Sometimes when you judge a book by its cover, you could be wrong. Looking at some of these celebrities, it might be hard to tell that they’re part Black.
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Nicole Richie
Nicole Richie’s biological parents couldn’t afford to take care of her so she went to live with Lionel Richie and his wife when she was just three years old. She was adopted at nine years old and even though her very famous singing daddy isn’t her biological father, that doesn’t mean the socialite isn’t Black. Richie’s biological father Peter Escovedo is Afro-Mexican.
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Kris Humphries
Kris Humprhies has played in the NBA for a decade but unfortunately, he’ll probably forever be known as the man who was married to Kim Kardashian for 72 days. Humphries, whose father is Black, first found a lot of success in swimming growing up before he gave up the water sport at 12 years old and focused all of his attention on basketball. After dating Kardashian for just six months he popped the question and the two tied the knot in a lavish, over the top ceremony that was filmed for reality television.
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Slash
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Rocker Slash is best known as the lead guitarist in Guns N Roses and when he performs onstage, his thick, long, curly mane flows all over the place while he thrashes his head around. Born across the pond in the U.K., Slash, real name Saul Hudson, inherited his infamous locks from his mother who was Black. He got his love for the arts from both of his parents. His mother was a costume designer whose clients included David Bowie while his father was an artist who created album covers for Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.
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Rosario Dawson
Born and raised in New York City, actress Rosario Dawson’s good looks comes from her mixed background. Her mother, who is of Afro-Cuban and Puerto Rican descent, gave birth to Dawson when she was 16 years old. The budding actress starred in an episode of “Sesame Street” as a child but at 15 years old, a photographer turned filmmaker discovered Dawson while she was sitting on a porch step and immediately cast in the 1995 controversial film “Kids.”
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Naya Rivera
Naya Rivera was cast to play high school cheerleader Santana Lopez on “Glee” and even though she is of Latina descent in real life, a lot of people would be surprised to find out that the actress/singer is also a quarter Black. Half Puerto Rican, Rivera is also of German descent. Last year she released her first solo single, which featured her then fiancé Big Sean. The couple spilt up earlier this year and wasting no time, she tied the knot to someone else three months after their split.
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Jordin Sparks
Jordin Sparks made history when she won the sixth cycle of the reality singing competition “American Idol.” She was just 17 years old at the time and became the youngest winner in the show’s history. While many wrongly peg the “No Air” singer as being Latina, Sparks is really biracial. Her mother is white and her father is Black. Sparks grew up in New Jersey where her father played professional football for the New York Giants.
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Jessica Szohr
At six years old, Jessica Szohr started her modeling career. Her striking good looks is the result of a combination of multiple ethnicities. Szohr is mixed with Hungarian, Irish, English and Black. Her maternal grandmother is African American. The Wisconsin native had a few guest appearances on television shows under her belt before she landed her breakout role in the hit drama show “Gossip Girls.”
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Pete Wentz
Some people may know Pete Wentz as the frontman for the alternative rock band Fall Out Boy while others know him as Ashley Simpson’s ex-husband. But many people would be surprised to find out that Wentz is half Black. While his father is of English and German descent, his mother is Afro-Jamaican. Wentz’ maternal grandfather served as the U.S. Ambassador to Sierra Leone and his cousin is former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
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Adriana Lima
Adriana Lima may have been born in Brazil but she is a lot more ethnicities than just being Brazilian. The Victoria Secret supermodel is of African, West Indian, Japanese, and Portuguese ancestry. Although she won several beauty pageants in elementary school, Lima had no desire to be a model. She submitted photos of herself in a modeling contest with a friend who didn’t want to enter alone. At 15 years old, Lima came in first place in Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” model search.
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Malcolm Gladwell
Malcolm Gladwell’s name and face may not be easily recognizable but his work is well known. The Canadian author has several best-selling books under his belt including “The Tipping Point,” “Blink,” “Outliers,” and “What the Dog Saw.” Born to a Jamaican mother and a British father, Gladwell has used his mixed background as inspiration for some of his work. In “Black Like Me,” Gladwell explored the differences between Black Americans and West Indians and grew upon his own family and upbringing as examples and observations.
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Ashley Madekwe
English actress Ashley Madekwe made a name for herself over in the U.K. before developing a fan base here in the U.S. Madekwe, who’s father is Swiss and Nigerian, earned a BA in acting in London and landed her first role in 1999. Eight years later she would make her U.S. debut with the CW drama series “The Beautiful Life.” Madekwe’s breakout role came as the social climbing Ashley Davenport on the hit drama series “Revenge.”
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Julia Jones
Actress Julia Jones is of mixed heritage. In addition to being of African American descent, Jones can say she has Native American in her blood because she is also of Choctaw and Chickasaw descent. Her good looks from her mixed heritage came in handy and Jones has modeled for The Gap, Levi’s and L’Oreal. Switching over to acting, the Columbia University alum has starred in the massively successful “Twilight” trilogy franchise.
