Over the course of the last three decades, Edward Norton has garnered widespread praise in the entertainment industry, both as an actor and a director. After gaining widespread recognition for his performance in his first film, “Primal Fear,” in 1996, which was nominated for both the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award, he went on to appear in “Flight Club” and “American History X,” two movies that continue to be associated with him to this day.
Since then, he has starred as “The Incredible Hulk” and made appearances in critically praised films with ensemble casts, such as “Moonrise Kingdom,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel,” “Birdman,” and “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery.” He has even directed movies, like “Keeping the Faith” and “Motherless Brooklyn,” all of which were produced under his direction.
On cinema, Edward Norton has portrayed a wide range of roles, including both good and evil versions of the same person. Off screen, he has used his position to advocate for environmental causes and fight corruption. Norton has said that he is not interested in becoming a star, despite the fact that his work in Hollywood has earned him a significant amount of notoriety. His prior relationships with other well-known performers, such as Courtney Love and Salma Hayek, have not been publicized, and despite his stardom, he has been able to lead a pretty low-key existence. Salma Hayek and Courtney Love are two examples.
On the other hand, the actor has made the decision to reveal one facet of his identity to the general public: his family tree. During his appearance on the PBS program “Finding Your Roots” in January 2023, Norton made a number of significant discoveries concerning his family tree. One of them was the fact that he is connected to Pocahontas, who was also known by her Powhatan name, Amonute.
Other significant individuals included in Norton’s family tree include a Civil War soldier who wrote to Abraham Lincoln and a pro-union labor leader from the late 19th century. Both of these individuals come from Norton’s family tree. Continue reading to find out more about the fascinating history of Edward Norton’s family.
During Norton’s appearance on the debut episode of the ninth season of “Finding Your Roots” on PBS, he talked with presenter Henry Louis Gates Jr. about the history of his family’s lineage, which dates all the way back to the early years of the American colonial period in Virginia. Pocahontas, a Native American Powhatan lady, is also known as Amonute or Matoaka, and she is Norton’s 12th great-grandmother, according to the astonishing revelation that was validated by Gates Jr., which was something that Norton had just a passing familiarity with since it was family tradition.
Her narrative is quite well known, since she was kidnapped by English colonists, kept for ransom by those same colonists, and eventually wed a guy called John Rolfe. Her story is fairly well known. Her paternal grandfather was the most powerful member of the Powhatan tribe, which controlled the whole Tidewater area of Virginia. Her history has been idealized and dramatized throughout the course of the years, notably in a great number of novels and films.
Concerning the rumor that Norton is a direct descendant of Pocahontas, Gates Jr. said the following to the shocked actor:
“It seems that story was passed down through the family… To tell you the truth, it is entirely accurate.”
The presenter provided some background information on the historical period in which all of this transpired: “On April 5, 1614, Pocahontas and John Rolfe tied the knot and became husband and wife. To put all of this into perspective, Shakespeare passed away in the year 1616.” He went on to say that Pocahontas passed away at Grave’s End, England, some time in March 1617, and that John Rolfe also passed away about March 1622.
When Norton found out that the family legend had been proven accurate, he couldn’t believe it and said, “How could you possible determine that?” “via the paper trail,” as Gates Jr. phrased it, some of the information had been preserved by Norton’s ancestors themselves. “This is about as far back as you can go, unless you’re a Viking,” said Norton, who was quite pleased with the attention to detail that had been paid. He added:
“It brings into perspective how little a role you have in the grand scheme of things,”
According to the census taken in North Carolina in 1850, Norton found out that his third great-grandfather, John Winstead, was a slave owner. This information was a source of “uncomfortable” revelation for Norton. This comprised a guy in his 55th year, a lady in her 37th year, and five little girls in their 10th, 8th, 6th, and 4th years. After learning that his ancestor had kept seven individuals in bondage, Norton disclosed the following:
“The simple explanation is that these things are unpleasant, and you should feel uncomfortable with them just as much as anybody else should feel uncomfortable with them,”
He added:”It’s not a judgment on you and your own life; rather, it’s a judgment on the history of this country, and it needs to be acknowledged first and foremost. After that, it needs to be contended with.” “It’s not a judgment on you and your own life; rather, it’s a judgment on the history of this country.”
As the two were discussing the fact that the young girls had been born into slavery, Norton struggled with the reality of the situation and said that “when you read slave age 8, you want to die.” [Case in point:]
In another part of the show, Norton disclosed that his grandparents had copied the diaries of an older ancestor of theirs who had lived in the 19th century. As a result, Norton is quite knowledgeable about his family tree. In point of fact, Gates Jr. said that Norton came prepared to speak about the ancestral history of his family better “than any visitor (he) can remember.”
In response to discovering that another of Norton’s ancestors had enlisted in the Continental Army at 1777 under the command of George Washington, the actor said, “I gotta be honest, one of the things that impresses me is that they were making these sorts of documents in that kind of a turbulent period.”
Julia Roberts, who also appears in the ninth season of “Finding Your Roots,” was found to have a DNA sequence that was sufficiently similar to that of Edward Norton, which led to the conclusion that the two individuals share an ancestor somewhere in their respective families’ histories. This information was revealed at the conclusion of the episode by Gates Jr.
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