Alexa Davalos
Davalos in 2010, photo by PrPhotos
Birth Name: Alexa Davalos Dunas
Place of Birth: Paris, France
Date of Birth: May 28, 1982
Ethnicity:
*father – Ashkenazi Jewish
*mother – Spanish, Finnish, Dutch-Indonesian, distant Swedish
Alexa Davalos is an American actress. She has had leading roles in The Mist, Defiance, and Clash of the Titans, and on the series FBI: Most Wanted.
She was born in Paris, France, to American parents, photographer Jeff Dunas and actress Elyssa Davalos. Her grandfather was actor Richard Davalos and her aunt is rock singer and bass player Dominique Davalos. She was raised in France, Italy, and New York, U.S. Alexa is married to actor Josh Stewart.
Alexa’s father is from a Jewish family, from Russia and Lithuania. Alexa’s maternal grandfather had Spanish, Finnish, and distant Swedish, ancestry. Alexa’s maternal grandmother is Dutch-Indonesian.
Alexa has said:
I was raised without much religion, to be honest… [my parents] were traveling around like mad and took me everywhere, so we didn’t celebrate traditionally. When I was very young, about 7, we came to Los Angeles from France for a brief time and my parents enrolled me in school at Temple Emanuel and I learned Hebrew. I do remember it had an impact on me. I’ve always felt a connection to [Judaism].
Alexa’s paternal grandfather is Ronald Sanders Dunas (the son of Joseph Charles Dunas and Beatrice Sanders). Ronald was born in Illinois. Joseph was born in Illinois, to Cassel/Charles Dunas and Tillie Kurtzon, who were Jewish emigrants, Cassel evidently from Russia and Tillie from Lithuania. Beatrice was born in Illinois, to Russian Jewish parents, Emile M. Sanders and Marie Massover.
Alexa’s paternal grandmother was Romelle Barbara Gross (the daughter of Jacob/John Charles Gross and Dorothy/Dora Zagon). Romelle was born in Illinois. Jacob was born in New York, and was also Jewish. Dorothy was born in Chicago, the daughter of Hyman Zagon and Rose Lurie, who were Russian Jewish immigrants.
Alexa’s maternal grandfather was named Richard Davalos (Richard Norman Davalos, the son of Liisi/Lucy Maria Grönman). Richard was an actor. He was born in New York City. Liisi was born in New York, to Finnish parents, Waino/Väinö Botvid Villehardsson/Willehardinpoika Grönman, from Kaasmarkku, Ulvila, and Fanny Maria Johanintytär Rothman, from Murtamo, Laukola, Lappi. Liisi also had distant Finland-Swedish ancestry.
Alexa’s maternal grandmother is dancer and actress Ellen Davalos (born Ellen Hedwig van der Hoeven). Ellen was born in the Netherlands, and is said to be of Dutch-Indonesian ancestry. She may have been the daughter of Maximillian Alexander van der Hoeven and Adele Lugten.
Sources: Genealogy of Alexa Davalos – https://www.geni.com
Genealogy of some of Alexa’s father’s family – http://63.227.221.225:8080
Alexa’s paternal grandfather, Ronald Sanders Dunas, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Alexa’s paternal great-grandfather, Joseph Charles Dunas, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Alexa’s paternal great-grandmother, Beatrice Sanders, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Alexa’s paternal great-grandmother, Dorothy/Dora Zagon, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Obituary of Alexa’s maternal grandfather, Richard Norman Davalos – http://www.telegraph.co.uk
Genealogy of Alexa’s maternal great-grandmother, Liisi/Lucy Maria Grönman – https://www.geni.com
Beautiful woman and great actress! She was amazing in The Man in the High Castle, too bad they screw up the show after season 2… And she definitely has some east asian admixture, but it must be something between 12-15%, her eyes are really the only asian-like feature she has(but people that are over 95% euro Dna also can have those eyes, it’s no big indicator of considerable admixture). Her overall apperience is very much in the caucasoid spectrum, and is possible that her eyes is due to a combination of her Ashkenazi Jewish half and a distant East Asian ances
*is possible that the shape of her eyes is due to a combination of her Ashkenazi Jewish half and a distant East Asian ancestry
*pretty much everything aside from her eyes is caucasian, especially her nose, lips, hair texture, facial bone structure, etc…
Small typos REALLY don’t need multiple corrections.
sorry i dont mean to upset anyone im just trying to get my point across as clearly as possible to not be misunderstood
You don’t need to apologize to the trolls @jonasbttencourt. some people like to police how many consecutive comments are allowed on a thread because they have nothing better to do with their lives.
‘The wife of Dick Davalos of The Americans, Ellen is a Dutch-Indonesian girl who did some dancing on Broadway in “The King and I” and “Flower Drum Song.” ‘
-The Atlanta Constitution, March 15, 1961
A few websites claim Ellen was the daughter of Maximillian Alexander van der Hoeven and Adele Lugten.
Richard Davalos was the son of Liisi/Lucy Maria Grönman. Liisi was born in New York to Finnish parents, Waino Grönman and Fanny Maria Rothman.
https://www.geni.com/people/Lucy/6000000067414361849
Finally!
Grönman and Rothman are not Finnish last names
Agree with you.
They are of Germanic origin (Finnish tongue belongs to another language family). But at least the first one is quite common in Finland.
Is there any information on Richard’s father or his parental grandparents? I personally can’t find anything. I think his surname may have been spelled with an accented “a”: “Dávalos”.
Is it certain Ellen is just Dutch? She looks kinda Asian.
When I saw that you had commented, I though you’d found Richard Davalos’ ancestry! It’s strange, he really is a ghost. Maybe he was born with a different name.
Do you have a picture of Ellen? The only thing we have on her is this immigration record:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:24T1-J5C
I guess it’s possible she had Indonesian ancestry, like many Dutch people.
I can’t post private social media accounts.
Richard was deffinitely born as Richard Norman Davalos in New York in 1930. He’s on the NY birth index. But I can’t find any mention of his parents nor any other mention of him.
There’s a Richard Davalos who died in NY in 1936, but I can’t find him on census either. I tried Davalos, Dovalos, Dovolos, and a few others, and no dice.
I can’t find that birth record. It’s weird that no one has found him on the 1940 census.
It’s not on familysearch. It’s on ancestry.com.
I suspect that the name is misspelled and that’s why we can’t find him. I’ll try again later with ancestry, since their search engine is better.
3 years late, but I’ve seen the record for the “Richard Davalos” who died in 1936 that you’re mentioning. He was born in the Bronx but in 1912. The record stated that that 1912 “Richard Davalos” was born to parents from Mexico. If there’s a possibility that the man is Richard Norman Davalos’ father (and by extension Alexa’s paternal-great grandfather) or maybe uncle, then that would mean that Richard was actually of half Mexican (of Spanish and possibly some degree of Amerindian) and half Finnish/distant Swedish. descent. Though it also stated that his marital status was “single”, so IDK.
Opps, I meant one of Alexa’s possible maternal great-grandfathers or maybe great-uncle or whatever.
”Davalos was born and reared in New York. After high school he did a hitch with the Navy, then entered Martha Graham’s modern ballet school. It was there he met his wife, a Eurasian girl. “Ellen is lovely,” he said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a well – thumbed wallet. “That’s Elien and these are our daughters. Elyssa is 10 and Dominique is 2. The older one has her mother’s features and my coloring. Dominique has my features and her mother’s coloring. ”
Tucson Daily Citizen, April 6, 1967
Richard Davalos was married to Ellen Hedwig van der Hoeven, an actress and dancer, who was Dutch-born. Is there any evidence that he was married twice or that Ellen and Miriam wasn’t the same person? I can’t find anything about a relationship to a “Miriam”, only about that with Ellen.
“By his marriage to the dancer Ellen van der Hoeven he had two daughters.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2016/06/02/richard-davalos-actor–obituary/