Harry Connick, Jr.
Connick, Jr. in 2011, Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Joseph Harry Fowler Connick, Jr.
Place of Birth: New Orleans, Louisiana, U.S.
Date of Birth: September 11, 1967
Ethnicity:
*father – Irish, English, German
*mother – Ashkenazi Jewish
Harry Connick, Jr. is an American singer, musician, actor, and television personality. He was the host of the show Harry from 2016 to 2018. His roles include the films Memphis Belle, Copycat, Hope Floats, and Dolphin Tale and its sequel.
He is the son of Anita Frances (née Levy; later Livingston), a lawyer and judge, and Harry Connick, Sr. (Joseph Harry Fowler Connick), who was District Attorney of Orleans Parish, from 1973 to 2003. Harry is married to model Jill Goodacre, with whom he has three children.
Harry’s father was born in Mobile, Alabama, and has Irish, English, and German ancestry. Harry’s mother was Jewish, of Belarusian Jewish and Ukrainian Jewish descent. Harry became a Catholic, his father’s religion, during his teenage years. He has remained a practicing Catholic.
Harry’s paternal grandfather was James Paul Connick (the son of John Joseph Connick and Anne/Annie Frances Paul). James was born in Alabama. John was the son of James Connick and Margaret White, who were Irish. Anne was born in Canada.
Harry’s paternal grandmother was Jessie/Jesse Catherine Fowler (the daughter of Harry Fowler and Julia M. Potter). Jessie was born in Alabama. Harry Fowler was the son of William H. Fowler and Alabama Missouri Gilder.
Harry’s maternal grandfather was Gershon “George” Levy (the son of Chonou Levy and Zilkie Eringross). Gershon was a Jewish emigrant, from Minsk, Belarus, in the Russian Empire.
Harry’s maternal grandmother was Mary Rothstein (the daughter of Josef/Joseph Rothstein and Hani/Hami Balogh/Bolog). Mary was a Jewish emigrant, from Uzghorod, now in Ukraine. Josef was the son of Ben Zion Rothstein and Sima Balogh.
Sources: Genealogy of Harry Connick, Jr. – http://www.geni.com
Harry’s paternal grandfather, James Paul Connick, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Harry’s paternal grandmother, Jessie/Jesse Catherine Fowler, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
I saw when he was on “Finding Your Roots” with Henry Louis Gates Jr. There’s definitely something non-European going on with his genetics. Jewish half makes sense. But I can’t help but wonder if there is more. He was the only person that episode who didn’t reveal his complete DNA ancestry. Having Southern roots and knowing the history of the South, I can’t help but speculate there’s more going on in his ethnic heritage than was shared.
What do you expect his non european ancestry to be?
Angela Buchdahl, Kyra Sedgwick, Barbara Walters, Robert Downey, Jr., and Harry Connick, Jr. were five fairly randomly selected famous people of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry profiled on Henry Louis Gates, Jr.’s show, Finding Your Roots (2012).
23andme’s DNA test showed that Walters is genetically as close as a “4th cousin or closer relationship” to the other four, and that a few share a similar relationship to each other (ancestrally, Walters was born to two Jewish parents, Buchdahl, Sedgwick, and Connick, Jr. all had one Jewish parent, and Downey, Jr. had one Jewish grandfather).
http://ec2-54-235-253-171.compute-1.amazonaws.com/weta/finding-your-roots/files/2012/06/threedegrees_wtitlelegend-631×246.png