David Dastmalchian
David Dastmalchian – “The Promise” Los Angeles Premiere – Arrivals – TCL Chinese Theatre, 6925 Hollywood Boulevard – Hollywood, CA, USA, 2017 – Photo Credit: PRPhotos.com
Place of Birth: Allentown, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Date of Birth: July 21, 1975
Ethnicity:
*father – Iranian/Persian
*mother – English, Italian, Irish, distant French
David Dastmalchian is an American actor. His roles include the films The Dark Knight, Prisoners, Animals, Ant-Man, Blade Runner 2049, All Creatures Here Below, and Dune, and the show The Flash.
He is the son of Priscilla and Hossein Dastmalchian, an engineer. He was raised mostly in Overland Park, Kansas. David is married to artist Eve Leigh, with whom he has two children.
David has stated:
I’m actually not Armenian, I’m Persian. [my surname is] Iranian. It’s funny, people immediately assume that because of the I-A-N, and I would say 90% of the time that I dropped my credit card in-and-around the Glendale area, people started talking to me in Armenian, and I have to politely explain that I’m not.
He added that his surname is Farsi, though he does not speak the language.
He has also said, “I have Irish, English, Iranian, Italian, and on and on and on… I believe actually a very small amount! [of French ancestry]… imho we’re all pretty much distant cousins…”
David’s maternal grandfather was William Thomas Doran, Jr. (the son of William T. Doran and Johanna/Joanna E. Finotti). David’s grandfather William was born in New York.
David’s maternal grandmother was Priscilla Cobb (the daughter of Ernest Codman Cobb and Bertha Browning White/Barnes/Dawes). Priscilla was born in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio. Ernest was the son of Cyrus Cobb and Emma Lillie. Bertha was the daughter of Phineas Barnes and Elizabeth Miles.
Sources: Obituary of David’s mother – https://www.gracefulmemorialchapel.com
Marriage record of David’s maternal grandparents, William Thomas Doran, Jr. and Priscilla Cobb – https://www.familysearch.org
David’s maternal great-grandfather, Ernest Codman Cobb, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
There are Armenians in Iran, though.
I was thinking the exact same thing. Just because his ancestry is from the modern country of Iran doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have Armenian ancestry, since it is an multi-ethnic country. It’s almost certain that that is where his surname originates. The only real question of interest in that regard would be how how far back his last full Armenian paternal ancestor is.
Many Persian surnames also end with ian, Iranians only started using surnames from 1919 and most just added a suffix to the name of the place they came from…i being the most common suffix but ian is common too.
That is not his mother, that is his stepmother. THIS was his mother. Please correct this ASAP.
https://www.gracefulmemorialchapel.com/obituary/pricsilla-brejcha
He has clarified that he is of Persian descent.
Iranian –> Iranian/Persian
https://fanboynation.com/david-dastmalchian-talks-about-his-new-thriller-teacher/
More info on him would be appriciated. His surname is especially confusing (Armenian? Persian?).
Wikipedia (without a source cited): “He is of Armenian, Persian, Italian, Irish and English descent.”