Hailee Steinfeld

LOS ANGELES – DEC 12: Steinfeld arrives for the ‘”Pitch Perfect 3″ Los Angeles Premiere on December 12, 2017 in Hollywood, CA, photo by DFree/bigstock.com

Birth Name: Hailee Puring Steinfeld

Place of Birth: Tarzana, Los Angeles, California, U.S.

Date of Birth: December 11, 1996

Ethnicity:
*father – Ashkenazi Jewish
*maternal grandfather – Boholano Filipino, African-American
*maternal grandmother – English, German, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, Scottish

Hailee Steinfeld is an American actress, singer, and model. Her roles include the films True Grit (2010), Hateship, Loveship; Begin Again, Romeo & Juliet (2013), Ender’s Game, 3 Days to Kill, The Homesman, When Marnie Was There, The Keeping Room, Ten Thousand Saints, the Pitch Perfect sequels, Barely Lethal, Term Life, The Edge of Seventeen, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, and its sequel, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse; Bumblebee, and Sinners (2025); the shows Dickinson, Arcane, Hawkeye, and Marvel Zombies; and the music video for “Bad Blood.” Musically, she is known for her cover of the song “Flashlight,” and for her songs “Love Myself,” “Starving,” “Most Girls,” and “Let Me Go.”

She is the daughter of Cheryl (Domasin), an interior designer, and Peter Steinfeld, a personal trainer. Hailee is married to professional football player Josh Allen, with whom she has a daughter.

Her father is originally from a family from New York, and is Ashkenazi Jewish, of Romanian Jewish, Belarusian Jewish, German Jewish, Ukrainian Jewish, and Russian Jewish descent. Hailee’s uncle is fitness specialist and entrepreneur Jake Steinfeld. Hailee’s mother was born in California. Hailee’s maternal grandfather was of half Filipino [Boholano] and half African-American descent. Hailee’s maternal grandmother had English, German, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and Scottish ancestry. A picture of Hailee with her parents and brother can be seen here. In the film Sinners, Hailee played a character whose maternal grandfather’s mother was black, reflecting her own background precisely.

Hailee was raised in Agoura Hills and then Thousand Oaks, California. She is a first cousin of actress and model True O’Brien.

Hailee has stated:

I’ve become more aware of my roots over the years. My grandfather, my mom’s dad, was half African-American, half Filipino. And Filipinos, I’ve learned, have many wonderful traits – the main ones being passion and pride. I went to the Philippines for the first time this spring, and it was amazing. People were like, “We’re related! We’re family.” I actually played three of my own shows there.

Hailee’s great-uncle, the brother of her maternal grandfather, is child actor Larry Domasin. Larry is pictured here and here.

Hailee’s paternal grandfather was Herbert Melvin Steinfeld (the son of Shmuel, later Samuel “Sam,” Steinfeld, and of Brindel Chaimovna Zelenetskaya, later Bessie Ethel Zelensky). Herbert was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. Sam was a Romanian Jewish emigrant, from Iași, Iași, and was the son of Hirsch, later Julius, Steinfeld, and of Dweire, later Dora, Schwartz. Hailee’s great-grandmother Bessie was a Belarusian Jewish emigrant, from Romanovo, now Lenino, Slutsk, Minsk, and was the daughter of Chaim Zelenetsky, later Hyman Mendel Zelensky, and of Brize, later Sarah, Cohen.

Hailee’s paternal grandmother is Joy A. Wagner, later Duberstein (the daughter of Arthur Lindemann, later Wagner, and of Minnie, later Myra, Siegel). Joy was born in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. She adopted the surname Duberstein when her mother remarried. Arthur was the son of Max Lindemann, a German Jewish emigrant, and of Charlotte “Jennie” Wagner, a Ukrainian Jewish emigrant, from Lviv. Hailee’s great-grandmother Myra was born in Brooklyn, to Russian Jewish parents, Joseph “Joe” Siegel and Fannie Mitnitskaya.

Hailee’s maternal grandfather is Ricardo/Simonas Guillermo Domasin (the son of Pastor “Peter” Loresca Domasin and Evelyn Olivia Bain). Ricardo was born in 1938 in Los Angeles, California. Ricardo’s father Pastor was born, in 1902, in Panglao, Bohol, Central Visayas, Philippines. Pastor was the son of Gerónimo Domasin y Lorejo, or Gerónimo Lorejo Domasin in Filipino, and of Cirila Loresca y Domaluan, or Cirila Domaluan Loresca in Filipino. A picture of Pastor can be seen here.

Ricardo’s mother, Hailee’s great-grandmother Evelyn, was born in 1910 in Los Angeles. Evelyn was African-American, and she and her parents, Thomas Edward Bain (born in Kansas, to Gabrel Bain and Isabella/Belle Johnson) and Wilma Frances “Willie” Peterson (born in Arkansas, to William F. Peterson and Nannie Hall), are listed as either African-American or, sometimes, as “half white,” in census records. A picture of Evelyn can be seen here.

Hailee’s maternal grandmother is Laurita Lee Hinkle (the daughter of William Hicks Hinkle and Edith Laurita Jones). Laurita was born in Texas, and had English, German, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and Scottish, ancestry. William was the son of Joshua Madison Hinkle and Ella Malona Payne. Edith was the daughter of Charles Kirby Jones and Ethel Effie Smith.

Hailee’s matrilineal ancestry can be traced back to her fourth great-grandmother, Penelope “Phenina” Watson.

Sources: Genealogies of Hailee Steinfeld – https://www.geni.com
http://gw.geneanet.org

Baptismal record of Hailee’s maternal great-grandfather, Pastor Loresca Domasin – https://familysearch.org

Hailee’s maternal great-grandmother, Evelyn Olivia Bain, on the 1920 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org

Steinfeld in 2011, s_bukley / Shutterstock.com