Daniela Ruah

Ruah in 2010, Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com

Birth Name: Daniela Sofia Korn Ruah

Place of Birth: Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Date of Birth: 2 December, 1983

Ethnicity: Sephardi Jewish, Ashkenazi Jewish, as well as possibly 1/16th Spanish

Daniela Ruah is an American and Portuguese actress. She has appeared on the series NCIS: Los Angeles, on Portuguese television’s Jardins Proibidos, Filha do Mar, Dei-te Quase Tudo, Tu e Eu, and A Espia, and in the film Red Tails.

Daniela is the daughter of Catarina Lia Azancot Korn, an ontologist, and Dr. Moises Carlos Bentes Ruah, who was head of the ear, nose, and throat department of Boston University Hospital. Her parents are from Portugal, and her family returned there when Daniela was five. She was raised in a Jewish household. Daniela began acting as a teen in Portuguese soap operas. She has a B.A. in Performing Arts from London Metropolitan University. In 2007, she moved to New York. She has dual citizenship, U.S. and Portuguese.

Daniela is married to stuntperson David Paul Olsen, who is the brother of actor Eric Christian Olsen. Daniela and David have two children.

Daniela’s father is from a Sephardi Jewish family, of Portuguese Jewish and Moroccan Jewish ancestry. The entire Portuguese Jewish community had been expelled in 1498. Her father’s family had been one of the first to return in the nineteenth century, also living in Gibraltar.

Daniela’s maternal grandfather was Ashkenazi Jewish, from Poland. Daniela’s maternal grandmother was born in Portugal. Daniela’s maternal grandmother’s paternal grandparents were Sephardi Jewish and Spanish, respectively; Daniela’s Spanish-born maternal great-great-grandmother, Daniela’s maternal great-grandfather’s mother, may not have been of Jewish heritage. She may have converted to Judaism. Daniela’s maternal grandmother’s mother was Ashkenazi Jewish, from Odessa in the Russian Empire. This makes Daniela’s mother’s ancestry approximately three quarters Ashkenazi Jewish, possibly one eighth Spanish, and one eighth Sephardi Jewish.

Daniela’s paternal grandfather was named Samuel Allenby Bentes Ruah. Samuel was a Sephardi Jew.

Daniela’s paternal grandmother was Esther Buzaglo Bensusan (the daughter of Abraham “Abe” Bensusan/Bensussan and Magdalena/Magda Macnin Judith Amzalak/Amzelek Buzaglo). Esther was born in Lisbon, Portugal, and was a Sephardi Jew. Abraham was born in Gibraltar, the son of Mesod Abraham Bensusan and Esther Benoliel. Magdalena was born in Lisbon, the daughter of Meir Isaac Buzaglo and Merita/Mary Ben-Oliel/Benoliel Amzalak/Amzelek.

Daniela’s maternal grandfather was Max Joachim Korn (the son of Abraham Leib/Adolf Moskowicz Korn and Hanna Strank). Max was born in Wrocław, Poland, to an Ashkenazi Jewish family.

Daniela’s maternal grandmother was Vera Jacob Muginstein Azancot (the daughter of António Montero Azancot and Simy Sophie Muginstein). Vera was born in Lisbon, Portugal. António was born on São Tomé Island, the son of Jacob Levy Azancot and Prudência Montero; Jacob was a Sephardi Jew, born on São Tomé Island, the son of António Azancot and Meriam Levy Benuyli, and Prudência was Spanish, born in Cádiz, Spain, the daughter of João Montero and Rita Serrano. Daniela’s great-grandmother Simy was born in Odessa, Russia, the daughter of Izak Jankel Mouginchteyn/Muginstein and Paulina/Pesja Slatapolskaja. Simy was an Ashkenazi Jew.

Sources: Genealogies of Daniela Rush – http://www.geneall.net
http://www.geni.com

Genealogy of Daniela’s paternal great-grandmother, Magdalena/Magda Macnin Judith Amzalak/Amzelek Buzaglo – https://www.geni.com