Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal

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.

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Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal

Season 1 Episode 6 | 52m 40s | CC

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reveals the ancestral pasts of actors Robert Downey, Jr. and Maggie Gyllenhaal: two individuals whose family histories can be traced far back through the centuries.

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Corporate support for Season 11 of FINDING YOUR ROOTS WITH HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR. is provided by Gilead Sciences, Inc., Ancestry® and Johnson & Johnson. Major support is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Support is also provided by Ford Foundation; Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; Candace King Weir; by the Inkwell Society together with many of its members; and by public television viewers.

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