Natasha Leggero
Leggero in 2010, photo by s_bukley/Bigstock.com
Place of Birth: Rockford, Illinois, U.S.
Date of Birth: March 26, 1974
Ethnicity:
*father – Italian, including Sicilian
*mother – Swedish
Natasha Leggero is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer.
She has stated that her father is of Italian descent and her mother is of Swedish descent.
Natasha is married to comedian Moshe Kasher. Natasha, who was raised Catholic, is a convert to Judaism, Moshe’s faith. The couple has a daughter.
Natasha has said that a DNA test showed her to be of 6% Sub-Saharan African ancestry and that she “has been bragging about it ever since.”
Natasha’s paternal grandfather was Peter Frank Leggero (the son of Louis Constantino Leggero and Orelia Lena Ferrero). Peter was born in Wisconsin. Louis was born in Ivrea, Torino, Piemonte, Italy, the son of Pietro Leggero. Orelia was the daughter of Italian parents, Peter Ferrero and Teresa Carola Avernatti.
Natasha’s paternal grandmother was Rosalie Mae Canezaro (the daughter of Leroy/Leon L. Canezaro and Josephine Margaret Spirages/Spragio/Spragios). Rosalie was born in Maringouin, Louisiana. Leon was born in Louisiana, the son of Italian parents, Benedict Salvador Canezaro/Cannizzaro/Canazaro, who was born in Naples, Campania, and Rosalia/Rosalie Bondi, who was born in Trabia, Palermo, Sicily. Josephine was also born in Louisiana, the daughter of Carlo Spragio/Spragios, who was Italian, and of Mary Josephine “Josie” Alleman/Alama/Alaimo, who was born in Louisiana, to Italian parents, from Ustica island, Sicily.
Sources: https://gpodder.net
Natasha’s paternal grandmother, Rosalie Mae Canezaro, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Obituary of Natasha’s paternal grandmother, Rosalie Mae (Canezaro) Leggero – http://www.gasparinioliverifuneral.net
Family history information on Natasha’s paternal great-grandparents, Leroy/Leon L. Canezaro and Josephine Margaret Spirages/Spragio/Spragios – http://www.findagrave.com
Natasha’s paternal great-grandmother, Josephine Margaret Spirages/Spragio/Spragios, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
Kind of confused by the discussion above, though I realize it’s years old, now. 6% of anything is a full great-great grandparent’s worth of DNA. That’s not what I’d consider distant.
In any case, it almost certainly has to be from her mother’s side.
Benedict Canezaro was born in Naples, Campania. Rosalia Bondi was born in Trabia, Palermo, Sicily.
https://www.familysearch.org/tree/pedigree/landscape/LRDZ-6HN
“Cannizzaro” is the correct spelling of that surname. It’s mostly common in Sicily, and has distant Catalan origin:https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannizzaro_(famiglia)
Natasha’s paternal grandparents were Peter F. Leggero Sr and Louisiana-born Rosalie Mae Canezaro (the daughter of Leroy/Leon Canezaro and Josephine Margaret Spirages/Spragios)
http://www.gasparinioliverifuneral.net/m/?p=memorial&id=163885
I think there’s more than “Italian” from the Louisiana side.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=154990163
I meant, that someone just edited in “mostly” Italian because of the African DNA story.
Her grandmother appears to have been of fully Italian descent, according to censuses.
How do you know Josie Alleman’s parents were Italian?
The census says so.
is there a link?
It’s included under sources, in her great-grandmother’s census record.
yeah. “Alleman” didn’t sound much Italian to me.
Natasha’s father is John Leggero.
https://twitter.com/jleggs
She has stated that a DNA test revealed 6% Sub-Saharan African ancestry and “she has been bragging about it ever since”.
http://www.cc.com/video-clips/ibyy9i/the-nightly-show-with-larry-wilmore-panel—rachel-dolezal—defining-blackness
This probably came from Southern Italian heritage.
S. Italians don’t have any substantial SSA admixture on average, if she really has 6%SSA it doesn’t come from there. Besides his Italian surname we don’t know much about her background.
@Andrew
Quote(S. Italians don’t have any substantial SSA admixture on average, if she really has 6%SSA it doesn’t come from there. )
First, what’s a substantial amount? Secondly, you just made two statements , you can’t possibly know the answer to. Although, at least you acknowledge that some Italians have SSA ancestry, which is an improvement for you.
Well, Natasha is Jewish now.
why is Judaism listed as her Ethnicity though?…
Why not? Jewishness is an ethnoreligion. I often list “Converted to Judaism”, or, when someone is of fully Jewish descent but practices Christianity, I list “Raised Christian” or “Converted to Christianity” (like Madeleine Albright, John Kerry’s father, or Josh Groban’s father).
It just sounds odd “Ethnicity: Italian (converted to Judaism)”.. It reads as if she was Italian but is now Jewish and no longer Italian because she converted. ‘Jewishness’ is not an ethnicity the way Ashkenazi Jewish is.
from Wikipedia:
_ Leggero was born in Rockford, Illinois and is of “mainly” Italian descent.
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Natasha_Leggero&diff=667386736&oldid=667151678
Anyway, don’t worry Andrew, we’ve taken her off your hands.
I never edited Wikipedia in my life.
@Andrew it’s fine Andrew, she is now no longer Italian anyway, since she converted to Judaism!!
She’s both.
STOP PERPETUATING THIS FALSEHOOD
@Greyface
DNA results are showing Italians with SSA ancestry, so how are they PERPETUATING A FALSEHOOD?
It’s not me, it’s the DNA tests that typically show African ancestry for people of Italian descent.
not anywhere near 6%SSA, it’s normally at noise level.
@Andrew
As you said before, no substantial amount on the avg. Which means, you’re going to have people who are above the avg like (marisa tomei), and this woman (Natasha). That’s just this generation, what about their parents who are higher. Black people were all up in Italy, you guys just need to deal with that, and move on
https://www.google.it/search?redir_esc=&client=ms-android-samsung&hl=it-IT&safe=images&oe=utf-8&q=marisa%20tomei%20parents&source=android-browser-type&qsubts=1461314816258&devloc=0#hl=it-IT&q=Gary+A.+Tomei&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLUz9U3MEw3MjVX4gIx0ystzXPTtCSzk630C1LzC3JSgVRRcX6eVUFiUWpeSfEjxiBugZc_7glLeU5ac_IaozMXbrVCalxsrnklmSWVQjJcvFIIuzQYpLi5EFweAHi8SUCJAAAA&imgrc=FuV3frs7XsGFYM%3A
I don’t think Marisa’s parents are mixed. Btw you know better than me than Italy, traditionally one of the most populous Euro countries, was not involved in Atlantic slave trade. Also Italian colonialism in Africa was poor, compared to France or Britain. Nowadays Italy is among the Western countries with less black people.
@Andrew
Quote(I don’t think Marisa’s parents are mixed.)
From what was shown on the site sometime ago, it’s Marisa mother who is 13% SSA, I’m not sure how much of that would show in her phenotype. However we already know, that the outside appearance doesn’t always show admixture , you do have plenty of examples on the site.
Quote:
( Btw you know better than me than Italy, traditionally one of the most populous Euro countries, was not involved in Atlantic slave trade.)
Why would assume that the black people that were up in Italy were slaves? Also Southern Italians in the U.S. were actually seen as black themselves , and looked down on by other white groups. If I’m not mistaken, People from Southern Italy were seen as black on the census. Now why do you think they were places in that category? Now while( Michele Amatore) did start off as a slave, he wasn’t one while he was in Italy
https://temidistoria.files.wordpress.com/2014/12/amatore.jpg
Quote:
(Nowadays Italy is among the Western countries with less black people.)
Being the least black today, doesn’t say anything about the past. AA’s flooded to Italy in the 18 and 1900″s , and many stayed. Some becoming stars over there , I can give examples like (Harold Willard Bradley Jr) who married a white woman, looks at the kids:
https://www.facebook.com/Hannelore.Bradley.Zacharias/photos/pb.756569937689269.-2207520000.1461318715./939975399348721/?type=3&theater
Populations often change with time
@fuzzybear
Harold Willard Bradley is described in his Wiki profile in Italian as:
* African-American, Choctaw (father)
* German., African-American (mother).
https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Bradley
It also says his hood included Chinese, Swedish, Irish, Mexican people (among other things).
so because she converted to Judaism, is she no longer italian?
did it give her a dna swap