Obviously, we’ve got the Italian swagger in Jersey, but you might be surprised to learn that some celebrities who are sold to us as Italian are anything but.
Who can say that Goodfellas is one of the greatest films of all time? In this film we see Ray Liotta play an Irish-Italian in the mob, which explains his ice blue eyes, but he has been framed as an Italian in many roles. It turns out that Ray is not Italian at all.
Ray was adopted from a Newark orphanage at the age of 6 months. He was adopted by two Italians and grew up in an Italian neighborhood. When he found his biological mother, he realized that he is actually of Scottish descent.
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Getty Images Portia de Rossi
Next on the hit list is Portia de Rossi. Ellen’s main squeeze isn’t actually Italian either. You think, well, look at the name! It’s a stage name. Her real birth name is Amanda Lee Rogers.
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Getty Images Jamie Lynn Sigler
Listen, if you’re in The Sopranos, you have to be Italian, right? Jamie-Lynn Sigler (played by Tony Soprano’s daughter Meadow) is not Italian at all. She says he loves Italian culture and is happy to keep playing an Italian as long as people are willing to keep hiring her, but she is actually Romanian, Jewish, Greek and Cuban.
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Getty ImagesJames Caan
James Caan played the flawless Sonny Corleone in The Godfather. He was a symbol of what is arguably one of the most important Italian-American portrayals of all time, and yet he is not Italian. James was born in the Bronx and is Jewish with German blood.
Those are the ones that stood out to me the most… I think your environment is as important as your lineage in shaping your personality? Interesting.
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