Daniel Day-Lewis

Day-Lewis in 2008, image via Entertainment Press / Shutterstock.com

Birth Name: Daniel Michael Blake Day-Lewis

Place of Birth: Kensington, London, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 29 April, 1957

Ethnicity:
*father – English, Northern Irish, remote Welsh
*mother – Ashkenazi Jewish

Daniel Day-Lewis is a London-born actor. He has thrice won the Academy Award for Best Actor, for My Left Foot (1989), There Will Be Blood (2007), and Lincoln (2012). His films also include The Bounty, My Beautiful Laundrette, A Room with a View, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Eversmile, New Jersey, The Last of the Mohicans, The Age of Innocence, In the Name of the Father, The Crucible, The Boxer, Gangs of New York, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, Nine, and Phantom Thread.

His father, poet Cecil Day-Lewis, was the Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom, from 1968 until his death in 1972. His mother was actress Jill Balcon (Jill Angela Henriette Balcon), whose own father, Michael Balcon, was a famous film producer who ran Ealing Studios.

Daniel is an Irish citizen. Daniel’s father was born in Ballintubbert, County Laois, Ireland, to a Protestant family, of English, Northern Irish, and remote Welsh, descent. Daniel’s mother, who was born in London, England, was Ashkenazi Jewish, of Latvian Jewish and Polish Jewish descent.

Daniel is married to American actress, director, and writer Rebecca Miller. He has a son, musician and model Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, with his former partner, French actress and singer Isabelle Adjani; and two children with Rebecca.

Daniel’s paternal grandfather was The Rev. Frank Cecil Day-Lewis (the son of Frank Edward Day-Lewis and Elizabeth Mary Butler). Daniel’s grandfather The Rev. Frank was an Anglican minister, who was raised in Dublin. Daniel’s great-grandfather Frank was born in Hertfordshire, England, the son of George Day and Esther Ann Potts/Pott. Frank took the surname Day-Lewis as a combination of the surnames of his birth father, Day, and of his adoptive father, Lewis. Daniel’s great-grandmother Elizabeth was the daughter of John Butler, an architect.

Daniel’s paternal grandmother was Kathleen Blake Squires (the daughter of William Alfred Squires and Annie Victoria Goldsmith). Daniel’s grandmother Kathleen was born in Dublin, Ireland. William was born in Canterbury, Kent, England, the son of George Alfred Squires and Caroline Sabine. Annie was from a Northern Irish Protestant family, and was the daughter of Joseph Edgar Goldsmith and Jane Mills, who was from Cherryfield, Elphin, Roscommon.

Daniel’s maternal grandfather was Michael Elias Balcon (the son of Leib/Louis Balcon and Laura Greenburg/Greenberg). Michael was born in Birmingham, Warwickshire, England, to Jewish parents from Riga, Latvia. Leib was the son of Zalig Balken, who was born in Golina, and of Sury Lewkon. Laura’s mother was named Toba.

Daniel’s maternal grandmother was Aileen Freda Leatherman/Jacobs (the daughter of Harry/Max/Marks Jacobs Leatherman and Beatrice Freedman). Aileen was born in Brentford, Middlesex, England. Harry was of Polish Jewish descent, the son of Samuel Leatherman and Fanny Razandski. Beatrice was born in Glamorganshire, Wales, the daughter of Abraham Maurice Freedman and Rose Koppelwicz, who were Jewish emigrants from Poland.

Sources: Genealogies of Daniel Day-Lewis – https://www.geni.com
https://www.wikitree.com

Genealogy of Daniel Day-Lewis (focusing on his father’s side) – https://blog.findmypast.ie

Genealogy of Daniel Day-Lewis (focusing on his mother’s side) – http://www.geni.com

Daniel’s maternal grandfather, Michael Elias Balcon, on the 1911 England and Wales Census – https://www.familysearch.org

Daniel’s maternal great-grandmother, Beatrice Freedman, on the 1891 England and Wales Census – https://www.familysearch.org