Famous Multiracial Celebrities
New Perspectives on Race and Identity
Tiger Woods May Be the Poster Child for “Famous Multiracial Celebrities.”
“Cablinasian.” That was the inventive creation Tiger Woods, the golf superstar, shared with the nation a few years back; the term being his way of encapsulating and embracing the whole of his racial mix, which includes Caucasian, African-American, Native Indian and Asian ancestry.
By providing an alternative, multiracial label—Cablinasian—Tiger Woods sent a clear message to the public and to the media: he considers himself multiracial and expects to be identified as such.
Advancing a multiracial identity was his direct response to the pot-shots that had been taken by colleagues—their unapologetic references to fried chicken and collard greens as a means of stereotyping his African-American ancestry. It was also his response to the ongoing legacy of our nation’s one drop rule (where anyone of partial black heritage would be deemed black), specifically demonstrated by the media’s inclination to overlook his multiracial identity and refer to him as the “first black golfer” to ever achieve such a level of success.
In asserting his multiracial identity, Tiger Woods sent new waves of controversy rippling along the already strong undercurrents of race relations in America. Never before had the issue of multiracial identity taken on this level of public attention and debate.
But Woods is Joined by Many Other Famous Multiracial Celebrities and Models.
Today, celebrities who tout their multiracial identity seem to be just about everywhere. From hot model Adriana Lima to Rosario Dawson to Thandie Newton to Vin Diesel (Mark Vincent) to Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, these celebrities are finding their multiracial identities to be a source of strength in Hollywood and beyond.
Diesel used to see his multiracial features as a disadvantage, but now he tells EOnline that "Being multicultural has gone from the Achilles' heel of my career to a strength."
Diesel has admitted that he enjoys having a "kind of ambiguous, chameleon-like ethnicity." It is this ambiguity that has enabled him to play a wide range of characters and ethnicities (from an Italian American, to a black lead, to ethnically ambiguous characters).
Model Adriana Lima, perhaps best known for her regular appearances in Victoria’s Secret catalogs, is Brazilian, but of Swiss, African, and Native American multiracial ancestry. For Adriana Lima, her unique multiracial look has catapulted her into the status of being one of the most respected and in-demand models in the business; she is the third highest paid model in the world (behind Gisele Bunchen and Kate Moss).
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who is of Samoan and African-Canadian multiracial ancestry, has also defied the notorious one-drop rule by speaking publicly about his pride in his Samoan heritage. His unique talents have taken him from wrestling to popular movies and success as a writer.
Famous Multiracial Celebrities Paint a Picture of the Future.
As more celebrities and others in the public eye embrace their multiracial identities, publicly celebrating more than one racial background, they will undoubtedly provide healthy examples and serve as role models to the growing number of biracial and multiracial American children. Perhaps then, at last, we will be able to overcome the damaging legacy of our nation’s history on racial politics along with its nonsensical one drop rule.
Dwayne
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