Undercover Irish

by Amy & Nancy Harrington, GetBack.com    March 16th, 2009

The Celebrities We Didn't Know Had Irish Ancestry Some celebrities are glaringly Irish -- Conan O'Brien, Ron Howard, Allison Hannigan -- flaunting their red hair and freckles for all to see. But others are a little harder to spot, hiding behind gangster roles and cowboy hats. We were surprised to find some famous faces with roots on the Emerald Isle, including that of our new President.

Barack Obama Everyone identifies President Barack Hussein Obama's roots as from Kenya on his father's side and Kansas on his mother's. Everyone, that is, except the 298 residents of Moneygall in County Offaly, Ireland, the land where Obama's heritage has been traced. It's also where the band Hardy Drew & the Nancy Boys first performed their song "There's No One as Irish as Barack O'Bama." Faith and begorrah.

Robert De Niro The film industry's poster boy for Italian-Americans is actually only one-quarter Italian. His father was half-Italian and half-Irish. His mother was a mixture of German, French, and Dutch. So young Vito Corleone is actually as much Irish as he is Italian. A guy who's only a quarter Italian playing the greatest mobster of all time? Fuggetaboutit!

Ben Stiller While comedic actor/director Ben Stiller is most identified with his dad's Jewish ancestry, he isn't truly Jewish by the letter of the religion's law. His mother, Anne Meara, was born Irish Catholic and converted to Judaism when she fell in love with Jerry Stiller.

Mel Gibson Everyone knows Mel Gibson is Australian, right? Wrong. Mel was actually born in Peerskill, New York, to an Australian father, Hutton Gibson, and an Irish-born mother, Anne Reilly Gibson. In fact, Mel Columcille Gibson got his name from two Irish saints: Saint Mel (a fifth-century saint and founder of Gibson's mother's native religious territory, Ardagh) and Saint Columcille (which is also the county where Mel's mom was born and raised).

Armand Assante Armand Assante rose to fame playing Goldie Hawn's gorgeous French love interest in "Private Benjamin," and he's played Italian gangsters in "Rage of Angels," "The Marrying Man," and "Hoffa." In "Mambo Kings" he played a Cuban bandleader. But while Assante's father was Italian, his mother was very much Irish.

John Wayne There's no more iconic American actor than John Wayne, so we never put a lot of thought into his ancestry. Turns out the Duke had a mix of Irish, Scots-Irish, and English roots. Born Marion Robert Morrison, Wayne almost became Anthony Wayne when choosing a stage name, but then Fox Studio chief Winfield Sheehan thought the name was too Italian-sounding. So the more neutral "John" was chosen instead.

Paul Giamatti Is Nerd-ish a nationality? No? Oh, we thought that's what Paul Giamatti is. But, in fact, the "Sideways" star is Irish on his mother's side and Italian on his dad's.

Lucy Lawless She may be the most famous actress to come out of New Zealand, but Xena: Warrior Princess is the daughter of the very Irish Catholic Frank and Julie Ryan. She took her now ex-husband Garth's name when they married in 1988.