West Duchovny

NEW YORK – MAR 7: Duchovny with father David Duchovny attend the game between the New York Knicks and the Oklahoma City Thunder at Madison Square Garden on March 7, 2013 in New York City. Debby Wong/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Madelaine West Duchovny

Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Date of Birth: April 24, 1999

Ethnicity:
*father – half Ashkenazi Jewish, half Scottish
*mother – Polish (one quarter), 1/16th Italian, German, Irish, English, Scottish, Welsh

West Duchovny is an American actress. She is the daughter of actors David Duchovny and Téa Leoni.

West’s paternal grandfather was Amram Mayer Ducovny (the son of Moshe/Moise “Morris” Duchovny and Chany/Hannah “Julia” Fishhoff/Fiskoff). Amram was born in New York, and was a writer, and a publicist for the American Jewish Committee. Moshe likely was born in Romanivka, Berdychiv, now in Ukraine, part of the Russian Empire; and was a Yiddish-language playwright, novelist, journalist, and reporter. He was the son of Abraham/Avraham/Abraam Duchovny/Dukovny and Margolya Dobrish/Doba/Dobe “Dora” Kantor/Kantin. His family moved to Jaffa, now Israel, in 1910, and then were deported by the Ottoman Empire to Port Said, Egypt, in 1914, before settling in New York. West’s great-grandmother Julia was born in Warsaw, Poland, the daughter of Jacob/Jack S. Fishoff/Fiskoff and Esther Sterling.

West’s paternal grandmother was named Margaret M. “Meg” Miller. Margaret was born in Scotland, and was a teacher. She was Lutheran, and was raised in a small fishing village.

West’s maternal grandfather was Anthony Pantaleoni (the son of Guido Pantaleoni and Helen Tradusa “Helenka” Adamowska). Anthony was a corporate lawyer. Guido was born in Missouri. His father, Guido Pantaleoni, was born in Macerata, Marche, Italy, to an Italian father, Diomede Pantaleoni, who was in the Italian Senate; and to a British mother, Lady Jane Isabella Massy Dawson, who was of Irish descent, from Tipperary. Guido’s brother was prominent economist Maffeo Panteloni. West’s great-great-grandfather Guido’s mother, Ellen Morton Colladay, was an American, of German and British Isles descent. West’s great-grandmother Helenka Adamowska was born in Massachusetts, and was an actress and humanitarian. She co-founded the US Fund for UNICEF in 1947. She was the daughter of Polish-born musicians, Józef/Joseph Adamowski and Antonina/Antoinette Szumanowska/Szumowska.

West’s maternal grandmother is Emily Ann Patterson. Emily was a dietician and nutritionist. She was adopted by Texas natives, Virgil Pearson Patterson and Florry Elizabeth Roberts. On the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2017), West’s mother discovered the identities of her biological maternal grandparents, through a combination of DNA testing and genealogical research. West’s grandmother was the biological daughter of Sumpter James Daniel and Abilene “Abbie” Gindratt. Sumpter was the son of Sumpter S. Daniel and Lottie/Loddie S. Hayes. Abilene was the daughter of Henry I. Gindratt and Ruth Irene Franklin. West’s five times great-grandfather was evidently John Gindrat, an early mayor of Montgomery, Alabama. West’s biological great-grandparents likely met while they were working in the small town Elizabeth, Texas.

A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2023) stated that West’s father’s genetic ancestry is:

*50% Ashkenazi Jewish
*50% Scottish

Sources: https://lareviewofbooks.org

Genealogy of West Duchovny – https://www.geni.com

Interviews with West’s father – http://duchovny.net
http://gothamist.com

Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak on the birthplace of West’s paternal great-grandfather, Moshe/Moise “Morris” Duchovny – http://www.huffingtonpost.com

West’s maternal great-great-grandfather, Guido Pantaleoni – http://www.findagrave.com

West’s maternal great-great-grandparents, Józef/Joseph Adamowski and Antonina/Antoinette Szumanowska/Szumowska, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org