Kristin Chenoweth
Chenoweth in 2012, Helga Esteb / Shutterstock.com
Place of Birth: Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, U.S.
Date of Birth: July 24, 1968
Ethnicity:
*father – English, Scottish, German, possibly other
Kristin Chenoweth is an American actress and singer. She is known for her vocal range of 4 octaves, and for her roles in the stage musical Wicked, on the shows The West Wing, Pushing Daisies, GCB, and Schmigadoon!, and in the films Bewitched, RV, Deck the Halls, and The Peanuts Movie. She is 4′ 11½″.
The surname Chenoweth is Cornish.
Kristin was adopted and named Kristi Dawn Chenoweth, by Junie (Smith) and Jerry Morris Chenoweth. Jerry is the son of Roy Morris Chenoweth and Mildred Alice Livengood. Junie is the daughter of Doyal Smith and Katherine Hale. Kristin has stated that she is the only person in her family that is not tall, and the only one who is musically talented.
In her book I’m No Philosopher, But I Got Thoughts, 2023, page 193, Kristin states that her biological parents were musician Billy Mack Ethridge, who was a bassist for rock band ZZ Top for a time, and Lynn.
Billy Ethridge was from Arkansas, and was said to have been of part Cherokee Native American descent. Kristin has also referred to herself having one quarter Cherokee ancestry. It is not clear if this Cherokee Native American ancestry has been verified/documented. All of Billy’s recent ancestors were listed as “White” on U.S. Censuses.
Kristin’s biological paternal grandfather was named James Alfred Ethridge. James was born in Arkansas.
Kristin’s biological paternal grandmother was Velma Sue Haven (the daughter of Van Buren Haven and Hattie Harcrow). Velma was born in Banks, Arkansas. Van Buren was the son of Jasper Newton Haven and Cassie Ellen Kiper. Hattie was the daughter of George Washington Harcrow and Martha Sparks.
Sources: http://www.parade.com
Genealogy of Kristin’s adoptive parents – https://www.geni.com
Kristin’s biological father on the 1950 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Death record of Kristin’s biological father – https://www.findagrave.com
Kristin’s biological paternal great-grandparents, Van Buren Haven and Hattie Harcrow, on the 1910 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Some evidence of her Cherokee or Choctaw ancestry was found, right? Her “other” ethnicity and I believe was tagged under Cherokee at one point on this site. I hope she didn’t fake her claims like Louis Owens, an author from Miss. who took his own life in 2001 after their family and tribal genealogists proved he wasn’t of Cherokee nor Choctaw ancestry, the Choctaw did originate in Miss. +
What a weird and unsettling thing to say. And constantly with this policing of other people’s indigenous claims.
I will await for word by the Cherokee Nation in OK then, they issued statements for years of a celebrity (i.e. sen. Elizabeth Warren, Cher, Ward Churchill, Johnny Depp, and 100 more) has no Cherokee or any American Indian ancestry. It’s clarification and verification we go by in ethnicelebs, and I don’t decide whether Chenoweth is Cherokee or the like, just wanting evidence of anyone’s celebrity’s ethnic origins from a verified source. +
@Follers, I highly recommend getting rid of Elizabeth Warren’s NA ethnicity in her profile. She has no traceable lineage to an NA ancestor and her percentage was so small it was obviously potential noise. She used that lie to benefit her career her whole life.
Or her DNA test results were from another (a Mexican or South American Indian sample to pass it off like it’s hers). Elizabeth Warren has to be the most controversial person on this site and then there’s another politician in US congress George Santos lied about his grandparents were holocaust survivors fled Poland to Brazil after WW2 but it turned out they weren’t Jewish and came from Belgium. There are mysteries and folklore in many persons family history and then there are lies by some celebrities to promote their careers by pretending to be from ethnic groups which they are not. +
Ethnogenesis I like and respect you a lot but your theory doesn’t make much sense. If her results were s Mexican or indigenous of south America why would her dna results cone up less than 1 percent NA? She is controversial like Santos. Keep up the great work I respect you!
From her father’s obituary:
“Being of Cherokee descent, he was an avid hunter and liked to trophy hunt. He felt that his Cherokee Indian heritage enhanced his ability to hunt and track animals and his proficiency with a bow and rifle.”
We haven’t found any Cherokee ancestry yet though, all her father’s recent ancestors were white.