What nationality are these people?

Northern French? Brittany?

That square chin doesn't look French to me. Granted, I'm bad at this, and I don't say it doesn't exist in France, just that I haven't seen it much. To me it looks more German-like. So maybe German or Austrian…? (If the guy is actually French, just ignore me ;))
 
I have lived among Arvanites for a long time. I know what Albanians look like.
Then you know nothing about Albanian phenotypes. They're "half breeds" at best, especially in Thrace.
 
What is this young man's nationality?
search
110640.jpg


a49b59d5a5b110c0500733d4fca47cfc--angel-falls--movie.jpg
American. I find it hard to picture him only in 1 country and my first thought is that he's a mix. You know, the usual Irish/German/Italian etc. kind of mix.
 
Then you know nothing about Albanian phenotypes. They're "half breeds" at best, especially in Thrace.

No half breeds in Thrace, they kept to their villages and did not intermarry. Plus at least half of Albania is in Greece. We can tell.
 
did his eye color somehow change from brown to green?
Babies change their eye color from dark blue. His eyes are light hazel. Color depends on the light hitting the face.
 
The young man is Alberto Frezza, born in Milano, raised in Ethiopia, educated in American English schools.

Here he is playing a fireman, Ryan something in an American tv series:

7b5f092f-92fd-4b22-9fff-17275d51bf51.jpg



Had never seen the show (I think it's a spin off of Grey's Anatomy), or heard of him, until I stumbled on an interview with Dermot Mulroney (also on the show) who said he thought Frezza looked very much like him. So, I checked.

Dermot Patrick Mulroney:
f0493511af52eb0abd29cbe47981e940.jpg


Alberto Frezza:
56ri033kOxbECZQEblEiV6IJBim.jpg



His American is completely American, if you know what I mean, which is why he's not relegated to "foreigner" parts, and given his looks and what Americans are sure constitute all Italian looks, he's never played an Italian American to my knowledge. Always Irish/German, Irish, German, etc.

Yet, in this interview, he looks completely Italian: gestures, facial expressions, and yes, even looks.

No, it's not just the tan and darker hair with age.

He's lucky: this chameleon ability is very useful for actors.

To be honest, I don't think he's very good, but the female viewers seem to like him a lot. I think it's because a lot of his own personality goes into the portrayal.

 
Northern Italian with a bit of Celtic look to him?
 
Northern Italian with a bit of Celtic look to him?

And a bit of Germanic. Mulroney also has some German in him. In the show Frezza actually does look like an Irish/German blend. I wound up watching some youtube bits just to see.

Interesting that Mulroney is actually darker, and has a more "southern" nose for all the stereotypically thinking people out there. He still looks completely Irish/German to me.

Another mostly German, but some Irish American actor, Jon Hamm from Mad Men:
448290-jon-hamm-de-mad-men-675x0-3.jpg


My Uncle Ferdinando, on the left as you look at the picture:

KSbUF29.jpg


Blue-green eyes, blonde as a child, turned darker haired as he aged. He was 6'1" and sturdily built and strong; very different from my father's more gracile build. My Uncle Luigi, next to him, stayed "dirty blonde" all through adulthood.

That prominent, almost squarish chin runs through a lot of the central strip of Europe. That I didn't get. I did get the big head and long face, though, not my mother's nice oval.

You can see why William Penn thought the Palatine Germans who flooded America in the early days weren't "white" enough, according to his definition, which meant blonde, blue-eyed and fair skinned. I think he forgot not all the people from the "Celtic fringe" fit that description either.

Phenotypes can linger for a long time.
 
All that shows how difficult it is to give a "nationality" or "ethny" to an individual look; sometimes we can recognize a stereotype but with our european mixings we cannot be too sure of the nationality; phenotypeS have only a statistical value; so it's easier to judge upon groups than upon individuals, and yet, sometimes it is not so easy, according to regions of origin; it's why I don't play to these games too often, I should not have better results than the most of you. The n°5 cousin recalls me some Alsacians too.
 
Another 100% Italian actor who never plays "Italian" roles: Peter Facinelli

In Twilight:
peter-facinelli-gallery.png


316231E800000578-3455571-image-m-4_1455933637814.jpg


In real life:

latest


Not even with dark hair do people see it:
Love+Other+Drugs+New+York+Screening+Arrivals+goDDWiSsWBux.jpg


Paolo Seganti;
paolo-seganti.png


Two actors from La Meglio Gioventu, one of my favorite series:

Alessio Boni. He has a bit of a Clint Eastwood look to me.
alessio-boni-1.jpg


Luigi LoCascio-Sicilian stage and screen actor and an intellectual. He's a much better actor than Boni, fwiw.

Gli+Amici+Del+Bar+Margherita+Milan+Photocall+WY9DkK7RKpjx.jpg
 
Last edited:
@Moesan,

5th cousin? If you're speaking of the non-actors in the personal photo, they're my father's older brothers.

@Nik,

100% Italian, although casting directors clearly see him as some typical Irish/German/English mix.
 
No half breeds in Thrace, they kept to their villages and did not intermarry. Plus at least half of Albania is in Greece. We can tell.

Albanians as Dna shows ( Gjenetika shqiptare) have Gothic and Slavic ancestry also, at about 30% of its population. In south Albania is more pronounced. So Albanian phenotype is very wide. One could see a person like him in Albania. So is the case among Greeks but in smaller percentage than Albanians. My daughter was watching a video of probability from MIT professors and happened the professor was a Greek(with accent) but phenotypically he looked Northern, nothing with an average Greek, so probably he was like me, with a distant Gothic heritage. By the way the professor was top of the line, my daughter was so fond of him, because he made probability look easy contrary to her woman professor at college who was making simple things hard to understand .
 
Last edited:
Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci from my father's Parma:
bernardo-bertolucci.jpg


Here he is with Marlon Brando. If Marlon looks northwest European, then so does Bertolucci.

brando-bertolucci-tango-620x420.jpg


Tuscan director Franco Zeffirelli:
zeffirelli-giovane.jpg


hqdefault.jpg


Tuscan folk singer: Francesco de Gregori

Francesco-De-Gregori.jpg



He has more refined features, like my Dad...
NoteVerticali.it_Francesco_De_Gregori_1975_2.jpg


Zucchero (Fornaciari) Italian blues singer/rocker from Regio Emilia in the province of Emilia. I always thought he looked British, especially when he was younger.
5EoYfFf.png





His daughter Irene Fornaciari. I have a first cousin who could be her twin.
740x350xirene-fornaciari-sanremo-2016-06-886x494-740x340.jpg.pagespeed.ic.q1Dc8-80ri.jpg




I could post hundreds, but I think you see my point. People who look like this are not at all rare in Italy from Toscana north, and can even be found more rarely in the south. You'd have to really work hard to convince me that there's this much variation in other countries. :)
 
Many Italians have Northern roots. I knew a Sicilian had a pizzeria in queens, "Ariana pizzeria" and the owner was dirty blond blue eyes, unless he told you , one could never guess he was Sicilian
 
I don't know what people don't get. A light haired light eyed Sicilian need not have RECENT northern Italian ancestry. It just pops up sometimes; it's just not as common as it is in more northern regions. I only know one actual blonde Sicilian, and I know hundreds, and she looks completely Italian.

Giusy Buscemi, Sicilian, Miss Italia 2012. The hair is light brown now (and highlighted) although it might have been blonde when she was young. She still looks Southern Italian to me. Absolutely gorgeous woman.

GiusyBuscemi-missitalia2012.jpg



1-1Il-paradiso-delle-signore-2-cast.png
 
Another 100% Italian actor who never plays "Italian" roles: Peter Facinelli

In Twilight:
peter-facinelli-gallery.png


316231E800000578-3455571-image-m-4_1455933637814.jpg


In real life:

latest


Not even with dark hair do people see it:
Love+Other+Drugs+New+York+Screening+Arrivals+goDDWiSsWBux.jpg


Paolo Seganti;
paolo-seganti.png


Two actors from La Meglio Gioventu, one of my favorite series:

Alessio Boni. He has a bit of a Clint Eastwood look to me.
alessio-boni-1.jpg


Luigi LoCascio-Sicilian stage and screen actor and an intellectual. He's a much better actor than Boni, fwiw.

Gli+Amici+Del+Bar+Margherita+Milan+Photocall+WY9DkK7RKpjx.jpg

speaking of bones, he gives us a good approach to a predominent element among 'steppic' men, do believe me! no LOL
 
Lots of diversity in France, as in Italy.

I would say in the Netherlands too. Let's take for example the national sport here: speed skating. The men are pretty diverse....

Ok you have the stereotype North European, like

Koen Verweij

zcpp4o4iy8e.28.35.png


or Rintje Ritsma

bkuwlkd.23.21.png


But also

Ids Postma
7r2tse.33.19.png


or Kjeld Nuis

wh7agot9s.57.25.png




or Sven Kramer
867x95vy.35.12.png


I dunno.

May be the phenotype is not that different (I'm bad in details, you or Moesan know better) but the complex differences between light (blond/blue eyes) till more brown....(brown eyes, hair) are there....(even in the Frisian/ North Dutch area were they mostly come from).
 
19894949_2030113330544900_2725110568463985791_n.jpg

Jesús Tristán

58870205_2443918259164403_2700779077580619776_n.jpg

Antonio López

51128980_2385919994964230_8017030420510015488_n.jpg

Adrián Domínguez

15349706_690003294492973_2858191138836827626_n.jpg

Antonio Junquera

12924506_1780495065506729_8341164007534222468_n.jpg

Alejandro Nieto

12219506_1730006093888960_6255989035580905482_n.jpg

Adrián López Morilla

12193348_1730006410555595_752924657398326431_n.jpg

Alberto Sánchez Bey

11045297_1635201793369391_3628304320010818107_n.jpg

Juan García Basto

997026_1635203633369207_8114940411061364895_n.jpg

Alejandro Ortega Fernández

14442284105812.jpg

Jesús Castro

Men only from the province of Cádiz and there is already a great variety.
 
I would say in the Netherlands too. Let's take for example the national sport here: speed skating. The men are pretty diverse....

Ok you have the stereotype North European, like

Koen Verweij

zcpp4o4iy8e.28.35.png


or Rintje Ritsma

bkuwlkd.23.21.png


But also

Ids Postma
7r2tse.33.19.png


or Kjeld Nuis

wh7agot9s.57.25.png




or Sven Kramer
867x95vy.35.12.png


I dunno.

May be the phenotype is not that different (I'm bad in details, you or Moesan know better) but the complex differences between light (blond/blue eyes) till more brown....(brown eyes, hair) are there....(even in the Frisian/ North Dutch area were they mostly come from).

For most of them, light or darker haired, they still look northwestern European to me, except perhaps the first one, who has a more "eastern" look to me, Swedish, or maybe even further east.

The real exception is Kjeld Nuis. Is he 100% Dutch? He definitely looks Southern European to me.
 

This thread has been viewed 34284 times.

Back
Top