Bruno Mars once told CNN that his mother is the family singer and that his father was a performer. That alone indicates that the ‘Uptown Funk’ singer came from a performing arts household.

For as long as he could remember, Mars performed with his family six days a week while growing up in Hawaii. His family history is a little more convoluted, though.

Mars’ Parentage And Ethnicity

Megan Smolenyak, a genealogy researcher, drew the Leave the Door Open singer’s family tree for a 2017 HuffPost story, and the results were astounding.

Mars appears to have a Filipino mother and a Puerto Rican father who were both born in Hawaii.On October 8, 1985, Pedro Hernandez and Bernadette Hernandez welcomed Peter Hernandez IV into the world.

His father is half Jewish Ashkenazi and half Puerto Rican. Mars’ mother came to Hawaii from the Philippines and was of Filipino and Spanish ancestry.

If you go a little further, his Ukrainian and Hungarian ancestry also occurs to make him one-quarter Jewish.

He has ancestors from Ukraine, the United States, the Philippines, Hispaniola, Israel, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Europe, Hungary, Asia, and Spain, according to further research.

Smolenyak even joked at the end of her analysis that Mars could have had a few distant cousins supporting him while on his worldwide tour in support of the release of “Unorthodox Jukebox.”

He began his career as a child performer.

He has a multicultural background, but much of his musical talent comes from his biological parents. One of those situations when nature and nurture conflict.

Mars has been a performing artist since he was two and a half years old, according to his father’s website. He has said unequivocally that his father is the source of his “whole sense of rhythm.”

Pedro, an ardent admirer of Elvis, has been performing a 1950s Doo-Wop act since 1977 and running an Elvis Presley museum. He also claims to be the creator of whole productions centered around mimicry performances.

Mars might be said to have been born into the performing arts. Pedro believes that his son was a natural even when he was only three years old.

He got his swagger from his father.

The well-known musician revealed during a chat with Latina Magazine that his father is also largely responsible for his sense of style and attitude. He remembered how his father used to drive a Cadillac and pick him and his sisters up from school while dressed in a silk suit.

His sisters were a little embarrassed by their father because not many others on the island drove Cadillacs, but not Mars. Today, Mars is a carbon copy of his father, complete with swagger, silk jackets, and Cadillacs.

He also addressed the persistent allegation that he changed his name to “Bruno Mars” in order to disguise his ethnicity. He clarified that he saw such assertions as personal insults to him and his family.

He was given the name Bruno by his father when he was still a little child, and as a performer, he intended to use just “Bruno.” He was referred to as “Mars” in a joke as being stuck and “bigger than life.”