Sam Nivola

Birth Name: Samuel John Nivola

Place of Birth: Westminster, London, England, U.K.

Date of Birth: 26 September, 2003

Ethnicity: English, one eighth Italian/Sardinian, one eighth Ashkenazi Jewish, small amount of Scottish

Sam Nivola is an English-born American actor. He has appeared in the films White Noise (2022), With/In, Maestro, and Eileen.

He is the son of actors Emily Mortimer and Alessandro Nivola. His father was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to a father of Italian/Sardinian and Ashkenazi Jewish descent, and a mother of English and Scottish ancestry. Sam’s mother is English, and was born in Hammersmith, London. His sister, May Nivola, is also an actress.

Sam’s paternal grandfather was Pietro Salvatore Nivola, a professor of political science (the son of Costantino Nivola and Ruth Guggenheim). Pietro was born in New York. Costantino, a prominent sculptor, architectural sculptor, muralist, designer, and teacher, was Italian, and was from Orani, a small village in Sardinia. He was the son of Nicola/Nicolò Nivola and Giovanna Mele. Sam’s great-grandmother Ruth was born, c. 1917, in Munich, Germany, to a German Jewish father, Samuel Guggenheim, a neurologist, and a mother of Russian Jewish descent, Magnia Brochis. Ruth left for Milan, Italy, in the 1930s to escape the Nazis.

Sam’s paternal grandmother is Virginia, an artist (the daughter of Thomas J. Davis and Shirley Ross). Thomas was the son of Thomas Jefferson Davis and Jane J. Brown.

Sam’s maternal grandfather was writer and lawyer John Mortimer (John Clifford Mortimer, the son of Herbert Clifford Mortimer and Kathleen May Smith). John was born in Hampstead, London, England. Herbert was the son of John Mortimer and Selina Mary Eyles. Kathleen was the daughter of Henry Bartlett Smith and Eleanor Langford.

Sam’s maternal grandmother is Penelope Gollop (the daughter of William A. J. Gollop and Anne Leigh). Penelope was born in Bridge, Kent, England. William was born in Paddington, London, and was a pig farmer. He was the son of Charles Henry Gollop and Kate Anne Thorp.

Sources: Genealogy of Sam Nivola – https://www.geni.com

Genealogy of Sam’s father – https://www.wikitree.com

Obituary of Sam’s paternal grandfather, Pietro Salvatore Nivola – https://www.easthamptonstar.com

Sam’s paternal great-grandfather, Thomas J. Davis, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org

Marriage record of Sam’s paternal great-great-grandparents, Thomas Jefferson Davis and Jane J. Brown – https://www.familysearch.org

Genealogy of Sam’s mother (focusing on her father’s side) – http://www.benedictheal.com