Rita Ora
Ora in 2014, photo by Prphotos
Birth Name: Rita Sahatçiu
Place of Birth: Pristina, SFR Yugoslavia (now Kosovo)
Date of Birth: 26 November, 1990
Ethnicity: Albanian
Rita Ora is a British singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her songs “R.I.P.,” “How We Do (Party),” “Your Song,” “Anywhere,” “Let You Love Me,” and, in a featured role, “Hot Right Now.”
She was born in Pristina, Yugoslavia, to a Kosovan Albanian family. She is the daughter of Vera (Bajraktari), a psychiatrist, and Besnik Sahatçiu, a pub owner. Her father is a Muslim and her mother is Catholic. Her family moved to the U.K in 1991, because of the persecution of Albanians in Kosovo, and she was raised in Notting Hill, London. Her surname, Sahatçiu, is derived from the Turkish word saatçi, which means “watchmaker.” Her family later added “Ora” to her full name; the word means “time” in Albanian. In 2015, she was named Honorary Ambassador of Kosovo.
When asked about her ethnicity in an interview, Rita stated that she is “100% from Kosovo,” here. A picture of Rita’s father can be seen here. A picture of Rita’s mother can be seen here. Rita is married to New Zealand actor and filmmaker Taika Waititi.
Rita’s paternal grandfather was Besim Sahatçiu, a film and theatre director (the son of Adem Sahatçiu and Besa). Besim was born in Pejë, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, now Kosovo.
Rita’s maternal grandfather was named Osman Bajraktari. Osman was the Albanian consul to Russia, then part of the USSR.
Ora in 2012, image via Featureflash / Shutterstock.com
What ?
He doesn’t look like a African ! Are you stupid ?
ALBANIANS are normal white like Irish, English, German…
Race: Non-Hispanics-White.
Makeup and the sun have make Rita Ora brown but naturally he is normal white.
WHILE YOU STRECH YOUR POINT SIR ,PLEASE DONT DRY TO SUPRESS THE AFRICANS OR BELITTLE THEM. YOU ARE THE STUPID ONE. HOW DO YOU THINK AFRICANS LOOK LIKE? OBAMA IS HALF AFRICAN,LOOK HOW HE TURNED UP? THATS AFRICAN DNA SO SHUT YOUR BIG MOUTH.
Mixedbeauty” please stop being a liar she has never said anything about being half black nor half Brazilian.
She has always been proud of he Kosovan heritage and stated it numerous times in interviews.Stop with the crazy excuses for Ritas ethnicity to be changed to something she is not it`is pathetic!!She is Albanian and that is the end of it.
Rita/family
http://cdn.skincaretalk.com/e/e6/e6ad31b7_tumblr_m2s3jdS2eb1r9cusho1_500.jpeg
To Sweetpea, the reason folks think that Rita has recent African ancestry is because Albanians have Mediterranean ancestry like Greeks and Southern Italians whom sometimes can resemble more mixed Afro Americans.
This is offensive to italians and Greeks.
How is that offensive? People of the Balkans (Greece, Italy, Albania etc) have similar ancestry with Y DNA haplogroup E1b1b (which originated in East Africa and left pretty early to Europe). Sometimes “high yella” Afro Americans can pass for other ethnic groups. Most Albanians are pale but some are very dark olive or look Middle Eastern.
dude, you are so confused. First Italy isn’t in the Balkans (LOL), and Greece too. Balkans is the region of former Yugoslavia. People from Southern Europe don’t look like mixed Afro-Americans, they are completely different for facial features, bone structure etc… Then Middle Eastern ppl are mostly olive skin but they are still Caucasians. About this chick, she has Albanian heritage but she doesnt look like any Albanian (just a small European nation) person. Who knows where her look comes from, for sure not from South East Europe or Middle East
To andrew, “Dude” \m/ there isn’t enough room on this site to give you a social studies lesson but the Balkans Peninsula is also known as Southeast Europe. (note: I hate wikipedia but it is great concerning geography). Yugoslavia was part of the major territories prior to 1991 but other territories include Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,Croatia, Greece, Macedonia, Montenegro,Romania,Serbia Turkey (Eastern Thrace) and yes Italy is excluded because it considered west but only small parts are included. The Balkans were part of the Muslim Ottoman Empire. The slave trade was fairly huge (look up Afro Turk) which included part of the Balkans. I did say that SOMETIMES afro americans can resemble Italians because that was how we could “pass”. The term Caucasian is really not used much scientifically anymore (even the term Negro is being cut on U.S. census). And finally Middle Easterners can be pale, olive, tan, and near ‘black” tone. Peace out.
@Memphos- Are you plain stupid or what? “Mediterranean ancestry like Greeks and Southern Italians whom sometimes can resemble more mixed Afro Americans”.
RESEMBLE MORE MIXED AFRO AMERICANS? ill remind you again, not all of you are mixed, and NOT a big percentage of african americans resemble Rita. Well the media used to lie to us alot, so we were thinking why the african americans have long hair and light skin and all.That’s mostly because you bleach yourselves, wear wigs,and go for surgeries while the africans dont normally do. Coming face to face and brushing sholders with the African Americans in Middle East i was so shocked, theres no difference between african americans and africans apart from the africans are smaller and petite, African American women having huge stomacks, damaged hair due to weaves, overweight,huge, and try to diss the africans, so unfortunate that instead of embracing the Africans, they diss them and dont want to associate themselves with them cos they feel like they are in another level ,while the whites are so friendly and nice. African Americans should accept the fact that they are not all mixed .Sorry “red arrow” me if youl ike, but the truth speaks for itself when the rest of the world reads your posts.
to Betty Boo. No disrespect but are you on medication or something. What is so great about this site is that we can debate this question of self identity that is such a hot topic in the U.S. If you can READ… I did say some more lighter skinned Afro Americans (like some that are in my own family) can resemble someone from the Balkans. Remember specially in the southern U.S. many AA would “pass” to fit in society by saying they were Italian or Cuban think…author Anatole Broyard (just look him up). Just so you know Africa is a continent not a country with quite a few varying phenotypes. Unfortunately do to stigma of enduring slavery and worldwide racism, everyone wants to people of African diaspora in a box with the phenotype (huge stomachs,weave and overweight). That is an unfair stereotype. Yeah there is a difference between Africans and AA because AA’s are American and are part of a different culture were being “black” is a social identity. Are Albanians the same phenotype wise as a Celt or a Swede just because they are “white”. People of the African diaspora have been in the Americas since the 15th century and yes we are all mixed (only if your fam has been here for more than century). A lot of us came from the Caribbean slave trade and mixed there (Taino/Arawak natives) then mixed again from the European or Native American influence. Very few humans are pure anything. All we humans are is a series of walking mutations with differences only being socially culturally not biologically. Btw, In this pic of Rita Ora she looks Puerto Rican.
@ memphis- First and foremost i want to take this opportunity to appologise for asking if you are “plain stupid or what”, this comes from the bottom of my heart. To answer your question”NO i am not medication or something” my emotions took control of me when i was reading most of this articles. I didn’t mean to disrespect. I just don’t like how africans are belittled and especially since some of the african americans themselves errace or atleast try to errac their identity even when they appear to be 90%black, they claim to be 95%white.This is so irritating. Im sorry, this is a social site and it should be a place where everyone is allowed to air their thoughts. “YES I CAN READ”, i can read better than you do FYI. It’s funny how when some people mannage to put two sentenses together all of a sudden they are the masters of reading, maybe they copy pasted from the internet . Anyways i don’t want to insult you or start an arguement with you. Lets keep peace alive. No matter how much they belittle the Africans, DNA will never lie, AFRICAN blood will always be strong. Remember the president is half African. PEACE.
Rita Ora comes from a good looking family. Look up South African, Sandra Laing (her story is on YouTube) or see the movie “Skin”. She looks like she is “mixed” African/Euro but both her parents were South African “whites”.
i swear i thought she was black lol
lol I think its kind of obvious she is mixed,,but anyway this isn’t right. I saw her on a 106 & park interview & she said she is half black & half Brazilian.
This girl doesn’t look so Black like Rihanna
Not all mediterranean are tan, go there and check in winter ¬¬, so frustrating…