Salli Richardson

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Birth Name: Salli Elise Richardson

Place of Birth: Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Date of Birth: November 23, 1967

Ethnicity:
*father – English, Italian
*mother – African-American

Salli Richardson, also credited as Salli Richardson-Whitfield, is an American actress and director. She is known for starring on the series Eureka.

Her father is white, and has English and Italian ancestry. Her mother is African-American. Salli has stated that her mother has Native American ancestry. It is not clear if this Native American ancestry has been verified/documented.

Salli is married to actor Dondre Whitfield, with whom she has two children. Dondre is African-American.

She has stated:

I mean, yes, my father is Italian and English, and my mother’s got Indian in her, but when you look at my parents you see Black and White–two halves… I was raised around both my parents, and I knew that my father is White and my mother is Black, but I never thought that I was anything but Black. It never crossed my mind that I could be anything else. No one ever said anything; no one ever made any comments in my family. It was just never a question. I think being Black is a wonderful thing to claim.

Salli’s paternal grandparents likely are Gerald Richardson and Geraldine Hope Higgins (the daughter of John L. “Jack” Higgins and Rose Page). Gerald was born in New York. Geraldine was born in Chicago, Illinois. Rose was the daughter of Anna, who was born in Italy.