Abigail Breslin
Breslin in 2011, photo by PR Photos
Birth Name: Abigail Kathleen Breslin
Place of Birth: New York City, New York, U.S.
Date of Birth: April 14, 1996
Ethnicity: Irish, as well as English, German, one quarter Ashkenazi Jewish
Abigail Breslin is an American actress and singer. Her roles include Little Miss Sunshine, Definitely, Maybe, Nim’s Island, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, My Sister’s Keeper, Scream Queens, Stillwater, and the Zombieland films.
Abigail is the first person born in the 1990s to have been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress (for Little Miss Sunshine, 2006).
Abigail is the daughter of Kim and Michael Breslin. Her father was of half Irish and half Austrian Jewish descent. Abigail’s mother has Irish, English, and German ancestry. Her brother is actor Spencer Breslin. Abigail is married to investor Ira Kunyansky. Ira is of Ukrainian Jewish origin.
Abigail’s paternal grandfather was named Charles Patrick Breslin. Charles was Irish.
Abigail’s paternal grandmother was named Shirley Seidel (the daughter of Meyer Seidel and Rosie/Rose). Shirley was born in New York, to Austrian Jewish parents. Meyer was the son of Abraham Seidel and Sarah Cohen.
Abigail’s maternal grandfather was Lawrence Alfred Walsh (the son of Lawrence A. Walsh and Mildred H. Duffy). Abigail’s grandfather Lawrence was born in New Jersey. Mildred was the daughter of Joseph Duffy and Maud, who was Irish.
Abigail’s maternal grandmother was Catherine/Barbara L. Strickler/Stricker (the daughter of Edward Bernard Stricker and Margaret LoVille Safford/Stafford). Catherine was born in Washington. Edward was born in Washington, to German parents, George Arnold Stricker and Elizabeth Elise Steingrover. Margaret was the daughter of Sanford Duane Safford and Maud Lillian Combs.
Sources: Death record of Abigail’s paternal great-grandfather, Meyer Seidel – https://familysearch.org
Genealogy of Abigail Breslin (focusing on her mother’s side) – https://www.geni.com
Obituary of Abigail’s maternal grandmother, Catherine/Barbara L. (Strickler/Stricker) Walsh Blecker – http://www.spokesman.com
Walsh is not an Irish surname at all – in English ir means ‘Briton’ and was brought over to Ireland by Welsh and Northern English settlers
If you go back far enough a lot of names are from some other place especially in areas like the British Isles. All people with the name Walsh are Irish because that is where the name was first used. It is similar to Wallace and came over to Ireland with the Normans. The Normans in Ireland were mostly Cambro-Normans so there is a Welsh connection. Do you know how many Irish people have this name? It is the 4th most common name in Ireland.
I just knew her as a little girl … (“Little Miss Sunshine”, of course) That’s an … astonishing development … *sigh*
The New York Post claims that Abigail is “half Jewish”. I don’t think this is accurate.
http://nypost.com/2013/12/21/stop-telling-abigail-breslin-shes-all-grown-up/
Her parents are Michael Breslin and Kim Walsh, both of Irish heritage.
Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/ent/How-Irish-ancestry-links-Demi-Lovato-Megan-Fox-and-Olivia-Wilde—PHOTOS-213964591.html#ixzz2poU42vcR
Follow us: @IrishCentral on Twitter | IrishCentral on Facebook
I don’t know how accurate the nypost article is as both her parents have Irish names.
Irishcentral got all of the information on that page from Wikipedia, the IMDB, and possibly even ethnicelebs, at this point. It even says that Drew Barrymore has “Irish roots on both her Father and Mother’s sides” which is clearly false and means they can’t even copy those websites correctly. Unless they give more detail, I wouldn’t put any trust in them.
Having said that, I, too, don’t think the NY Post is accurate (precisely for the reason I just stated, although I don’t think they copied the “half Jewish” statement from any website).
BTW, Alice, I’m curious on your take on Devon Bostick. I know you couldn’t believe Noah Ringer was entirely white, so what do you think about Bostick? He looks less “white” to me than Ringer.
I agree Irish Central is not a very accurate site. It’s quite possible Abigail has Jewish ancestry. I was just interested that her mother’s name is Walsh which is an Irish name and if Abigail is half Jewish I would have thought her mother’s name would show some indication of that.
Re Devon Bostick yes if someone said he had some non-European ancestry it would be quite believable but as is the case with Noah some people look different than the majority. I’m constantly learning and accepting that people can have quite a broad range of looks. You can only go on their “paper” ancestry but a dna test would really clear things up.
I saw an obituary of her maternal grandfather, Lawrence A. Walsh, and I think her mother’s side is even less likely to be Jewish than her father’s side.
Unlike Noah Ringer, who says he has Native American ancestry, Devon Bostick says he is just white. These are Bostick’s parents, by the way:
http://www.magweb.com/picts/actor/108071/joe_bostick.jpg
http://www.hotflick.net/pictures/006NKM_Joe_Bostick_001.html
http://www.vancouverobserver.com/sites/vancouverobserver.com/files/images/blog/body/DSC_0799.JPG
are you promoting this site? troll get away from here
lol she is just a white girl, end of story…Check out Abigail Breslin photos at: http://www.youngteenidols.com/celebrity-pictures/young-actresses-pictures/abigail-breslin-pictures/
Might have to your comments if you keep just posting links. Chris.