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