Finding Your Roots backdrop
Finding Your Roots poster
Documentary

The Best Episodes of Finding Your Roots

Every episode of Finding Your Roots ranked from best to worst. Let's dive into the Best Episodes of Finding Your Roots!

The Best Episodes of Finding Your Roots

Noted Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has been helping people discover long-lost relatives hidden for generations within the branches of their family trees....

Filter By Season11

  1. 8.4/10(60 votes)

    #1 - Secret Lives

    Loading...
    S9:E3

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. helps comedians Carol Burnett and Niecy Nash decode scandals hidden within their roots, exposing secrets that their ancestors concealed and celebrating the virtue of accepting one’s relatives—whoever they may be.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  2. 8.1/10(43 votes)

    #2 - Rising From the Ashes

    Loading...
    S9:E5

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. traces the roots of actors Brian Cox and Viola Davis, uncovering records from workhouses in Scotland and slave plantations in South Carolina that reveal individuals who battled to build a better life for their families.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  3. 8.0/10(61 votes)

    #3 - Hidden Kin

    Loading...
    S9:E1

    Henry Louis Gates explores the remarkable roots of actors Edward Norton and Julia Roberts—using DNA analysis and genealogical detective work to travel generations into the past, tracing lineages that run from Northern Europe to the American South. Along the way, Norton and Roberts reimagine their family stories and discover their hidden connections to our nation’s history—and each other.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  4. 8.0/10(50 votes)

    #4 - Family: Lost and Found

    Loading...
    S9:E6

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uses DNA detective work to solve family mysteries for actor Joe Manganiello and football star Tony Gonzalez—uncovering close relatives whose names they’ve never heard and compelling each man to rethink his own identity.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  5. 8.0/10(51 votes)

    #5 - Chosen

    Loading...
    S9:E7

    Henry Louis Gates helps actors David Duchovny and Richard Kind trace their roots from Jewish communities in Eastern Europe to the United States—telling stories of triumph and tragedy that laid the groundwork for his guest’s success.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  6. 8.0/10(31 votes)

    #6 - Out of the Past

    Loading...
    S9:E10

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. uncovers the lost roots of actors Billy Crudup and Tamera Mowry-Housley, traveling back generations to recount significant events in history—from the American Revolution to the journey of the Mayflower—in a deeply personal way.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  7. Trending NowTRENDING NOW

    The 20 WORST Episodes of Finding Your Roots

    READ
  8. 7.9/10(45 votes)

    #7 - Far From Home

    Loading...
    S9:E4

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. maps the family trees of pop icon Cyndi Lauper and actors Jamie Chung and Danny Trejo, exploring records in Italy, Korea, and Mexico to uncover ancestors whose stories were lost when their families immigrated to America.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  9. 7.8/10(50 votes)

    #8 - Salem's Lot

    Loading...
    S9:E2

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. takes actors Claire Danes and Jeff Daniels on a journey into their roots, uncovering primal scenes from our nation’s past, featuring World War One battles, Civil War prison camps, and America’s most infamous witch hunt.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  10. 7.8/10(29 votes)

    #9 - Anchormen

    Loading...
    S9:E9

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. introduces trail-blazing journalists Jim Acosta and Van Jones to the ancestors who blazed a trail for them, meeting runaway slaves and immigrant settlers who took enormous chances so that their descendants might thrive.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  11. 7.8/10(24 votes)

    #10 - Stranger Than Fiction

    Loading...
    S11:E3

    Traveling across China and the American South to reveal the ancestry of novelist Amy Tan and poet Rita Dove.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  12. 7.7/10(31 votes)

    #11 - And Still I Rise

    Loading...
    S9:E8

    Henry Louis Gates, Jr. reveals the unexpected family trees of activist Angela Y. Davis and statesman Jeh Johnson, using DNA and long-lost records to redefine notions of the black experience—and challenge preconceptions of America’s past.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  13. 7.7/10(16 votes)

    #12 - Latin Roots

    Loading...
    S11:E6

    Tracing the family trees of musician Rubén Blades and journalist Natalie Morales.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  14. 7.7/10(20 votes)

    #13 - The Butterfly Effect

    Loading...
    S11:E8

    Actresses Debra Messing and Melanie Lynskey explore the stories of their ancestors whose bold decisions reshaped their families.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  15. 7.6/10(30 votes)

    #14 - Dreamers One and All

    Loading...
    S11:E4

    Exploring the ancestry of actress Sharon Stone and model Chrissy Teigen includes travelling across Europe and Thailand.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  16. 7.6/10(20 votes)

    #15 - The Ties That Bind

    Loading...
    S11:E7

    Actors Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard learn about their family histories, which includes stories of soldiers, settlers and criminals.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  17. 7.5/10(25 votes)

    #16 - La Famiglia

    Loading...
    S11:E2

    Exploring the Italian roots of television host Joy Behar and actor Michael Imperioli.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  18. 7.4/10(32 votes)

    #17 - Larger Than Life

    Loading...
    S11:E1

    Research into the ancestry of singer Lea Salonga and actress Amanda Seyfried reveals relatives who survived heart-wrenching ordeals.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  19. 7.2/10(21 votes)

    #18 - Family Recipes

    Loading...
    S11:E5

    Exploring the ancestry of chefs José Andrés and Sean Sherman.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  20. 6.5/10(7 votes)

    #19 - Moving on Up

    Loading...
    S11:E9

    Laurence Fishburne and Sheryl Lee Ralph learn about their family histories.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  21. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #20 - In Search of our Fathers

    Loading...
    S2:E1

    Three famous guests — Stephen King, Gloria Reuben and Courtney B. Vance — know almost nothing about their fathers’ histories.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  22. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #21 - Our American Storytellers

    Loading...
    S2:E3

    Ken Burns learns that his Southern ancestors include Confederate soldiers and a slave owner; Anderson Cooper learns that an ancestor on his father's side was killed by one of his slaves; and Anna Deavere Smith learns about her great-grandfather, who was a free black man and former conductor on the Underground Railroad.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  23. 6.0/10(1 votes)

    #22 - Roots of Freedom

    Loading...
    S2:E4

    Actor Ben Affleck discovers his mother's past as a Freedom Rider in 1964, NAACP President Ben Jealous learns how far his great-grandfather would go to keep his family whole, and actress Khandi Alexander learns about her grandfather's death. This episode is not available from pbs because actor Ben Affleck had persuaded Gates to omit information about his slave-owning ancestors. In the investigation, PBS said that producers violated network standards by letting Mr. Affleck have “improper influence” and “by failing to inform PBS or WNET of Mr. Affleck’s efforts to affect program content.”

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  24. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #23 - Branford Marsalis and Harry Connick, Jr.

    Loading...
    S1:E1

    Their European immigrant ancestors blazed unconventional trails in America, from capturing British ships for the American Revolution to crossing racial barriers in slave-era Louisiana. Generations later, as children growing up in New Orleans, Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis found a deep and abiding friendship through their common love of jazz and of the city itself. In this hour, we trace the turbulent and contradictory history of the city of New Orleans through the family stories of these two fascinating men.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  25. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #24 - John Lewis and Cory Booker

    Loading...
    S1:E2

    In this episode, we feature two African American politicians from different generations and opposite backgrounds. John Lewis grew up in a sharecropping family in rural Georgia, while Cory Booker was raised in an affluent, all-white New Jersey suburb. Although both men have devoted their lives to the betterment of African-American people, neither of them knows much about their own ancestors. In this episode, we introduce Booker to his white great-grandfather, a man he never knew, and move Lewis to tears over the extraordinary ambitions and accomplishments of his slave ancestors..

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A
  26. NaN/10(0 votes)

    #25 - Barbara Walters and Geoffrey Canada

    Loading...
    S1:E3

    What's in a name? Well, a lot, at least when it comes to piecing together your family history. For former slaves, choosing a last name was one of their first acts of freedom. For Jewish immigrants, it was a way to fit in their new country. Whatever the reason for a name change, it can make the process of learning about one's ancestors difficult, if not impossible. In this episode, we unearth missing links in the family histories of media legend Barbara Walters and educational superstar Geoffrey Canada. Walters did not know her father's real last name. Canada did not know the name of his grandfather. Both of them had been unable to access their history... until now.

    0 Comments
    View all
    Director:N/A
    Writer:N/A

Best Episodes Summary

"Secret Lives" is the best rated episode of "Finding Your Roots". It scored 8.4/10 based on 60 votes. Directed by N/A and written by N/A, it aired on 1/17/2023. This episode scored 0.3 points higher than the second highest rated, "Rising From the Ashes".