Where is Zach Edey From, Who Are His Parents, and What is His Ethnicity?

Zach Edey is a 54 year-old Canadian college basketball player who plays for the Purdue Boilermakers in the Big Ten Conference. The Canadian with Asian roots is the son of Glen and Julia Edey, who have both given Zach a hundred percent support, helping him to achieve all the success he enjoys today.

The 7 feet 4 inches tall athlete has come out in leaps and bounds, considering the fact that he just began playing basketball a couple of years ago. Many people look at him and keep asking the question, where exactly is he from, and who are his parents? And from which of his parents did he inherit his enormous height? We are going to answer these questions more quite comprehensively in this piece.

Zach Edey is a Canadian with Chinese Heritage 

Zach Edey was born to Glen and Julia Edey in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on May 14, 2002, which makes him a full-blooded Canadian citizen. He spent most of his childhood and teenage years in Toronto, Canada, and went to Leaside High School. His interest in sports probably peaked while in high school, as what he had done prior to this time was just for exercise.

His parents were naturalized Canadians who had Chinese parents themselves, so it would not be wrong to describe Zach Edey as being a Canadian with Chinese heritage or ethnicity. Mere looking at him gives him away as having some Asian blood in him.

Is Zach Edey Asian?

Zach Edey was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and by virtue of his birthplace, this definitely makes him a “full-blooded” Canadian. Though his passport and birth certificate makes him Canadian, his facial features give him away as being Asian – with the exception of his unusually tall height.

So at best, we can say that Zach Edey is a Canadian with Asian Ancestry or of Asian descent. Moreover, Zach’s mother is also Canadian but with Asian ancestry. It is unclear which part of the world his father is from.

Who are Zach Edey’s Parents?

Zach Edey’s parents are Glen and Julia Edey. Julia Edey is a very tall woman, and she played and loved Basketball well before her son was born. Based on her facial features, it is clear that she is Asian, specifically from China.

Zach Edey’s father, on the other hand, is very mysterious, and nobody seems to know what he looks like, what he does for a living, or any other information about him – except his name. He seems like Zach Edey’s friendly ghost who has been watching over him and guiding him all his life.

Now, it is unclear if it was Zach Edey’s parents that emigrated to Canada themselves or if it was his grandparents that migrated to Canada from China and simply gave birth to his parents in Canada. However, from Zach’s facial features, it might be safe to assume that his father is of Asian descent too – though he might not necessarily be from China.

Zach Edey’s Parents are Private People

Having listened to a few interviews that Zach Edey’s mother, Julia, has granted to the press both on video and in print, she has been deliberately careful not to divulge any major personal details about her life and that of her family. The major thing that she has focused on all the time has been her son’s career and the journey he went through from being that very quiet kid to a rising star that is on the verge of possibly being the next best thing to hit the world of professional basketball in the United States of America.

She has never revealed her husband’s identity or talked about him in great detail in any of her interviews, nor has she shared information with the press about how and where she met her husband, how long they both dated or where they eventually got engaged and married. One can only assume that since Zach Edey was born in 2002, they must have probably met a few years before then and gotten married sometime in the early 2000s.

Zach’s parents also have another son named Doug – whose birth details are also not readily known. It seems that sporting genes run in the Edey household, as his brother is also said to be actively involved in athletics for his current high school in Canada. It is unclear, however, if Zach’s brother will join him in the big field of sports someday soon.

Zach’s mother did disclose this bit of information about the role that she and her husband played in guiding their son to eventually pick Basketball as the sport he wanted to focus on and play actively going forward. She disclosed that Zach loved playing baseball while he was growing up, and since he was born in Canada, where Ice Hockey seems like the preferred national sport, he naturally also liked playing Ice Hockey. In fact, these were the two sports that Zach was actively involved in while in Leaside High School in Canada – two sports that his father also loved.

Both parents encouraged Zach to try playing Basketball when he was almost 20 years. They figured that since he was already taller than possibly both parents, his height and lanky frame might be more of an advantage to him playing Basketball rather than Baseball and Ice Hockey.

After a couple of training sessions in basketball, Julia said he son seemed interested to continue playing the sport, which particularly made her happy since Basketball was the sport that she liked and played at about his age. The rest is history now, as Zach is considered one of the hottest prospects to look forward to in professional men’s basketball in just a few years from now.

Who is Zach Edey’s Mom?

Zach Edey
image source

Zach Edey’s mother is Julia Edey. Physically, especially facially, Julia looks Asian, but when you get to speak with her, you get that unmistakable feeling that you are speaking with a proper Canadian – with no Asian accent at all.

Julia has chosen not to divulge any information about her parents, her early childhood, or her upbringing, so it is difficult to tell what that phase of her life was like. We know that she has four other siblings, but details about her parents are also not readily available – as we do not know their names, what they did for a living, and why they decided to leave their country of birth and migrate to Canada.

Julia has a degree in Mechanical Engineering, and she was reported to have worked for some years in the Nuclear Engineering industry in Canada. Over the last few years, her choice to support her son and even relocate to the United States of America to support him and his growing basketball career has seen her make personal sacrifices.

In a YouTube interview with BoilersUp, Beer Down – the official YouTube handle of her son’s team, she referred to herself as a retired engineer – meaning she gave up her career, which must have been a very successful one to be working in the Nuclear Engineering industry, in order to help guide and nurture her own son’s career in Basketball.

She also stated in that interview that she was also a Basketball player in high school due to her height, and she was a key factor in helping her son decide to choose a career in Basketball. She was also instrumental in guiding her son to choose the current school that he is playing for, out of the plethora of offers that he received to play Basketball.

How Tall is Zach Edey’s Mom?

Many fans have always wondered from which of Zach Edey’s parents he got his incredible height of 7 feet 4 inches, and from information available about his mother, she stands at an impressive height of 6 feet 3 inches (1.91 m) – which is still a far cry from how impressively tall her son is. So it’s obvious that the natural tendency for Zach Edey to be tall was partly possible from the supply of those genes from his mother’s side.

As we all know that it takes two to tango, it would not be entirely accurate to attribute Zach Edey’s height to genes from his mother alone. Judging from the fact that he is way taller than his mother at the very young age of 20, it can be inferred that his father’s genes must have had something to contribute to his height as well. Unfortunately, since we do not really know the height of  Zach’s father, we would not be able to ascertain the extent to which his father’s genes contributed to his impressive height.

Julia Edey is so committed to her son’s success for his current team that she makes T-shirts with “Big Maple” written on it – which is Zach’s nickname coined from his Canadian roots, and she distributes this to members of the audience during their games. Her very amiable and down-to-earth personality seems to have endeared her also to the YouTube TV handle of her son’s team, and they have described her as an interviewer’s delight while also asking her to come back more often on the online show.

Who Is Zach Edey’s Dad?

The only piece of verifiable information out there about Zach Edey’s father is that his name is Glen Edey. Other than that, there is also this piece of information out there about him that he is a big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers – the American football team, which may suggest that he is into sports.

There are no pictures of him in public at all. He has never been pictured at any of his son’s games, neither has he ever taken any picture with his son. Moreover, since he is an unknown face, it is possible that he might have been photographed somewhere around his son but has just chosen to stay anonymous for reasons known to him.

Zach Edey Enjoys a Close Relationship With His Parents

From all we have seen and read about Zach Edey, it seems like his relationship with his parents is going on very well, and there seems to be no falling out or rancor with either of them. Both his parents have been with him every step of the way to where he is present now, and they have always helped him to make the best decisions about his career and life choices. His parents being very athletic themselves, put him on the path to becoming one of the best collegiate basketball players in the United States of America right now.

He has never spoken out about preferring one parent over the other, and so far we cannot tell that he does prefer one over the other. If we were to look at which parent is seen more at his games, it is clearly his mother – who has had to relocate to the United States to help him feel more at home there. He may be said to seem closer to his mother from all we can see, but that is only because his father has decided to stay away completely from all media attention/recognition.

Zach Edey’s Love For BasketBall Blossomed In High School

Zach just began playing basketball when he got into high school, and he signed up with the Northern Kings Amateur Athletics Union Program. In order to have better opportunities in his newfound love for the sport, his parents decided to let him move to the United States of America – considered the home of Basketball.

He got into the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, and began playing with the school’s second-tier team. After just a year, he was moved to the school’s national team when he put in some impressive appearances, which were also helped by his very impressive height of 7 feet 4 inches (2.21 meters).

Soon after, as he got better on the court, the men’s basketball teams of Universities such as Santa Clara and Baylor began to take notice of him and invited him over to their campus. He would eventually settle to join Purdue University and play for the Purdue Boilermakers.

For a kid that just began playing basketball at an age that many people consider as being too late, Edey seems to be making a lot of waves already. He was recently named the Player of the Tournament in the Big Ten’s Men Basketball Tournament Championship, which his team won after the game against Penn State’s Nittany Lions team. From the looks of things, the future looks very much golden for him in basketball.

Feyisayo Oluokun
Feyisayo Oluokun
Feyisayo is a passionate writer, voracious reader and a lover of romance. She is interested in doing intensive research, traveling and exploring new things.

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