# Russell Brand's Ethnicity **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** actor-characters\ **Created:** [December 5, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978 "2010-12-05T00:02:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pierrot_Le_Fou)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/1 "2010-12-05T00:02:02Z")
Internet searching suggests that he is white with a 100% British background, but he does not look like the typical white British person. Does anyone have any details on Brand’s ethnicity? ---
**Author:** ![bucketybuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/898d66/32.png) [@bucketybuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bucketybuck)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/2 "2010-12-05T00:16:00Z")
90% ballbag, 10% cretin. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/3 "2010-12-05T00:22:26Z")
50% testosterone. 45% knowledge 5% STDs ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/4 "2010-12-05T00:24:38Z")
I think he looks believably white, maybe his big dark hair and dark beard make him look a bit more “ethnic”? Without them he’d look just like every other British guy. Or, for the Mean Girls fans among us: “I have this theory that if you cut off all her hair, she’d look just like a British man.” ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/5 "2010-12-05T00:35:07Z")
Lots of white British people have his colouring - it’s a mongrel nation going way back, not Scandinavia. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/6 "2010-12-05T01:01:21Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Internet searching suggests that he is white with a 100% British background, but he does not look like the typical white British person. What’s a typical white British person in your tiny mind? ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/7 "2010-12-05T01:34:46Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > What’s a typical white British person in your tiny mind? Rather an unnecessary snipe, don’t you think? Please refrain from personal insults in this forum. **Ellen Cherry Cafe Society Moderator** ---
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/8 "2010-12-05T01:55:26Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Internet searching suggests that he is white with a 100% British background, but he does not look like the typical white British person. Is there such thing as a “typical white British person”? Certainly all of the caucasian people I know look \*utterly \*different to each other. Red hair, blond hair, brown hair, black hair; bearded, non-bearded; blue eyes, green eyes, brown eyes; tall, short, medium; fat, thin, average; big noses, small noses, average noses. I’m having trouble identifying what a “typical white British person” look like? Does Hugh Grant look like Stephen Fry looks like Jason Statham, looks like Prince Charles, looks like Gordon Brown, looks like Winston Churchill, looks like Brian Blessed? Other than the fact that they’re caucasian? Britain is a densely populated country with a vast variety of appearances. Rusell Brand looks like plently of people I know, and also utterly unlike plenty of people I know. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/9 "2010-12-05T02:00:12Z")
Russell Brand looks like a beardy hippy. Not an uncommon sight in much of the UK. ---
**Author:** ![Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f475e1/32.png) [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pierrot_Le_Fou)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/10 "2010-12-05T03:25:11Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > What’s a typical white British person in your tiny mind? Obviously it is a slippery issue. Brand just looks more Spanish or Italian than British. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/11 "2010-12-05T09:36:47Z")
I think Brand’s problem is that he’s trying to impersonate all four Young Ones simultaneously. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/12 "2010-12-05T10:14:58Z")
Looks like a tall skinny white English geezer to me. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/13 "2010-12-05T11:13:56Z")
> [@Pierrot\_Le\_Fou](#): > > Obviously it is a slippery issue. Brand just looks more Spanish or Italian than British. Really? I can’t help but feel that his skin looks like it runs in fear from sunlight. But as others have said, tell us what “looking British” is and then we’ll have somewhere to start. Anyone who was anyone (except, amusingly considering your view, the Spanish) invaded that small group of islands in NW Europe at some point. We really are the mongrels of Europe. Personally I can’t see what they all saw in the place. Our lovely weather? ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 11:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/14 "2010-12-05T11:38:50Z")
Looks very English [here.](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-392247/Russell-Brand-A-modern-rakes-progress.html) ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/15 "2010-12-05T14:25:00Z")
Don’t know about his ethnicity, but he just looks like he has a really bad case of BO. Yes, I realize you can’t see smells, but in his case I think an exception can be made. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/16 "2010-12-05T14:33:53Z")
Kate Moss is reputed to smell bad too, so I guess they were a perfect match. Wonder if Katy Perry smells too? Mmm. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/17 "2010-12-05T16:49:29Z")
I grew up in the England and I went to school with someone who is the absolute spitting image of Russell Brand. As somone from England he stikes me as very English. Dark hair is not uncommon among English people! I see him as being a fairly typi9cal Englishman of my generation. Myself I havehave a bit of Indian (as in India) ancestry, but I am a lot fairer than Russell Brand ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/18 "2010-12-05T18:23:46Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > Looks very English [here.](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-392247/Russell-Brand-A-modern-rakes-progress.html) He looks like a lot us white guys-- a smattering of Neanderthal genes in the background. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![DooWahDiddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9bcb4/32.png) [@DooWahDiddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DooWahDiddy)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/19 "2010-12-05T19:29:22Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > Wonder if Katy Perry smells too? Mmm. Only of cherry chapstick. “Mmm” indeed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2010, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978/20 "2010-12-05T20:18:23Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I think Brand’s problem is that he’s trying to impersonate all four Young Ones simultaneously. This? Awesome. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russell-brands-ethnicity/562978.md?page=2)