María Canals-Barrera

Canals-Barrera in 2015, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: María Pilar Canals

Place of Birth: Miami, Florida, U.S.

Date of Birth: September 28, 1966

Ethnicity: Cuban [Catalan, possibly other]

María Canals-Barrera, also known as María Canals and Maria Canals Barrera, is an American actress. She played Theresa on the show Wizards of Waverly Place, and co-starred in the Camp Rock films and Larry Crowne.

María’s parents are Cuban. She has said that she is proud of her Cuban background, and is able to speak Spanish. She has also stated that she is of Catalan descent. She is married to actor David Barrera, with whom she has two children. A picture of her parents can be seen here.

ethnic

Curious about ethnicity

25 Responses

  1. andrew says:

    she is 100% Iberian I think.

  2. Daron says:

    Catalan people are 100% European. They have no Arab ancestry in them. Plus Catalans live in Northern Spain. Arab Muslims lived in southern Spain up until the 17th century when they were ethnicity cleansed. Spain eradicated 99% of there Muslim population at that time.

    • Anto says:

      what are you even on about, the Berbers literally made it to France, they obviously made it to Catalonia, that doesn’t mean every Catalan has Arab admixture, but some do.

  3. Hope Moretti says:

    I knew this cus today i was watching wizards of weverly place and she spoke spanish and i heard her accent. that cuban accent man.

  4. Sabrina says:

    Cuba is located in the Caribbean and therefore is the crossroads of the world. The people living there could be descended of one or many mixed races/ethnicities. There were a lot of Chinese, Filipino, Jewish, German, African, Spanish, Italian, etc. people on the island as well as the original native indians (Arawak or Taino or Carib or something). I hate when people say that Cuba is a black country…because not everyone who is from there is black or ascribes to black culture. However, there are a lot of black Cubans who have almost 100% African ancestry as well as mixed Cubans with lineage in Africa. I think the difference between Cuba and America is that we either acknowledge as a whole or it is very obvious that a lot of our mainstream culture has been influenced not by just Europeans but Africans. Santeria, the preservation of the Yoruba language/folklore (from Africa), certain clothing styles, gramma/syntax in Spanish, and food preparation/types of food eaten. Not to mention salsa being a blend of African beats with some European instruments. We are a Caribbean country. But as a Caribbean country we have more European blood than let’s say Jamaica, Trinidad, Haiti, etc. I am mixed with Cuban and Italian and ironically I get mistaken for almost anything but. Ironically, Arabic. Maybe because I have mediterranean features. But at the end of the day I know who I am. It hurts because I guess people assume that for me to be Cuban I should have brown/black skin, black/mulatto features, and curly black hair. Instead I have a tan/olive skintone, light brown eyes, wavy brown hair, and somewhat slanted eyes. And believe it or not there are a lot of Cubans who are pastey white and 100% Cuban descent but they are German-Cubans or Jewish-Cubans. Cuba is a country just like America but even more of a melting pot because it’s in the Caribbean. As for Catalonians – I heard somewhere that the majority of Spanish blood came from the Canary Islands…don’t know if that’s true.

    • Caribbeangirl says:

      Cuba Don’t more european blood than some caribbeans maybe because of the populations ! The french english dutch & Portuguese peaking islands/countries but there are caribbean islands who are mainly white ! With the French English Dutch & Portuguese Caribbean islands & Countries (Amerindians,Whites,Blacks,East Indians,Asian(chinese,Japanese) Lebanese,Syrians,madeirans & Javenese So ofcourse but we are more multiracial & Cultural than you guys with more diversities :)

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