Odds are, you’ve caught glimpses of them on your TV screens, at the cinema, or heard them through your earphones, all while unaware that the celebrity whose every move you’ve been following hails from our region. Should this revelation come as a surprise? Not really. Defining what an Arab is has confounded even the likes of the revered founder of Pan-Arabism, former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who never really managed to find an answer. To be fair, from Rabat and Cairo to Beirut and Baghdad, finding a singular definition of what it means to be from the Middle East and North Africa remains elusive, with very few norms, values, and ethnic identities shared yet just enough apparently to feel a certain sense of connection.
Academia aside, today, we’ve decided to compile a non-exhaustive list of iconic figures from the realms of acting, music, fashion, and tech, whose Arab heritage may not be apparent at first sight though their roots are undeniable. Below, seven celebrities you probably didn’t know were Arab.
Edith Piaf
If it weren’t for her unwavering love for Paris, in an alternate universe, the late French vocalist Edith Piaf could have expressed her affection for another country she belongs to: Morocco. Often associated with the pinnacle of French culture, the La Vie En Rose singer’s great-grandfather from her maternal side was born in Mogador, a port city on Morocco’s Atlantic coast nestled only a handful of kilometers away from Essaouira.
Ariana Grande
Although she claims to be an American citizen of Italian descent, the chart-topping star once revealed having discovered that her ancestry was heavily Greek and North African. In a post she shared on Facebook back in 2014, the Florida-born singer announced that she has roots from our side of the world after receiving the results of a DNA test she spontaneously decided to take.
Steve Jobs
One of my father’s favorite facts that he kept on repeating throughout my childhood was that Steve Jobs is half-Syrian. Born to a Muslim-Syrian father and a Catholic Swiss-German mother, young Jobs was put up for adoption at birth as a result of religious differences and familial circumstances.
After being adopted by an American couple, Paul Reinhold and Clara (née Hagopian) Jobs, the part-Arab child went on to become a visionary icon who revolutionized the entire digital industry, shaping the way we interact with technology even over a decade since his untimely passing in 2011.
Teri Hatcher
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The American actress and TV star, known for her iconic role in Desperate Housewives, happens to be a quarter Syrian as her mother is of Syrian, French, and German descent while her father is Welsh and American-Indian, per an interview with Inside the Actors Studio a couple of years ago.
Christian Louboutin
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In 2013, the renowned shoe designer and founder of his eponymously named label revealed that he had only recently discovered his partial Egyptian descent after his sister found out that their biological father hailed from the Land of the Pharaohs. This revelation only seems fitting given his past and present fascination with Ancient Egyptian history and his time spent in the North African country during his younger years.
Zoe Saldana
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The American actress, famous for her role in James Cameron’s Avatar, confirmed having Arab blood running through her veins as although she was born to a Dominican father and a Puerto Rican mother, in an interview, she also revealed being of Lebanese descent from her maternal side.
David Guetta
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The French DJ, who is widely considered one of the most influential figures in electronic music, happens to carry some Maghrebi roots as his father, Pierre Guetta, was born to a Jewish-Moroccan family before moving to Paris where the DJ was born.
