Mary Steenburgen Quotes

I've always known that my father's father and grandfather and grandmother were from Mexico. I've never denied it. I've always said it.

I've known where my heritage is from all along.

My mother's background was Scottish. She came from an old family, some of whom lived in upper New York State and some of whom had come over from Scotland.

My mother's Mohawk and my father is Scottish/German from Nova Scotia.

'Cullum' is Scottish, but I'm nowhere near Scottish. My mother is Burmese, and my father is of German, Jewish, English ancestry.

My Indigenous heritage is something I hold close to my heart.

My children have to know where they come from and the way of life in Africa.

Plenty of people are intrigued by their family history. Growing up as the son of West Indian immigrants who moved to London in the 1950s and 60s, I was especially fascinated by anecdotes about the lives of my Guyanese relatives, which seemed a million miles away from Tottenham's Broadwater Farm estate.

My maternal grandmother was Cantonese, so I'm a quarter Chinese and half Irish and a quarter Scottish and raised by English parents living in Scotland.

Of course, I have been influenced by my Punjabi and Hariyanvi roots.

I've always been more in touch with my Ecuadorian side. I speak Spanish.

My father, a Russian translator, wanted to distinguish me by calling me Misha, the Russian diminutive of his name, Michael. My name and work as a writer specialising in the Balkans has created a myth that I have Slavic connections, but actually I am British.

My family is from Nigeria, and my full name is Uzoamaka, which means 'The road is good.'

My father's father came from Russia; my mother came from Romania.

I didn't grow up watching film but as a Ukrainian-American, music and stories and dance are crucial.

The anger that Uncle Junior has comes from my background. My father was the son of an Italian immigrant, and I've seen the fire of the Italian temperament. It can be explosive sometimes in ways that are both funny and tragic.

I get anxious. That lovely Jewish guilt that comes with ancestry.

I'm first generation in the country - my family's Mexican.

I never wanted to give up my given name. I'm proud of it, but the only problem was that no one remembered it. It was just a little too awkward, and they mispronounced it so frequently.

My grandparents used to tell me stories about their trip to Ellis Island from Russia and life on the Lower East Side of New York.

I discovered that there is Indian blood in my ancestry on my father's side - a fact that had not been talked about in my family. No wonder I've often been cast in exotic roles - Indian princesses, Russian revolutionaries, Algerians, Gypsies and Greeks.

My mom came to the U.S. very young, and then she married very young. But she was never American. She was always Scottish and would make sure that I knew that I was, too.

My mother was a Swede who grew up in Denmark. When I go there, I visit the street where she grew up and look at her house, which is still there, and the snowberry bush, from which she ate some berries and had to have her stomach pumped.

I grew up in a wonderful blend of a lot of old culture.

Irish is the prominent nationality in the family, but beyond that, I really don't know. I see a lot of artistic or creative influence coming through on my mother's side.