Pete Davidson
Davidson at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards held at the Forum in Inglewood, USA on August 27, 2017. photo by Starfrenzy
Birth Name: Peter Davidson
Place of Birth: Staten Island, New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Birth: November 16, 1993
Ethnicity:
*father – Ashkenazi Jewish, one eighth Italian/Sicilian, more distant German, English, Scottish, and Irish
*mother – Irish (at least three quarters), Scottish, German, and English
Pete Davidson is an American comedian, actor, writer, and producer. He was a cast member on the show Saturday Night Live. His roles include the films Set It Up, Big Time Adolescence, The Dirt (2019), The Jesus Rolls, The King of Staten Island, which he also co-wrote, The Suicide Squad (2021), Bodies Bodies Bodies, Marmaduke (2022), Meet Cute, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and television’s Wild ‘n Out, Guy Code, The Freak Brothers, and Bupkis, the latter of which he also wrote for.
Pete is the son of Amy (Waters) and Scott Davidson (Scott Matthew Davidson). Pete’s father, a firefighter, died on 9/11. He was last seen running up the stairs of the Marriott World Trade Center.
Pete’s paternal grandfather was Jewish, of Polish Jewish, Russian Jewish, and Romanian Jewish descent. Pete’s paternal grandmother is of Dutch Jewish, German Jewish, one quarter Italian/Sicilian, and German, English, Scottish, and Irish, descent; she is Christian by religion.
Pete’s mother’s roots are Irish (at least three quarters), along with Scottish, and English and German.
A picture of Pete and his father can be seen here. A picture of Pete, his sister, and his mother, can be seen here.
Pete has stated that he took a DNA test in 2017, and was surprised to find out that his DNA included:
*48% Jewish
Pete was raised Catholic. Both his parents were/are Catholic by religion. He has said that he did not know of his father’s Jewish heritage before taking the test.
He has also said:
…I’m a straight white dude but for some reason I look like every other race mixed together… I use it to my advantage. I feel like as soon as people find out I’m just a white dude, I’ll start losing work. They’ll be like, “Aw, he’s not special.”
Davidson in 2015, photo by Prphotos.com
Pete’s paternal grandfather is Stephen Davidson (the son of Samuel Joseph Davidson and Florence Celia Weinstein). Stephen was born in New York, to a Jewish family. Samuel was born in New York, the son of Henry Tzvi Leon Davidson, who was born in Poland/Russia, and of Frances Fela Willenberg, who was born in Canada or Russia. Florence was the daughter of Max Weinstein, who was born in Russia, and of Fanny Falk/Folkenflick, who was born in Romania.
Pete’s paternal grandmother is Carla Kaiser (the daughter of Michael Patrick Kaiser and Edna May Rosenthal). Michael was the son of John Lawrence Kaiser, who was of German and Dutch Jewish descent, and was Christian by religion; and of Josephine Bianco, whose own parents, Melchiore/Michael Bianco/Biancaccio and Carmela Pupello, were Italian, from Bivona, Agrigenti, Sicily. Pete’s great-grandmother Edna was the daughter of Jacob Rosenthal, who was of Dutch Jewish and German Jewish descent, and of Mary/May/Mamie Young, who had German, English, Scottish, and Irish ancestry. Edna was Christian by religion.
Pete’s maternal grandfather is Peter Michael Waters (the son of Francis Joseph Waters and Mary Elizabeth Keating). Pete’s grandfather Peter was born in New York, and is of Irish ancestry. Francis was the son of James T. Waters and Mary A. O’Rourke. Pete’s great-grandmother Mary Elizabeth was the daughter of Peter M. Keating, who was born in Skerries, Dublin, Ireland, and of Margaret M. Corrigan, who was born in Robinstown, Ballivor, County Meath, Ireland.
Pete’s maternal grandmother is Rebecca A. O’Keefe (the daughter of Robert Joseph O’Keefe and Marjorie Elvira Wylam). Robert was the son of Joseph James/O. O’Keefe and Rebecca Teresa Jones, who were born in New York, both of them to Irish parents. Marjorie was the daughter of Charles Frank/Francis Wylam, who was born in Colorado, and had English and German ancestry; and of Martha Margarette Kerr, who was Scottish, from Lanarkshire.
Sources: Obituary of Pete’s father, Scott Matthew Davidson – http://www.silive.com
Interviews with Pete Davidson – http://www.providencejournal.com
http://www.nytimes.com
Genealogies of Pete Davidson – http://www.geni.com
https://gw.geneanet.org
Genealogies of Pete’s paternal great-grandparents, Michael Patrick Kaiser and Edna May (Rosenthal) Kaiser – https://www.findagrave.com
Pete’s paternal great-grandfather, Michael Patrick Kaiser, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Pete’s paternal great-great-grandfather, John Lawrence Kaiser, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Pete’s paternal great-great-great-grandparents, Adolph Kaiser and Sophie Rose, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Pete’s paternal great-great-great-grandfather, Adolph Kaiser, on the 1880 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Pete’s paternal great-grandmother, Edna May Rosenthal, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Pete’s paternal great-great-grandfather, Jacob Rosenthal, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Pete’s maternal great-grandfather, Robert Joseph O’Keefe, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Pete’s maternal great-grandmother, Marjorie Elvira Wylam, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
One DNA result up now.
How can he be 48% Jewish genetically when his father is nowhere near fully Jewish?
Was John Lawrence Kaiser’s father of non-Jewish German descent?
Question 1 – Perhaps he stated a slightly misremembered result, and the real number was, say, 44.5%. Also, genes aren’t inherited precisely, so perhaps Davidson’s grandmother inherited more of her Jewish genes than others. Additionally also, perhaps some of the Jewish DNA was from his mother, after all, since we don’t know all of her genealogy.
Question 2 – Maybe.
Some the Jewish DNA probably comes from the Sicilian ancestry. I have read about people of Sicilian descent getting some percentage of Jewish DNA in their results.
He is only 1/16 (6,25%) Italian/Sicilian
@madman
How can he be 48% Jewish geneticallywhen his father is nowhere near fully Jewish?
Because those tests aren’t as accurate as they’re claimed to be. You can find differences of over 10 percent between three different testing company results: http://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-2522-inside-shady-world-dna-testing-companies.html
Ancestry composition testing and particularly autosomal tests, are not an exact science. It’s CONSTANTLY improving. Everyone has to remember that they are testing ONE TENTH OF A PERCENT. We are 99.9% similar to any other human on earth. We are 99% genetically similar to a chimpanzee and 98% the same as a gorilla.
All of our individuality, humanity, and even the genes we inherited from neanderthals, lies in the proverbial tip of our genetic strands.
When any company or test tells you that you are 70% of any one particular ethnic group, they are actually telling you this.
7 one thousandths of your dna can be traced back to a certain gigantic areas on the globe, in the last 500 years, based on people’s personal accounts of where they think their all four of grandparents lived, because that’s the only data pool they accept, individuals who believe all four of their grandparents are from only one particular region.
Of all the genetic studies done on any particular ethnic group, the studies on Ashkenazi Jews have been the most exhaustive, they have the largest sample pools, due to various reason. Anyway, when an individual has results stating they have Ashkenazi heritage, especially when it over the level of what could be considered genetic noise 1% or less, it’s fair to assume that its quite likely in the last 500 years, you have Ashkenazi admixture in your family tree.
That doesn’t even mean which ever individual that brought the admixture to your family tree was 100% Jewish. They themselves could have been 1/32 Jewish. Then it just trickled down to you cutting cut in half with every passing generation. Or it could have been a few individuals that all had fractions of Jewish heritage, and it still ended up in your genetic makeup. This is true for EVERY ethnic background.
Then you have to take into account that genetic markers are not handed down in perfectly sliced, cookie cutter, equal halves. That’s the nature of genetic recombination, which is how DNA is passed to offspring. Sometimes you get more dna influence from one parent than from the other, not much, tenths of tenths of a percent, but its still enough to mess with the numbers of an autosomal test.
As for accuracy of the major testing companies, I have read hundreds of reviews and first hand accounts of the results of said tests. The only major one I put merit in based what I’ve read is 23andme. The others vary too much for me to considered them worthy of recommendation. I have read reviews to the contrary, but not in the high frequency that the others have been reviewed poorly. Not only that, but I suspect the other companies sometimes tamper with results, and they certainly over estimate certain ethnicities when compiling the composition overall.
A person could always take tests from several companies and average out the results themselves, to get the most accurate representation of the current science. Or you could wait several years for the data pools to grow and therefore the science should be more exacting than it is now.
I’ve never seen a reslut that varies that much. And especially with Jewish people they seem pretty precise in determining how much Jewish they are. But I’ll admit, I don’t know much about these tests or about how they work.
Bet it was Ancestry.com. They over blow estimations the worst.
Pete’s paternal grandfather was Jewish, of Polish Jewish, Russian Jewish, and Romanian Jewish descent. Pete’s paternal grandmother is of Dutch Jewish, German Jewish, one quarter Italian/Sicilian, and German, English, Scottish, and Irish, descent.
So, Pete’s father was 100% Jewish, at least according to tradition, whether he practiced the religion or not. So, that would make half Jewish. Judaism is passed down matrilineally. So, anyone with a Jewish mother also has irrevocable Jewish status and even if they converted to another religion, that person would still be considered Jewish by Jewish Law. So, therefore, Pete’s dad was Jewish and had such strong Jewish descent on both his maternal and paternal sides, Pete’s DNA is nearly 50% Jewish.
he looks like alessia cara
He looks slightly black actually.
Hips lips could just be Jewish traits.
He looks more Ashkenazi Jewish than 1/3 Imho.
I’m actually surprised by his ethnicity. I also had no idea his father died on 9/11.
Ethnic, is there a picture, anywhere? This page seems to get a lot of hits on Saturday nights.
I suppose its because he is quite a new face that there aren’t many stock photos of him. He has a very peculiar look but great talent.