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
I thought she was black white and spanish.
She does look part black. Her character in the movie “Honey” was biracial (black and white).
Seems that she doesn’t like her ethnicity, she always tried to look “whiter”. I’m not saying she is racist but maybe a self-hater.Must be hard to be an american girl and people call her mexican, latina and speak spanish with her, just because she has stereotypical facial features.Well, she looks triracial.
watch the george lopez interview. She guesses that shes more Native than European even though her Mother is 100% European and her dad is Mexican (mix of European and Native) I dont know if shes just dumb or what?
anyway the George Lopez DNA test revealed she was 87% European, 13% Native. I thought that she was just white, Americans seem to pay attention to race too much they think that just because someone is born in Mexico that they arent white?
a white american with black hair and brown eyes will think of themself as white but if a white American has green eyes and light brown hair with the surname “gonzalez” Americans will not consider them white? whats that all about?
It has nothing to do with hair and eye color. Europeans can have black hair and dark brown eyes. Heck, even northern Europeans can have such features, and olive skin too.
However, this woman has an exotic ambiguous look. She doesn’t look like she could fit in any particular place , but I don’t think it would be unthinkable for her to pass as an “exotic European”. She is NOT dark at all, she is MUCH lighter than many native Europeans, but she just looks mixed.
Just look at how she looked in the tv-.show “Dark Angel” – she was made up to look as exotic and ambiguous as possible, and she did. People who only knew of her after she became famous with the Fantastic Four and Sin City will probably see her as just another white girl, while most people who noticed her in the TV show will regard her as exotic/ambiguous. The main reason why she got the role at all was because SHE LOOKED AMBIGUOUS.
Her DNA test cannot change that. Her DNA test does not define who she is. Her DNA test does not change that she felt that she was not accepted by either the Latino or the White crowds in her school(s). The DNA test does not change that she was viewed as an “other” by the white children when growing up. She was clearly a type of minority person, and not part of the white mainstream, and therefore she was not white, and her experiences are not that of a white person.
There is NO biological definition of a “white” person. It can mean anything you want, but it usually refer to the American MAJORITY Anglo origin/culture. She may not look much different from most “white” people, but she was still viewed as something else. And most crucially, she was TREATED as something else.
That DNA test she took regard a large portion of Eurasia as “European” in the genetic test. Jessica is probably of Spanish ancestry on her fathers side, but we cannot know that. He could just as well have some completely different ancestry, like northern African or Middle Eastern or both. The test does NOT differentiate, such ancestry will come out as “European” in that test, even though it is not European, and it is not “white” in the usual Anglo sense, because a Middle Eastern person will obviously be a minority person in Europe and in an “Anglo” context.
Many much darker Mexicans are of 100% European ancestry. Some Mexicans, like Salma Hayek, has Lebanese Ancestry, which is Middle Eastern. Salma Hayek ALSO LOOKS WHITE, but she is regarded as Latino period! Salma Hayek certainly looks NOTHING like a Native American. That is also the case with many other Latino Stars. They are as “white” as Jessica Alba, even in the case where they are “Full Latino”, because they may actually originate from mostly European Latinos. There are no Indigenous looking Latino stars in the USA, not one. They are all white, because if being more “European” than “Indigenous” makes you “white period”, then most famous US Latinos are white as well.
True but the race profile that she is white whether people agree or not is still present and she is Caucasian no matter what people view. Some will say not because of that one drop but it makes errors for so many factors. Environment always makes certain pressures but does not factor differently who and what a person is. For example, England view and pressures the same for gypsies as US for latino and negroids here. but yet they are Caucasian, and many will say no in England, but they are.. Why? because of the discrimination in the environment. Same everywhere but different groups. Japan for Koreans, South Africa for afrikaans vs. negroids, and Italy for Ethopians. Sadly, it has been that way for years and past.
There’s no such thing as being of a “white race”, as there’s no biological definition of any “white race”. You can talk about a “Race of people”, but in that case it does not refer to a biological race, and it could easily refer to Mexicans specifically (for example), if used in that way. “White” Is a word with no definition, except as a color. Who you include as white simply depends on who you regard as white. It is completely fluid.
“Caucasian” is a dated concept as well – the term “Caucasian” is also NOT a biological concept. It was invented by anthropologists (They are NOT biologists), who based this on how they thought people immediately looked in some cases also on quasi-religious presumptions, and certain skull measurements – they thought that people who measured the same according to specific methods also were the same ancestrally, which is nonsense. The term itself was created by mr. Blumenbach in the nineteenth century, and it’s pretty dated. According to the aforementioned anthropology practices, you CANNOT know if Jessica Alba is a Caucasoid unless you have made specific measurements of her skull. She is mixed, and you CANNOT know whether she conforms to this or that category just by looking at her. It is possible that she would come out as an intermediate (which was a possibility according to the old practices). You just cannot know.
According to Blumenbach’s views there were these races:
the Caucasian or white race
the Mongolian or yellow race, including all East Asians and some Central Asians.
the Malayan or brown race, including Southeast Asian and Pacific Islanders.
the Ethiopian or black race, including sub-Saharan Africans.
the American or red race, including American Indians.
(I copied this from Wikipedia, but that’s what he thought)
So you could say that Jessica Alba is more “Caucasian” than “Red”, but in that case you rely on those old terms. The only thing you can tell about her is her ORIGIN. The genetic tests tell something about her ORIGIN, it does not tell anything about her race – and that is a disclaimer you will find on the page of the company which tested her. The genetic testing companies does NOT test a persons race.
I’m Not Mexican, Trust Me
ok, you’re Asian
Don’t Worry About it, Just Like you don’t want to reveal Your Ethnicity eigther
Has she ever played a Latina character since she became popular? In Sin City, Valentine´s Day and Fantastic Four she played non-Latina characters.
She actually hates being called Mexican
and you?
She says she feels like an American girl, she does call herself Latina though.
I thought that she was proud of her Mexican heritage. Jessica Alba´s case proves that Mexicans suffer a lot of racial confusion in the US.
Isn’t she American though? Mexican is only part of her ancestry. She is also Danish and French. I wouldn’t label her as Mexican. That’s like calling someone like Anne Hathaway Irish.
she is what she looks like
She has native and looks native more than anything
I agree.