World famous Hungarians – Celebrities with Hungarian Origins Part 2

In a previous article, we have revealed five celebrities whose Hungarian origin might be surprising. However, starity.hu mentions many more, so the list continues with yet another five world famous people who have Hungarian blood flowing through their veins.

Jamie Lee Curtis

American actress and author, 58-year-old Jamie Lee Curtis is the daughter of the also famous actor Tony Curtis, who passed away in 2010. Jamie Lee Curtis made her film debut in the movie Halloween, but she also starred in Trading Places, True Lies and Anything But Love, for which she won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. Her grandparents were Jewish emigrants from Czechoslovakia and Hungary. Her grandmother was a native of Nagymihály, which used to belong to Hungary, but now the city is located in today’s Slovakia.

Photo: Facebook.com/JamieLeeCurtis/

Rachel Weisz

47-year-old British actress, Rachel Weisz might be familiar from movies such as The Mummy, The Mummy Returns, Constantine or The Fountain. She was born in Westminster, London, and grew up in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Her father, George Weisz, is a mechanical engineer/inventor from Hungary. Her mother, Edith Ruth is from Vienna, Austria. Her parents both come from Jewish families, and they needed to leave their home countries, right before the outbreak of the Second World War, in order to escape the Nazis. Weisz’s parents settled in the United Kingdom.

Photo: Facebook.com/RachelWeiszOnline/

Jessica Szohr

32-year-old American actress, Jessica Szohr was born in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin. She is most famous for her role as Vanessa Ambrams in the teen drama Gossip Girl, which is considered to be her breakthrough as well. She also starred in movies such as The Internship and Two Night Stand. Szohr is of Hungarian and black ancestry. Her Hungarian roots come from her father’s side of the family. She was very excited about her visit in Hungary in 2011. During her stay in Budapest, she tweeted the following:

In Budapest!!!! Where the family is from:) yayyyy! What a beautiful city.

— jessica szohr (@jessicaszohr) 2011. november 1.

Adrien Brody

44-year-old actor and producer, Adrien Brody starred in The Pianist for which he won the Academy Awards for Best Actor in 2002. He was only 29 years old at that time, the youngest actor to ever win this category. Adrien Brody was born in New York. His mother, Sylvia Plachy is a Hungarian-American photographer whose work has been featured in many New York city magazines and newspapers. She was born in Budapest, Hungary, as the daughter of a Catholic Hungarian father and a Czech Jewish mother. She left Hungary with her family in 1958, two years after the Hungarian Revolution. Brody’s father is of Polish descent.

Photo: commons.wikimedia.org by Georges Biard

Joaquin Phoenix

43-year-old American actor and producer, Joaquin Phoenix was born in Puerto Rico. He is the third of five children in his family. He has starred in famous movies such as the Gladiator, The Master or Walk the Line. His Hungarian ancestry is from her mother’s side of the family. His grandmother was born in Hungary and his grandfather was born in Russia. His grandparents moved to the United States where his mother was born. His father is of American descent.