Néstor Carbonell

Carbonell in 2012, photo by Prphotos.com

Birth Name: Néstor Gastón Carbonell

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

Date of Birth: December 1, 1967

Ethnicity: Cuban [Spanish, Catalan, Basque, possibly other], distant Puerto Rican

Néstor Carbonell is an American actor, director, and screenwriter.

Néstor is the son of Rosa Ramírez de Arellano y Cárdenas and Néstor Tulio Carbonell y Cortina. His parents are Cuban, and moved to the U.S. in the 1960s. One of Néstor’s cousins is Cuban baseball player Rafael Palmeiro.

Néstor is married to Australian actress Shannon Kenny, with whom he has two children.

Néstor has said:

My parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents were born in Cuba, but my roots are Spanish. On my father’s side, Carbonell (Catalonia) y Cortina (Basque Country), and on my mother’s side, Ramírez de Arellano (Navarre) y Cardenas (Jaén). I was born in New York and I am as proud of my American nationality as of my Cuban nationality and Spanish origins. I’ve been to Spain many times and I’ve enjoyed visiting Madrid and Andalusia.

Néstor’s paternal great-grandfather was José Manuel Cortina. He was a Cuban politician, lawyer, and journalist. José was the son of Dionisio Constantino de Cortina y Arteaga, an agriculturalist, of Basque descent, and of María Luisa García y Gutiérrez, who was born in Matanzas, Cuba.

Néstor’s maternal grandfather was Gastón Ramírez de Arellano y Longa (the son of Juan Maria Ramírez de Arellano y González de Mendoza and Alice Maria “Lily” Longa y Santiago Aguirre). Juan was the son of José Maria María Ramírez de Arellano y Pedroso, whose father was born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and of María Antonia González de Mendoza y Pedroso. Alice was the daughter of Ernesto Alfonso Longa y Marquette and María Santiago-Aguirre y Loynaz.

Néstor’s maternal grandmother was Rosa María De Cárdenas y Blanco (the daughter of Raúl De Cárdenas y Echarte and Dulce María Blanco y Valdés-Rodríguez). Raúl was the son of Lic-Julio De Cárdenas y Rodríguez Dulzáides and Rosa Echarte y Alfonso. Néstor’s Cárdenas line can be traced back to a man from Baeza, Jaén, Andalusia, Spain, who moved to Cuba in the 1500s.

Sources: Genealogy of Néstor Carbonell (focusing on his mother’s side) – http://gw.geneanet.org

Genealogy of Néstor’s mother (focusing on her father’s side) – https://www.geni.com

18 Responses

  1. doublered3 says:

    He is not a person of color. he is cuban and puerto rican but not the mulatto kinds. he is the ones who are descendants of colonizers and don’t really have the right to claim cuban and puerto rican since they have no taino ancestry.

  2. andrew says:

    More depth on his maternal grandfather side: https://www.geni.com/people/Gaston-Ramirez-De-Arellano-y-Longa/6000000157467089181

    Fair amount of Basque ancestors. Similarly to other Hispanics (Garcia Bernal and Pedro Pascal), a few lines traces back to France (the town of Pau in this case).

    I think Pascal’s ancestors from Bayonne (town on Spain-France border) should count as “French-Basque”: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Basque_Country

  3. Thenabster says:

    He might have a bit of Berber

  4. andrew says:

    Nestor’s “Cárdenas” line can be traced back to a man from Baeza, Jaén, Andalusia, Spain, who moved to Cuba in the 1500s.

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