Straight out of Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. These American actors and artists are originally from the Middle East.
Some of the people on this list might surprise you!
15 celebrities you did not know had Arab origins!
Shakira
Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll, the Colombian singer, songwriter was born and raised in Barranquilla, North Colombia. Her father is Lebanese and mother is Colombian.
According to reports, Shakira lived in Bahrain as a little girl, briefly attending Bahrain School, run by the U.S. Department of Defence Education Activity.
She even mentions Bahrain in her song "Ojos Asi". Shakira speaks Arabic, among a half dozen other languages. Her hips don't lie.
Shakira has won many awards, including five MTV Video Music Awards, two Grammy Awards and has been Golden Globe-nominated. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and sold between 70 and 125 million records worldwide.
Wentworth Miller
Wentworth Earl Miller III is an American actor, model, screenwriter and producer best known for his role as Michael Scofield in Fox Series Prison Break.
He received a Golden Globe Award nomination for best actor in a leading role. He made his screenwriting debut with the 2013 thriller film Stoker.
Wentworth is of multiracial origin: his father is of African-American, English, German, Jewish and Cherokee descent, and his mother is of Russian, French, Dutch, Syrian and Lebanese ancestry.
Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn, the American actor, who was seen in popular movies like 'The Wedding Crashers' and 'The Break-UP' has some lebanese blood in him. Vince's paternal grandmother was Lebanese.
Salma Hayek
Salma Hayek Pinault, the Mexican and American film actress, was born in Mexico and has beena part of movies like Desperado and Wild Wild West.
Her father, Sami Hayek Dominguez, is of Lebanese descent. Her mother, Diana Jiménez Medina, is of Mexican/Spanish descent.
The name ‘Salma’ is Arabic for ‘calm’ or ‘peace’. Her surname, ‘Hayek’, is a very common Lebanese surname.
Salma’s paternal grandparents were Elias Hayek and Adela Dominguez. Elias was born in Mexico City, to Lebanese immigrant parents, from Baabda, Mount Lebanon. Adela was born in Mamantel, Mexico, to Lebanese parents.
Jerry Seinfeld
Jerome Allen "Jerry" Seinfeld is an American comedian and actor. He is best known for portraying a semi fictional version of himself in the sitcom Seinfeld.
His father was of Hungarian Jewish descent and his mother was of Syrian Jewish descent.
His grandparents, before they came over to America, had been staying in Aleppo, Syria but described their nationality as Turkish.
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer-songwriter and dancer who is now famous for being a judge on the TV reality show American Idol. She is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada.
Paula’s father, Harry Abdul, was a Syrian from Aleppo who immigrated to Brazil, and then to the U.S. Paula’s mother, Lorraine (Rykiss), is originally from Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, Canada. All four of Paula’s maternal great-grandparents were born in Eastern Europe (Russia and Ukraine).
Jenna Dewan
Jenna was born in Conncticut, her father is half Lebanese and her mother is German.
Rami Malek
Rami Said Malek is an American actor who has been in the limelight recently for playing the lead role of Elliot Alderson in the critically acclaimed USA Network television series Mr. Robot, for which he won a Critics' Choice Award and received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award.
Malek was born in Los Angeles, California, to Egyptian parents. He is also one-eighth Greek.
His father was a tour guide in Cairo. Malek has an identical twin brother named Sami; Rami is the older twin by four minutes.
Sammy Haggar
Samuel Roy "Sammy" Hagar known as The Red Rocker, is an American rock vocalist, guitarist, songwriter and musician. Hagar came to prominence in the 1970s with the hard rock band Montrose.
He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen.
Hagar was born in Salinas, California. He is of Lebanese descent.
Amal Clooney
Amal Clooney, the wife of American Actor George Clooney, is a London-based British-Lebanese lawyer, activist, and author. She is a barrister specialising in international law and human rights.
Her clients include Julian Assange, the founder of WikiLeaks, in his fight against extradition. She has also represented the former prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Tymoshenko, and Canadian-Egyptian journalist Mohamed Fahmy.
Tony Shaloub
Anthony Marcus Shalhoub is an American actor famous for his role of the detective with OCD in the TV series 'Monk'.
His father, Joe, was from Lebanon and immigrated to the United States as an orphan at the age of ten.
Joe married Shalhoub’s mother, Helen (née Seroogy), a second-generation Lebanese-American.
Gigi Hadid
Jelena Noura "Gigi" Hadid, an American fashion model and television personality. She was named one of the 12 rookies in
Sports Illustrated′s annual swimsuit issue in 2014. She has also appeared on the reality-television show The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Hadid was born and raised in Los Angeles, the daughter of real-estate developer Mohamed Hadid and former model Yolanda Foster.
Hadid is of Dutch and Palestinian ancestry.
Steve Jobs
Steven Paul "Steve" Jobs, co-founder, chairman, and late chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc was part-Syrian.
His biological father, Abdulfattah John Jandali, is a Syrian, from Homs. His biological mother, Joanne Carole Schieble, an American of Swiss-German and German descent.
Steve was adopted by a California couple, Clara Hagopian and Paul Reinhold Jobs. Paul was of German descent and Clara was of Armenian ancestry.
Zoe Saldaña
Zoe Yadira Saldaña Nazario is an American actress and dancer, well known for her roles in the films 'Guess Who' and 'Avatar'.
Saldana was born in Passaic, New Jersey. Her father, Aridio Saldaña, was from the Dominican Republic, while her mother, Asalia Nazario, is from Puerto Rico.
Saldana also has Haitian and Lebanese roots.
Omar Sharif
Michel Dimitri Chalhoub, an Egyptian actor. He began his career in his native country in the 1950s.
Best known for his appearances in both British and American productions. His films included Lawrence of Arabia (1962),
Doctor Zhivago (1965), and Funny Girl (1968). He was nominated for an Academy Award. He won three Golden Globe Awards and a César Award.
Sharif, who spoke Arabic, English, Greek, French, Spanish and Italian fluently, was often cast as a foreigner of some sort. He bridled at travel restrictions imposed during the reign of Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser, leading to self-exile in Europe. The estrangement this caused led to an amicable divorce from his wife, the iconic Egyptian actress Faten Hamama.
Born on 10 April 1932, as Michel Dimitri Chalhoub in Alexandria, Egypt, to a Melkite Catholic family of Lebanese descent.
His father, Joseph Chalhoub, a precious woods merchant originally from Zahlé, Lebanon, moved to the port city of Alexandria in the early 20th century, where Sharif was later born. His family moved to Cairo when he was four. His mother, Claire Saada, was a noted society hostess, and Egypt's King Farouk was a regular visitor prior to his deposition in 1952.
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves the Canadian actor is best known for his role in 'The Matrix' trilogy.
While Reeves do not have any Middle Eastern blood in him, he is an honourable mention in this section because he was born in Beirut, Lebanon.
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