, singer Buffy Sainte-Marie, soccer player Clint Dempsey, Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, U.S. Vice President Nelson Rockefeller, and Governor of Arkansas Winthrop Rockefeller. Branches of Jordana’s family have been in the United States, and, specifically, in New England, since the 1600s.

Sources: Genealogies of Jordana Brewster (focusing on her father’s side) – https://www.geni.com
http://famouskin.com

Jordana’s paternal grandmother, Mary Louise Phillips, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Immigration record of Jordana’s maternal grandfather, Fernando Manuel Ramos de Sousa – https://www.familysearch.org

Immigration record of Jordana’s maternal grandmother, Marieta Correia Leão – https://www.familysearch.org

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

92 Responses

  1. Lee says:

    Even Irish fair skin can be traced to India and the Middle East.

  2. passingtime85 says:

    Get a DNA test. I suggest 23andme, AncestryDNA has too much variance in their accuracy.

  3. bablah says:

    Her sister Isabella is married to former basketball player Baron Davis.

  4. Connerfromvine says:

    Her eyebrows basically touch her eyes. Theres like no space between.

  5. me says:

    I’m brazilian,and I think she has some african and indigenous ancestry, but she looks mostly white,she looks portuguese.

    • Ardor says:

      Yes. She’s mostly European (say 80%), but she does have indigenous ancestry (20%). Which makes her really beautiful.

      • danishcookie7 says:

        It’s possible she might have african too. Brazil has one of the highest black populations in Latin America if I’m not mistaken. One of my brazilian friends is a german brazilian with his family being there for over 10 generations but even he has an Afro Brazilian great grandmother that one of his german brazilian grandparents mated with.

        • Lee says:

          Race is a FALSE concept. An average European is a lot more related to an Azerbaijan or a Lebanese than he/she is to a Mongolian or an Ethiopian. Haplogroups that Europeans carry originated in the Middle East/West Asia, Anatolia and South Caucasus and there’s PLENTY of evidence. For instance, Semitic is a group of language it’s not a race of its a race then Scandinavians and Germanic tribes would also be Semitic! Genetically the middle eastern haplogroup J is the Scandinavian haplogroup I sibling their ancestor is called IJ both siblings lived and mixed together until they separated J migrated to the Middle East and I migrated to Scandinavia and you can check for yourself.

        • Lee says:

          The Levantine Neolithic population that contributed heavily to the modern Arabs had Basal Eurasian ancestry (also present in reasonably high proportions in modern Europe) and a so-called Unknown Hunter-Gatherer (UHG) that was clearly related to the Western Hunter-Gatherers (WHG) that once dominated Europe after the Last Glacial Maximum and until the Neolithic Era (and still contribute to 10% to 25% of the genetic makeup of the modern Europeans, depending on the subregion).

          Arabs of the North Levant & North Mesopotamia region (Syria, North Iraq, Lebanon, even some Palestinian and Jordanians) may look particularly closer to some Europeans. That’s because they have less North African and Subsaharan African admixtures in their DNA ancestry in comparison with North Africans and Southwest Asians (Arabians and most South Levantines).

          They also have, compared to other Arab/Arabized peoples, higher proportions of some of the ancient genetic admixtures shared with Europeans, mainly Caucasian and Anatolian Neolithic ancestral components, both of which contributed heavily to make modern Europeans what they are. On the other hand, all West Asians and, less so, North Africans also have high amounts of Iranian Neolithic ancestry, which is also present in Europe, particularly in parts of Southern Europe like Greece and South Italy.

        • Lee says:

          Middle easterners are the originators of light skin due to ancient migration from the middle east to europe, Europeans are Anatolian and “Caucasian” the main contributors what makes us what we are. So

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