Alisha Wainwright
Wainwright in 2019, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Alisha Ena Wainwright
Place of Birth: Florida, U.S.
Date of Birth: July 14, 1989
Ethnicity:
*Haitian (father)
*Jamaican (mother)
Alisha Wainwright is an American actress. She is known for her roles on the shows Raising Don and Shadowhunters.
A picture of her father can be seen here. A picture of her mother can be seen here.
She has said:
My mother is Jamaican and my father is Haitian, so growing up I spent a lot of my very early years going back and forth between both countries. I remember Jamaica being full of fresh fruit and family and greenery and positivity… My first meaningful memories of traveling to Haiti are from when I was a little older—like five or six. That was the first time I saw what impoverishment looked like, and how different someone’s life could be from my own—someone who’s right outside my front door.
How far can we trace back the Wainwright line in Haiti? Because I would not at all be surprised to find that it’s from some other island.
“Wainwright” is a Jamaican surname. People from Haiti have French last names.
Or from another Anglo-speaking island in West Indies.
Her father is basically a mulatto for Haiti, where average people are almost fully West African.
Her mother is absolutely a stunner in that pic.
Both Jamaica and Haiti have a 5-6% mulatto populations. Reggie Fils-Aime and Roxane Gay are examples of mulatto Haitians. From the photo Wainwright’s father just looks lighter skinned. And yes her mother is very pretty.
Did some further research and it looks like there was a lot of island hopping between Haiti and Jamaica back in the 1700s, which would explain the Wainwright surname. So Alisha’s father’s enslaved ancestor or original slaveowner settled in Haiti circa the 1800s.
So I did some Googling. There are other Haitian Wainwrights too. Playwright Frantz Wainwright is another.