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Amy Jackson takes a DNA ancestry test

The actress, who didn’t know much about the paternal side of her family, was curious to learn more about her roots

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Have you ever wondered where your ancestors hail from? This was one question on Amy Jackson’s mind for many years. As a result, she recently took a DNA ancestry test, the results of which are awaited. As she didn’t know her dad’s side of the family too well, the actress decided to opt for the Y chromosome test (see box).

Amy reasons, “Whenever I travelled, people always asked me where I was from. When I replied, ‘England’, they would ask, ‘Okay, but what are your roots? You don’t look fully English!’ My family is the most important thing to me, and we’re very close, but the history of my kin is quite vague. So, I took it upon myself to try and make some sense of it. My dad’s family history is almost impossible to figure out.”

Explaining further, she tells us, “We know that my father’s grandma was Portuguese and she landed up on the Isle of Man (where she was born) in the early 1900s. She settled there and started a new life but all of us are unsure about what happened before that.”

Amy then learnt that she could find more details through the DNA ancestry test. Ask her about the whole process and she explains, “It’s quite easy. You apply online and the authorities ask you for some information. All you need to do is give them a bit of your saliva in a container and send it to them. Then, they compare it with millions of other DNA samples and a few weeks later, you get your results.”

WHAT IS THE DNA ANCESTRY TEST?

It’s a process by which individuals can gain a better understanding of their genetic make-up. With advances in technology today, it’s easy to get such insights into one’s DNA, which not only helps one figure out their ancestral origin but also gives a more detailed analysis of their family history and roots. There are three types of tests — the Y chromosome test (to explore one’s patrilineal or father’s ancestry), the Mitochondrial or mtDNA test (to track the matrilineal or mother’s  heritage) and the autosomal DNA test (to trace all of one’s family lines, both maternal and paternal).

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