List of Romanian Americans

This is a list of notable Romanian-Americans, including both original immigrants 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 Mustaţă – 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]
• Radu Florescu – emeritus professor of history at Boston College[4]
• Ioan Petru Culianu – historian of religion [5]
• Mircea Eliade – philosopher, writer, historian of religions[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
• 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
• John DeLorean – engineer, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company[11]
• 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]
• 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
• Oana Gregory – actress
• Dustin Hoffman – actor and filmmaker (part Romanian-Jewish descent)[14]
• 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)[15][16]
• Sebastian Stan – actor[17]
• Johnny Pacar – actor and singer
• David Pittu – actor
• Natalie Portman – Academy Award-winning actress (part Romanian-Jewish descent)[18]
• Ray Wise – actor (Romanian mother)
• Adrian Zmed – actor best known from the T.J. Hooker television series.[19]

Screenwriter, directors and producer of films and theatre

• 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[20]
• Petru Popescu – screenwriter from Hollywood and best-selling author[21]
• Steve Sabol – film producer and one of the founders of NFL Films
• Andrei Șerban – director of theater and opera[22]
• 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[23]
• Laura Bretan – soprano singer
• Shelby Cinca – punk rock guitarist[24]
• Sergiu Comissiona – conductor and musician[25]
• Art Garfunkel – singer, poet, and actor (Romanian-Jewish descent)
• Angela Gheorghiu – soprano[26]
• Alma Gluck – soprano[27]
• Christina Grimmie – singer
• Harloe – singer
• Yolanda Marculescu – soprano
• Necro – hardcore rapper
• Margareta Paslaru – singer
• Beverly Sills – soprano[28]
• Virginia Zeani – opera singer[29]

Sports

• Fred Arbanas (born 1939) – American football player
• Scarlett Bordeaux (born 1991) – WWE wrestler
• Alexandra Botez (born 1995) – chess player
• Nadia Comăneci (born 1961) – Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics (defected to the US in 1989)[30]
• 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).[31]
• Hroniss Grasu (born 1991) – American football player
• Hank Greenberg (1911–1986) – Baseball Hall of Famer (Romanian-Jewish descent).[32]
• 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)[33]
• 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[34][35][36]
• Fred Lebow (1932–1994) – founder of the New York City Marathon
• Dominique Moceanu (born 1981) – US Olympic gymnast[37]
• Corina Morariu (born 1978) – former professional tennis player, reached the world No. 1 ranking in doubles in 2000[38]
• Gheorghe Mureșan (born 1971) – former NBA player; lives in USA[39]
• Stephen Negoesco (1925–2019) – soccer coach
• Sam Paulescu (born 1984) – American football player[40]
• Nick Roman (1947–2003) – American football player
• Danny Schayes (born 1959) – basketball player
• Charley Stanceu (1916–1969) – baseball player
• Mark Suciu (born 1992) – professional skateboarder[41]
• Otmar Szafnauer (born 1964) – Chief Executive Officer and Team Principal of the Racing Point F1 Team

Law

• Timothy Stanceu – Chief United States Judge of the United States Court of International Trade

Media/Journalism

• Rukmini Callimachi – journalist, The New York Times
• 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[42]
• George Puscas – sports reporter for the Detroit Free Press
• Marc Stein – sports reporter for The New York Times (Romanian-Jewish descent)[43]
• 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[44]
• Alexander Vraciu – World War II Navy pilot; ace[45]

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 – current 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)

Religion

• John Michael Botean – Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop
• Nathaniel Popp – Romanian Orthodox Archbishop[46]
• Vasile Louis Puscas – Romanian Greek-Catholic bishop
• Alexander Ratiu – former Romanian Greek-Catholic priest and author[47]
• Valerian Trifa – former archbishop of Romanian Orthodox Church of America and Canada[48]

Sciences

• Rodica Baranescu – mechanical engineer known for her research in automotive diesel engines
• Adrian Bejan – mechanical engineer, Benjamin Franklin Medal Laureate[49]
• 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.[50]
• Mihai Nadin – researcher in electrical engineering
• George Emil Palade – Nobel Prize-winning biologist[51][52]
• Sergiu Pașca – scientist and physician at Stanford University
• Vasile Popov – leading systems theorist and control engineering specialist
• Gideon Rodan – biochemist and osteopath[53]
• Nicholas Sanduleak – astronomer

Computer science

• Andrei Alexandrescu – computer scientist, worked as a research scientist at Facebook[54]
• Andrei Broder – computer scientist and distinguished scientist at Google
• Maria-Florina Balcan – computer scientist
• 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

• John Balaban – poet
• Ion Cârja – writer and anti-communist activist[55]
• Nina Cassian – poet, journalist, film critic[56]
• Andrei Codrescu – poet, writer, radio host[57]
• Thomas Pavel – literary theorist, critic, and novelist currently teaching at the University of Chicago[58]
• Norman Manea – writer[59]
• Valery Oișteanu – poet, art critic, writer, essayist, and photographer[60]
• Virgil Nemoianu – essayist, literary critic, and philosopher of culture[61]
• Michael Radu – political writer[62]
• Saviana Stănescu – writer (poet, playwright)[63]
• Dorin Tudoran – poet, writer, journalist[64]

Comics writers

• Will Eisner – comics writer, artist, and entrepreneur (Romanian-Jewish descent)[65][66]
• Sandu Florea – illustrator, comic book, and comic strip creator[67]
• 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
• Catherine Caradja – philanthropist, aristocrat, Romanian expatriate to the U.S.[68]
• 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 [69]
• Mircea Răceanu – diplomat[70]
• Vladimir Tismăneanu – specialist in political systems and comparative politics[71]

See also

• Romanian Canadians

References

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