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.

Literary critics

 * Matei Călinescu – professor at Indiana University Bloomington

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
 * 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
 * Ioan Petru Culianu – historian of religion
 * Mircea Eliade – philosopher, writer, historian of religions
 * Radu Florescu – emeritus professor of history at Boston College

Art

 * Art Garfunkel – musician
 * 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

Architects

 * Max Abramovitz – architect of Avery Fisher Hall, of Romanian-Jewish descent
 * Haralamb H. Georgescu – architect

Business

 * Micky Arison – chairman of Carnival Corporation and owner of NBA's Miami Heat
 * 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
 * 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.
 * Anastasia Soare – CEO and founder of Anastasia Beverly Hills
 * Christine Valmy – founded the first esthetician school in the United States

Actors

 * Sadie Alexandru – actress
 * Lauren Bacall – actress (Romanian Jewish mother)
 * 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
 * Jennifer Ehle – actress
 * Lisa Ferraday – actress
 * Ana Gasteyer – actress and comedian
 * Joseph Gordon-Levitt – actor (part Romanian-Jewish descent)
 * Oana Gregory – actress
 * Dustin Hoffman – actor and filmmaker (part Romanian-Jewish descent)
 * 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)
 * Sebastian Stan – actor
 * 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)
 * Ray Wise – actor (Romanian mother)
 * Adrian Zmed – actor best known from the T.J. Hooker television series.

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
 * Petru Popescu – screenwriter from Hollywood and best-selling author
 * Steve Sabol – film producer and one of the founders of NFL Films
 * Andrei Șerban – director of theater and opera
 * 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
 * Laura Bretan – soprano singer
 * Yeat - rapper, singer, audio engineer. Romanian mother.
 * Shelby Cinca – punk rock guitarist
 * Sergiu Comissiona – conductor and musician
 * Valery Gaina – guitarist, songwriter, composer
 * Art Garfunkel – singer, poet, and actor (Romanian-Jewish descent)
 * Angela Gheorghiu – soprano
 * Alma Gluck – soprano
 * Christina Grimmie – singer
 * Harloe – singer
 * Yolanda Marculescu – soprano
 * Necro – rapper
 * Margareta Paslaru – singer
 * Irma Wolpe Rademacher - pianist
 * Beverly Sills – soprano
 * Virginia Zeani – opera singer

Sports

 * Fred Arbanas (1939–2021) – American football player
 * Nadia Comăneci (born 1961) – Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics (defected to the US in 1989)
 * Danny Barbir (born 1998) – soccer player
 * Sam Cosmi (born 1999) – American football player
 * Nick Denes (1906–1975) – American football and basketball coach
 * 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).
 * Hroniss Grasu (born 1991) – American football player
 * Hank Greenberg (1911–1986) – Baseball Hall of Famer (Romanian-Jewish descent).
 * 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)
 * 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
 * Fred Lebow (1932–1994) – founder of the New York City Marathon
 * Dominique Moceanu (born 1981) – US Olympic gymnast
 * Corina Morariu (born 1978) – former professional tennis player, reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles in 2000
 * Gheorghe Mureșan (born 1971) – former NBA player; lives in USA
 * Stephen Negoesco (1925–2019) – soccer coach
 * Betty Okino (born 1975) – US Olympic gymnast
 * Sam Paulescu (born 1984) – American football player
 * Nick Roman (1947–2003) – American football player
 * Dolph Schayes (1928–2015) – NBA Hall of Famer player and coach
 * Bud Selig (born 1934) – Commissioner of Major League Baseball
 * Charley Stanceu (1916–1969) – baseball player
 * Mark Suciu (born 1992) – professional skateboarder
 * 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

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

Media/Journalism

 * Rukmini Callimachi – journalist, The New York Times
 * Harry Caray – former baseball broadcaster
 * 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
 * George Puscas – sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press
 * Marc Stein – sports reporter for The New York Times (Romanian-Jewish descent)
 * 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
 * Eugen Ghica-Comănești – captain in the 5th New York Volunteer Infantry in the American Civil War
 * Alexander Vraciu – World War II Navy pilot; ace

Politics

 * Steven Fulop – current Mayor of Jersey City (Romanian-Jewish descent)
 * Michael Gruitza – former Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives
 * 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
 * Elizabeth Tamposi – former Assistant Secretary of State for Consular Affairs at the U.S. Department of State (1989–1992)
 * 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

Religion

 * John Michael Botean – Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop
 * Nathaniel Popp – Romanian Orthodox Archbishop
 * Vasile Louis Puscas – Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop
 * Alexander Ratiu – former Romanian Greek-Catholic priest and author
 * Valerian Trifa – former archbishop of Romanian Orthodox Church of America and Canada

Sciences

 * Rodica Baranescu – mechanical engineer known for her research in automotive diesel engines
 * Adrian Bejan – mechanical engineer, Benjamin Franklin Medal Laureate
 * 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
 * Horațiu Năstase – physicist and professor in the High energy physics group at Brown University in Providence, RI, USA.
 * Mihai Nadin – researcher in electrical engineering
 * George Emil Palade – Nobel Prize-winning biologist
 * Sergiu Pașca – scientist and physician at Stanford University
 * Vasile Popov – leading systems theorist and control engineering specialist
 * Gideon Rodan – biochemist and osteopath
 * Nicholas Sanduleak – astronomer
 * Isaac Jacob Schoenberg – mathematician
 * Gabriela Mustata Wilson – health informatician,and professor at The University of Texas at Arlington

Computer science

 * Andrei Alexandrescu – computer scientist, worked as a research scientist at Facebook
 * 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
 * Matei Călinescu – literary critic and professor of comparative literature at Indiana University, in Bloomington, Indiana.
 * Ion Cârja – writer and anti-communist activist
 * Nina Cassian – poet, journalist, film critic
 * Andrei Codrescu – poet, writer, radio host
 * Thomas Pavel – literary theorist, critic, and novelist currently teaching at the University of Chicago
 * Norman Manea – writer
 * Valery Oișteanu – poet, art critic, writer, essayist, and photographer
 * Virgil Nemoianu – essayist, literary critic, and philosopher of culture
 * Michael Radu – political writer
 * Saviana Stănescu – writer (poet, playwright)
 * Dorin Tudoran – poet, writer, journalist
 * 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)
 * Sandu Florea – illustrator, comic book, and comic strip creator
 * 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 (born 1991) – WWE wrestler
 * Alexandra Botez – chess player
 * Catherine Caradja – philanthropist, aristocrat, Romanian expatriate to the U.S.
 * 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
 * Joe Oros – automobile designer for the Ford Motor Company
 * Ion Mihai Pacepa – general of Securitate
 * Mircea Răceanu – diplomat
 * Vladimir Tismăneanu – specialist in political systems and comparative politics
 * George W. Trippon – fashion designer and television host