Stream now with KPBS Passport / Watch Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025 at 8 p.m. on KPBS TV
The acclaimed series returns with Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. exploring the mysteries, surprises and revelations hidden in the family trees of popular figures.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces actors Debra Messing and Melanie Lynskey to their roots, telling stories of ancestors who made bold decisions that reshaped their families—and unwittingly transformed the lives of their descendants.
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The guest roster for Season 11 includes actors Kristen Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Debra Messing, Michael Imperioli, Melanie Lynskey, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lea Salonga, Amanda Seyfried, Dax Shepard, and Sharon Stone; celebrity chefs José Andrés and Sean Sherman; novelist Amy Tan; poet Rita Dove; historian Lonnie Bunch; talk show host Joy Behar; musician Rubén Blades; journalist Natalie Morales; and model Chrissy Teigen.
For more than a decade, renowned Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has helped to expand America’s sense of itself, stimulating a national conversation about identity with humor, wisdom, and compassion. Professor Gates has explored the ancestry of dozens of influential people from diverse backgrounds, taking millions of viewers deep into the past to reveal the connections that bind us all.
