Explore Finding Your Roots: Season 11

Watch Tuesdays at 8/7c

Published on September 27, 2024 by PBS

Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. returned for its eleventh season on PBS.

Over the course of 10 new episodes, Gates and his team used genealogical detective work and cutting-edge DNA analysis to trace the family trees of twenty compelling guests, telling stories that illuminate America’s fundamental diversity.

As the pages turned in each guest’s book of life, emotional revelations gave way to complex questions about identity. Through Gates’ discerning touch, his guests learned what every family history shares—love, courage, and sacrifice—and how our histories transcend borders, merging to form an American root system fortified by its diversity. Along the way, viewers were transported from coastal Africa to the Mississippi Delta; from shtetls in the former Russian Empire to the ancestral lands of the Lakota Nation; from villages in the Philippines to a pirate enclave in Puerto Rico—all in search of the stories that brought our guests’ ancestors to life. What’s more, this new season also included a special reveal: the solution to a mystery that has haunted Gates’ own family for generations.

The guest roster for Season 11 included actors Kristen Bell, Laurence Fishburne, Debra Messing, Michael Imperioli, Melanie Lynskey, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Lea Salonga, Amanda Seyfried, Dax Shepard, and Sharon Stone; celebrity chefs José Andrés and Sean Sherman; novelist Amy Tan; poet Rita Dove; historian Lonnie Bunch; talk show host Joy Behar; musician Rubén Blades; journalist Natalie Morales; and model Chrissy Teigen.

Meet The Season 11 Guests

Amanda Seyfried

Amy Tan

Chrissy Teigen

Dax Shepard

Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

José Andrés

Joy Behar

Kristen Bell

Laurence Fishburne

Lea Solonga

Lonnie Bunch

Melanie Lynskey

Michael Imperioli

Natalie Morales

Rita Dove

Rubén Blades

Sean Sherman

Sharon Stone

Sheryl Lee Ralph

Support your local PBS station in our mission to inspire, enrich, and educate.

Donate Now

Finding Your Roots: Season 11 Episodes

Larger Than Life

Episode 1

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces actors Lea Salonga and Amanda Seyfried to ancestors who are every bit as dramatic as the characters they’ve played on stage and screen.

Add To Your Watchlist

La Famiglia

Episode 2

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the family trees of talk show host Joy Behar and actor Michael Imperioli—two Americans whose roots stretch back to small towns in Calabria, Italy.

Add To Your Watchlist

Stranger Than Fiction

Episode 3

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. maps the roots of two award-winning writers: novelist Amy Tan and poet Rita Dove, tracing lineages that run from a plantation in Maryland to a speakeasy in Washington, DC to a village in central China.

Add To Your Watchlist

Dreamers One And All

Episode 4

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. meets actor Sharon Stone & model Chrissy Teigen—two stars who found fame when they were young & lived much of their lives in the limelight, knowing little about their roots.

Add To Your Watchlist

Family Recipes

Episode 5

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. explores the family trees of celebrity chefs José Andrés & Sean Sherman—two men who have combined culinary skills with profound humanitarian goals.

Add To Your Watchlist

Latin Roots

Episode 6

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps musician Rubén Blades & journalist Natalie Morales uncover their hidden roots in Latin America, revealing secrets that their ancestors went to great lengths to conceal.

Add To Your Watchlist

The Ties That Bind

Episode 7

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. meets actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard—a married couple who discover that their ancestors had some remarkable similarities.

Add To Your Watchlist

The Butterfly Effect

Episode 8

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces actors Debra Messing & Melanie Lynskey to ancestors who made bold decisions that forever reshaped their family trees.

Add To Your Watchlist

Moving On Up

Episode 9

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. meets actor Sheryl Lee Ralph and historian Lonnie Bunch—two African Americans whose ancestors broke boundaries as they moved from slavery to freedom.

Add To Your Watchlist

Finding My Roots

Episode 10

In a unique and highly emotional episode, actor Laurence Fishburne is joined by scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr.—who finds himself a guest on his own show for the first time.

Add To Your Watchlist