Arnold Vosloo

"G.I. Joe: The Rise Of Cobra" Los Angeles Premiere - Arrivals

Vosloo in 2009, photo by PrPhotos

Place of Birth: Pretoria, South Africa

Date of Birth: 16 June, 1962

Ethnicity: Afrikaner [Dutch, some German and Swiss-German, Belgian Flemish, distant Danish, remote French, Norwegian, Indonesian, Indian, Malagasy, and Angolan]

Arnold Vosloo is a South African and American actor. He is known for playing the fictional pharaoh Imhotep in The Mummy (1999) and The Mummy Returns (2001), as well as for his roles in the Darkman sequels and Blood Diamond, among many other films.

He is the son of stage actors Johanna Petronella Vorster and Johannes J. Daniel Vosloo. He became a U.S. citizen in 1988. Arnold is married to marketing director Silvia Ahí.

He is an Afrikaner, of Dutch descent, with a small amount of German and Swiss-German roots, as well as distant Danish, and even more distant French, Norwegian, Indonesian, Indian, Malagasy, and Angolan, ancestry. His family has lived in South Africa for many generations.

Arnold’s great-uncle is B. J. Vorster, who was the 8th Prime Minister of South Africa, from 1966 to 1978, and the 4th State President of South Africa, from 1978 to 1979. Arnold’s maternal grandfather, Johannes Wagenaar Vorster, was B. J.’s brother.

Arnold’s patrilineal line can be traced back to Johannes Vosloo, who was born, c. 1649, in Lippstadt, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and to his wife, Helena Maria, a slave from Malabar, India.

Arnold’s paternal grandfather was Arnoldus Francois Vosloo (the son of Arnoldus Francois Vosloo and Christina Jacoba Clasina Dorfling). Arnold’s grandfather Arnoldus was born in Willowmore, Eastern Cape. Arnold’s great-grandfather Arnoldus was the son of Adolf Daniel Vosloo and Elizabeth Johanna Oosthuizen. Christina was the daughter of Johannes Michael Hendrik Dorfling and Alberta Susanna Jacoba Dorfling.

Arnold’s paternal grandmother was Maria Petronella van der Mescht (the daughter of Marthinus Johannes van der Mescht and Johanna Helena van Staden). Maria was born in Willowmore, Cape Province, South Africa. Marthinus was the son of Johannes Willem Frederik van der Mescht, whose father was from Ghent, Flanders, Belgium, and of Johanna Charlotte Jacoba Deysel.

Arnold’s maternal grandfather was Johannes Wagenaar Vorster (the son of Willem Carel Vorster and Elisabeth Sophia Wagenaar). Johannes was born in Spitskop, Jamestown. Willem was the son of Olof Abraham Vorster and Anna Catharina Elisabeth/Elizabeth van der Merwe. Arnold’s great-grandmother Elisabeth was the daughter of Johannes Jacobus “Jan” Wagenaar and Johanna Maria Elisabeth Wepener.

Arnold’s maternal grandmother was named Johanna Catharina Nel.

Sources: Genealogy of Arnold Vosloo – https://www.geni.com

Genealogy of Arnold Vosloo (focusing on his father’s side) – http://www.geni.com

Genealogy of Arnold’s paternal great-great-grandfather, Adolf Daniel Vosloo (through Adolf’s brother) (focusing on his own father’s side) – https://www.wikitree.com

Genealogy of Arnold’s mother (focusing on her father’s side) – http://www.vorster.net

Genealogy of Arnold’s maternal great-great-grandfather, Olof Abraham Vorster – https://www.wikitree.com

Genealogy of Arnold’s maternal great-great-grandfather, Johannes Jacobus “Jan” Wagenaar – https://www.wikitree.com

21 Responses

  1. andrew says:

    a pity half of his genealogy is missing

    His paternal grandmother surely descends to this man (https://www.geni.com/people/Johan-Michiel-van-der-Mescht-SV-PROG/6000000027668953312)

    His maternal grandmother’s surname (“Nel”) is of French origin.

  2. andrew says:

    Genealogy of Arnold’s maternal great-great-grandfather, Johannes Jacobus “Jan” Wagenaar (through Johannes’s brother, Nicolaas Jacobus Wagenaar) – https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Wagenaar-Family-Tree-78

    Has also remote Norwegian and Indonesian

  3. andrew says:

    Genealogy of Arnold’s paternal great-great-grandfather, Adolf Daniel Vosloo (through his brother, Michael Jacobus Vosloo): https://www.wikitree.com/genealogy/Vosloo-Family-Tree-272

    Arnold’s patrilineal line can be traced back to Johannes Vosloo, who was born, c. 1649, in Lippstadt, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and to his wife, Helena Maria, a slave from Malabar, India.

    Arnold has also remote Malagasy ancestry

    • ashash says:

      Charlize Theron and Elon Musk probably have remote African/Chinese/Indian/Indonesian ancestry. Afrikaners are all related to each other. They are inbred.

      So far, Candice Swanepoel, Behati Prinsloo, F.W. de Klerk, Johannes de Klerk, P.W. Botha, B.J. Vorster, and Arnold Vosloo all have very distant African/Indian/Indonesian/Chinese ancestry. So Theron, Musk, Madelaine Petsch, Embeth Davidtz, Sharlto Copely, Reeva Steenkamp, Oscar Pistorious, Nathalie Boltt, and any other white South African celebrity must have it, too. Like I said, they are all related.

      • andrew says:

        Afrikaners with early colonial Dutch ancestry do have remote non-European ancestry because the Dutch East India Company brought many slaves to South Africa, while French Huguenots descendants, like Theron and Musk, appear to have none (at least in publicly available family trees). Arnold’s paternal grandfather’s Mitochondrial DNA is L0d, which is Khoisan.

        • andrew says:

          Years ago I had an account on a so-called “Anthopology forum”, whose admin was an Afrikaner self-declared cocaine user, with a very common Afrikaner surname. I remember he posted a DNA result of him, and he had 2% SSA and 2% South Asian ancestry.

          • ashash says:

            Oh yeah. On the “anthropology” forums, it is noted that Afrikaners usually score a small amount of African and South Asian on 23andme.

            Which is why it is strange that they were so racist as a white minority in Africa for several hundred years.

        • ashash says:

          But South African President Marais Viljoen is mostly descended from French Huguenots and he also has African, Indian, Indonesian, etc. ancestry like Arnold, Oscar, Candice, Behati, B.J., P.W., F.W., Roger, Richard, etc. Viljoen’s even has more French than either Dutch or German.

          http://ethnicelebs.com/marais-viljoen

          So it seems unlikely that Charlize and Elon do not, especially given the inbreeding that Afrikaners did. They are all related to each other multiple times over and it is noticeable even if only looking at their ancestry in the last 200 years. Doubtful that Elon and Charlize do not have early colonial Dutch ancestry.

          Also, Afrikaners identity their ancestry as “mostly Dutch” even if they are mostly French or German.

          • ashash says:

            I meant to say they identify their ancestry as “mostly Dutch” even if it is mostly French or German. Even the language that they speak, Afrikaans, is Dutch.

  4. andrew says:

    he’s a cousin of President B. J. Vorster

    http://ethnicelebs.com/b-j-vorster

    Arnold’s maternal great-great-grandparents, Olof Abraham Vorster and Anna Catharina Elisabeth van der Merwe, were also B. J.’s paternal grandparents

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