Jessica Biel
Biel in 2011, Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Jessica Claire Biel
Place of Birth: Ely, Saint Louis, Minnesota, United States
Date of Birth: March 3, 1982
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish (one eighth), Danish (one eighth), English, along with German, Swiss-German, Scottish, distant Welsh, Swedish, and French
Jessica Biel is an American actress, model, producer, and singer. She has had leading roles on television’s 7th Heaven, The Sinner, Limetown, and Candy, and in the films Ulee’s Gold, I’ll Be Home for Christmas, Summer Catch, The Rules of Attraction, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003), Cellular, Blade: Trinity, Stealth, London, Elizabethtown, The Illusionist, Home of the Brave, Next, I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry, Easy Virtue, Powder Blue, Valentine’s Day, The A-Team, The Tall Man, Total Recall (2012), Hitchcock, Playing for Keeps, The Truth About Emanuel, Accidental Love, Bleeding Heart, The Book of Love, A Kind of Murder, and Shock and Awe.
Jessica is the daughter of Kim, a spiritual healer, and Jon Biel, a business consultant. She was raised partly in Texas, Connecticut; Woodstock, Illinois, and finally Boulder, Colorado. She is married to singer and actor Justin Timberlake, with whom she has two children.
Jessica has Hungarian Jewish, from her patrilineal great-grandfather, Danish, from a great-grandmother, English, as well as some German, Swiss-German, and Scottish, and remote Welsh, Swedish, from the early 1700s, and French, ancestry. Jessica did not know of her Hungarian Jewish background until her appearance on the show Who Do You Think You Are?, in a 2017 episode. She stated:
I never heard any of this before. I’m really surprised… I can’t wait to share this with my dad… [I] never had any sort of religious community at all… [I’m] going to learn a lot more about the Hungarian Jews.
Jessica had believed that she has some degree of Native American ancestry on her mother’s side, sometimes stated as Choctaw Native American. An AncestryDNA test whose results were displayed during Jessica’s appearance on Who Do You Think You Are? did not detect any genetic markers for Native American ancestry.
The DNA test stated that Jessica’s genetic ancestry consists of:
*99% Europe
——–*30% Great Britain
——–*26% Europe West
——–*16% Italy/Greece
——–*12% Scandinavia
——–*8% European Jewish
——–*3% Iberian Peninsula
——–*2% Ireland
——–*2% Europe East [possibly Jewish]
*<1% Africa
Jessica’s paternal grandfather was Donald Arthur “Donny” Biel (the son of Edward Lincoln Biel and Carrie L. Rasmussen). Donald was born in Illinois. Edward was born in Illinois, the son of Moritz/Morris Biel and Otillie/Ottilia Morskovitz, who were Jewish emigrants from Žilina (then in the Kingdom of Hungary, now in Slovakia). Carrie was born in Illinois, the daughter of Mikael Frederik Rasmussen and Eleonora Katrine Lund, who were Danish immigrants.
Jessica’s paternal grandmother is Claire Porter (the daughter of Howard Carlisle/Carlyle Porter and Marie/Mary Celeste Weber). Claire was born in Illinois. Howard was born in North Dakota, the son of Charles William Porter and Anna E. Bryant, who had roots in the U.S. going back to the 1600s. Marie/Mary Celeste was born in Illinois, the daughter of George Theodore Weber and Elizabeth Hausner, who were of German descent.
Jessica’s maternal grandfather was Garth Lon Conroe (the son of Clifford Albert Conroe and Mary Frances Eloise Newkirk). Garth was born in Colorado, to a father from Kansas and a mother from Illinois. Clifford was the son of Vernon Eugene Conroe and Ada Butsch. Mary was the daughter of Henry Milo Newkirk and Lillian Lee Cannon.
Jessica’s maternal grandmother is Norma Jean Roberts (the daughter of James Conaway/Conway Roberts and Flora Zobeda Brasier/Brazier). Norma was born in Colorado, to parents from Missouri. James was the son of William David Roberts and Hannah Jane Miller. Flora was the daughter of William “Bill” Brazier/Brasier and Eliza Belle/Bell Pearson.
Sources: Genealogy of Jessica Biel – http://www.geni.com
Jessica’s paternal grandfather, Donald Arthur “Donny” Biel, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Jessica’s paternal grandmother, Claire Porter, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Genealogy of Jessica’s paternal great-grandmother, Marie/Mary Celeste (Weber) Porter – https://www.findagrave.com
Genealogy of Jessica Biel (focusing on her mother’s side) – https://www.wikitree.com
Jessica’s maternal grandfather, Garth Lon Conroe, on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Jessica’s maternal great-great-grandparents, Vernon Eugene Conroe and Ada Butsch, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Jessica’s maternal grandmother, Norma Jean Roberts, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Genealogies of Jessica’s maternal great-grandparents, James Conaway/Conway Roberts and Flora Zobeda Brasier/Brazier – https://www.findagrave.com
Correction.
I don’t think Morris Biel was Jewish. Each of the censuses he was listed on, he always listed Austrian/Hungarian as his nationality and Hungarian as his language. Are you sure you aren’t mixing her grandfather up with another Morris Biel?
Could you cite which document led to the assumption?
His language being listed as “Hungarian” doesn’t mean much (most Hungarian Jews did not speak Yiddish). Census language or “race” can prove someone is Jewish, but usually can’t rule it out.
“Biel” and “Morskovitz” are clearly not ethnic Hungarian surnames.
The family has two “boarder”s listed as living with them over the years. Louis Silver, in 1900, born in Austria, and Herman Schlesinger, in 1920, born in Hungary (likely Jewish).
Moreover, at least two of the Biel children married Jewish spouses in the United States. Alexander Biel married Anna Weinberger (whose parents were also Hungarian Jews). Julius Biel married Ella Berman (whose parents were Russian Jews). While several of the other siblings married non-Jews, none of them married non-Jewish Austrians or Hungarians.
One child marrying a Jewish spouse doesn’t mean much. But given the time period and everything else, it’s unlikely two children would (if they weren’t Jewish themselves), especially considering none of the other siblings married non-Jewish Austrians or Hungarians.
Alexander’s wife, Anna Weinberger, is a pretty good example of someone from a typical Hungarian Jewish immigrant family. Her parents, Rosa (Neumann) and Abraham Weinberger, are listed as speaking Hungarian on the census as well. But all or most of their children married Jewish spouses.
Based on some evidence, I think the family converted to Christian Science in the United States. That would explain why some of the children married Jews (who probably also practiced Christian Science) while some married WASPs (but none married people of non-Jewish Central European background).
Wouldn’t that all be considered circumstantial evidence? Either way I’ll just leave it be.
Well, there you have it.
http://www.interfaithfamily.com/arts_and_entertainment/popular_culture/Hollywood_Now_New_Spring_TV_Shows_Catherine_Zeta-Jones_Leighton_Meester_More.shtml
You heard it here first.
In the episode it shows a census from the town in Hungry were the Biels lived and it was all Jewish people. The person who showed Jessica the entry for her family said that if a non Jewish person was in it they would have marked them as non Jewish. Not only that the Jewish dna is consistent with great grandparents being Jewish.
Actually I did read in reports that she had Native American dna and she looks it.
What was the name of Jessica Biel’s last Native American ancestor?
Well, Jessica is part Ashkenazi Jewish mixed in with Northern European and therefore looks Turkish. Perhaps you are confusing her appearance with that of a Native American.
This bitch is so overrated and ugly. She looks like a man and her husband is ugly af too.
Thought she was Native American. She looks Native American, though.
Lol no. No she doesn’t.
she has a michael jackson nose