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

Linguists

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

Mathematics

• Richard Wurmbrand – minister, author and educator^[2]
• Adrian Bejan – professor of mechanical engineering at Duke University^[3]
• Ciprian Foias - mathematician^[4]
• Tudor Ganea – mathematician, known for his work in algebraic topology^[5]
• George Lusztig – mathematician, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology^[6]
• Ciprian Manolescu – mathematician^[7]
• Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen – mathematician, statistician, and economist^[8]
• Dan-Virgil Voiculescu – mathematician, professor at the University of California, Berkeley^[9]
• Albert-László Barabási - physicist, best known for his work in the research of network theory

Historians, sociologists and philosophers

• Eugene Borza – professor of history at Pennsylvania State University^[10]
• Radu Florescu – emeritus professor of history at Boston College^[11]
• Ioan Petru Culianu – historian of religion ^[12]
• Mircea Eliade – philosopher, writer, historian of religions^[13]

Architect

• Max Abramovitz – architect of Avery Fisher Hall^[14]
• Haralamb H. Georgescu^[15] -architect

Businessman

• John DeLorean – engineer, founder of the DeLorean Motor Company^[16]
• 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.^[17]

Entertainment

Actors

• Dustin Hoffman seven Academy Awards nominations, winning two (for his performances in Kramer vs. Kramer and Rain Man), thirteen Golden Globes nominations, winning six (including an honorary one) and has won four BAFTAs, three Drama Desk Awards, a Genie Award, and an Emmy Award. Hoffman received the AFI Life Achievement Award in 1999, and the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012.
• Bela Lugosi - born in Lugoj, Romania.^[18] Played Count Dracula
• Natalie Portman - Academy Award-winning actress.
• Mila Kunis - born in Cernăuți
• Joseph Gordon-Levitt - born in Ohio, to a Romanian Jewish father.
• Winona Ryder - her father's family emigrated from Romania. She has two Academy Award nominations.
• Fran Drescher
• Amanda Bynes
• Sebastian Stan – actor^[19]
• Harvey Keitel
• Andrew Garfield
• Jon Lovitz
• Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan)
• Elsa Pataky
• Allysin Chaynes – adult film actress
• Edward G. Robinson – actor^[20][21]
• Adrian Zmed – actor best known from the T.J. Hooker television series.^[22]
• Brian Unger – actor, comedian, writer, producer, and commentator.
• Tim Conway - comedic actor ("The Carol Burnett Show") (Romanian mother)
• George Burns - comedic actor
• Michael Lerner (actor)
• Lauren Bacall - actress (Romanian mother)^[23]

Screenwriter, directors and producer of films and theatre

• Stanley Kubrick - his father's parents and paternal grandparents were of Romanian origin. He won numerous awards (including an Oscar) and is considered among the most important contributions to world cinema in the twentieth century and he is frequently cited as one of the greatest and most influential directors of all time. The song from the orgy scene from Eyes Wide Shut is a Romanian orthodox prayer played backwards.
• Jean Negulesco – film director and screenwriter^[24]
• Petru Popescu – screenwriter from Hollywood and best-selling author^[25]
• Andrei Șerban – director of theater and opera^[26]

Singers and musicians

• Sergiu Comissiona – conductor and musician^[27][28]
• Lucian Ban – jazz piano player, composer^[29]
• Shelby Cinca – punk rock guitarist^[30]
• Angela Gheorghiu – soprano^[31]
• Alma Gluck – soprano^[32]
• Virginia Zeani – soprano^[33]
• Beverly Sills – soprano^[27]
• Margareta Paslaru - pop singer, whose style and manner of performing is also very similar to the 1960s light pop music of Petula Clark and Barbra Streisand, with homes in both Bucharest and New Jersey, the latter where she has lived for over 30 years, ever since emigrating from Romania in 1983.
• Christina Grimmie
• The Alchemist
• Necro (rapper)

Sports

Hall of Famer Hank Greenberg

• Nadia Comăneci – Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics (defected to the United States in 1989)^[34]
• Hank Greenberg - Baseball Hall of Famer
• Corina Morariu – female former professional tennis player^[35]
• Dominique Moceanu – US Olympic gymnast^[36]
• Gheorghe Mureșan – former NBA player; lives in USA^[37]
• Sam Paulescu – NFL punter^[38]
• Lou Groza - (January 25, 1924 – November 29, 2000) was an American football placekicker and offensive tackle who played his entire career for the Cleveland Browns.
• Hroniss Grasu - current NFL center for the Chicago Bears

Comics Writers

• Will Eisner – comics writer, artist, and entrepreneur^[39][40]
• Sandu Florea – illustrator, comic book, and comic strip creator^[41]
• Stan Lee - comic book writer, editor, publisher and former president and chairman of Marvel Comics.

Military

• Nicolae Dunca – (1837–1862), Captain of the 12th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Volunteers from New York
• George Pomutz – Union Brigadier General, commanded the 15th Iowa Regiment in the American Civil War^[42]
• Alexander Vraciu – World War II Navy pilot; ace^[43]

Religious

• Nathaniel Popp – Romanian Orthodox Archbishop^[44]
• Marian Gh. Simion – Romanian-American scholar in religion, politics and conflict resolution^[45]
• Valerian Trifa – former archbishop of Romanian Orthodox Church of America and Canada^[46]
• Alexander Ratiu – former Romanian Greek-Catholic priest, political prisoner, and author
• Solomon Schechter – educator and theologian^[47]
• Alexander Rațiu – author, priest, and political prisoner^[48]
• Solomon Schechter – educator and theologian^[27]

Scientists

• George Emil Palade – Nobel Prize-winning biologist^[49][50]
• Nicolae Popescu – doctor, scientific researcher at the National Institute of Health^[51]
• Gideon Rodan – biochemist and osteopath^[52]
• Horațiu Năstase – physicist and professor in the High energy physics group at Brown University in Providence, RI, USA.^[53]
• Napoleon Săvescu – physician^[54]
• Liviu Librescu - engineer at Virginia Tech
• Vasile M. Popov
• Rodica Baranescu
• Mihai Nadin

Writers

• Elie Wiesel - Romanian-born Jewish writer, professor, political activist, holocaust survivor, and Nobel Laureate
• 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]
• Saviana Stănescu – writer (poet, playwright)^[62]
• Bogdan Suceavă - mathematician and writer, professor of mathematics at California State University, Fullerton
• Dorin Tudoran – poet, writer, journalist^[63]
• Naomi Wolf – American author ^[27]

Others

• Alexandra Nechita – painter^[64]
• Michael Radu – Senior Fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia^[65]
• Mircea Răceanu – diplomat^[66]
• Andrei Alexandrescu – C++ programmer and author^[67]
• Florin Felecan – chess FIDE Master^[68]
• Ion Mihai Pacepa – general of Securitate ^[69]
• Dan Moldea – author and investigative journalist^[70]
• Cristian Gheorghiu - contemporary artist
• Catherine Caradja – philanthropist, aristocrat, Romanian expatriate to the U.S.^[71]
• Vladimir Tismăneanu – specialist in political systems and compared politics^[72]
• De Hirsh Margules - painters
• Michael Dukakis - educator and politician (two times Governor of Massachusetts)
• George de Bothezat - born in St Petersburg to Bessarabian family. engineer, inventor and pioneer of helicopter flight
• George Julian Zolnay - Hungarian sculptor, called the "sculptor of the Confederacy"

References