Ariana DeBose

LOS ANGELES – FEB 06: DeBose arrives for “The Way Back” World Premiere on February 06, 2020 in West Hollywood, CA, DFree/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Ariana Nicole DeBose

Place of Birth: Wilmington, New Hanover, North Carolina, U.S.

Date of Birth: January 25, 1991

Ethnicity:
*father – Puerto Rican, African-American, possibly Italian
*mother – English, Scottish, French

Ariana DeBose is an American actress, singer, and dancer. She won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for West Side Story (2021). Her roles also include the films Hamilton, The Prom (2020), I.S.S., and Wish (2023), the latter in voice performance; and the shows Schmigadoon! and Westworld. She was a contestant on So You Think You Can Dance.

Ariana was raised by her mother Gina, a teacher. She has said:

…my mother is white, my father was Puerto Rican, so I don’t identify with any specific ethnicity… When I walk down the street, I present as black and I do have African-American lineage, but I’m also part-Italian… If I choose a term it’s ‘human’ because I believe humans should be allowed to love who they choose regardless of gender.

DeBose is her mother’s name.

Ariana’s maternal grandfather is Larry Thomas DeBose (the son of Lewis Thomas DeBose and Grace Horrell). Larry was born in North Carolina. Lewis was the son of James Lee DeBose and Etha Gertrude Woodcock. Grace was the daughter of Charles McLean/McLain Horrell and Jesse James.

Ariana’s maternal grandmother is Mary Virginia Henry (the daughter of James Tate Henry and Lorena Wheeler). Mary was born in North Carolina. James was the son of Robert Tate Henry and Sudie Lenora Johnson. Lorena was the daughter of John Atlas Wheeler and Lucinda Eason.

She is the second person born in the 1990s to have won an acting Oscar, after Jennifer Lawrence. Ariana, as well as Catalina Sandino Moreno (for Maria Full of Grace, 2004), Yalitza Aparicio (for Roma, 2018), Ana de Armas (for Blonde, 2022), and America Ferrera (for Barbie, 2023), are thus far the only actors of Latin-American descent born after 1980 to have been nominated for an acting Oscar.

Sources: Genealogy of Ariana’s maternal great-grandfather, Lewis Thomas DeBose (focusing on his mother’s side) – https://www.findagrave.com

Death record of Ariana’s maternal great-grandfather, James Tate Henry – https://www.familysearch.org

DeBose and Bobby Conte Thornton – 44th Annual Chaplin Award Gala Honoring Robert De Niro – Arrivals – David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center – New York City, NY, USA, 2017 – Keywords: Charlie Chaplin, Oscar winners Orientation: Portrait Face Count: 1 – – Photo Credit: Michael Sherer / PRPhotos.com