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According to Finding Your Roots host and historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., Academy Award-nominated actor Edward Norton is related to the legendary Pocahontas.
As revealed on a new episode of the PBS series, Pocahontas is apparently the 12th great-grandmother of the 53-year-old Norton, who has starred in films such as American History X, Fight Club, The Incredible Hulk, Birdman, Moonrise Kingdom, The Grand Budapest Hotel, and more.
During the course of his 30-year-long career, Norton has been nominated for three Academy Awards: twice for Best Supporting Actor (Primal Fear, Birdman) and once for Best Actor (American History X).
The Oscar-nominated star learned of his family connection to the woman who married Virginia settler John Rolfe on Tuesday’s episode of the PBS genealogical history show Finding Your Roots.
Historian and host Henry Louis Gates Jr. confirmed the longstanding family rumor to be fact, telling Norton: “You have a direct paper trail, no doubt about it, connection to your 12th great-grandmother and great-grandfather, John Rolfe and Pocahontas.”
According to Gates, the couple married on April 5, 1614 in Jamestown, Virginia – at a time when William Shakespeare was still alive. He added that documents revealed that Pocahontas died three years later in Gravesend, England, while Rolfe died around March 1622. [via PBS]
Pocahontas reportedly lived in the now-United States from around 1596 to 1617. While Pocahontas and her story have been romanticized through places, landmarks, art, literature, and film, many aspects of her tale have been proven to be fictionalized.
Norton can most recently be seen starring as idiot billionaire Miles Bron in Rian Johnson’s Glass Onion: A Knive Out Mystery, which recently hit Netflix. In addition to Norton, Glass Onion also stars Daniel Craig, Janelle Monae, Dave Bautista, Kate Hudson, Kathryn Hahn, Leslie Odom Jr., Jessica Henwick, Madelyn Cline, Ethan Hawke, and more.