5 Unlikely Irish Celebrity Lads and Lassies: Sheen, Lohan and…O’Bama?
On a day where anyone can be Irish, it’s easy to forget who is and isn’t a native of the Emerald Isle.
Oh sure, there’s the dead give-a-ways like Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Maureen O’Hara and Collin Farrell. But then there are the few, the proud, the Irish folk that fly under the radar simply because their name isn`t O`something.
President Barack Obama
Granted it’s not O’Bama (but wouldn’t that be fun?), but our 44th President of the United States is indeed of Irish decent. Everyone loves to talk his Kenyan roots and his birth in Hawaii, but little is ever said about his Irish ancestry. The president’s wee bit o’Irish stems from his mother, Stanley Ann Dunham and her great-great-grandfather, Falmouth Kearney. Just goes to show that you need the Luck o’ the Irish to become leader of the free world. Right, JFK?
Although John Travolta has made his mark in the film industry by playing predominantly Italian characters (Vinnie Barbarino Welcome Back, Kotter, Danny Zucko Grease and Tony Manero Saturday Night Fever) he’s actually got a strong dose of Irish in him. John gets his Italian roots from his father, but it is his mother who carried on the Irish ancestry to her son.
He’s widely known for being a proud Jewish-American comic, just like Mel Brooks and Woody Allen. Ben’s dad Jerry Stiller is Jewish, but yet again continuing on with the pattern, Ben’s mother is of Irish decent. Thus, making Ben Stiller Jewish-American and half Irish. Makes perfect sense to me, Ben could totally pass as a leprechaun.
If you remember back to when she was nothing but a wee lass, Lindsay fit the bill as the typical Irish stereotype – bright red hair and freckles. And glory be – turns out she has a drinking problem, to boot. Before you push me off the Cliffs of Moher, I’m Irish too, so the jokes are all in good Irishy fun.
LiLo apparently gets the green blood from her mother’s side of the family. Before she was the infamous Dina Lohan, she was simply known as Donata Sullivan.
Although between he numerous bouts with the law, it doesn’t appear Linds has the Luck of the Irish with her.
Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez
Lindsay Lohan, Charlie Sheen… are we seeing a pattern here? Although brothers Charlie and Emilio are known for being of Spanish decent, their paternal grandmother Mary Ann Phelan called County Tippeary in Ireland her home. Forget the tigerblood, Charlie’s got Irish blood in him too!
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