In a January 2020 interview with The Irish Times, Terry Gilliam, who directed the film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote with actor Adam Driver, opined his impression of the Marriage Story actor.

He stated that Driver’s performance was incredible, showing the range of his talent.

Meanwhile, Gilliam also shared that he once asked the actor if he was Jewish because the director felt the 38-year-old had some kind of old wisdom about him.

To his surprise, Driver told him [according to Gilliam] that he was a Native American.

“He’s so pure. And that’s what impressed me the first day I met him in a pub in Hampstead. Whatever he was putting out, it wasn’t an actor trying to get a job. He comes from the midwest like us all simple people,” Gilliam further added.

But Fans Think Adam Driver’s Ethnicity Is Something Else

Immediately after the story was published, fans started claiming that the fact stated by Gilliam regarding Driver’s ethnicity was not true.

“Just want to be clear that it’s not an Adam Driver quote. It’s the telling of a story from the director saying AD said it,” a fan tweeted.

The same Twitter user further clarified, saying, “When researching online, his heritage doesn’t show any Native American ancestry. So just to have clarity, best to keep in mind that this wasn’t said by AD.”

The user also shared a couple of screenshots, revealing Gilliam has a history of making misleading and controversial statements about topics like diversity, communities, and ethnicity.

Another fan wrote, “Wait, I thought he wasn’t Native?”

“As long as Adam doesn’t explain this by going, ‘My grandmother was a Native American princess,’ then I would find it to be perfectly understandable! I wonder which First Nations tribe his ancestry comes from,” someone added.

If So — What Is Adam Driver’s Ethnicity?

Driver was born to his father, Joe Douglas Driver, who is from Little Rock, Arkansas, and his mother, Nancy Wright (née Needham), who hails from Mishawaka, Indiana.

Several online tabloids also report that the actor has English, German, Scottish, Dutch, Irish, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish, and distant Swedish, Welsh, and French, ancestry.

Besides, the House of Gucci star’s family name ‘Driver’ is a surname of German origin, which completely removes the possibility of Driver being Native American.

On the other hand, his mother’s family name ‘Needham’ is a habitational name in Derbyshire, Norfolk, and Suffolk.

The surname is usually taken by native Irish people.

Adam Driver Was Raised In the Midwest

Born in San Diego, Driver was raised by his mother and Baptist minister stepfather, Rodney G. Wright, in Midwest — Mishawaka.

At the age of seven, he moved there with his mother and older sister after his parents divorced.

His father, Joe, who was a Baptist youth counselor, now works at an Office Depot in Arkansas — while his mother, who played piano at church, serves as a legal secretary in South Bend (now a paralegal).