Huston in 2009, photo by Joe Seer/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Jack Alexander Huston
Place of Birth: King’s Lynn, Norfolk, England, U.K.
Date of Birth: 7 December, 1982
Ethnicity: English, one fourth Italian, one eighth Jewish [including Iraqi Jewish, Indian Jewish, German Jewish, and French Jewish], and small amounts of Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, German
Jack Huston is a British actor. He is the son of Lady Margot Lavinia (Cholmondeley) and Tony Huston (Walter Anthony Huston), who is an actor, writer, and assistant director. His father is American and his mother is British. His aunt is actress Anjelica Huston, his half-uncle is actor Danny Huston, and his half-aunt is writer and editor Allegra Huston. Jack has two children with his partner, American model Shannan Click.
Jack’s paternal grandmother was of Italian descent, from Ispra, Lombardy, while one of Jack’s maternal great-grandmothers was Jewish (of Iraqi Jewish, Indian Jewish, German Jewish, and French Jewish descent, with distant Austrian Jewish and Dutch Jewish). Through his Jewish lineage, Jack is a direct descendant of the founders of both the Sassoon and Rothschild families. The rest of Jack’s ancestry is mostly English, along with some Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and distant German.
Jack’s paternal grandfather was John Huston (John Marcellus Huston, a director and actor, the son of Walter Huston [Walter Thomas Huston], an actor, and of Rhea Catharine Gore). Jack’s grandfather John was born in Missouri, U.S., and had English, Scottish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, distant German, and remote Portuguese, ancestry. Some of his family had lived in Canada. Jack’s great-grandfather Walter was a Canadian-born, Oscar-winning actor, as well as a singer. Water was the son of Robert Moore Houghston and Elizabeth McGibbon. Jack’s great-grandmother Rhea was the daughter of John Marcellus Gore and Adelia Frances Richardson.
Jack’s paternal grandmother was Enrica “Ricki” Soma (the daughter of Antonio/Anthony Angelo Soma and Angelina Fantoni). Enrica’s parents were Italian, from Ispra, Lombardy. Antonio was the son of Filippo Soma and Giusippina Inzaghi. Angelina was the daughter of Andrew J. Fantonie and Henrietta Binda.
Jack’s maternal grandfather was George Hugh Cholmondeley, 6th Marquess of Cholmondeley (the son of George Horatio Charles Cholmondeley, 5th Marquess of Cholmondeley, and of Sybil Rachel Betty Cecile Sassoon, Marchioness of Cholmondeley). Jack’s grandfather George was born in St. George Hanover Square, London, England, and was a peer, and Lord Great Chamberlain of England, between 1968 and 1990. Jack’s great-grandfather George was of English descent, and was the son of George Henry Hugh Cholmondeley, the 4th Marquess of Cholmondeley, and of Winifred Ida Kingscote. One of George’s ancestors was Robert Walpole, the first Prime Minister of Great Britain.
Jack’s great-grandmother Sybil was Jewish. She worked for the Women’s Royal Naval Service. Sybil was the sister of politician and art collector Philip Sassoon. Sybil’s father, Sir Edward Albert Sassoon, 2nd Baronet, a businessperson and politician, was of Iraqi Jewish and Indian Jewish descent, the son of Sir Albert Abdullah/Abdallah David Sassoon, 1st Baronet, who was a businessperson and philanthropist, and of Hannah Meyer Moise. Sir Albert’s father, Jack’s great-great-great-great-grandfather David Sassoon, was the leader of the Jewish community in Bombay (Mumbai), and was the treasurer of Baghdad, between 1817 and 1829. Sybil’s mother, Jack’s great-great-grandmother Baroness Aline Caroline de Rothschild, a socialite, was of German Jewish and French Jewish descent, and was a member of the Rothschild family. Baroness Aline’s parents were Baron Gustave Samuel James de Rothschild, a banker, and Cécile Anspach. Baron Gustave’s grandfather, Jack’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather, was Mayer Amschel Rothschild, who founded the Rothschild banking dynasty.
Through his Sassoon line, Jack is a second cousin, three times removed, of famous war poet Siegfried Sassoon.
Jack’s maternal grandmother was Lavinia Margaret Leslie (the daughter of John Leslie and Nanette Margaret Helen Gilliat). Jack’s grandmother Margaret was born in Newark, Nottinghamshire, England. John was the son of Charles Frederick Henry Leslie, a cricketer, and of Maud Foster; Charles’s father, Henry David Leslie, was a composer and conductor. Nanette was the daughter of Howard Gilliat and Helen Skipwith.
A DNA test of Jack’s aunt (father’s sister) Anjelica whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2019) stated that Anjelica’s genetic ancestry consists of:
*36.8% British & Irish
*18.7% French & German
*16.2% Broadly Northwestern Europe
*9.1% Italy
*5.1% Broadly Southern Europe
*4.6% Broadly European
*3.4% Scandinavian
*3.1% Iberian
*2.7% Ashkenazi Jewish
*0.2% Unmatched
*0.1% Native American
Sources: Genealogies of Jack Huston – http://www.thepeerage.com
http://www.geni.com
Genealogy of Jack Huston (focusing on his father’s side) – http://www.wikitree.com
Information about Jack’s paternal nine times great-grandfather, Domingo Madeiras/Madeiros – http://www.genealogy.com
Obituary of Jack’s maternal grandmother, Lavinia Margaret (Leslie) Cholmondeley – http://www.telegraph.co.uk
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