Karina Lombard
Lombard in 2004, photo by Prphotos
Place of Birth: Tahiti, French Polynesia
Date of Birth: January 21, 1969
Ethnicity:
*father – evidently Swiss and Russian
*mother – publicly unclear, possibly Lakota Native American or Polynesian
Karina Lombard is a French and American actress, singer, and model. She is known for her role on the drama series The L Word as Marina.
Karina was born in Tahiti, French Polynesia. Her father, Henri Lombard, is said to be of Swiss and Russian descent, and is also stated to be from an aristocratic family. In press articles on Karina, her mother is said to be Nupuree Lightfoot, a Lakota Native American medicine woman. It is not clear if that is accurate. Her mother’s surname may in fact have been Mataitai, a Polynesian name.
Articles from 1993 say that Karina was raised by her father, after he persuaded her mother to give up rights to Karina, “under pressure from his aristocratic family to leave Nupuree… “She agreed we should have a ‘white’ upbringing.””
Karina grew up in Switzerland and Barcelona, Spain, and attended several Swiss boarding schools. She speaks several European languages, including English. She moved to New York City, New York, U.S., when she was eighteen.
Sources: Article about Karina’s background at People Magazine, 1993 – https://people.com
Article about Karina’s background at McCall’s, 1993 – http://www.mcall.com
I think a correction should be made now. Her father is likely just French, and her mother is Polynesian.
The stories of her father being from an “aristocratic Swiss-Russian banking family” are likely false, as is her mother being a “Lakota medicine woman”.
I found her likely mother on “Family Search”. “Nuupure Mataitai” married “Henri Lombard” in French Polynesia. One of their children is named “Charles Lombard”, a sibling of Karina.
Karina has no Native American connection whatsoever. And the Native American connection was likely fabricated to sell an image. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:79TD-W7W2
Also, there is a record connecting her sister “Denise Lombard”, but the surname is spelled “Dombard” and likely an error. Denise:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:79TD-W7ZM
.
Furthermore, I beleive that her father being from an “aristocratic Swiss Russian” family was fabricated too. Here is her fathers records:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:79TD-W73Z
She was sold as “Native American” model in her prime by fashion industry.
The modelling industry faking an identity for her “image” makes way more sense than my guess lol.
So her mothers actually Tahitian/Polynesian to some extent? Would make sense as to why she was born in Tahiti. I’m not saying its impossible for someone to be born in Tahiti and not have any Tahiti background.
I’m going to guess she herself claiming she’s “Native American” might’ve been a lie fabricated by the family. When I googled “Nuupure Mataitai”, an alternate suggested search on one of those genealogy websites was “Nupupure Lightfoot”.
Why is Native American still there?
Beats me. I’ve posted twice in the last year that her mother is Tahitian. Her wiki was also changed by her nephew who was also puzzled as to why his grandmother was described as Lakota, when she’s Polynesian.
I guess some things just aren’t gonna be changed. The Dukakis debacle comes to mind. I don’t want to be too specific though, or else my comment is just going to be removed.