Multicultural upbringing Quotes

I am an American, but a sense of otherness was part of my growing up. I spoke Norwegian before I spoke English. My mother is Norwegian.

My dad's from Barbados, but I lived with my mum. She brought me up; my uncle took me to the football. I grew up in a white family, I'd say.

My mother is half-French, half-Malagasy, so I've been listening to African music, like Malian and Congolese music, since I was a child.

My dad is Irish. I spent my childhood going back and forth between Ireland and America.

I grew up surrounded by both Haitian and Japanese culture.

I grew up in Sudan and Kenya, and lived in both the rural and urban centers of both countries throughout my life.

Going from Army base to base as a kid taught me to be a man of all nations. I'd go to the Jewish people and say, 'Shalom, brother.' I go to the Muslim people and say, 'Salaam aleikum.'I go to the Chinese people and say, 'Nee hao mah,' which means, 'How you doin'?' I go to the Japanese people and say, 'Konnichiwa.' I go to San Antonio, Texas, and I get along with Mexicans. Then I go to Louisiana and hang with the Creoles. Moving around a lot made me a man of all people.

My father is from Copenhagen and he lived there until he was in his late 20s. We always grew up with a lot of Danish culture at home. My mother is Jewish but we always celebrated Christmas because we loved the traditions of Danish Christmas.

Like tens of millions of Americans, my parents were immigrants. They were poor and did not speak English well. They went to flea markets and sold gifts to make ends meet. Eventually, through hard work, they opened six gift stores in shopping malls. My parents achieved the American dream; they went from being poor to a home and gave my brother and me an amazing education. I wanted to serve the country that gave so much to my family.

My British mum met my American dad when she was on holiday in the United States when she was 19. She kinda never looked back. I was born in the United States, raised in Montana and London.

I don’t know who my parents were. I know nothing about my inheritance. I could be Jewish; I could be part Negro; I could be Irish; I could be Russian. I am spiritually a mix anyway, but I did have a solid childhood fortunately, because of some wonderful women who brought me up. I never had a father or a man in the house, and that was a loss...

I lived next to Russian soldiers. We had Russian army guys in our house when I grew up. We made lemonade for them; they were everywhere. I had a Russian school. I grew up with Russian traditions, I know Russian songs... it infiltrates me a lot. I even speak a little Russian.

I was born and raised in Nigeria. We lived in England when I was 3 and 4, and I would go to summer school every year in Switzerland.

I was born and raised in Dallas, Texas and seasonally lived in New Orleans and Boston. Given that this was all at a tender age, I imagine I was very impressionable. I was a kid that was always moving, city to city, school to school. I adapted easily wherever I was, I knew how to blend.

I feel very fortunate that I was raised in a multicultural family, and it came through food.

I have no idea what a British sensibility or a British sense of humor is. I have no concept of what that is. I have no concept of what American sensibility is. I was born in Great Britain, but I was only there for six months, and we moved to Belgium, where I grew up.

If you want to know where I come by the passionate commitment I have to bringing people together without regard to race, it all started with my grandfather.

When you grow up in that (multi-ethnic) environment, you see the world differently. Being a mixed-race child, I didn't always see colour in people, I really didn't. It was other people that made me see the colour all the time.

What makes me myself rather than anyone else is the very fact that I am poised between two countries, two or three languages, and several cultural traditions. It is precisely this that defines my identity. Would I exist more authentically if I cut off a part of myself

I'm an Asian guy growing up in London so I see myself as British, but India is part of my culture.

Probably not for about 10 years, because I've got so much to do before then, but I really want to have four kids ... I'd love them to have adorable little American accents, but I do want to bring my kids up in Australia; it's such a good lifestyle.

My mother is a German who was brought up in the U.K. So, there is so much cross-cultural exposure I had as a child. But Mumbai is my city.

I feel very fortunate, I've been exposed to a lot of different cultures. If I wasn't from a multi-ethnic background, I wouldn't have had these great experiences. And one of the things that makes me a good actor is life experience.

I'm first generation American, and my parents were both from Nigeria. And so I always say that I'm literally an African American. So my last name is Famuyiwa, it's different. And so that was a part of my experience from people not being able to pronounce it to not sort of having sort of a shared, common history with a lot of the kids that I was growing up with because my parents were from Africa.

My early childhood was spent living by the Pacific Ocean. I carry with me something imprinted by that wide, limitless horizon, which I learned connected us to different people and cultures, including my own family's origins in the Arab World and Northern Europe. I understood early that my world was only a small part of a much larger one. That captivated me.