Joy Behar

Behar in 2009, photo by Prphotos.com

Birth Name: Josephine Victoria Occhiuto

Place of Birth: Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, New York, U.S.

Date of Birth: October 7, 1942

Ethnicity: Italian

Joy Behar is an American comedian, television personality, actress, and writer. She is a co-host of ABC talk show The View.

She was born into a Catholic family, of Italian descent. Her mother, Rose Diane (Carbone), was a seamstress, who was born in Pennsylvania, to Italian parents. Her father, Louis/Gino Occhiuto, was a truck driver for Coca-Cola, and a U.S. WWII veteran, who was an Italian emigrant, from Calabria.

Joy is married to Steve Janowitz. She has a daughter with her former husband, college professor Joe Behar. The surname Behar is Sephardi Jewish.

An AncestryDNA test whose results were displayed on the show The View (2018) stated that Joy’s genetic ancestry consists of:

*92% Italy
*6% Turkey & The Caucasus
*2% Middle East

She had DNA matches in Calabria.

Joy’s paternal grandfather was Philip Occhiuto (the son of Saverio Occhiuto and Maria Rosa Arena).

Joy’s paternal grandmother was named Josephine.

Joy’s maternal grandfather was Vincenzo/Vincent Carbone (who possibly was the son of Antonio Carbone and Diana Barilla).

Joy’s maternal grandmother was named Francesca Zagari.

Source: Joy’s family history – http://www.famouscelebrities.org

Joy’s father on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Joy’s mother on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Joy’s mother on the 1940 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org