Actor Edward Norton is known for his award-winning roles in films including Primal Fear, The Incredible Hulk, American History X, Fight Club, Birdman, and Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery. Norton, who has received three Oscar nominations, grew up with a family rumor that he was related to Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, a Native American chief who ruled in the 17th century in the area claimed by colonists near Jamestown, VA. She was captured as a teenager by English settlers, then married farmer John Rolfe, who took her to England. Pocahontas perished in 1617. Many legends have surrounded her role in American history.
In an episode of Finding Your Roots on PBS that aired in January 2023 (the show explores celebrities' ancestors), Norton learned that Pocahontas and Rolfe were indeed his 12th great-grandmother and great-grandfather. Host Henry Louis Gates Jr. told Norton he traced the ancestry via the couple's 1614 marriage certificate. "You have a direct paper trail," Gates said.
“It just makes you realize what a small… piece of the whole human story you are,” Norton said.
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