List of Romanian Americans: Difference between revisions

This is a list of notable Romanian-Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.^[1][2]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (August 2008)

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Romanian American or must have references showing they are Romanian American and are notable.

• Max Abramovitz – architect of Avery Fisher Hall^[3]
• John Eberson – architect best known for his movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre fashion.

• William Gropper – cartoonist, lithographer, and muralist (parents ethnic Jews from Romania)
• Alexandra Nechita – painter^[4][5]
• Beryl Korot – video artist
• Larry Lieber – comic book artist and writer
• Will Eisner – comics writer, artist and entrepreneur
• Sandu Florea – illustrator, comic book, and comic strip creator
• Jack Micheline – painter and poet
• Abraham Rattner – painter
• Jean Rosenthal – is considered a pioneer in the field of theatrical lighting design
• Louis Schanker – printmaker, painter, sculptor
• Kenneth E. Tyler – master printer,
• Saul Steinberg – cartoonist, illustrator (The New York Times, The New Yorker), publisher, arts educator^[6][7]

• John DeLorean – engineer,founder of the DeLorean Motor Company
• Irene Rosenfeld – businesswoman the CEO of Kraft Foods Inc..
• Bernard Cornfeld – businessman
• Joseph M. Juran – engineer, philanthropist^[8][9]
• Matt Lauer – Daytime Emmy Award winning television personality, best known as the host of NBC's The Today Show since 1997.
• Suze Orman – TV Personality, writer, and businesswoman
• Seymour Sternberg – Chairman and former CEO of New York Life Insurance Company.
• Fabian Pascal – consultant to large software vendors
• Bernard Madoff – businessman
• Hyman Golden – businessman, was one of the co-founders of the Snapple Beverage Corporation (now part of the Dr Pepper Snapple Group)
• M. B. "Bud" Seretean – former businessman and author, he founded Coronet Industries, a subsidiary of the RCA Corporation, and served as its President and Chairman of the Board.
• John Rakolta Jr. – chairman and CEO, Walbridge Aldinger^[10]

• Lauren Bacall – actress^[11][12]
• Barbara Bach – actress and model
• John Blyth Barrymore – former actor (His mother Cara Williams is of Romanian descent), he's also the half-sister of Drew Barrymore.
• Tala Birell – former actress
• Elayne Boosler – comedian
• Amanda Bynes – actress
• Christian Calson – filmaker
• Allysin Chaynes – adult film actress
• Steven Cojocaru – fashion critic, entertainment TV shows commentator, and celebrity interviewer ^[13]
• I.A.L. Diamond – screenwriter^[14]
• Harvey Keitel – actor: Taxi Driver, Thelma and Louise, Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction – just a few of his films ^[15]
• Stan Lee – comic book creator, and actor^[12][16]
• Michael Lerner – actor
• Mary Livingstone – comedian, and radio personality
• Elina Löwensohn – former actress
• Natalie Portman – actress
• Julianna Margulies – actress
• Jack Gilford – former actor
• Dustin Hoffman – actor (born to a Russian father, and Romanian mother)
• Ray Wise – actor
• Sylvia Sidney – former actress
• Adrian Zmed – actor best known from the T.J. Hooker television series.
• Fran Drescher – actress, comedian, screenwriter, producer, activist (her grandmother emigrated from Focşani and she still emphasizes her Romanian origin^[17])
• Illeana Douglas – actress, director, screenwriter, and producer (Her mother is of Romanian and Italian descent)
• Elmarie Wendel – actress, best known for her role as Mrs. Dubcek in the NBC sitcom 3rd Rock from the Sun.
• Rita Gam – actress and documentary film maker
• Jon Lovitz – actor, comedian and singer
• Fiona Dourif – actress
• Zoë Tamerlis Lund – former actress, musician, model, and screenwriter.
• John Houseman – actor and film producer^[18]
• Marisol Nichols – actress
• Cara Williams – retired actress
• John Randolph – actor: Serpico, Prizzi's Honor. Tony Award winning actor^[19]
• Edward G. Robinson – actor^[12][20][21]
• Sebastian Stan – actor
• Johnny Weissmuller – actor (Tarzan), olympic swimmer^[22][23]
• Jamie-Lynn Sigler – actress, paternal grandparents Jewish immigrants from Romania and Greece.
• Winona Ryder – actress, her grandparents were immigrants from Russia and Romania
• Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. – actor known for his starring roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I.
• Stephanie Zimbalist – actress best known for her role as Laura Holt on the NBC detective series Remington Steele

• Stanley Kubrick – film director, writer, producer, and photographer (His father's mother was Romanian)^[24]
• Jean Negulesco – film director and screenwriter
• Lawrence Bender – film producer; rose to fame by producing Reservoir Dogs in 1992
• John Berry – film director
• Nathan H. Juran – film director, and art director
• Mitch Anderson – film director, producer, writer, researcher and editor.
• Arthur Caesar – screenwriter
• Irving Caesar – composer, producer, lyricist, writer
• Fred Hibbard – film director, screenwriter and producer
• Erwin Stoff – movie producer, best known for being the manager of Keanu Reeves and a producing credit for The Matrix. In 2007, co-produced I am Legend, starring Will Smith.

• Michelle Deighton^{[citation needed]}

• Eugene Borza – professor of history at Pennsylvania State University
• Radu Florescu – emeritus professor of history at Boston College^[25]
• Juliana Geran Pilon – professor of politics and culture at the Institute of World Politics
• Michael Radu – Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia

• Morris Berthold Abram – former lawyer, civil rights activist, and president of Brandeis University
• Abe Aronovitz – former lawyer, and Mayor of the City of Miami
• Richard Posner – judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Chicago Law School.
• Olga Murray – former lawyer and founder and president of the Nepalese Youth Opportunity Foundation (NYOF)
• Alexander Bickel – former lawyer, and professor^[26]
• Samuel Leibowitz – former lawyer
• Benjamin Berell – former lawyer, investigator of Nazi war crimes after World War II

• Ştefan Baciu – poet and writer, professor at the University of Hawaii
• Matei Călinescu – professor at Indiana State University
• Ion Cârja – writer and anti-communist activist
• Nina Cassian – poet, journalist, film critic^[12]
• Andrei Codrescu – poet, writer, radio host^[12][27]
• Ioan Petru Culianu – professor of history of religion at the University of Chicago
• Mircea Eliade – writer, historian of religions^[25][28]
• Norman Manea – writer^[12]
• John Balaban – poet and translator; authority on Vietnamese literature
• Valery Oişteanu poet, art critic, writer, essayist, and photographer
• Virgil Nemoianu – essayist, literary critic, and philosopher of culture^[29]
• Marcia Davenport – author and music critic^[12]
• Robert Austerlitz – linguist
• Thomas Pavel – literary theorist, critic, and novelist currently teaching at the University of Chicago.
• Petru Popescu – screenwriter from Hollywood and best-selling author^[30][31]
• Delmore Schwartz former poet^[12]
• Saviana Stănescu – writer (poet, playwright)
• Dorin Tudoran – poet, writer, journalist
• Harry Turtledove – novelist, science fiction writers
• Naomi Wolf – American author^[12]
• Elie Wiesel – Holocaust survivor, author, professor^[12][32]

• Mark Wayne Clark – American general during World War II and the Korean War
• Jack Howard Jacobs – retired colonel in the United States Army and Medal of Honor recipient for heroic actions during the Vietnam War
• Edward Luttwak – military strategist and historian^[12][33][34]
• Mickey Marcus – former United States Army colonel who assisted Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
• George Pomutz – Union Brigadier General, commanded the 15th Iowa Regiment in the American Civil War^[35][36]
• Alexander Vraciu – World War II Navy pilot; ace^[37]

• Herb Alpert – famous jazz, funk singer
• Lucian Ban – jazz piano player, composer
• Sergiu Comissiona – conductor and musician^[12]
• Ervin Drake – songwriter
• Lawrence Foster – conductor
• Art Garfunkel – famous singer, songwriter, actor, and poet
• Angela Gheorghiu – soprano
• Alma Gluck – soprano^[12][38][39]
• Julie Gold – singer/songwriter, best known for Bette Midler's version of her song "From a Distance" which won the Grammy for Song of the Year in 1991.
• Jerry Goldsmith – former film composer and conductor; won five Emmy Awards (maternal grandparents were Romanian Jewish immigrants)
• Necro – hardcore hip hop singer
• Ill Bill – hip hop singer
• Justin Warfield – hip hop emcee (Russian and Romanian parentage)
• Shelby Cinca – punk rock guitarist
• Hugo Jan Huss – conductor
• Beverly Sills – soprano^[12]
• Lya Stern – violinist, recording artist and violin teacher.
• Michael Rabin – former violinist
• Richard Tucker – former opera singer
• Franz Kneisel – violinist and composer^[40]
• Boris Levenson – composer
• P.F. Sloan – rock singer
• Virginia Zeani – soprano

• Martin Abern – Trotskyist politician (parents ethnic Jews from Romania)
• Mark Gitenstein – ambassador
• Janet Jagan – politician who was President of Guyana
• Chris Lauzen – Illinois State Senator and Congressional candidate^[41]
• Sophie Masloff – former politician; was Pittsburgh's first and to date only female mayor^[12]
• Alan Nunnelee – politician, currently serving as a Mississippi state senator representing Mississippi’s Lee and Pontotoc Counties.
• Mircea Răceanu – diplomat

• Annie Leibovitz – fashion photographer
• Marty Lederhandler – former photographer for the Associated Press
• Herman Leonard – photographer known for unique images of jazz icons

• Nathaniel Popp – Romanian Orthodox Archbishop
• Marian Gh. Simion – Romanian-American scholar in religion, politics and conflict resolution
• Valerian Trifa – former archbishop of Romanian Orthodox Church of America and Canada^[42]
• Vasile Louis Puscas – former prelate of the Romanian Catholic Church.
• Richard Wurmbrand – minister, author and educator
• Alexander Ratiu – former Romanian Greek-Catholic priest, political prisoner, and author.
• Solomon Schechter – educator and theologian^[12]

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• Andrei Alexandrescu – C++ programmer and author
• Albert-László Barabási – scientist
• Adrian Bejan – professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University
• Ion Filotti – engineer, mathematician, and computer scientist
• Ciprian Foias
• Michael Freedman – mathematician at Microsoft
• Peter Freund – physician[5]
• William F. Friedman – cryptologist^[12]
• Tudor Ganea – mathematician, known for his work in algebraic topology
• Stanley Michael Gartler – cell and molecular biologist and human geneticist
• Daniel Goldhagen – political scientist, author, and former professor
• Alan Greenspan – economist
• Alfred J. Gross – pioneer in mobile wireless communication. He invented and patented many important communications devices, including the first walkie-talkie, CB radio, the telephone pager and the cordless telephone
• Emil Grosswald – mathematician
• Nathan Mendelsohn – mathematician, researcher in several areas of discrete mathematics, including group theory and combinatorics.
• Nicholas Sanduleak – former astronomer
• Liviu Librescu – former engineer, and professor at Virginia Tech
• George Lusztig – mathematician, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Jacob Levy Moreno – former psychiatrist and psychosociologist, thinker and educator, the founder of psychodrama, and the foremost pioneer of group psychotherapy^[43]
• Peter Hammer – mathematician
• Ciprian Manolescu – mathematician
• Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen – mathematician, statistician, and economist[6]
• Robert Steinberg – mathematician at the University of California, Los Angeles
• Alexandru Marin – physicist
• George Emil Palade – Nobel Prize-winning biologist^{[25][44][45][46]}
• Nicolae Popescu – doctor – scientific researcher at the National Institute of Health
• Gideon Rodan – biochemist and osteopath
• Horaţiu Năstase – physicist and professor in the High energy physics group at Brown University in Providence, RI, USA.
• Napoleon Săvescu – physician
• Isaac Jacob Schoenberg – mathematician discoverer of splines
• Florentin Smarandache- professor of mathematics and science at the University of New Mexico^[47]
• Radu Lucian Sulica, MD – laryngologist, Associate Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College
• Hermann Oberth – physician
• John Charles Priscu – ecological researcher
• Dan-Virgil Voiculescu – mathematician, professor at the University of California, Berkeley
• David Wechsler – psychologist^[48][49]

• Benjamin Agosto – figure skating (mother's grandparents were Jews of Romanian and Russian descent)
• Adolph Bachmeier – former soccer player, inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2002
• Ron Blomberg – former Major League Baseball player
• Jonathan Bornstein – soccer player (father's grandparents were Romanian Jews)
• Harry Caray – former baseball broadcaster on radio and television
• Nadia Comăneci – Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics (defected to the US in 1989)^[50]
• Ely Culbertson – world champion bridge player^[51]
• Florin Felecan – chess FIDE Master
• Harry Feldman – former Major League Baseball player
• Marty Glickman – former track and field athlete and sports announcer
• Hank Greenberg – former Major League Baseball player, elected to the Hall of Fame in 1956^[12]
• Ernie Grunfeld – former NBA player^[52][53]
• Red Holzman – former NBA player and coach, elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1985
• Erhardt Kapp – former soccer player
• Béla Károlyi – gymnastics coach^[54]
• Fred Lebow – founder of New York City Marathon
• Zoltan Mesko – NFL player (born in Romania, father is Romanian, mother Hungarian)
• Dominique Moceanu – US Olympic gymnast^[55]
• Corina Morariu – female former professional tennis player^[56]
• Gheorghe Mureşan – former NBA player; lives in USA
• Stephen Negoesco – hall of fame soccer coach
• Betty Okino – US Olympic gymnast
• Sam Paulescu – NFL punter
• Dolph Schayes – former NBA Hall of Famer player and coach^[57]
• Bud Selig – Commissioner of Major League Baseball
• Charley Stanceu – former Major League Baseball player
• Kevin Youkilis – Major League Baseball player; first baseman for the Boston Red Sox^[58][59][60]

• Liviu Ciulei – stage and film director
• Moisés Kaufman – playwright, director and founder of Tectonic Theater Project
• Andrei Şerban – director of theater and opera

• I. A. L. Diamond – comedian writer, screenwriter^[12][61]
• Harry Donenfeld – publisher, and owner of National Allied Publications
• Ligia Filotti – art critic and art historian
• David Freedman – playwright and biographer who became known as the "King of the Gag-writers" in the early days of radio.^[12]
• Ion Mihai Pacepa – writer, columnist
• Maurice Samuel – former novelist, translator, and lecturer^[12]
• Richard Ellmann – literary critic and biographer
• Ruth Wisse – literary scholar, and social critic
• Marcus Eli Ravage – former magazine writer^[12]
• Julius Schwartz – former comic book and pulp magazine editor
• Dan Moldea – author and investigative journalist

• Catherine Caradja – philanthropist, aristocrat, Romanian expatriate to the U.S.
• Jeff Corwin – animal and nature conservationist
• Ligia Filotti – political opponent, art historian, professor
• Louis Benjamin Heller – former Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives from New York.
• Alex Kozinski – chief judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and an essayist and judicial commentator.
• Daniel Negreanu – Professional Poker Player
• Henry Moskowitz – former civil rights activist, and one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.
• Joshua Perper- forensic pathologist and Chief Medical Examiner in Broward County
• Alexander Raţiu – author, priest, and political prisoner.
• Vladimir Socor – specialist in the former republics of the USSR, CIS affairs and ethnic conflicts[7]
• Vladimir Tismăneanu – specialist in political systems and compared politics[8]