Henry Louis Gates Uncovers Robert Downey Jr.'s Genealogy On "Finding Your Roots"

Henry Louis Gates Helps Robert Downey Jr. Find His Roots

Henry Louis Gates Jr. has helped celebrities uncover fascinating aspects of their ancestry, oftentimes discovering things they never knew before. This week on his PBS series "Finding Your Roots With Henry Louis Gates," he will delve into the genealogy of actors Robert Downey Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Both Downey and Gyllenhaal are textbook examples of the many Americans with a rich mixture of European ancestry. Gates and his team dig 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.

On his show, Gates has already unearthed the ancestry of media legend Barbara Walters, and even found a family connection between actor Kevin Bacon and his wife Kyra Sedgwick.

Find out what the two discover Sunday night at 9 p.m. on PBS.

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