Jada Pinkett Smith
Pinkett Smith in 2003, photo by DFree/Bigstock
Birth Name: Jada Koren Pinkett
Place of Birth: Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Date of Birth: September 18, 1971
Ethnicity:
*father – African-American
*mother – African-/Creole-Barbadian, African-/Creole-Jamaican, one eighth Sephardi Jewish
Jada Pinkett Smith, also credited as Jada Pinkett, is an American actress, dancer, singer, songwriter, and businessperson. She has starred in Woo, Scream 2, The Nutty Professor, and The Matrix films.
Jada is the daughter of Adrienne Banfield-Jones and Robsol Grant Pinkett. Her father was of African-American descent. Jada’s maternal grandfather was an emigrant from Barbados, of African-Barbadian descent, while Jada’s maternal grandmother was the daughter of emigrants from Jamaica, who were of African- or Creole-Caribbean descent. Her brother is actor/writer Caleeb Pinkett.
Jada is married to actor, rapper, and musician Will Smith, with whom she has two children, actors and musicians Jaden Smith and Willow Smith.
Jada’s paternal grandfather was Robsol Grant Pinkett (the son of Maslin Frysinger Pinkett and Martha Josephine Dyer). Robsol was born in Maryland. Maslin was the son of Daniel James Pinkett and Sarah E. Peaker. Martha was the daughter of Eli Dyer and Alverta Hackett.
Jada’s paternal grandmother was Shirley Nancy Crystal Holland (the daughter of James P. Holland and Alice Whitehead). Alice was the daughter of Joe Whitehead and Sallie Watkins.
Jada’s maternal grandfather was Gilbert Leslie Banfield (the son of Gilbert Banfield and Ella E. R. Parris/Paris). Jada’s grandfather Gilbert and his parents, who were black, were from Saint Michael, Barbados, in the West Indies/Caribbean.
Jada’s maternal grandmother was Marion Eliza Martin (the daughter of Ralph Nunis Martin and Daisy Maude Costa/Coster). Marion was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to emigrants from Jamaica (Saint Ann and Kingston, respectively). Marion, along with her parents, are listed as “Mulatto” on the 1920 U.S. Census. Marion is listed as “Black” on the 1930 U.S. Census. Ralph was the son of James Wisdom Martin and Louisa Ann McCormick. In her autobiography, Worthy, 2023, Jada writes that her grandmother Marion’s grandfather was of Portuguese Jewish background.
Pinkett Smith in 2010, cinemafJoe Seer / Shutterstock.com
Sources: http://readingeagle.com
Genealogy of Jada Pinkett Smith – http://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Jada Pinkett Smith (focusing on her father’s side) – https://www.wikitree.com
Jada’s maternal grandfather, Gilbert Leslie Banfield, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Birth record of Jada’s maternal grandmother, Marion Eliza Martin – https://familysearch.org
Jada’s maternal grandmother, Marion Eliza Martin, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Marion Eliza Martin on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
yes she has west indian roots and that can be a mixture of any thing and creole is not just for people in luisanna people from hatit and cape verde are also called creole like beyonce the french she talks about is hatitian freanch from her grandmother
Most black people in the Carribean and America have been mixed in the past. Sometimes I do not know why this website even exists. People are soooo dense. I am a carribean West Indian, with African, Indian , and European roots, I know. But I am mostly black .
Hello everyone! I can see why people get confused understanding Creole people and their derivative how this site is listing Jada as creole as well as three other ethnicities is interesting! First of all the term Creole is mainly a derivative of the Creole people of Louisiana historically and its become to be understood as a person who is multi-racial( Native American, French, African, Spanish) Creole people from the Louisiana Territory are considered to be the original multi-racial people to exist dating back to the early 1600’s well before the U.S. even became the U.S. In addition, what many fail to understand about this indigenous group is that unlike any other culture the development of this indigenous group was because of the willingness of the relationship between each of these groups not mainly forced as a result of slavery!!! This is not to suggest that slavery did not have some effect but people please understand that there is a difference between the colonialization of the British/English and the the colonialization of the French. When I hear African-Americans argue their point they tend to believe that French and British/English culture are the same and that the view points when it came to slavery were the same and this is far from the truth!!!!!
In conclusion I am a person who is of Creole decent with ties to Louisiana which at one time was a very large territory leading all the way to the Canadian Border! In addition, some of you are only talking off the cuff and what I am providing to you is fact!!!! I always ask myself why people argue things that have already been tried and tested??? To much opinion and not enough fact can make a subject dead! I am also a former educator and have spent quite a bit of time researching my roots I would advise many of you to do the same! What I find most interesting is that some of you who are arguing nothing and telling people who have been fortunate enough to enjoy their heritages like I have what does and doesn’t make sense!!! We are too advanced in this society for you to be thinking so ignorantly! In addition I have the luxury of living in the Washington D.C. metropolitan area where I am able to gain access to many resources that help to complete my knowledge! Unless you are well versed then your comments are nothing more than comments which hold no value!!!
LOL.. That is what the Creole stands for is immigration from the old world into the new and some people Black say creole for the true greatness of their immigration. Creole is a classed white statused man sometimes and that seems funny out of certain terms. Also, she does have Portuguese and other heritage inside her she has told. West Indian is partly a Black population of cayman islands and few other places. Anyhow, who cares
LOL . Jada Pinkett-Smith is BLACK
how the hell she has that eyes colour..it’s pretty impossible to find a pure black person in American showbiz
Mixed, are you able to read?
Yeah she’s black, obviously DUH. BUT it’s very clear that she has white in her as well. Her mother is a mulatto.
this is false she never confirmed she is of Creole,Portuguese Jewish and West Indian ancestry she looks a pure African American to me.