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