Sharon Stone
Stone in 2012, photo by Joe Seer/Bigstock.com
Birth Name: Sharon Yvonne Stone
Place of Birth: Meadville, Crawford, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Date of Birth: March 10, 1958
Ethnicity: English, German, Scottish, Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish
Sharon Stone is an American actress, producer, and fashion model. She is known for starring as Catherine Tramell in the film Basic Instinct, and its sequel. Her roles also include the films Stardust Memories, Deadly Blessing, Irreconcilable Differences, King Solomon’s Mines (1985), Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol, Cold Steel (1987), Action Jackson, Above the Law, Beyond the Stars, Blood and Sand, Total Recall (1990), He Said, She Said; Scissors (1991), Diary of a Hitman, Year of the Gun, Where Sleeping Dogs Lie, Sliver, Intersection, The Specialist, The Quick and the Dead, Casino (1995), Diabolique, Last Dance (1996), Sphere, Antz, The Mighty (1998), Gloria, The Muse (1999), Simpatico, Picking Up the Pieces, Beautiful Joe, Cold Creek Manor, A Different Loyalty, Catwoman (2004), Broken Flowers, Alpha Dog, Bobby (2006), When a Man Falls in the Forest, If I Had Known I Was a Genius, The Year of Getting to Know Us, Five Dollars a Day, Largo Winch II, Border Run, Lovelace (2013), Fading Gigolo, Gods Behaving Badly, A Golden Boy, Life on the Line, Savva: Heart of the Warrior, Mothers and Daughters (2016), Running Wild (2017), All I Wish, The Disaster Artist, The Laundromat (2019), Beauty (2022), What About Love, Nobody 2, and In Memoriam (2026); the made-for-tv movies Calendar Girl Murders, The Vegas Strip War, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan, Tears in the Rain, and If These Walls Could Talk 2; the series Bay City Blues, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Agent X, Mosaic, Ratched, and Euphoria; the mini-series War and Remembrance; and the music videos for “God’s Gonna Cut You Down” and “You Only Love Me.”
Sharon is the daughter of Dorothy Marie (Lawson) and Joseph William Stone II, a tool-and-die worker. Some of her lineage goes back to Massachusetts of the 1600s. She has three children, who are adopted, including one with her former husband, journalist and editor Phil Bronstein.
A DNA test whose results were displayed on the show Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. (2025) stated that Sharon’s genetic ancestry consists of:
*43% Scotland
*24% England & Northwest Europe
*11% Sweden & Denmark
*10% Germanic Europe
*7% Ireland
*3% Norway
*2% Wales
Sharon’s paternal grandfather was Joseph William Stone (the son of John Aaron Stone and Emma McQuaid). Joseph was born in Franklin, Venango, Pennsylvania. John worked in the oil business. He was born in Franklin, the son of Ethan Stone and Margaret. Emma was the daughter of Jesse McQuaid, who had Scots-Irish/Northern Irish ancestry, and of Adaline Flick.
Sharon’s paternal grandmother was Lela Adams Greenlee (the daughter of Daniel Webster Greenlee and Mary Jane Adams). Lela was born in Pennsylvania. Daniel was the son of Robert Greenlee and Sophia Flickinger/Flickner, who was of German descent. Mary Jane was the daughter of Raymond Adams and Rebecca Griffin, whose maternal grandparents were from Ireland.
Sharon’s maternal grandfather was Clarence Grover Lawson (the son of Clifford George Lawson and Blanche May/Mae Hale). Clarence was born in Pennsylvania. Clifford was the son of Hudson/Hud Beach Lawson and Ellen/Ella Florence Hovis. Blanche was the daughter of John Charles Hale and Elizabeth A. “Lizzie” Greggs/Gregg, whose father was English.
Sharon’s maternal grandmother was Freda Edna Wood (the daughter of Edgar James Wood and Sadie Irene Robbins). Freda was born in Pennsylvania. Edgar was the son of Stephen W. Wood and Elizabeth Dickinson.
Sources: Genealogy of Sharon Stone – https://www.geni.com
Sharon’s paternal grandparents, Joseph William Stone and Lela H. Greenlee, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Genealogy of Sharon’s paternal great-grandfather, Daniel Webster Greenlee – https://www.findagrave.com
Sharon’s maternal grandparents, Clarence Grover Lawson and Freda E. Woods, on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://www.familysearch.org
Obituary of Sharon’s maternal great-grandfather, Edgar James Wood – https://www.newspapers.com
She is very vocal abput being Irish and she has visited Ireland to trace down some roots. That might point towards her Scottish DNA being Scots Irish and whilst Scottish DNA far back they were Irish for generations.
A lot of Scots families didn’t hang around in Ireland for long before moving to America. They didn’t mix much with the Irish Catholics, so a clear distinction should be made. Unfortunately, most Americans don’t seem to be able to absorb this, and desperately want to celebrate their “Irishness” when they are really descended from Scots. What’s the problem with being Scottish!?!
They were there for many generations. DNA tests, especially between Irish and Scots, are very subjective. Im Irish amd my own DNA test has shown no Scots blood yet my mothers lineage has very strong Scots background woth all Scottish surnames.
I applaud your post. There exists a world of difference between Irish and Scots-Irish,
Sharon is the latter. Contrary to what JackB writes about, I have never heard that’s she vocal about being Irish.
Scots-Irish = Scottish ancestry and the Presbyterian church. The “Irish” is only mentioned in the term because Scots settled centuries ago in (mostly) Northern Ireland.
Irish = the influx of Irish people due to the Potato Famine in roughly 1850. These people were Roman Catholic.
Voilà la différence..
To “Northern Birton” I wish more people had the low-down on this difference than do. Thanks again for your informative post.
You continue to be incredibly weird about this. Most people who live in Ulster have a mix of ancestries, including Irish descendants from that land.
Take your weird political/social agenda somewhere else.
@Oaken05 Objectively incorrect. The plantation only truly began in the late 17th century/early 18th, and the VAST majority of Americans with “Scots-Irish” ancestors had them come over in the 1700-1800s. Ergo, most “Scots-Irish” ancestors were only in Ireland for 50-150 years, an extremely small timeframe.
Furthermore, before the British arrived to plant Ulster, the Irish natives were literally expelled from the land, and intermarriage among the Irish and the British was illegal.
You’re correct that most “Scots-Irish” people are mixed ethnicity, but they’re Scottish mixed with English, not Scottish mixed with Irish. The term Scots-Irish is itself is an outdated cultural misnomer rather than a legitimate descriptor of ethnicity. Scots-Irish people are almost all ethnically Scottish & English.
Add this:
Genealogy of Sharon’s paternal great-grandfather, Daniel W. Greenlee: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/151479598/daniel-w_-greenlee
the Greenlee line also hails from Northern Ireland: https://www.ancestry.com/boards/localities.northam.usa.states.wisconsin.counties.crawford/240.243.70.591.606.609.613.690.693/mb.ashx
as others: https://www.geni.com/people/John-McGranahan/362073996630005520?through=6000000046536183880
Hovis -> Hofius: it’s German.
She has English, German and Scots-Irish ancestry
https://gw.geneanet.org/tdowling?lang=en&m=A&p=sharon+vonne&n=stone&siblings=on¬es=on&t=T&v=6&image=on&marriage=on&full=on
*Jesse McQuaid was of Scots-Irish/Northern Irish descent
* Edgar James Wood was the son of Stephen W. Wood and Elizabeth Dickinson
https://www.ancestry.com/genealogy/records/clarence-grover-lawson_42585809
Good summary, but which of her relatives were Scottish, Irish, and German?