Jeffrey Wright
Wright in 2011, photo by Prphotos.com
Birth Name: Jeffrey Charles Wright
Place of Birth: Washington, D.C., U.S.
Date of Birth: December 7, 1965
Ethnicity: African-American
Jeffrey Wright is an American film, television, and stage actor. His IMDB biography describes him as “quite possibly the most underrated and underexposed actor of his caliber and generation.” His roles include the films Basquiat, Ride with the Devil, Hamlet, Shaft (2000), Ali, D-Tox, The Manchurian Candidate (2004), Broken Flowers, Syriana, Lady in the Water, Casino Royale (2006), The Invasion (2007), W. (2008), Quantum of Solace, Cadillac Records, Source Code, The Ides of March, Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, A Single Shot, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, and its sequels; The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Good Dinosaur, in voice-over; Monster (2018), Hold the Dark, The Laundromat, The Goldfinch, No Time to Die, The French Dispatch of the Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun; The Batman (2022), Asteroid City, Rustin, and American Fiction; television’s Angels in America, Boardwalk Empire, Westworld, and, in voice performance, What If…?; the video game The Last of Us Part II; and many acclaimed works on stage.
He is the son of Barbara Evon (Whiting), a customs lawyer, and James Charles Wright, Jr. Jeffrey has two children with his former wife, British actress Carmen Ejogo.
Many of his mother’s ancestors were free persons of colour during slavery in York County, Virginia.
Jeffrey’s paternal grandfather was James Charles Wright, Sr. (the son of Charles Wright and Lucille “Lucy” Mack/Davis). James was born in South Carolina, likely in Amelia, Orangeburg. Jeffrey’s great-grandfather Charles was the son of Lucy Clay.
Jeffrey’s paternal grandmother was Mary Lois Potts (the daughter of William/Will “Willie” Potts and Bessie McDowell). Mary was born in Statesville, Iredell, North Carolina. William was the son of Henderson G. Potts and Sylvannia/Sylvaina/Sylvania Crist. Bessie was the daughter of Frederick “Fred” McDowell and Mary Davidson.
Jeffrey’s maternal grandfather was William Henry “Boo White” Whiting (the son of Robert Henry Whiting and Georgia Missouri Williams). William was born in Seaford, York, Virginia, and was a bootlegger and oyster fisherman, and baseball player in the Negro leagues, among other occupations. Robert was the son of Beverly Whiting, who was a free person of colour, and of Martha Ellen Walker. Georgia was the daughter of Oliver Williams and Matilda Dixon.
Jeffrey’s maternal grandmother was Mary Ellen “Mamie” Banks (the daughter of John Sidney Banks and Zilla Ann “Annie” Hopson). Jeffrey’s grandmother Mary Ellen was born in Poquoson, York, Virginia. Zilla was the daughter of Isaiah Hopson and Mary Ellen Banks.
Sources: Genealogy of Jeffrey Wright (focusing on his father’s side) – https://www.geni.com
Marriage record of Jeffrey’s paternal grandparents, James Charles Wright and Mary Lois Potts – https://www.familysearch.org
Marriage record of Jeffrey’s paternal great-grandparents, William/Will “Willie” Potts and Bessie McDowell – https://www.familysearch.org
Jeffrey’s paternal great-grandfather, William/Will “Willie” Potts, on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
He’s a black man. He actually looks like my former college professor who was from Malawi, Southern Africa. As far as I knew, my professor had black parents & he was light skinned & looked like Mr Wright, accept for the beard
He looks like an Italian man with African heritage on one side of his family. :)
@Phaedra I think you are incorrect, some Italians are the ones with black African dna that’s why he would look that way to you NOT the other way around.
The best I knew (from Neiltennant) about Italian phenotypes is that The Rock can pass for a “very tanned Italian”. I am wondering who will be the next one. For the record, a few Italians have colonial ancestry from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Libya and Somalia.
Quote(For the record, a few Italians have colonial ancestry from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Libya and Somalia.)
I guess you need to believe that , so you can sleep at night
What do you want from me, Mr Afrocentric? Italy had colonies in East Africa, a few Italians have ancestry from those countries.
@Andrew
Well mr. Eurocentric, I actually want nothing from you . I simply state Accurate historical Facts. Now yes there are Italians with East African dna, however there are also Italians with West African DNA, and that’s been shown(you’re the one who can’t accept that , and move on). I’ve also have shown that while Italians were migrating out, African Americans came to that country by the thousands (from the 1800’s on) this is indisputable. There’s even a documentary called Blaxploitalian (100 Year of Blackness in the Italian Cinema ) Indiegogo Campaign. 100 hundred years of Black actors, when you said there were no black people in Italy until the 1980’s. Here’s a movie scene still from a Italian movie called Salammbo , with an African American actor in 1913:
http://www.cinemafrodiscendente.com/it/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Salambo.jpg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i487Nq84WMA
Black Americans and people of West African ancestry have married into the Italian population long before you were born( which I also proved). I can’t help it , that you don’t want to accept FACTS
I am a fan of Cinematography so I appreciate your divulgation of that movie (Blaxploitalian). In the 50s and 60s Cinecittà was the biggest European movie industry, they produced or co-produced hundreds of films every year so to find 500 black actors who have worked in the business is not a big deal. Interracial marriages in Southern Europe are still a marginal phenomenon in 2016, let alone in the past.
@Andrew
Quote( they produced or co-produced hundreds of films every year so to find 500 black actors who have worked in the business is not a big deal.)
Well it seems you skip right pass the AA’s in 1913 Italian Cinema and jumped right to the 50′-60’s. Plus it’s a big deal, because you stated there were no black people even in the country until the 80’s. Plus those were just the actors that became famous. I hadn’t even talked about the Thousands of (writers, musicians, opera singers, social activists ,artists ,sculptors etc, who were there since the 1800’s. All these black people were there in Italy , before your great-grandfather was born.
Quote(Interracial marriages in Southern Europe are still a marginal phenomenon in 2016, let alone in the past.)
Oh now it’s marginal, before you said it hadn’t happen at all. You’ve already proven that you have no idea of what went down in Italy’s past, so you can’t make a statement like that
I am not sure I stated there were NO black people in the country (Italy) until the 80’s, maybe in Spain, where immigration is a very recent phenomenon for Western European standards (due to Franco dictatory). However it’s true that Southern Europe is more traditional, France and Britain are more open-minded and immigrants have a better social position.
@Andrew
Quote(I am not sure I stated there were NO black people in the country (Italy) until the 80’s)
Well you did. You also mention not being in the slave trade and therefore black people didn’t come to your country.
Quote(However it’s true that Southern Europe is more traditional, France and Britain are more open-minded and immigrants have a better social position.)
Here you are speaking about todays people. Yes you guys are Racists or racial bigots(which ever phrase you want to use). However people in your country seem to have periods where they are actually decent. Frederick Douglass is quoted as saying this in 1887, while visiting his friends(Sarah Parker Remond ( a permanent resident of Florence, Italy) that:
(Italy was a place where he could walk “unquestioned among men” and where “the longer one stays, the longer one wants to stay.”)
Which a lot of African Americans did , because they were treated differently there. What part of that, don’t you understand
That was a Uruguayan guy who stated there were no immigrants before the 80s (in Spain, not Italy), not me. You have to respect my point of views, because to surf websites is not enough to know how things go off your backyard. The racism card you played is unfair.
@ Andrews
Quote(That was a Uruguayan guy who stated there were no immigrants before the 80s (in Spain, not Italy), not me. )
I remember your name, not some Uruguayan guy . However it’s not that important
Quote(You have to respect my point of views)
You mean like all the other times you respected mine? However what you’re not respecting is that there things you don’t know about your own back yard. The same goes for me, I’m learning things now ,that I had no idea happen here in the U.S.
Quote(The racism card you played is unfair.)
I was speaking about Italians in general, not specifically you
Ethiopia was inhabited by Italians for around 3-4 years during WW2 and never truly colonized.
@Memphis
Quote(Ethiopia was inhabited by Italians for around 3-4 years during WW2 and never truly colonized.)
Okay, but we were talking about Italians with East African DNA, and the Kids they produces. 3 to 4 years is plenty of time to have some little ones running around
Jeffrey Wright: “I don’t really consider myself a black man in Hollywood. I live in Brooklyn … and on purpose. At the most base level, what an actor represents to the film industry is an investment. Depending on the risk profile, an investor needs 1,000 reasons to commit and one reason not to. That means you’ve got to do more work on your own and that the machine is not going to necessarily do the blocking for you. The machine rarely accepted my code. That can be frustrating, but you just have to be aware”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/25/jeffrey-wright-black-man-hollywood_n_4338121.html
@Andrew
Ok you put this up. but did you understand what he was saying? Or did you just let the quote mislead you?
They ask the same question to African American actors/ actresses all the time. Denzel Washington has stated. that he isn’t just a black actor, that he’s more than just his skin color. Wanda Sykes, has stated she not a gay black actress, but an actress who happens to be black and gay. Michael b. Jordan states i’m sick of black this ,black that. I’m an actor, everyone can see I’m black, an so on. What Jeffery is saying, is that he’s an actor. He doesn’t follow the rules of Hollywood. This guy has played Muddy Waters, and Dr. King, he’s not running away from his African Ancestry
I’m with you on that fuzzybear44 Andrew is wrong here…
@cwm85
that wasn’t my opinion
@ fuzzybear
I actually agree with you. “‘I Don’t Really Consider Myself A Black Man In Hollywood’ as title is kinda trashy journalism, but we know how press works.
its always ——- like you that think just because a African American is brown or lightskinned that they have white in them no im dark skinned with a big nose but the only dark thing on me is my face the but yet im also multiracial my greatgrandfather is black and german and my grandmother is somaon my father skinn tone is tan but my mother skin tone is dark the only why im so dark is because I was out in the sun too long I used to be brown when most people see me they automatic assume im not mixe until I show them a picture of my dad sa I was saying just because the person is lightskinned doesn’t mean they have to be european
He’s not just black, it’s obvious he has some white in him.
He’s light-skinned and has a lot of African-descent. I don’t see why that is so hard to believe for people.
If you think he’s 100% Black your stupid as fuck
Kerrywhite, never said that. I’m not as narrow-minded. I just said he’s light-skinned. As a “black” person can be in America. But maybe it’s because “black” isn’t a nationality like Asia or Europe.
Kerrywhite, never said that. I’m not as narrow-minded. I just said he’s light-skinned. As a “black” person can be in America. But maybe it’s because black isn’t a nationality like Asia or Europe.
Sorry, this website was acting weird so I needed to post two.