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
she’s Mexican and denies her latino roots. She even looks like a mexican idk whats the big deal… she will NEVER be white
Well she is white… im latina, she does look mexican but not full. i can definitely see the white. in fact more than mexican. mexicans are usually quite dark, especially compared to Jessica.
she is not white
–
she is mixed with native mexican
to brazil:
she is over 80% white, how isn’t she white then?
She is a mestizo. That test probably overestimated her European ancestry and underestimated her Native American heritage. There is no way Jessica is whiter than Larry David, an Ashkenazi Jew.
Yes not to mention she doesn’t look white.
I am not a latina, but before she even stated her ethnicities, I would have never guessed she was part Mexican. She doesn’t look it at all to me. She looked more Puerto Rican and Caucasian to me. I’m looking at her features and she has more European features, but I do understand why she identifies more with one side. Me being multiracial myself, it’s our experiences that will allow us to decide which side we feel more comfortable in identifying with.
WATCH THE MOVIE HONEY
BOTH OF HER PARENTS WERE HISPANIC
WHY DID SHE PLAY AS A
BLACK GIRL IN THE MOVIE HONEY
she wasn’t playing a black gir.l she was playing a latin dumb ass.
SHE DOESNT LOOK LATINO AT ALL, SHE FAVORS THE WHITE SIDE,SHE IS AN ATTRACTIVE GIRL, DONT BE ASHAMED OF YOUR CULTURE,ITS ALL GOOD
There’s no single Latino look, Latino is cultural, so how can you say that “she doesn’t look Latino at all” – that’s a meaningless statement. Latinos can be “white” (By which I mean European descent, because there really is no such thing as racially “white”) and Latino and white are not mutually exclusive.
I see jessica alba as a mestiza always have and will even if she dont like been called latina.
What some people dont know is that Mexico stiil has a significant caucasian population. A census and genetic studies where done recently in Mexico and about 15% of the people are caucasian and about 10% where american indian. The rest of the population is mixed or other which could mean biracial or triracial. The genetic studies done showed that in the mixed population the highest african gene contribution in the south was about 10% and in the north the highest was about 2%. The group labeled “other” consists of more full black and maybe asians. I dont have any problem with any people but simply some people are just not black. I do believe all humans have contributed to history whatever color they may be.
if we take the time to really research the mexican heritage most will actually figure out that the aztec indians spoke Nuhautl, which is a language that very few speak now & that the Spaniards (europeans) brought over with them black slaves when they came to invade South America. So there is a possibility that african american blood could have made it into the mexican blood line. Please take the time to read before commenting. All of our blood lines are Mixed & I believe that is what a lot of us seem to forget sometimes. If born in America, We Are American.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_civilization
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec
Genetic research has confirmed that there is an African heritage in Mexicans in general. Not all Mexicans have this ancestry, but many have. It’s not a big part, but it varies a lot. I don’t mean people from Veracruz or anything like that, but regular Mexicans from all over Mexico. The average was around ~4-5%, but that was just an average.
This research is not comparable with the test Alba took, as in this case we’re talking about hundred people or more, and so the statistical validity of the results is far better, and therefore it does show with reasonable confidence that African ancestry in Mexicans is prevalent, but not at a significant level in the individual, except for a small percentage of the cases – unless you consider 4-5% significant.
I couldn’t find the original study, but here’s another one which includes Mexico city. It doesn’t have the nuance of the other study, only averages, so it doesn’t really show the variation in the admixture rates. It does show the average African admixture in the people from Mexico City who were tested:
http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1000037
I’m sorry I couldn’t find the study I mentioned above, but a similar one is here – this is not specifically about Mexicans, but their results are included:
http://www.pnas.org/content/107/suppl.2/8954.full
As you can see, it’s undeniable that Mexicans have a little bit of African ancestry, which varies individually. In these studies, the majority of Mexicans have some African ancestry. That doesn’t mean that Alba has it, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she had a little bit (even though it did not show up in the Ancestry By DNA test she took on he Lopez show.)