List of Romanian Americans

This is a list of notable Romanian-Americans, including both original immigrants from Romania who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.

Academics

Literary critics

• Matei Călinescu – professor at Indiana University Bloomington^[1]

Mathematicians

• Alexandra Bellow – mathematician, Professor Emeritus at Northwestern University
• Ana Caraiani – mathematician, member of the American Mathematical Society
• Ioana Dumitriu – mathematician, professor at the University of Washington
• Ciprian Foias – mathematician, distinguished professor at Texas A&M University
• Tudor Ganea – mathematician, known for his work in algebraic topology
• Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen – mathematician, statistician, and economist^[2]
• Matei Machedon – mathematician, professor at the University of Maryland
• Ciprian Manolescu – mathematician, professor at Stanford University
• Irina Mitrea – mathematician, professor at Temple University
• Mircea Mustață – mathematician, professor at the University of Michigan
• Florian Pop – mathematician, professor at the University of Pennsylvania
• Mihnea Popa – mathematician, professor at Northwestern University
• Sorin Popa – mathematician, professor at the University of California, Los Angeles
• Cristian Dumitru Popescu – mathematician, professor at the University of California, San Diego
• Ovidiu Savin – mathematician, professor at Columbia University
• Rodica Simion – mathematician, known for her work in combinatorics
• Ileana Streinu – mathematician, professor at Smith College
• Bogdan Suceavă – mathematician, professor at California State University Fullerton
• Dan-Virgil Voiculescu – mathematician, professor at the University of California, Berkeley
• Alexandru Zaharescu – mathematician, professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign

Historians, sociologists and philosophers

• Eugene Borza – professor of history at Pennsylvania State University^[3]
• Ioan Petru Culianu – historian of religion^[4]
• Mircea Eliade – philosopher, writer, historian of religions^[5]
• Radu Florescu – emeritus professor of history at Boston College^[6]

Art

• Eugen Ciucă – sculptor
• Noche Crist – painter
• Christopher Georgesco – sculptor
• Cristian Gheorghiu – contemporary artist
• Ami James – tattoo artist
• De Hirsh Margules – painter (Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Alexandra Nechita – cubist painter^[7]

Architects

• Max Abramovitz – architect of Avery Fisher Hall, of Romanian-Jewish descent^[8]
• Haralamb H. Georgescu – architect^[9]

Business

• Micky Arison – chairman of Carnival Corporation and owner of NBA's Miami Heat^[10]
• Jeffrey Brotman – co-founder of Costco Wholesale Corporation (Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Safra Catz – CEO of Oracle Corporation
• Dan Dascalescu – entrepreneur, co-founder of Blueseed
• John DeLorean – engineer, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company^[11]
• Peter Georgescu – chairman emeritus of Young & Rubicam
• Michael Horodniceanu – engineer and businessman, former president of MTA Capital Construction
• Stephanie Korey – co-founder and executive chairman of Away
• David Marcus – former President of PayPal, and current Vice President of Messaging Products at Facebook
• Martin Bud Seretean – founder, and former CEO of Coronet Industries.^[12]
• Anastasia Soare – CEO and founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills
• Christine Valmy – founded the first esthetician school in the United States

Entertainment

Actors

• Sadie Alexandru – actress
• Lauren Bacall – actress (Romanian Jewish mother)^[13]
• Bob Balaban – actor (part Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Jillian Bell – actress and screenwriter
• Tim Conway – actor and comedian (Romanian mother)
• Melinda Culea – actress
• Fran Drescher – actress and comedian (part Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Illeana Douglas – actress
• Tim Dunigan - actor
• Jennifer Ehle – actress
• Lisa Ferraday – actress
• Ana Gasteyer – actress and comedian
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt – actor (part Romanian-Jewish descent)^[14]
• Oana Gregory – actress
• Dustin Hoffman – actor and filmmaker (part Romanian-Jewish descent)^[15]
• Harvey Keitel – actor and producer (Romanian Jewish mother)
• Tristan Leabu – actor
• Andrea Marcovicci – actress and singer
• Carl Reiner – comedian and actor (Romanian Jewish mother)
• Edward G. Robinson – actor (Romanian-Jewish descent)^[16][17]
• Sebastian Stan – actor^[18]
• Johnny Pacar – actor and singer
• Johnny Weissmuller – Olympic swimmer, water polo player and actor
• David Pittu – actor
• Natalie Portman – Academy Award-winning actress (part Romanian-Jewish descent)^[19]
• Ray Wise – actor (Romanian mother)
• Adrian Zmed – actor best known from the T.J. Hooker television series.^[20]

Screenwriter, directors and producer of films and theatre

• Frieda Fishbein – literary and theatrical agent
• Stanley Kubrick – film director, screenwriter, producer and photographer. His father's parents and paternal grandparents were of Romanian Jewish descent.
• Jean Negulesco – film director and screenwriter^[21]
• Petru Popescu – screenwriter from Hollywood and best-selling author^[22]
• Steve Sabol – film producer and one of the founders of NFL Films
• Andrei Șerban – director of theater and opera^[23]
• Erwin Stoff – film producer and founder of 3 Arts Entertainment

Singers and musicians

• Herb Alpert – lead singer, and horn player with Tijuana Brass (Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Lucian Ban – jazz piano player, composer^[24]
• Yeat - rapper, singer, audio engineer. Romanian mother.
• Shelby Cinca – punk rock guitarist^[25]
• Sergiu Comissiona – conductor and musician^[26]
• Valery Gaina – guitarist, songwriter, composer
• Art Garfunkel – singer, poet, and actor (Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Angela Gheorghiu – soprano^[27]
• Alma Gluck – soprano^[28]
• Christina Grimmie – singer
• Harloe – singer
• Șerban Lupu- violinist
• Yolanda Marculescu – soprano
• Necro – rapper
• Margareta Paslaru – singer
• Irma Wolpe Rademacher - pianist
• Beverly Sills – soprano^[29]
• Virginia Zeani – opera singer^[30]

Sports

• Fred Arbanas (1939–2021) – American football player
• Nadia Comăneci (born 1961) – Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics (defected to the US in 1989)^[31]
• Danny Barbir (born 1998) – soccer player
• Sam Cosmi (born 1999) – American football player
• Nick Denes (1906–1975) – American football and basketball coach
• Annaliese Dragan (born 2005) – rhythmic gymnast
• Eric Ghiaciuc (born 1981) – American football player
• John Ghindia (1925–2012) – American football player and coach
• Bill Goldberg (born 1966) – American football player and undefeated wrestler (Romanian-Jewish descent).^[32]
• Hroniss Grasu (born 1991) – American football player
• Hank Greenberg (1911–1986) – Baseball Hall of Famer (Romanian-Jewish descent).^[33]
• Lou Groza (1924–2000) – Pro Football Hall of Famer
• Ernie Grunfeld (born 1955) – basketball player and former general manager of the Washington Wizards
• Red Holzman (1920–1998) – NBA Hall of Fame coach and former player (Romanian Jewish mother)^[34]
• Sabrina Ionescu (born 1997) – basketball player for the New York Liberty; college honors at the University of Oregon include multiple national player of the year awards in 2019 and 2020^[35][36][37]
• Andrei Iosivas (born 1999) – wide receiver for the Cincinnati Bengals of the National Football League (NFL)
• Fred Lebow (1932–1994) – founder of the New York City Marathon^[38]
• Dominique Moceanu (born 1981) – US Olympic gymnast^[39]
• Corina Morariu (born 1978) – former professional tennis player, reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles in 2000^[40]
• Gheorghe Mureșan (born 1971) – former NBA player; lives in USA^[41]
• Stephen Negoesco (1925–2019) – soccer coach^[42]
• Betty Okino (born 1975) – US Olympic gymnast^[43]
• Sam Paulescu (born 1984) – American football player^[44]
• Nick Roman (1947–2003) – American football player
• Dolph Schayes (1928–2015) – NBA Hall of Famer player and coach^[45]
• Bud Selig (born 1934) – Commissioner of Major League Baseball^[46]
• Charley Stanceu (1916–1969) – baseball player^[47]
• Mark Suciu (born 1992) – professional skateboarder^[48]
• Otmar Szafnauer (born 1964) – Team Principal of the Alpine F1 Team
• Kevin Youkilis (born 1979) – Major League Baseball player; first baseman for the Boston Red Sox^[49][50][51]

Law

• Timothy Stanceu – Chief United States Judge of the United States Court of International Trade
• David Sam – Senior Judge of the United States District Court for the District of Utah
• Alexander Bickel – Legal scholar and expert on the United States Constitution (Romanian-Jewish descent)

Media/Journalism

• Rukmini Callimachi – journalist, The New York Times
• Harry Caray – former baseball broadcaster^[52]
• Chip Caray – sports broadcaster for Fox Sports South
• Liz Claman – anchor of the Fox Business Network show Countdown to the Closing Bell
• Horace Dediu – technology journalist
• Steve Fainaru – investigative journalist and senior writer for ESPN.com and ESPN The Magazine
• John Florea – photojournalist for Life magazine
• Lisa Kennedy – host of the Kennedy show on the Fox Business Network
• Dan Moldea – author and investigative journalist^[53]
• George Puscas – sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press
• Marc Stein – sports reporter for The New York Times (Romanian-Jewish descent)^[54]
• Brian Unger – journalist and commentator for NPR

Military

• Nicolae Dunca – captain in the 12th New York Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War
• George Pomutz – Brevet Brigadier General, commanded the 15th Iowa Infantry Regiment in the American Civil War^[55]
• Eugen Ghica-Comănești – captain in the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry in the American Civil War
• Alexander Vraciu – World War II Navy pilot; ace^[56]

Politics

• Steven Fulop – current Mayor of Jersey City (Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Michael Gruitza – former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
• Joseph Kissmann – former leader of the General Jewish Labour Bund in Romania, member of the Parliament of Romania
• Chris Lauzen – Illinois state senator of District 25 (1993–2013)
• John Rakolta – former United States Ambassador to the United Arab Emirates appointed by Donald Trump
• Ben Toma – 55th Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives
• Adrian Zuckerman – former United States Ambassador to Romania appointed by Donald Trump, first US Ambassador born in Romania
• Mihaela Plesa - current Texas State Representative from District 70 (2023–)

Religion

• John Michael Botean – Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop
• Nathaniel Popp – Romanian Orthodox Archbishop^[57]
• Vasile Louis Puscas – Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop
• Alexander Ratiu – former Romanian Greek Catholic priest and author^[58]
• Valerian Trifa – former archbishop of Romanian Orthodox Church of America and Canada^[59]

Sciences

• Rodica Baranescu – mechanical engineer known for her research in automotive diesel engines
• Adrian Bejan – mechanical engineer, Benjamin Franklin Medal Laureate^[60]
• George de Bothezat – engineer, businessman, and pioneer of helicopter flight
• Mircea Dincă – chemist
• Diana Fosha – psychologist
• Viviana Gradinaru – neuroscientist
• Dan Graur – scientist
• Liviu Librescu – material scientist, and professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech
• Alexander Marmureanu – surgeon and academic
• Horațiu Năstase – physicist and professor in the High energy physics group at Brown University in Providence, RI, USA.^[61]
• Mihai Nadin – researcher in electrical engineering
• Paul Negulescu – biologist
• George Emil Palade – Nobel Prize-winning biologist^[62][63]
• Sergiu Pașca – scientist and physician at Stanford University
• Vasile Popov – leading systems theorist and control engineering specialist
• Gideon Rodan – biochemist and osteopath^[64]
• Nicholas Sanduleak – astronomer
• Isaac Jacob Schoenberg – mathematician
• Gabriela Mustata Wilson – health informatician, and professor at The University of Texas at Arlington
• Radu M Suciu PhD – senior scientist, bioinformatics San Diego, CA

Computer science

• Andrei Alexandrescu – computer scientist, worked as a research scientist at Facebook^[65]
• Andrei Broder – computer scientist and distinguished scientist at Google
• Maria-Florina Balcan – computer scientist
• Mihaela Cardei – computer scientist and researcher, professor at Florida Atlantic University
• Flaviu Cristian – computer scientist, noted for his work in distributed systems
• Roxana Geambasu – computer scientist and associate professor of computer science at Columbia University
• Virgil Gligor – computer scientist, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, he has been inducted into the National Cybersecurity Hall of Fame
• Grigore Rosu – computer scientist, professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Daniela Rus – director of the MIT Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
• Ion Stoica – computer scientist, professor of computer science at the University of California Berkeley and co-director of AMPLab
• Rada Mihalcea – computer scientist, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Michigan
• Anca Mosoiu – computer scientist, credited with helping to build the tech industry in Oakland.
• Fabian Pascal – computer scientist, consultant to large software vendors such as IBM, Oracle Corporation, and Borland
• Matei Zaharia – computer scientist, creator of Apache Spark

Writers

• Stefan Baciu – poet
• John Balaban – poet
• Cristina A. Bejan – writer^[66]
• Matei Călinescu – literary critic and professor of comparative literature at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana.
• Ion Cârja – writer and anti-communist activist^[67]
• Nina Cassian – poet, journalist, film critic^[68]
• Andrei Codrescu – poet, writer, radio host^[69]
• Thomas Pavel – literary theorist, critic, and novelist currently teaching at the University of Chicago^[70]
• Norman Manea – writer^[71]
• Valery Oișteanu – poet, art critic, writer, essayist, and photographer^[72]
• Virgil Nemoianu – essayist, literary critic, and philosopher of culture^[73]
• Michael Radu – political writer^[74]
• Saviana Stănescu – writer (poet, playwright)^[75]
• Dorin Tudoran – poet, writer, journalist^[76]
• Marius Alexandru – Romanian-born author, poet and translator immigrated to the United States in 1997

Comics writers

• Will Eisner – comics writer, artist, and entrepreneur (Romanian-Jewish descent)^[77][78]
• Sandu Florea – illustrator, comic book, and comic strip creator^[79]
• Elena Kucharik – illustrator
• Stan Lee – comic book writer, editor, publisher and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics (Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Saul Steinberg – cartoonist and illustrator (Romanian-Jewish descent)

Others

• George Barris – photographer best known for his photographs of Marilyn Monroe
• Antoinette Bonner – jewel thief
• Scarlett Bordeaux – WWE wrestler
• Alexandra Botez – chess player
• Catherine Caradja – philanthropist, aristocrat, Romanian expatriate to the U.S.^[80]
• Misha Gabriel – dancer and choreographer
• Serban Ghenea – mixing engineer, who has recorded and mixed tracks for artists including Adele, Stevie Wonder, Rod Stewart, Bruno Mars, Taylor Swift and many more
• Nicolae Miu – murderer
• Joe Oros – automobile designer for the Ford Motor Company
• Ion Mihai Pacepa – general of Securitate^{[citation needed]}
• Mircea Răceanu – diplomat^[81]
• Vladimir Tismăneanu – specialist in political systems and comparative politics^[82]
• George W. Trippon – fashion designer and television host

See also

• Romanian Canadians