Jessica Alba
Alba in 2010
Birth Name: Jessica Marie Alba
Place of Birth: Pomona, Los Angeles, California, United States
Date of Birth: April 28, 1981
Ethnicity:
*father – Mexican [including Spanish, Indigenous Mexican/Mayan, distant Sephardi Jewish and African]
*mother – Danish, Welsh, English, Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, French
Jessica Alba is an American actress, model, and businessperson. Her roles include the films Camp Nowhere, Idle Hands, Honey, Frank Miller’s Sin City, Fantastic Four (2005), and their respective sequels; Good Luck Chuck, The Eye (2008), Meet Bill, Valentine’s Day, Machete, and its sequel; Little Fockers, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, and Mechanic: Resurrection, and the series The Secret World of Alex Mack, Dark Angel, and L.A.’s Finest. She has co-founded consumer goods company The Honest Company, which sells baby, personal, and household products. She has also been billed as Jessica Warren, her married name.
Jessica is the daughter of Catherine Louisa (Jensen) and Mark David Alba, who was in the Air Force. Her father, who was born in Los Angeles, is of Mexican descent, including Spanish, Indigenous Mexican/Mayan, and distant Sephardi Jewish and African, roots. Her mother, who was born in Virginia, has Danish, Welsh, English, Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and French, ancestry. She was raised partly in Biloxi, Mississippi; Del Rio, Texas; and finally Claremont, California, traveling for her father’s career.
Her brother is actor Joshua Alba. Jessica is married to producer Cash Warren, with whom she has three children. Cash’s father is African-American and his mother is white. Jessica’s third cousin, once removed, is writer Gustavo Arellano.
Jessica has described her father as very dark and her mother as very fair. According to Jessica, her grandfather never spoke Spanish at home because he wanted the family to assimilate into the American mainstream. As a result, Jessica’s father did not learn to speak Spanish.
A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2014) stated that Jessica’s genetic ancestry is:
*72.7% European
*22.5% East Asian/Native American [Indigenous Mexican]
*2.4% No Match
*2.0% Sub-Saharan African
*0.3% Middle Eastern/North African
*0.1% South Asian
Jessica has stated that she identifies with her Mexican-American heritage. DNA tests on the show indicated that Jessica’s direct patrilineal ancestor was Indigenous. These DNA tests also displayed that Jessica’s father’s direct matrilineal ancestor, Maria Carmen Carrillo/Carillo, was of Sephardi Jewish descent. They also showed that Jessica’s father likely has at least 2.1% Sephardi Jewish ancestry in total. DNA matches listed him as 0.7% Ashkenazi; they also listed him as 0.6% Italian, 0.4% North African, and 0.4% Middle Eastern, all of which were or likely were Jewish in his case according to DNA matches.
Jessica’s 0.1% South Asian DNA is evidently from Jessica’s mother’s side.
Genetically, Jessica was found to have a common ancestor with attorney Alan Dershowitz.
Alba with husband Cash Warren in 2011, s_bukley / Shutterstock.com
Jessica’s paternal grandfather is José Sánchez Alba (the son of Catalino Morones Alba and Francisca/Frances Sánchez). José was born in San Bernardino, San Bernardo Co., California, to Mexican parents. Catalino was born in San Dimas, Durango, the son of Ambrocio/Ambrosio Alva/Alba and Maria Morones/Morence. Francisca was born in Lagos de Moreno, Jalisco, the daughter of José Hipólito/Polito Sánchez Hernandez and Refugio/Refugia Cisneroz/Rangel.
Jessica’s paternal grandmother is Ysabel/Isabel Martinez (the daughter of Daniel Fernandez Martinez and Guadalupe Nieves Miranda y Lares). Isabel was born in San Bernardino County, California, to Mexican parents. Daniel was born in Purépero de Echaíz, Michoacán, the son of Eugenio Martinez and Pascuala/Pasquala Fernandez. Guadalupe was born in García, Zacatecas, the daughter of Juan Miranda and Silveria Viramontes/Miramontes y Lares.
Jessica’s maternal grandfather was Harry Christian Jensen, Jr. (the son of Hans/Harry Christian Jensen and Sarah/Sara Evelyn Rhys). Jessica’s grandfather Harry was born in Rockford, Winnebago, Illinois, and served in WWII and the Korean War. Jessica’s great-grandfather Hans was born in Illinois, to Danish parents, Mads Hansen Jensen and Johanna Jensdatter. Sara was born in Minnesota, to a Welsh father, Samuel H. Rhys, and to a mother, Evaline/Evelyn/Eva Walbridge, who was born in Rochester, Monroe, New York.
Jessica’s maternal grandmother was Louisa Harrison Tebault (the daughter of Paul Miars/Myers Tebault and Catherine/Catharine Louisa Nichols). Jessica’s grandmother Louisa was born in Washington, D.C. Paul was the son of William Paul Tebault and Julia S. Catherine was the daughter of Albert Nichols and Loula Harrison Wharton.
Sources: Genealogies of Jessica Alba – https://www.geni.com
https://famouskin.com
Family histories of Jessica’s father – http://familyhistoryinsider.com
http://familyhistoryinsider.com
Jessica’s maternal grandfather, Harry Christian Jensen, Jr., on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Obituary of Jessica’s maternal grandfather, Harry Christian Jensen, Jr. – https://www.legacy.com
Jessica’s maternal great-grandmother, Sarah/Sara Evelyn Rhys, on the 1880 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Sarah/Sara Evelyn Rhys on the 1900 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Genealogy of Jessica’s maternal great-grandfather, Paul Miars/Myers Tebault (focusing on his father’s side) – http://www.findagrave.com
LOS ANGELES – APR 1: Jessica Alba at the Victoria Beckham For Target Launch Event at Private Residence on April 1, 2017 in Los Angeles, CA, photo by kathclick/Bigstock.com
Ok so she’s american. But the fact that she’s said negative things about associating herself with the LATINO community is something to be ashamed of, this is not the first {and im sure not the last} site that has mentioned jessica discounting her mexican half. Honey that ‘tan’ is not from the sun. Es natural. Get off your highorse.
Shes as Mexican as a pot of refried beans….
Love it. She should too.
pomona homegirl. ha!
I love Fuzzybear too keep writing!!
To Kira
Stop it Angel,you going to make me blush;)
i like what fuzzybear had to say. i’ll continue:
spanish and portuguese people are not ‘all white’. they are descendants of visigoths (whites) and black a moors (shortened to moors) who are ‘african’.
‘moor’ comes from the greek term ‘maur’, which means ‘black’.
the ‘moors’ swept across norther africa from the ‘arabian pennisula’, in the 8th century. 1700 years or so earlier, ‘sheba’ (of which the famous queen came from) was not only on the ‘african’ side of africa, but the ‘arabian pennisula’. thus, if you come from the arabian pennisula, you’re ‘black’, no matter how watered down.
thus, after sweeping across north african, they conquered the iberian pennisula and stayed in many parts for up to 700 years.
this is why unless you go to the far north, most portuguese and spaniards are similar in look to new world spanish people. in short, they are not ‘white’, but a watered down ‘black’ people.
don’t agree? when the spanish armada crashed ashore in equally catholic ireland in the 1500s, the survivors married irish women. guess what their descendants are called? ‘black irish’.
‘black irish’ look like italians, and have NON-irish names like ‘costello’.
so saying one is of spanish descent is saying they descent, relatively recently (last 1200 years) from africans.
in the end, so what? whites descend from ‘blacks’…just about 50,000 or so years ago.
To joe
So You know about the black Irish,huh.Now the only thing is that 50,000yrs you have to bring that down to 5.5-6000yrs.Until then pale skin or white skin hadn’t showed up yet,at least not in large amounts;they were still very much brown.Now no seems to know what tribe the mutation happen to first,but it did spread fast;most likely through assimilation(sex with) of other conquered tribes
The Spanish Armada thing is a myth. Black Irish is not a term used in Ireland. It is only used in the USA. Costello is not a Spanish name but a Norman name. The Normans were vikings who settled in Normandy and intermarried with the French. They invaded the British Isles. The British Isles were settled by different groups of people. People came there from the Iberian peninsula before the Moors invaded Spain. The Moors happen to be North African by the way e.g. Morocco. Countries in Europe are too much stereotyped to look a certain way. Go to Europe and look. There are native Europeans that have dark hair and tan. In the North of Europe there is not much sun so people are paler. Spanish people are fully European.