All Shades of Brown in America, Celebrities Who Are Also of Italian Descent - 1

Mark Sinclair Vincent was born on July 18, 1967 in Manhattan, New York.

His father is of African American descent whom he has never met. His mother Delora a Psychiatrist and Astrologer is of Italian descent. Vin was raised by his mother and stepfather Irving who is an Acting Instructor and Theatre Manager. He has a fraternal twin named Paul, a younger brother named Tim and a sister named Samantha.

Vin studied creative writing while attending Hunter College. During this time he worked on his screen writing and as a bouncer at a New York night club called, “The Tunnel“. It was a hot spot back in the 90’s. This is where he began using the name Vin Diesel. Vin was short for Vincent and his friends gave him the name Diesel because he worked none stop and would keep on going, kind of like the Energizer bunny.

His first movie role was as an orderly in the 1990 movie, “The Awakenings” starring Robin Williams and Robert DeNiro.

You may be surprised to know that he has been Writer, Director, Executive Producer and Producer to many films. Some of the movie's he has appeared in are listed below.

Filmography

• Multi-Facial (1994) Writer & Director
• Strays (1997) Writer & Director
• Saving Private Ryan (1998) as Private Adrian Caparazo
• Boiler Room (2000) as Chris Varick
• Pitch Black (2000) as Richard B. Riddick
• The Fast and The Furious (2001) as Dominic Toretto
• xXx (2002) as Xander Cage Producer
• The Pacifier (2005) as Lt. Shane Wolfe

He and his girlfriend, model Paloma Jimenez had a daughter on April 02, 2008 named Hania Riley. If you happen to visit his FaceBook page you will see photos of him with his daughter. He admits to being a softy when it comes to her.

January 12, 2011 at 7:17pm there were 20,005,832 fans on Vin's FaceBook page.

February 28, 2011 at 5:10pm there were 20,895,077 fan's on his page.

http://www.facebook.com/VinDiesel

Alicia Augello Cook was born on January 25, 1981 in Harlem, New York.

Her father Craig Cook is a flight attendant and is of African American descent. Her mother Teresa Augello is a paralegal and part-time actress and is of Italian-Irish descent.

Teresa put her daughter in dance and music class as a child. At the age of 7, Alicia learned how to play classical music on the piano. When she was 12, she began attending the Professional Performing Arts School and majored in choir. She began writing songs soon after attending this school. When she was 16 she graduated Valedictorian. She went to attend Columbia University while working on her singing career. It became a bit much for her so she decided to let school go to focus on her career.

She signed with J. Records, a label that Clive Davis created and began work on, “Songs in A Minor.” The album was released in June 2001. The same year she went on tour with Maxwell to promote her album as his opening act.

I actually got to see them on that tour at The Hammerstein Ballroom. The crowd was rather quiet when she first came on stage singing, “Fallin‘ .“ Once she got up and began dancing and singing, “Girlfriend” , everyone got up on their feet and went nuts. Alicia was in her element, she looked like she had been doing that for years.

The album, “Songs in A Minor” debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart, selling 236,000 copies in the first week.

The following year she won 5 Grammy's for:

• Song of the Year
• Best Female R&B Vocal Performance
• Best R&B Song for "Fallin' "
• Best New Artist
• Best R&B Album at the 41st Grammy Awards in 2002.

Discography

• Songs in A Minor (2001)
• The Diary of Alicia Keys (2003)
• MTV Unplugged Live (2005)
• As I Am (2007)
• The Element of Freedom (2009)

In 2007 she made her film debut in, “Smokin’ Aces” as Georgia Sykes.

On July 31, 2010 she married Swizz Beatz and on October 14, 2010 she had a son they named Egypt Doud Dean.

Ulrich Alexander Fox was born on July 24, 1969 in Toronto, Ontario.

His father Ulrich Fox is of Bahamian descent. His mother Diane Gerace was an Olympic High Jumper, she is of Italian descent.

He began his pro basketball career when he was chosen to play for the Boston Celtics at the 1991 NBA Draft while attending the University of North Carolina. He played with the Boston Celtics from ’91-1997 and went on to play for the Los Angeles Lakers from ‘97-2004. In 1994 he was able to play for Canada at the FIBA Basketball World Championship, they came in 7th place. He retired in 2004.

Rick got into acting in the late 90’s. He appeared on the HBO prison series called, “OZ” as Jackson Vahue. One of his bigger roles has been in the Tyler Perry movie, “Meet the Browns” with Angela Bassett as Harry.

He recently appeared on, "Dancing With The Stars" in 2010. I looked forward to seeing him dance with Cheryl Burke every week. My husband and I were so disappointed when he left the show.

He is currently dating Eliza Dushku. She has appeared in one of my favorite series, “Buffy The Vampire Slayer.”

Giancarlo Giuseppe Alessandro Esposito was born on April 26, 1958 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

His father was Stagehand and Carpenter who is of Italian descent. His mother was an Opera and Night Club singer who is of African American descent. When he was six years old his family moved to Manhattan, New York. Later moving to Elmsford, New York.

GianCarlo began acting as a child. He appeared in the play, “Maggie Flynn” alongside Irene Cara as one of the Orphan children (slave child) when he was 8 years old.

Some of the movies and plays he has appeared in are listed below.

Filmography

• Taps (1981)
• Trading Places (1983)
• School Daze (1988)
• Do the Right Thing (1989)
• King of New York (1990)
• Mo’ Better Blues (1990)
• Malcolm X (1992)

Theatre Credits

• The Me Nobody Knows
• Seesaw
• Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

He owns a couple of houses in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn, New York. He has four daughters.

He appeared in the movie, "Last Holiday" as Senator Dillings alongside Queen Latifah.

Taimak Guarriello was born on June 27, 1964 in New York.

His father is of Italian American descent. His mother is of African American descent.

Taimak has always been involved in Martial Arts. He also won the New York State kickboxing championship. He has a fitness DVD called Taimak FIT (Finding Inner Transformation). He is a martial arts choreographer and trainer. He has worked with artists such as Madonna, Bush, Debbie Allen and Janet Jackson appearing in her video, "Let's Wait a While."

He will always be best known for his role in the 1985 Berry Gordy movie, “The Last Dragon” as Leroy Green. It also starred Vanity as Leroy's love interest. The movie was filmed in New York City. Taimak was 21 years old when this movie was released. There have been talks about a remake in which Samuel L. Jackson would play the part of Sho'Nuff, the evil shogun of Harlem.

Mýa Marie Harrison was born on October 10, 1979 in Washington, DC.

Her father Sherman Harrison is a musician and singer who is also of African American descent. Her mother Theresa Harrison is an accountant and is of Italian American descent.

Mýa studied ballet, tap and jazz. She was given the opportunity to attend a workshop that Savion Glover was giving in Washington. She appeared on the BET network show, "Teen Summit".

When she was about 16 years old she decided that she wanted to get into singing. With her father's help she made a demo. When she was 17 years old she got signed by Interscope Records.

Discography

• Mýa (1998)
• Fear of Flying (2000)
• Moodring (2003)
• Liberation (2007)
• Sugar & Spice (2008 )

Mýa became interested in acting and appeard in the 1999 movie,"In Too Deep" as Loretta. The movie also starred LL Cool J and Omar Epps. She was in the Broadway Musical, "Chicago" in 2002 with Catherine Zeta-Jones, Queen Latifah and Richard Gere. In the movie version she played Mona in the cell block number. She received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Ensemble Performance. Some of her film credits are listed below.

Filmography

• In Too Deep (1999) as Loretta
• Chicago (2000) as Mona
• Shall We Dance (2004) Lola Martinez

She appeared on, "Dancing With The Stars" season 9 with D'mitry Chaplin as her partner.

Published Wednesday November 17, 2010