Armisen in 2011, Glynnis Jones / Shutterstock.com
Birth Name: Fereydun Robert Armisen
Place of Birth: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, U.S.
Date of Birth: December 4, 1966
Ethnicity:
*25% Korean
*25% German
*50% Venezuelan
Fred Armisen is an American actor, comedian, singer, musician, writer, director, and producer. His many roles include the shows Portlandia, Documentary Now!, Moonbase 8, and Los Espookys, all of which he co-created, and Saturday Night Live; and the films Eurotrip, The Rocker, Easy A, The Smurfs, Staten Island Summer, Band Aid, How It Ends, and Clerks III. He is the bandleader and drummer for The 8G Band, the Seth Meyers’ show’s house band.
Fred was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, and was raised on Long Island, New York, in the town Valley Stream. His birth name Fereydun is Persian. His father, Fereydun Herbert “Fred” Armisen, was born in Soltau, Lower Saxony, Germany, to a Korean father and a German mother. His mother, Hildegardt (Mirabal Level), is Venezuelan, born in San Fernando de Apure. A picture of Fred’s father and paternal grandfather can be seen here. A picture of Fred’s mother can be seen here.
Fred’s paternal grandfather was a choreographer, dancer, and entertainer, known as Masami Ehara-Kuni. Masami was generally believed to be Japanese, and performed in Nazi Germany during the 1930s and 1940s. Masami has a museum dedicated to him in Japan. He may have also spied for the Japanese during World War II. Fred himself had believed that he was of Japanese descent.
The show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2017) discovered that Fred’s paternal grandfather was actually born Pak Yeong-in in Ulsan, Korea. During the Japanese occupation of Korea, Fred’s grandfather had attended a Japanese school, changed his name, and took on a Japanese persona.
Fred’s Korean ancestry can be traced back 63 generations, and is believed to lead back to Pak Hyeokgeose, a monarch who founded Silla, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea, in 57 BC.
Fred’s paternal grandfather was the son of Pak Nam-geuk and Seo Hyang Woo. Fred’s great-grandfather Nam-geuk was the son of Pak Byeong-muk/Pak Mun-byeok. Fred’s great-grandmother Hyang Woo was the daughter of Jeong Ha-yu and Son Beob-ye.
Fred’s paternal grandmother was Gabriele Johanna Herbert (the daughter of Walter Herbert and Lina Wilhelmine Spiegel). Gabriele was German, and was born in Naumburg, Sachsen. The surname Armisen was that of a different husband of hers. Lina was born in Küstrin, An der Oder, which is now in Poland.
Fred’s maternal grandfather was named Federico Guillermo Mirabal Level (the son of Edmundo Tomás Mirabal Mejías). Federico was born in San Rafael de Atamaica, Apure, Venezuela.
Sources: http://www.boston.com
Genealogy of Fred Armisen (focusing on his father’s side) – http://www.geni.com
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