Dana International
Dana International’s 1998 Eurovision victory was not just a win for Israel. It was a win for all women, past and present, as the song—“Diva”—was an ode to the powerful women of history; and it was a win for transgender people everywhere.
Dana identified as female from a very young age, and expressed a wish to become a singer at the age of 8, when she watched Ofra Haza place second in the 1983 Eurovision with “Hai.”
Dana defied all the bigotry and prejudice to realize her childhood dream and become the first-ever transgender performer to win Eurovision.
Dana identified as female from a very young age, and expressed a wish to become a singer at the age of 8, when she watched Ofra Haza place second in the 1983 Eurovision with “Hai.”
Dana defied all the bigotry and prejudice to realize her childhood dream and become the first-ever transgender performer to win Eurovision.
While Dana’s DNA results reflect her Yemenite Jewish (82.7%) and Ashkenazi Jewish (2.1%) background, they are as colorful as the fabulous feathered dress she wore when she smashed the patriarchy: she is also 5.9% North African, 4.3% Italian, 4.1% West Asian, and even 0.9% Nigerian!
While Dana’s DNA results reflect her Yemenite Jewish (82.7%) and Ashkenazi Jewish (2.1%) background, they are as colorful as the fabulous feathered dress she wore when she smashed the patriarchy: she is also 5.9% North African, 4.3% Italian, 4.1% West Asian, and even 0.9% Nigerian!
82.7%
Yemenite Jewish
5.9%
North African
4.3%
Italian
4.1%
West Asian
3.0%
Other
In addition to one close family member, Dana has 95 relatives from 10 different countries worldwide that she can now reach out to directly from the MyHeritage platform. In fact, we discovered that she is related to the Israeli Eurovision Legend Gali Atari!
Want to read more about Dana's family history research?
