Birth Name: Michael Hazen James McIntyre
Place of Birth: Merton, London, England
Date of Birth: February 21, 1976
Ethnicity:
*Scottish (father)
*Ashkenazi Jewish (maternal grandfather)
*Hungarian (maternal grandmother)
Michael McIntyre is an English comedian, actor, and presenter. He was the host of the BBC show Michael McIntyre’s Comedy Roadshow.
Michael is the son of Kati (Katz) and Thomas Cameron McIntyre (also known as Ray Cameron), a comedian and television producer.
Michael’s father was born in Montreal, Canada, to Scottish parents. “Cameron” was Michael’s paternal grandmother’s maiden name. Michael’s maternal grandparents were Hungarian immigrants, who left Hungary when the Nazis came to power in Germany. Michael’s maternal grandfather, Laszlo Katz, a scientist, was Jewish, but converted to Catholicism. Michael’s maternal grandmother was born in Budapest, Hungary. Michael did not find out about his Jewish ancestry until he was 20 years old.
In his book Life and Laughing: My Story, Michael wrote:
Why do I look foreign? Let’s examine my heritage. My parents are not English people. My father is from Montreal in Canada, and both my mother’s parents were from Hungary. I am therefore a ‘Canary’. I consider myself British. I have only visited Hungary and Canada once.
Michael’s eyes are often portrayed as an Asian trait in the media, and are sometimes jokingly described as a Chinese or Japanese. He often uses his looks for comic purposes, having said that when smiling, he looks like a fat Chinese man, and that he is often mistaken for being Chinese. In Life and Laughing: My Story, he wrote:
Not only was I a big baby, I was also remarkably oriental in appearance. Nobody really knows why I looked like Mr Miyagi from The Karate Kid and, let’s be honest, my appearance has been the source of quite a lot of material for me. A midwife asked my mother if my father was Chinese or Japanese. My grandparents thought my parents took home the wrong baby. Questions were asked about my mother’s fidelity. My father beat up our local dry cleaner, Mr Wu.
And about visiting his friend while in university, and encountering his roommate:
I reached the door and knocked. Within moments, I was being viewed through the peep-hole, as I heard a Scottish voice from the other side of the door holler, ‘It’s Hugh Grant, but he’s all Chinesey.’
Sources: Life and Laughing: My Story, by Michael McIntyre
Birth certificate of Michael McIntyre – https://familysearch.org
Obituary of Michael’s father, Thomas McIntyre – https://familysearch.org
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