James Holzhauer
Holzhauer in 2020, photo by DFree
Place of Birth: Naperville, Illinois, U.S.
Date of Birth: c. 1984
Ethnicity: German, Japanese
James Holzhauer is an American game show contestant and professional sports gambler. He is known for his run on Jeopardy!, where he holds the record for fourth-most number of consecutive games won, 32; for winning the second-highest amount of prize money in regular-season play; and the entire top ten records for most money won per single game in regular-play. James also won the 2019 Tournament of Champions, and Jeopardy! Masters.
His father, Juergen Holzhauer, is a German immigrant. His mother, Nachiko Ide, is Japanese. He is married to Melissa, with whom he has one child.
He took more from his European side, though if he is just 1/4 Japanese and not half, that would make more sense.
He said his grandmother was from Japan and spoke almost no English. His mother’s name, both first and last, is Japanese, so that would make him half-Japanese. I read that he has a stepmother.
I’ve only ever seen it mentioned that his maternal grandmother is Japanese. It may be that his mother is full Japanese, but I haven’t ever seen that reported.
Holzhauer mentioned on one Jeopardy! episode that his grandmother came over from Japan to live with him during his childhood, and that’s where that notation comes from.
His mother’s name sounds pretty Japanese.
I agree, but it is also entirely possible that she has a non-Japanese parent. That’s all I’m saying. Just seems weird he’d mention his grandmother constantly as being Japanese if his mother was fully Japanese, too.