Roy Wood, Jr.

Wood, Jr. in 2019, photo by DFree/Bigstock.com

Birth Name: Roy Norris Wood, Jr.

Place of Birth: Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S.

Date of Birth: December 11, 1978

Ethnicity: African-American

Roy Wood, Jr. is an American humorist, comedian, DJ, actor, producer, and writer. He has been a correspondent for The Daily Show. He is the son of Joyce (Dugan), a college administrator, and Roy Wood, Sr. (Roy Norris Wood), an Atlanta-born, Birmingham-based radio pioneer, civil rights journalist, commentator, college professor, and entrepreneur. His half-brother is news anchor Roy L. Wood.

He spent part of his childhood in Memphis, Tennessee and Birmingham, Alabama. He has a son with his partner, shoe designer Salone Monet.

Roy’s paternal grandfather was Roy Wood, Sr. (the son of William Wood and Jane Price). William was the son of Jefferson Wood and Melissa. Jefferson’s father, Samuel Wood, was born, c. 1790, in Africa.

Roy’s paternal grandmother was named Rosalie N. Latimer. Rosalie was born in Atlanta, Georgia.

A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2021) stated that Roy’s genetic ancestry is:

*89.5% Sub-Saharan African
*8% European
*1.6% East Asian and Native American
*0.9% Unassigned

Genetically, he was found to have a common ancestor with civil rights figure and politician John Lewis, through Roy’s mother’s side.