Random Celebrities Whose Ancestors Made History (13 items)

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  (#6) Harry Lloyd

  • 39

  Game of Thrones actor Harry Lloyd claims as an ancestor Charles Dickens. Lloyd's mother's surname was Dickens before marriage, and she claims descent from Sir Henry Fielding Dickens, Charles's son and a successful lawyer in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

  Charles Dickens is revered as one of the best-loved writers of all time. As a celebrity and bestselling author, Dickens used his novels to shed light on poverty and other social conditions in the 19th century.
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  (#3) Rashida Jones

  • 47

  Actor Rashida Jones claims descent from 20th-century immigrants on her mother Peggy Lipton's side and a line of American and European royalty through her father Quincy Jones. Quincy Jones participated in PBS's African American Lives to learn more about his heritage. He discovered that the majority of his ancestry can be traced to Africa, but some 34% of his DNA comes from Europe.

  Among Rashida Jones's ancestors through her father are Edward I and Betty Washington Lewis. Edward I of England - nicknamed "Hammer of the Scots" for his attempts to take over Scotland - is credited with regularizing the English Parliament. Betty Washington Lewis was George Washington's sister and an advocate for American independence.
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  (#4) Edward Norton

  • 54

  Actor Edward Norton is known for his award-winning roles in films including Primal Fear, The Incredible Hulk, American History X, Fight Club, Birdman, and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Norton, who has received three Oscar nominations, grew up with a family rumor that he was related to Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, a Native American chief who ruled in the 17th century in the area claimed by colonists near Jamestown, VA. She was captured as a teenager by English settlers, then married farmer John Rolfe, who took her to England. Pocahontas perished in 1617. Many legends have surrounded her role in American history.

  In an episode of Finding Your Roots on PBS that aired in January 2023 (the show explores celebrities' ancestors), Norton learned that Pocahontas and Rolfe were indeed his 12th great-grandmother and great-grandfather. Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. told Norton he traced the ancestry via the couple's 1614 marriage certificate. "You have a direct paper trail," Gates said.

  “It just makes you realize what a small… piece of the whole human story you are,” Norton said.
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  (#9) Kit Harington

  • 36

  Kit Harington played a character caught up in the web of politics on television - and his ancestors were as compelling as any Game of Thrones character.

  Harington's mother is a descendant of Robert Catesby, the mastermind behind the so-called Gunpowder Plot in 1605. Catesby, a Roman Catholic in aggressively Protestant England, schemed to blow up Parliament and replace the monarchy with a Catholic one.

  Harington actually played Robert Catesby in 2017's Gunpowder. He described his ancestor as "a deeply sad man" and claimed that he doesn't "have particularly fond feelings towards him."

  Harington's father is a baronet, through whom Kit is related to Sir John Harington, who is credited with creating the flush toilet.

  Despite his noble connections, Harington downplays his ancestry:

  I didn't go to Oxbridge, and yet every American interviewer I get says to me, "You're related to Charles II! Your grandfather's a baronet!" And it's infuriating, because that is part of my history, but you're trying to turn me into a posh boy and I'm not. I'm adamant that I'm not. My mum's always telling me, "Tell those journalists that you went to a state school."
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  (#1) Helena Bonham Carter

  • 57

  Helena Bonham Carter can boast that her family tree includes a British prime minister: Her great-grandfather was Herbert Henry Asquith, who headed Parliament from 1908 to 1916.

  Asquith's daughter - and Bonham Carter's paternal grandmother - Violet Bonham Carter led an equally compelling life. Politically engaged and close friends with Winston Churchill, Violet opposed the rise of fascism in the 1930s so fiercely that she ended up in Hitler's so-called "black book" of anti-fascist Britons whom he wanted to arrest.

  When Helena Bonham Carter participated in a British genealogy series to find out more about Violet Bonham Carter and her other grandparents, she urged, "I feel every young person should go and interview their grandparents."
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  (#13) Christopher Lee

  • Dec. at 93 (1922-2015)

  While geneticist Adam Rutherford asserts “literally everyone” can trace their lineage to Charlemagne if they are of European ancestry, Christopher Lee is one of the notable individuals who made it known. 

  Lee was born in London in 1922 and received attention as an actor with his appearance in Horror of Dracula in 1958. As Count Dracula, Lee's elegance and charm set the foundation for future macabre and dark roles. During the 1970s, Lee branched out to more dramatic and comedic roles. His career continued for more than eight decades. Lee passed away in 2015.

  Lee's list of offerings to his fans went beyond the screen. In 2010, Lee released a symphonic metal concept album titled Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Stone.  He followed it up with 2013's Charlemagne: The Omens of Death. According to Lee, 

  I became rather fascinated by this because in terms of the history of music its fairly recent, and if it is properly done and you can understand the story and you can understand what the people are singing, and you can get the right bands and the right singers, I think it is rather exciting. I became rather fascinated by this because in terms of the history of music its fairly recent, and if it is properly done and you can understand the story and you can understand what the people are singing, and you can get the right bands and the right singers, I think it is rather exciting.

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