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, Irish, 1/16th Italian, German, distant Jersey Channel Islander, Scottish, and Welsh
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, Dune (2021), Oppenheimer, The Last Voyage of the Demeter, and Late Night with the Devil, and the show The Flash.
He is the son of Priscilla and Hossein Dastmalchian, an engineer. His father was born in Tehran, Iran. His mother was American. David 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 paternal grandfather was named Mohammad Dastmalchian.
David’s paternal grandmother was named Fakhri.
David’s maternal grandfather was William Thomas Doran, Jr. (the son of William Thomas Doran and Johanna/Joanna Ethel Finotti). David’s grandfather William was born in New York City, New York. David’s great-grandfather William was the son of Denis/Dennis N. Doran, who was Irish, and of Mary Ann Brady, whose parents were also Irish. Johanna was born in Fort Foote Village, Prince George’s, Maryland, the daughter of Francisco Maria Finotti, whose father, Gustavo Adolphus Guiseppe Maria Chevalier Finotti, was Italian, from Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna; and of Paulina Isabella Edelen.
David’s maternal grandmother was Priscilla Cobb (the daughter of Ernest Codman Cobb and Bertha Browning Barnes). Priscilla was born in Cincinnati, Hamilton, Ohio, to parents from Middlesex, Massachusetts. She was of mostly Colonial American (English), and some Irish, descent. Ernest was the son of Cyrus Cobb and Emma Lillie. Bertha was the daughter of Phineas Lawrence Barnes and Elizabeth Howard Miles.
Sources: Obituary of David’s father – https://www.johnsoncountychapel.com
Obituary of David’s mother – https://www.gracefulmemorialchapel.com
Genealogies of David’s maternal grandparents, William Thomas Doran, Jr. and Priscilla Cobb – https://www.familysearch.org
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
Hossein was born in Tehran, Iran, the son of Mohammad Dastmalchian and Fakhri.
https://www.johnsoncountychapel.com/obituaries/hossein-dastmalchian
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.”