Virginie Efira

Efira in 2011, photo by Prphotos.com

Place of Birth: Brugmann, Brussels, Belgium

Date of Birth: 5 May, 1977

Ethnicity: Belgian [Flemish, Walloon, Ashkenazi Jewish]

Virginie Efira is a Belgian actress and television host. Her roles include the films It Boy, In Bed with Victoria, Elle (2016), An Impossible Love, Sibyl (2019), Bye Bye Morons, and Paris Memories.

Virginie is the daughter of Carine and André Efira, who is a professor and hemato-oncologist. She was raised in Schaerbeek. She has a daughter with her former partner, French director, screenwriter, and actor Mabrouk El Mechri, who is of Algerian descent; and a son with her partner, French and Canadian actor Niels Schneider. Virginie also became a French citizen in 2016.

Virginie has stated, “I have Jewish roots, but I was raised as an atheist.” She has been described as being of “distant Greek Jewish descent.” While the name Efira may originate in Greece, it goes back in the Netherlands’ Jewish community for many generations.

Virginie’s paternal grandfather was the son of Israël Meyer Efira and Maria/Marie Jacqueline Van Damme. Israel was born in Lille, Nord, Hauts-de-France, France, the son of Joachim Efira, who was born in Anderlecht, Brussels, to a Jewish family; and of Augustine L’Hoste, who was born in Montignies-sur-Sambre, Charleroi, Walloon Region.

Virginie’s maternal grandfather’s surname was Verelst.

Source: Genealogy of Virginie Efira (focusing on her father’s side) – https://www.geni.com