Some Famous People you Probably Didn’t know had Jamaican Ancestry
Jamaicans can be found on every corner of the planet.
We are an adventurous people and we usually work very hard to achieve our aspirations.
You’ve most likely seen some of these faces many times without knowing of their Jamaican connection.
Here is a list of famous people you probably didn’t know have Jamaican heritage.
You may be surprised by some of the names on this list.
Kerry Washington
More popularly known as Olivia Pope for her lead role in the mega hit TV show Scandal, Kerry Washington has a Jamaican mother.
Delroy Lindo
Lindo was born in Eltham, south-east London. He is the son of Jamaican immigrant parents, and was brought up in nearby Lewisham. His mother was a nurse and his father worked in various jobs. As a teenager, he and his mother moved to Toronto, Canada, and when he was sixteen, they moved to San Francisco, where Lindo would graduate from the American Conservatory Theater.
Corbin Bleu
Bleu was born in Brooklyn, New York City, the son of Martha (née Callari) and David Reivers. His mother is Italian American and his father is Jamaican American.
Tyson Beckford
Tyson Beckford’s parents are from Jamaica. He actually lived in the island until he was 7.
Louis Farrakhan
Farrakhan was born Louis Eugene Wolcott (also mistakenly spelled Walcott) in The Bronx, New York, the younger of two sons of Sarah Mae Manning (January 16, 1900 – November 18, 1988) and Percival Clark, immigrants from the Caribbean islands. His mother was born in Saint Kitts and Nevis. His father was a Jamaican native.
Sheryl Lee Ralph
Raised between Mandeville, Jamaica, and Long Island, Sheryl Lee Ralph was born in Waterbury, Connecticut, to an African- American father and a Jamaican mother.
Dulé Hill
This popular actor from the hit TV show Psych Hill was born in East Brunswick, New Jersey, to parents Jennifer and Bertram Hill (who are both from Jamaica).
Sanya Richards-Ross
Sanya Richards-Ross was born February 26, 1985 in Kingston, Jamaica. She competes internationally for the United States.
Colin Powell
Powell was born on April 5, 1937, in Harlem, a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Manhattan, to Jamaican immigrant parents Maud Arial (née McKoy) and Luther Theophilus Powell.
Lennox Lewis
Lewis was born on 2 September 1965, in West Ham, London, England to Jamaican-born parents.
The Notorious B.I.G
Born in St. Mary’s Hospital on May 21, 1972, Wallace grew up in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, New York City on 226 St. James Place near the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant, considered at the time to be within the latter neighborhood’s boundaries. He was the only child of Voletta Wallace, a Jamaican preschool teacher, and George Latore, a welder and small-time Jamaican politician.
Susan Rice
United States National Security Advisor Susan Rice was born in Washington, D.C., to Emmett J. Rice (1919–2011), Cornell University economics professor and the second black governor of the Federal Reserve System; and education policy scholar Lois (née Dickson) Fitt, currently at the Brookings Institution. Her maternal grandparents were Jamaican.
David Paterson
This former Governor of New York was born in Brooklyn to Portia Paterson, a homemaker, and labor law attorney Basil Paterson. His father is half Afro-Jamaican. His paternal grandmother, Evangeline Rondon Paterson was secretary to Black Nationalist leader Marcus Garvey.
Canibus
Germaine Williams (born December 9, 1974) better known by his stage name Canibus, is a Jamaican-American rapper and actor. He rose to fame in the mid-Nineties.
Source: wikipedia.com
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It is a pity that our leaders are failing us by not implementing law to curb crime,create opportunity and put in the infurstructure so that people can achieve in Jamaica… I love my home but because of the lack of opportunity for young people.. I would leave,, thousands have leave to work abroad n will never return.. because our divide and rule system only look out for the upper classes while the masses suffer…
Nice to know
Jamaicans are a people of dynamic worth. Just goes to show we all, and will realize our place!
You cant be “jamaican American”. jamaican is not a race its a nationality
I am Jamaican American dear
Andrew I like your post
A very good and refreshing piece Mr McLeod
And, of course, Dave Clarke of Microdac Videos.
Very interesting.Nice piece
And, of course, Dave Clarke of Microdac Videos.
You cant be “jamaican American”. jamaican is not a race its a nationality
It is a pity that our leaders are failing us by not implementing law to curb crime,create opportunity and put in the infurstructure so that people can achieve in Jamaica… I love my home but because of the lack of opportunity for young people.. I would leave,, thousands have leave to work abroad n will never return.. because our divide and rule system only look out for the upper classes while the masses suffer…
Andrew I like your post
A very good and refreshing piece Mr McLeod
Nice to know
Of course.
I have no idea what Mr Chambers is talking about? Jamaica is a mess, I don’t know who’s to blame but it’s a mess. I left there when I was 14 years old, with every intention of retiring back in Jamaica. I am now retired but I am scared to death of Jamaica. It’s sad really!
True. I have the same sentiment
To the editor: you meant they have Jamaican “Ancestry” not Jamaican “Heritage”. Two completely different things!
I new a lot of them were, good to know.
wow
Well… with a name like Delroy he couldn’t be anything but Jamaican lol
Well… with a name like Delroy he couldn’t be anything but Jamaican lol
You all need to step up for Jamaica they need help
We connect
Grace Jones.
T.V. News anchor Lester Holt’s mother is Jamaican and she grew up in Jamaica
T.V. News anchor Lester Holt’s mother is Jamaican and she grew up in Jamaica
There are many more that have Jamaican heritage.For example, Heavy D.
Well in the UK we just say Afro Caribbean. Famous British based Jamaicans would include Lewis Hamilton, Linford Christie, Naomi Campbell, Kelly Holmes, Denise Lewis, John Barnes, Jessica Ennis, Ian Wright, Colin Jackson, Alesha Dixon, Slick Rick and Lenny Henry. Musicians Boney M, Aswad, Levi Roots, Peter Hunnigale, Maxi Priest. Others that were missed out are Busta Rhymes, Wentworth Miller, Alicia Keys, Pepa from Salt n Pepa (Sandra Denton), Kristin Kreuk (grandmother Chinese Jamaican), Patrick Ewing, Ben Johnson, Donavan Bailey. Also Bleu Corbin, Christopher Reid (From Kid n Play) . Small tiny little Island, quite strange.
I am a Jamaican who carries an American citizenship,I am also one who is considering returning to Ja when I retire in 2 years. But with what I am hearing happiness to returnes I am not so sure
Good but a whole lot of Jamaicans lose their nationality. Stop talking about Afro Jamaican , Half Jamaican.
Certain you have not seen anything like English American?,German American as often as how people of is described . So are my grandchildren afro American Jamaican.
Good piece
Sanya Richards-Ross is from Trewlawney, not Kingston
Sanya Richards-Ross is from Trewlawney, not Kingston
It is a pity that our leaders are failing us by not implementing law to curb crime,create opportunity and put in the infurstructure so that people can achieve in Jamaica… I love my home but because of the lack of opportunity for young people.. I would leave,, thousands have leave to work abroad n will never return.. because our divide and rule system only look out for the upper classes while the masses suffer…
It is a pity that our leaders are failing us by not implementing law to curb crime,create opportunity and put in the infurstructure so that people can achieve in Jamaica… I love my home but because of the lack of opportunity for young people.. I would leave,, thousands have leave to work abroad n will never return.. because our divide and rule system only look out for the upper classes while the masses suffer…
It is a pity that our leaders are failing us by not implementing law to curb crime,create opportunity and put in the infurstructure so that people can achieve in Jamaica… I love my home but because of the lack of opportunity for young people.. I would leave,, thousands have leave to work abroad n will never return.. because our divide and rule system only look out for the upper classes while the masses suffer…