Mark Cuban’s ethnicity, confirmed

Mark Cuban, arguably the most famous shark on Shark Tank, is known for his successful business ventures and more recently, for calling out Elon Musk’s nonsense on X. Cuban’s been vocal in his critique of fellow billionaires like Musk and Donald Trump, who he’s called out for everything from poor economic policies to “copying” Kamala’s campaign policies.

Cuban is worth a cool $6 billion, made all the more impressive thanks to his working-class upbringing. The son of an automobile upholsterer and a homemaker who worked the occasional odd job, Cuban grew up in the Pittsburgh suburb of Mount Lebanon. He famously got his start in business selling trash bags and baseball cards in his youth before attending Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business, choosing his university based on how inexpensive tuition was compared to other business schools.

After college, Cuban worked several sales jobs before co-founding the company MicroSolutions — and the rest, as they say, is history. Now known for owning the Dallas Mavericks and pharmaceutical company, Cost Plus Drugs, Cuban’s career trajectory is an inspiring one for would-be entrepreneurs. But one thing often overlooked when talking about the billionaire’s life is how important his Jewish heritage has been in shaping his life.

Mark Cuban is proud of his Jewish roots

Cuban has been outspoken about his Jewish heritage. According to Cuban, his grandparents moved to the United States from Europe — his maternal grandparents came from Lithuania and Bessarabia while his paternal grandparents came from Ukraine — with the last name Chabenisky, which Ellis Island immigration officials changed to Cuban.

Growing up, Cuban felt connected to his Jewish heritage thanks to his grandparents but faced antisemitism as one of only two Jewish students in his elementary school. In a chat with Adan Lehman, President and CEO of Hillel International, Cuban spoke of the confusion he felt in this environment. “When a kid tried to beat me up, I didn’t understand why someone would want to beat me up just for being Jewish.” Cuban couldn’t help but add, “Of course, I kicked his [butt].”

In an interview with the Atlanta Jewish Times, he shared that moving to a new school in 7th grade allowed him the opportunity to make Jewish friends and that despite his dad “kind of rebel[ing] against organized religion,” he always felt connected with his Jewish faith. “I chose to play football on Saturdays instead of going to Sunday school [and having a bar mitzvah]. So while that was not a feature of my life, growing up Jewish has certainly been. It’s something I’m very proud of.” 

Cuban credits his Jewish heritage with shaping his core values, like valuing empathy and hard work. When speaking to students at the Sy Syms School of Business, Cuban’s speech opened with a quote on how he views his Jewish identity: “Being Jewish has given me a foundation for everything I am and everything I hope to be.” He continues to speak against Jewish hate and offered these words to Jewish students via Hillel International’s Instagram: “There’s always going to be people who hate us… Our lives and who we are is not defined by who hates us. It’s defined by who loves us and who we love.”