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Arts & Culture

Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates, Jr: Maggie Gyllenhaal And Robert Downey, Jr.

Maggie Gyllenhaal
Courtesy of PBS
Maggie Gyllenhaal

Airs Sunday, April 22, 2012 at 8 p.m. on KPBS TV

Share Your Story

Everyone has a story. Whether it’s anecdotes about ancestors from generations past, or stories of recent relatives, each of us has a rich, unique genealogical heritage to share. Tell us your family story and read other family stories.

Trace Your Family History

Online databases make it easier than ever to trace your own family history, and DNA testing allows for the type of deep research conducted for FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. These resources can help you get started.

The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new 10-part PBS series FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., the 12th series from Professor Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.

Filmed on location across the United States, the series premieres nationally Sundays, March 25 through May 20, 2012 at 8 p.m.

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The series features Kevin Bacon, Cory Booker, Angela Buchdal, Geoffrey Canada, Margaret Cho, Harry Connick Jr., Robert Downey Jr., Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Samuel L. Jackson, John Legend, John Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Yasir Qadhi, Condoleezza Rice, Michelle Rodriguez, Kyra Sedgwick, Wanda Sykes, Ruth Simmons, Martha Stewart, Barbara Walters and Rick Warren.

"Maggie Gyllenhaal And Robert Downey, Jr." - Many Americans descend from a variety of European ethnicities, with ancestral roots across every country in Europe. Actors Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal are textbook examples of Americans with a rich medley of European immigrant stories in their family trees.

Delve into their deep American roots in early colonial communities and meet their Eastern European Jewish ancestors, who share almost identical migration stories. From the Mayflower to Ellis Island, journey through centuries of immigration that shaped and built this melting pot nation.

FINDING YOUR ROOTS is on Facebook.

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Watch Extended Preview on PBS. See more from Finding Your Roots.

The basic drive to discover who we are is at the core of the new PBS series FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR.