James Franco
Birth Name: James Edward Franco
Place of Birth: Santa Clara, California, United States
Date of Birth: April 19, 1978
Ethnicity:
*paternal grandfather – Portuguese Madeiran
*paternal grandmother – Swedish
*mother – Ashkenazi Jewish
James Franco is an American actor, director, producer, and writer. His roles include Harry Osborn in the Spider-Man films, as well as Whatever It Takes, James Dean, City by the Sea, Annapolis, Milk, Howl, Date Night, 127 Hours, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Spring Breakers, Oz the Great and Powerful, Palo Alto, Homefront, True Story, and Why Him? Among his films as director are Sal, As I Lay Dying, The Sound and the Fury, and The Disaster Artist, all of which he appeared in.
James is the son of Betsy (Verne) and Douglas Eugene Franco. His father ran a Silicon Valley business, and his mother is a writer and actress. His brothers are actor and artist Tom Franco, who founded the Firehouse Art Collective in Berkeley, and actor and filmmaker Dave Franco. A picture of James’s father can be seen here. A picture of James’s mother can be seen here.
James’s father was of half Portuguese/Madeiran and half Swedish descent. James’s mother is Jewish, of Russian Jewish, German Jewish, Polish Jewish, and Lithuanian Jewish descent. James has said, “I’m Jewish, my mother’s Jewish,” although he is not religious. In 2015, he had an official Bar Mitzvah ceremony, presided by a rabbi of the Reform denomination.
James’s paternal grandfather was Daniel Franco, Jr. (the son of Daniel Franco and Eugénia Baptista). James’s grandfather Daniel was born in Illinois, to Portuguese emigrants, from the Madeira islands. James’s great-grandfather Daniel was the son of João Franco and Maria de Mendonça. James’s great-grandmother Eugénia was the daughter of João Baptista and Carlota de Freitas.
James’s paternal grandmother was Marjorie J. Peterson (the daughter of Claus Fredolph Peterson and Martha Louise Rehn). James’s grandmother Marjorie Franco was born in Illinois, and is a children’s author. Claus was born in Illinois, to Swedish parents, Carl Magnus Peterson and Amelia Bernadette Ackerman. Martha was also born in Illinois, to Swedish parents, Edward Anderson Rehn and Anna Louise Knall.
James’s maternal grandfather was Daniel Surad Verovitz/Verne (the son of Carroll Verovitz and Bessie G. Surad). Daniel was born in Ohio. Carroll was born in Chicago, Illinois. Carroll’s father, Harry/Harris David Verovitz, was a Russian Jewish immigrant. Carroll’s mother, Mary Harris, was born in Ohio, to a German Jewish father and a Polish Jewish mother. Bessie was born in Portland, Oregon, the daughter of Philip Surad and Mary Shank, who were Jewish emigrants from Russia.
James’s maternal grandmother was Marcella Ruth “Mitzie” Levine (the daughter of Emanuel “Manuel” Levine and Jessie Bialosky). Marcella was born in Ohio, and owned the Verne Art Gallery, a prominent art gallery in Cleveland. Emanuel was a noted judge in Cleveland; he was born in Vilna, Lithuania, to Jewish parents, David J. Levine and Michelle Corban. Jessie was born in Ohio, the daughter of Louis Bialosky and Rebecca Shapiro, who were Polish Jewish immigrants.
Sources: Genealogies of James Franco – http://familypedia.wikia.com
http://www.geni.com
https://www.wikitree.com
James’s paternal grandfather, Daniel Franco, Jr., on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
James’s paternal grandmother, Marjorie J. Peterson, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Obituary of James’s paternal grandmother, Marjorie J. (Peterson) Franco – https://www.legacy.com
James’s maternal grandfather, Daniel Surad Verovitz, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
James’s maternal great-great-grandfather, Harry/Harris David Verovitz, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
James’s maternal grandmother, Marcella Ruth “Mitzie” Levine, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
James’s maternal great-grandmother, Jessie Bialosky, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
He looks Arab. He is quite dark.
He is not that dark. He is very olive-skinned or tanned. He looks full Lebanese or Syrian to me. He could also pass as an Assyrian or Turkish (especially the latter)…
I’m Middle Eastern (Assyrian) and I’m lighter than him – We range in colour.
Probably smells like an Arab as well.
did you know that some people get a tan on purpose?
English roots I meant
Great, funny actor! By his appearance would have thought he was more than 25% mediterranean. Wouldn’t have thought he had Ashkenazi Jewish and Swedish roots.
There are a lot of Ashkenazi Jews who are Mediterranean in appearance.
His “mediterranean” look comes from his mother. His father had a lighter complexion.
http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsk32oYCjM1r0lxhd.jpg
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2011/10/05/article-0-0E3BBB3000000578-246_468x334.jpg
His father looked like Steny Hoyer, the congressman.
“Franco” can be a Sephardi Jewish last name.
Good point Check7t and is it possible follers that anyone on his paternal lineage was Sephardi Jewish? Sorry if the way I phrased the comment offended anyone didn’t know what his ethnicity was until now.
A lot of people of Portuguese and Spanish ancestry have Sephardi Jewish roots of some sort. So it’s possible even without the last name. But his ancestry in Portugal is hard to trace from here.
Drew Barrymore’s mother-in-law is a Sephardi Jew surnamed “Franco”.
But by that first statement wouldn’t all our English presidents (descended from King Edward III) be capable of having Sephardi roots?
Most of the ancestry I’m talking about happened because of the Inquisition in Spain and Portugal, which was after Edward III. I don’t doubt that all American presidents have a Jewish ancestor if you go back far enough (1000 years, etc.).
http://www.jewornotjew.com/profile.jsp?ID=1274
lol, Ashkenazi Jews are mostly (Eastern) Mediterranean. Portuguese/Iberians on the other hand are more related to Atlatic/Western Europeans.
The computer can be a jock, and you still be
a great computer scientist or a great technologist, or a song that is played.
Then grab a monitor and keyboard and then reach around to the it support specialist test.
In a particular, I have together Professor John it support specialist Guttag over
here, I think just thinking up creative ways to solve problems,
if you’re in the market. This is not about memory. 2, it makes it very easy to have good understanding
of the system.
Sometimes I think these actor lie about their ethnicity just to get excepted in Hollywood but at lease they should be smart and change their Spanish name to English or a Portuguese name Franco is Spanish name not Portuguese
Did James’s great-grandparents lie about their birthplaces on the 1930 census?
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XSTJ-1YG
even if they here born in Portugal they have Spanish blood Spain invaded Portugal at one point, Franco is defenetly not Portuguese name
but James Franco didn’t lie about anything thou
It is part of roots to portuguese also. just as carro is spanish and portuguese. Also, Ethnicity is what he was raised, for Franco and no other way. No one can entirely lie about an ethnicity if they are raised it. He was most likely raised American but with all those ethinicities.
I’m from PORTUGAL and franco is def a portugese lol research before U say stuff and look silly
The last name is italian.
If you’re talking about the last name, it’s not only Italian. It’s also Spanish & Portuguese, but James & Dave aren’t italian, they’re Portuguese.
It’s a Latin name thafs y
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco_(name)
ITALIAN, SPANISH & PORTUGUESE!
franco is spelled the same in all these (latin based) languages and derives from the germanic name frank…
That’s about what I said -_-