List of Venezuelan Americans

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

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

List

Architects and builders

• Maria Cristina Anzola – Venezuelan architect. Currently serves as a Director of New York City Ballet, Inc.
• Anita Berrizbeitia – Venezuelan landscape theorist, teacher, and author. Professor of Landscape Architecture at the Harvard Graduate School of Design
• Carlos Brillembourg – Venezuelan architect based in New York, founder of Carlos Brillembourg Architects
• Monica Ponce de Leon – architect with offices in Ann Arbor, New York and Boston. Dean of the School of Architecture at Princeton University. First Hispanic architect to receive the National Design Award in Architecture
• Carolina Izsak – After the pageant as Miss Venezuela 1991 she completed architecture studies and currently resides in Boston, Massachusetts, US

Entrepreneurs and business people

• Guido Antonini Wilson – entrepreneur
• Adriana Cisneros – Venezuelan journalist. CEO and Vice Chairman of Cisneros Group
• Patricia Phelps de Cisneros – Venezuelan philanthropist with focus on art collection and education
• Gustavo Cisneros – Venezuelan-born mass media entrepreneur
• Andres Gluski – CEO of AES Corporation
• Thor Halvorssen Hellum – Venezuelan-Norwegian businessman who served as President of CANTV and later as Special Commissioner for International Narcotic Affairs
• Janet Kelly – American-born editor owner of The Daily Journal (Venezuela)
• Hilda Ochoa-Brillembourg – Venezuelan business woman and the current president of Strategic Investment Group (SIG)
• Solon De Leon Lobo – Venezuelan American editor, author
• Andres Levin – record producer
• Nelson Mezerhane – banker, owner of Diario Las Americas of Miami, Florida
• Beatriz Michelena – Venezuelan American operatic soprano and actress during the silent film era. She was the first Latina star and co-founded Michelena Studios a film production company with her husband
• Oswaldo Munoz – founder of El Venezolano News and EVTV of Miami, Florida
• Vanessa Neumann – Venezuelan graduated in Columbia University. Founder, President & CEO of Asymmetrica, a New York-headquartered global consultancy on brand integrity and counter-illicit trafficking. The relationship with Mick Jagger (2000-2002) made her famous among world press
• Bárbara Palacios – Venezuelan TV Host, writer and Miss Universe 1986. CEO of BP Inspiration, where she's the main motivational speaker
• Claudio Osorio – Venezuelan entrepreneur and convicted criminal based in Miami, Florida
• Devorah Rose – Editor-in-Chief of Social Life Magazine
• Irene Saez – Miss Universe 1981, former director of ColonialBank
• Cesar Segnini – Venezuelan founder ad owner of Durban Art Gallery specializing in contemporary painting and sculpture, located in Miami, Florida.
• Jimy Szymanski – former professional tennist. President of STA TENNIS LLC, a company that manages tennis facilities in South Florida.
• Bill Watkins – Venezuelan-born former CEO of Seagate Technology, the world's largest manufacturer of hard drives

Artists and designers

• Julio Aguilera – Venezuelan-American painter and sculptor born in Caracas
• Devendra Banhart – Venezuelan American singer-songwriter and visual artist
• Juan Fernando Bastos - Venezuelan born painter
• Jorge Blanco – Venezuelan artist who created the comic strip The Castaway/El Náufrago, which became an overnight success
• Nicolas Felizola – fashion designer
• Rodner Figueroa – TV host, fashion designer and philanthropist
• Nina Fuentes, a.k.a. Nina Dotti – Venezuelan art collector, curator, philanthropist, business woman and art dealer
• Marisol Escobar – Venezuelan-American sculptor born in Paris
• Carolina Herrera – fashion designer. Also Founder and CEO of New York-based CH Carolina Herrera
• Tina Ramirez – dancer and choreographer, best known as the Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet Hispanico
• Angel Sanchez – fashion designer
• Nick Verreos – American fashion designer, fashion commentator and former Project Runway contestant
• Jhonen Vasquez – American comic book writer, cartoonist, and music video director
• Patricia van Dalen – Venezuelan visual artist based in Miami (Florida)
• Ron van Dongen – photographer

Comedians

• Julio Gassete – Venezuelan-born TV former comedian of Bienvenidos TV show. He lives currently in Miami, Florida
• Joanna Hausmann – comedian youtuber
• Erika de la Vega – Venezuelan stand up comedy actress and fashion model
• Monica Pasqualotto – actress, model and TV host in Americateve

Films and TV

• Cristina Abuhazi – Venezuelan actress, model, and TV host in Sony YouTube America Latina Network
• Arthur Albert – Venezuelan-born American cinematographer and television director
• Fred Armisen – actor, comedian, musician. He attended the School of Visual Arts (NYC)
• Elizabeth Avellán – American film producer, born in Venezuela
• Daniela Bascopé – Telenovela actress
• Maria Beatty – Venezuelan-born American filmmaker who directs, acts, and produces
• Fabiola Beracasa Beckman – Venezuelan film and television producer and philanthropist. Co-owner of The Hole Gallery, in New York City
• Horacio Bocaranda – film director
• Tatiana Capote – telenovela actress. Cuban-born, Venezuelan-raised
• Grecia Colmenares – actress of telenovelas who gained fame across Latin America, especially during the 1980s
• Gabriel Coronel – actor of telenovelas and model
• Jesse Corti – Venezuelan-born, American voice actor
• Alejandro Chaban – Venezuelan-born, telenovela actor
• Mara Croatto – Venezuelan-born Puerto Rican actress
• Pablo Fenjves – Venezuelan-born American screenwriter and ghostwriter based in Los Angeles, California
• Marieh Delfino – American actress
• Christina Dieckmann – Venezuelan-born actress
• Andrew Divoff – Venezuelan-born actor
• Wanda D'Isidoro – Venezuelan actress, born in Boston
• Silvana Gallardo (1953–2012) – American film and television actress
• Carlos González (cinematographer) – Venezuelan-born American cinematographer and director of film and television
• Scarlet Gruber – Venezuelan actress and dancer
• Perla Haney-Jardine – Brazilian-born American actress. She is best known for her role in Kill Bill Vol. 2 as B.B. His father is
• Michel Hausmann – Venezuelan-born theater director and producer
• Maria Elena Heredia – Venezuelan actress
• Alejandro Hernández Reinoso – Venezuelan film director, writer, humorist, singer-songwriter, composer
• Lilimar Hernandez – Venezuelan actress
• Gledys Ibarra – Venezuelan television actress
• Betty Kaplan – Venezuelan film director, currently live in Los Angeles
• Moisés Kaufman – playwright, director and founder of Tectonic Theater Project. In 2016 was awarded with the National Medal of Arts
• Kamala Lopez – actress, director, and political activist
• Alicia Machado – Venezuelan actress, Miss Universe 1996
• Wlly Martin – Venezuelan-born, telenovela actor at Nickelodeon
• Beatriz Michelena – American actress during the silent film era. She was of Venezuelan descent
• Vera Michelena – American actress, contralto prima donna and dancer who appeared in light opera, musical comedy, vaudeville and silent film. She was of Venezuelan descent
• Carlos Montilla – Venezuelan television and theater actor
• Lilibeth Morillo – actress
• Carlos Pena Jr. – American actor (Big Time Rush), singer, and dancer. His father is of Spanish and Venezuelan descent
• Clara Perez – film and television actress
• Antonio Piedra – producer, director, photographer and philanthropist
• Lele Pons – Venezuelan-born Internet personality and actress
• Édgar Ramírez – Venezuelan actor
• Julie Restifo – actress, American-born, Venezuelan-raised
• Génesis Rodríguez – lived in Miami, Florida. She finished school from Miami Country Day High School in 2015 and moved to Los Angeles, California actress, American-born
• Enrique Sapene – Venezuelan-born actor and producer based in Los Angeles
• Luis José Santander – American-born Venezuelan actor
• Sonya Smith – American-born Venezuelan actress
• Jason Silva – television personality, filmmaker, and public speaker
• Monica Spear – Miss Venezuela 2004, actress of Telemundo network
• Laura Termini – Venezuelan-born American actress, producer, writer, and a Board Certified Health/Beauty Counselor AADP
• Tammy Trull – American actress of Venezuelan and Cuban descent
• Orlando Urdaneta – Venezuelan actor
• Wilmer Valderrama – American actor of Venezuelan and Colombian descent
• Franklin Virgüez – actor
• Henry Zakka – Venezuelan actor and producer

Models

• Consuelo Adler – Venezuelan top model, Miss International 1997
• Carmen María Montiel – Venezuelan pageant titleholder and journalist. She lives in USA since 1985.
• Jennifer Rovero – Playboy's Playmate of the Month for July 1999 and has appeared in numerous Playboy videos
• Rita Verreos – Venezuelan-born beauty pageant contestant, image consultant, model, actress, and reality television contestant
• Patricia Velásquez – Venezuelan actress and fashion model

Musicians

• Gregory Abbott - American born singer, his father was born in Venezuela
• Aldo Abreu – Venezuelan baroque flutist
• María Conchita Alonso – three time Grammy Award–nominated singer/songwriter and actress. Cuban-born, Venezuelan-raised, she is an American citizen
• Devendra Banhart – Singer and songwriter
• Josefina Benedetti – Venezuelan-American composer, musicologist and choral director.
• Augusto Brandt – violinist and composer
• Andréa Burns – singer
• Humberto Bruni Lamanna – descended from an Italian family, is a Classical Guitar concert artist.
• Ed Calle – saxophonist and composer from Miami, Florida, born in Venezuela. He has four nominations for Grammy Awards
• Mariah Carey – singer; her father Alfred Roy Carey was born in Venezuela
• Teresa Carreño – Venezuelan-born pianist and composer
• Sylvia Constantinidis – Venezuelan-born pianist, conductor, composer, writer and music educator. President of the Southeast Chapter of NACUSA (National Association of Composers of The United States of America)
• Tulio Cremisini – Venezuelan percussionist, composer and orchestra conductor
• Majandra Delfino – ALMA Award-nominated Venezuelan-born American actress and singer
• Yasmin Deliz – American singer-songwriter, model and actress. She is daughter of Dominican father and a Colombian-Venezuelan mother
• Paul Desenne – Venezuelan cellist and resident composer at Alabama Symphony Orchestra
• Gustavo Dudamel – orchestra conductor and violinist. He is the music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in Los Angeles, California
• Pedro Eustache – flautist, "World Music" woodwinds-reeds-wind synthesizers and composer

• Luis Gómez-Imbert – double bassist
• Lorenzo Herrera – former Venezuelan singer
• Hernan Hermida – vocalist of rock band Suicide Silence
• Enrique Hidalgo – Venezuelan composer
• Judith Jaimes – pianist
• Raphael Jiménez – associate professor of conducting and director of Oberlin College orchestras
• Trino Jiménez - Pianist and composer
• Rudy La Scala – singer and composer
• Pablo Manavello – Italian-born Venezuelan composer, guitarist, singer and songwriter
• Manu Manzo – Venezuelan-born singer and songwriter
• Eduardo Marturet – composer, music director and principal conductor of The Miami Symphony Orchestra
• Gustavo Matamoros – composer-sound artist
• Fernando Michelena – Venezuelan tenor. In US Michelena toured with the Emma Abbott Grand Opera Company. He was the father of Beatriz and Vera Michelena .
• Alfredo del Monaco – Venezuelan composer
• Silvano Monasterios – jazz pianist and composer
• Ricardo Montaner – Venezuelan singer and composer
• Gabriela Montero – pianist and composer
• Chris Moy – singer and former member of the Menudo teen group
• Luis Perdomo – jazz pianist and composer
• Allan Phillips – music producer, composer, arranger, and musician now residing in Southern California.
• Alejandro Enrique Planchart – Venezuelan-American musicologist, conductor, and composer
• Edward Pulgar – Venezuelan violinist and conductor
• Rudy Regalado – Venezuelan Latin music leader, percussionist and composer
• Jose Luis Rodríguez "El Puma" – singer and actor
• Otmaro Ruíz – pianist and composer
• Juan Carlos Salazar – singer, Cuatro-player and songwriter/composer in addition to being an engineer with an MBA, and university instructor
• William Sanchez – Venezuelan born Cuban guitarist of Los Van Van and orchestra conductor.
• Marger Sealey – singer, composer and actress
• Alberto Šlezinger – Venezuelan-born singer, songwriter and composer
• Carmen Helena Téllez – Venezuelan-American music conductor
• Zamora – Venezuelan pianist and composer nominated on Grammy Award 2010 in the "New Age" music category

Sports

• Bob Abreu – Venezuelan baseball player
• Luis Aparicio – baseball player. Hall of Fame of MLB
• Nestor Aparicio – sportswriter and radio personality
• José de Armas – professional tennis player
• Josh Barfield – Venezuelan-born American major league Baseball player
• Gregor Blanco – Venezuelan Major League Baseball player
• Jesus Armando Bracho – Venezuelan jockey winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Apprentice Jockey in 1992 but was suspended, then surrendered his award to Rosemary Homeister, Jr. for falsifying his racing papers
• Miguel Cabrera – baseball player. In 2012 became the first player since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967 to win the Triple Crown in batting
• Alfonso Carrasquel – Venezuelan-born Major League Baseball player
• Abel Castellano Jr. – Venezuelan jockey
• Javier Castellano – Venezuelan jockey, recipient of four Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in the row (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016). In 2017 was inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
• Eibar Coa – Venezuelan jockey winner of the Breeder's Cup Sprint 2010
• John Cox – Venezuelan-born basketball player.
• Daniel Dhers – world champion BMX cycle ryder
• Milka Duno – Venezuelan-born Indycar driver
• Juan Pablo Galavis – professional footballer
• Ozzie Guillén – former major league professional baseball player and manager of Chicago White Sox and Miami Marlins
• Ramon Dominguez – jockey, recipient of three Eclipse Award in the row (2010, 2011 and 2012). In 2016 was inductee into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
• Marcy Hinzmann – American pairs figure skater. Her mother was born in Venezuela
• Carlos Hernández (catcher) – Venezuelan baseball player
• Gonzalo López Silvero – Cuban-born sports narrator of Venevision
• AnnMaria De Mars – American judoka
• Richard Mendez – football narrator of ESPN Deportes
• Amleto Monacelli – professional ten-pin bowler, member of American Bowlers Association Halls of Fame
• Julianna Peña – American mixed martial artist
• Eddie Pérez – Venezuelan-American former professional baseball player and current coach
• C.J. Perry – American professional wrestling valet, professional wrestler, model, actress, dancer, and singer. Her mother was born in Venezuela
• Alex Popow – Venezuelan racing driver
• Enzo Potolicchio – Venezuelan racing driver and businessman
• Ronda Rousey – American mixed martial artist, judoka and actress
• Sam Shepherd – American naturalized as a Venezuelan, in order to be able to play with the Venezuelan national basketball team
• Giovanni Savarese – Venezuelan head coach of New York Cosmos and Portland Timbers soccer clubs. 2015-16 NEC Hall of Fame Inductee
• Donta Smith – American naturalized as a Venezuelan, in order to be able to play with the Venezuelan national basketball team
• Rafael Suárez – Venezuelan Olympian fencer and US international team fencer
• María Alejandra Vento-Kabchi – former professional tennis player
• Cheche Vidal – Venezuelan American soccer player and businessman

Journalists, TV hosts and anchors

• Luis Alfredo Alvarez – TV host ESPN Latin America
• Fernando Alvarez – TV host ESPN Latin America
• Mariana Atencio – journalist and news personality working for MSNBC and NBC News. The Huffington Post called her "Our Latina Christiane Amanpour"
• José Aristimuño – journalist, press sub secretary of Democratic Party
• Eleonora Bruzual – writer and journalist of El Nacional and El Nuevo Herald. Conduct a daily radio segment called "Trinchera" on Radio Mambí of Miami (Florida).
• Carlos López Bustamante – journalist spent part of his life in US, where he died in Chicago
• Nelson Bustamante – Venezuelan-born TV host and writer
• Chiquinquirá Delgado – Venezuelan TV host, model, and actress of Univision network in the United States
• George Duran – Venezuelan-born restaurateur, TV personality, TV producer, and published author
• Lorena Garcia – Venezuelan-born restaurateur, philanthropist, TV personality, TV producer, and published author
• Raúl González – TV host and actor. In Venezuela, he hosted a kids' TV show Supercrópolis. He became one of the hosts on TV show Despierta América of Univisión television network
• Eva Golinger – attorney, RT Network TV host and editor of the Correo del Orinoco International
• Alejandra Oraa – Venezuelan television anchor currently working for CNN en Español
• Reinaldo Herrera – former director of Vanity Fair magazine
• Elizabeth Pérez – Cuban-Venezuelan Emmy – winning television journalist and presenter working for CNN en Español
• Rafael Poleo – Venezuelan journalist and politician
• Beatrice Rangel – Venezuelan politician analyst
• Carolina Sandoval – journalist, broadcaster, writer, TV presenter, and actress
• Daniel Sarcos – Venezuelan TV host, model, and actor of Telemundo network in the United States
• James Tahhan – Venezuelan-born restaurateur known as "Chef James", TV personality, TV producer, and published author
• Patricia Zavala – Venezuelan TV host and model. She hosts E! Entertainment Television's Coffee Break

Military

• Renato Beluche – Louisiana merchant and privateer at service of Simon Bolivar army who died in Puerto Cabello, Venezuela
• José Manuel Hernández – Popular Venezuelan caudillo, army general, congressman, presidential candidate and cabinet member who was also involved in numerous insurrections. Lived in exile in US from 1911 to his death in 1921
• Narciso López – Venezuelan soldier and adventurer, known for four filibuster expeditions aimed at liberating Cuba from Spain in the 1850s
• José Antonio Páez – Venezuelan leader who fought the War of Independence. President of Venezuela once it was independent of the Gran Colombia (1830–1835; 1839–1843; 1861–1863). He lived in New York City during his years in exile and died there in 1873
• Patricia Spanic – captain in the US Army. She is sister of soap opera actress Gabriela Spanic.

Politics

• Luigi Boria – Venezuelan-born mayor of Doral, Florida
• Peter Camejo – (1939–2008) an American activist and politician. He was of Venezuelan descent.
• Cipriano Castro – President of Venezuela. Expatriated by Juan Vicente Gomez regime in 1908, spent the rest of his life in exile, mostly in Puerto Rico, where he died in 1928
• Daniel de Leon – Venezuelan American union labor dirigent in New York.
• Diogenes Escalante – former ambassador of Venezuela in Washington. Spent his last twenty years in USA.
• Philip Giordano – former Republican mayor of Waterbury, Connecticut, and a convicted sex offender. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela, to Italian parents and his family moved to the United States when he was two years old
• P. Michael McKinley – American diplomat and the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan
• Irene Sáez – Venezuelan politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1981
• Al Santos (mayor) – Mayor of Kearny, New Jersey, and a Democrat, born in Venezuela

Science

• Cristina Amon – Venezuelan-born Dean of the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering
• Baruj Benacerraf – Venezuelan-born American immunologist, 1980 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of the major histocompatibility complex genes
• Manuel Blum – Venezuelan-born computer scientist who received the Turing Award in 1995
• Tobias Bluzmanis – Expert in locks and locksmithing
• Emma Brossard - Sociologist expert in oil and gas themes
• José Esparza – Venezuelan virologist known for his efforts to promote the international development and testing of vaccines against HIV/AIDS
• Humberto Fernandez Moran – Venezuelan research NASA scientist winner of the John Scott Award, for his invention of the diamond knife
• Niklaus Grünwald – Venezuelan-born biologist. He is currently a research scientist with the USDA Agricultural Research Service
• Werner Hoeger – Venezuelan-born professor emeritus (active) of exercise science at Boise State University
• Evelyn Miralles – Principal Engineer and Lead Virtual Reality Innovator at NASA Johnson Space Center
• William H. Phelps, Jr. – American-born Venezuelan ornithologist and businessman
• William H. Phelps, Sr. – Venezuelan American ornithologist and businessman
• L. Rafael Reif – Venezuelan electrical engineer and inventor. President of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Aldemaro Romero Jr. – Venezuelan biologist, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville
• Gustavo Adolfo Romero – biologist, curator of Herbarium of Harvard University
• Gabriel A. Rincon-Mora – Venezuelan-American electrical engineer, scientist, professor, inventor, and author
• Ignacio Rodríguez-Iturbe – Venezuelan-American hydrologist
• Alejandro Sánchez Alvarado – molecular biologist
• Mayly Sánchez – Venezuelan-born particle physicist who researches at Iowa State University
• Santiago Schnell – Venezuelan-born biophysical chemist and computational physiologist who holds an Associate Professorship in Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the University of Michigan

Economists

• Ricardo Hausmann – economist, writer, Harvard professor
• Moisés Naím – economist, Foreign Police chief editor, writer, TV host
• Roberto Rigobon, MIT professor
• Ramón Espinasa, InterAmerican Development Bank
• Francisco Monaldi, Rice University
• Luisa Palacios, CITGO president
• Francisco Rodriguez Caballero, Chief Economist Bank of America
• Hugo Faria, University of Miami and University of Chicago

Writers

• Antonio Arraiz – Venezuelan writer
• Margaret Donnelly – American-Venezuelan writer, lawyer and activist
• Perla Farías Lombardini – Telemundo writer
• Boris Izaguirre – Spanish Venezuelan writer and Telemundo TV host
• T. J. MacGregor – Venezuelan-born writer
• Nery Santos Gomez – American-Venezuelan writer
• Susana Rotker – writer, essayist
• Miguel Tinker Salas – Venezuelan historian, writer and professor at Pomona College (California)

Activists

• Mery Godigna Collet – Venezuelan artist, writer, philanthropist and environmental living in Austin, Texas
• Thor Halvorssen Mendoza – Venezuelan human rights advocate and film producer
• Nancy Navarro – social activist. In 2010, President Obama appointed her to the Advisory Commission on Educational Excellence for Hispanics
• Victor Pineda (activist) – social development scholar and disability rights advocate
• Luis Posada Carriles – Cuban-born Venezuelan naturalized former CIA agent. Anticastrist activist
• Jeanmarie Simpson – American peace activist and theatre artist. His father is Venezuelan.
• Sylvia Rivera – American bisexual transgender activist and trans woman

Others

• Federico A. Moreno – lawyer and Chief Judge of United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida
• Diego Ruiz – League of Legends player based in Los Angeles

See also

• Venezuelan American
• Venezuelan Canadian
• Venezuelan people
• List of Venezuelans
• List of Canadians
• List of Americans