Vanilla Ice
photo by Prphotosm
Birth Name: Robert Matthew Van Winkle
Place of Birth: Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Date of Birth: October 31, 1967
Ethnicity: English, German, other
Vanilla Ice is an American rapper, actor, and television host. He is known for his 1989 hit “Ice Ice Baby.”
Vanilla is the son of Camilla Beth (Dickerson). He has said that William Basil Van Winkle, whose surname he carries and who was married to his mother at the time of Vanilla’s birth, is not his biological father.
On his mother’s side, he has English and German ancestry.
Vanilla has said that his grandmother was of “full Choctaw” (Native American) descent. It is not clear if Vanilla’s Choctaw Native American ancestry has been verified/documented. Members of the Choctaw Nation have examined his ancestry, and did not discover Native American antecedents.
Vanilla has three children, including two with his former wife Laura Giaritta.
Vanilla’s maternal grandfather was Odis Glenn Dickerson (the son of Zebidee D. Dickerson and Annie Mae Casteel). Odis was born in Texas. Zebidee was the son of William Washington Dickerson and Nancy M. Pitt. Annie was the daughter of Obediah Franklin Casteel, Jr. and Sarah Mae Lane.
Vanilla’s maternal grandmother was Nina Margaret Roth (the daughter of William J./Harold Roth and Ida Clara Eberline). Nina was born in Kansas. William was the son of Jacob Roth, who was born in Pennsylvania, to German parents, and of Edith Howe, who was German. Ida was the daughter of Ferdinand Robert Henry Eberline, who was born in Meiningen, Thüringen, Germany, and of Nancy Caroline Reynolds.
Sources: Genealogies of Vanilla Ice – http://www.wargs.com
http://www.geni.com
You can see the English Anglo Saxon influence in his nose ‘cleft’. I can see a tiny bit of Scandinavian influence to his skull shape too. I see ancestors with ‘son’ names so yes. No doubt there’s some there.
Vanilla Ice now said his biological father could be the Choctaw Indian and he’s known to perform in the OK Choctaw Nation casinos, but I don’t find an update of any possible Choctaw heritage, but why would a *German* grandmother claim to be one?
He has Dutch ancestry.
Van Winkle? Hello.
He has said that William Basil Van Winkle is not his biological father.