List of Panamanians

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República de Panamá

This is a list of Panamanian people who are famous or notable and were either born in Panama or have Panamanian ancestry.

Beauty queens and fashion models

Ester Cordet, former Playboy Playmate of the Month
Gloria Karamañites, first Afro-Panamanian winner of Miss Panama
Patricia de León, former Señorita Panamá, actress, LGBT activist
Justine Pasek, former Miss Universe
Ana Orillac, former Señorita Panamá
Stefanie de Roux, TV host and former Señorita Panamá
Rachel Smith, former Miss USA

Business

Ursula M. Burns, CEO of Xerox
Pedro Heilbron, CEO of Copa Airlines
Karl Kani, urban fashion designer (Panamanian father)
Julio Mario Santo Domingo, Colombian-American businessman, diplomat (born in Panama)
Fernando Wong, landscape designer

Entertainment

Sharon Aguilar, musician/composer
Akinyele, rapper (Panamanian mother)
Tatyana Ali, actress, calypso singer, and composer (Panamanian mother)
Nancy Ames, singer
Tyson Beckford, model (maternal grandmother born in Panama)
Aloe Blacc, singer
Pop Smoke, rapper (Panamanian father)
Rubén Blades, singer, actor, former Minister of Tourism
Miguel Bosé, Spanish actor and singer (born in Panama)
Jordana Brewster, actress
Rod Carrillo, house and Latin music producer, label owner (born in Panama)
Casanova, rapper
Billy Cobham, drummer for Mahavishnu Orchestra
Melissa De Sousa, American actress (Panamanian heritage)
Edgardo Diaz, music producer (Menudo) (born in Panama)
Erika Ender, musician/composer
La Factoría, Spanish reggae duo
Flex, Spanish reggae artist
Gaitanes, singers, musical producers, composers
Carlos Garnett, jazz saxophonist
El General, Spanish reggae artist
Margarita Henríquez, singer
Lori Heuring, actress
Clark Kent, rap music producer
Vincent Laresca, actor
Gladys de la Lastra, drummer, composer, and musician
Eddy Lover, Spanish reggae artist
Makano, Spanish reggae artist
Jaime Murrell, singer
Uncle Murda, rapper
Nando Boom, reggae artist
Danilo Pérez, jazz pianist, producer, composer
José Quintero, Broadway director
Los Rabanes, reggae-rock band
J. August Richards, actor
Coco Rodriguez, singer, actress
José Luis Rodríguez Vélez, orchestra director, clarinetist, composer
Daphne Rubin-Vega, actress and singer
Samy y Sandra Sandoval, singer, musician
Sech, singer-songwriter, rapper, and producer
DJ Spinna, record producer and DJ (Panamanian roots)
Santiago Stevenson, singer, composer, ordained minister
Alexis Texas, American adult film actress
Tessa Thompson, actress and singer (Panamanian father)
Ingrid de Ycaza, singer
Aaron Zebede, actor, director and producer

Historical figures

Bayano, rebel slave
Floyd Britton, political dissident
Edward Ashton Gaskin Stuart, educator and labor leader
Victoriano Lorenzo, politician and national hero
Marta Matamoros, trade unionist
Juan Materno Vásquez de León, lawyer and professor
Luis Anderson McNeil, former labor minister
Jerónimo de la Ossa, poet, wrote national anthem
Belisario Porras, former president
Urracá, chieftain

Journalism

Escolastico Calvo, journalist
Gwen Ifill, television correspondent and host
Gustavo Adolfo Mellander, academic journalist
Juan Williams, television correspondent

Literature

Rosa María Britton, writer
Carlos Fuentes, Mexican writer (born in Panama)
Gloria Guardia, novelist and essayist
Ricardo Miró, poet
Rogelio Sinán, poet and writer
José Luis Rodríguez Pittí, writer and photographer
Consuelo Tomás, writer
Neil Raymond Ricco, Spanish-Italian American poet and writer (born in Panama)

Politics

Arnulfo Arias Madrid, former president
Harmodio Arias Madrid, former president
Nicolás Ardito Barletta, former president
Antonio Dominguez Richa, diplomat and politician
Guillermo Endara, former president
Adrian Fenty, former mayor of Washington, D.C. (Panamanian father)
Esteban Huertas, independence fighter
Jorge Illueca, diplomat and politician
Julio E. Linares, former Treasury Minister (1963–1964) and Foreign Minister (1989–1993)
Ricardo Martinelli, former president
John McCain, United States politician (born in Panama)
Mireya Moscoso, former president
Norberto Navarro, Minister of Public Works under three presidents, 1940s-50s. Founded the PRI party.
Manuel Antonio Noriega, former dictator
Carlos Ozores, former first vice president
Ana Paredes Arosemena, former First Lady of Ecuador
Rubén Darío Paredes del Río, former military ruler
Ernesto Pérez Balladares, former president
Belisario Porras, former president
José Antonio Price, physician and politician
Emilio Sempris, former Minister of Environment
Dudley Thompson, Jamaican Pan-Africanist, politician and diplomat
Martín Torrijos Espino, former president
Omar Torrijos, former dictator
Franklin U. Valderrama, United States district judge (born in Panama)
Juan Carlos Varela, former president

Scientists and academics

Reina Torres de Araúz, anthropologist, ethnographer, professor

Sports

Baseball

Juan Berenguer, professional baseball player
Johan Camargo, professional baseball player
Rod Carew, professional baseball player
Bruce Chen, professional baseball player
Manuel Corpas, professional baseball player
Einar Díaz, professional baseball player
Roberto Kelly, baseball player
Carlos Lee, professional baseball player
Héctor López, professional baseball player
José Macías, professional baseball player
Ramiro Mendoza, professional baseball player
Orlando Miller, professional baseball player
Ramiro Mendoza, professional baseball player
Orlando Miller, professional baseball player
Ben Oglivie, professional baseball player
Mariano Rivera, professional baseball player
Rubén Rivera, professional baseball player
Humberto Robinson, major league baseball player
Davis Romero, professional baseball player
Carlos Ruiz, professional baseball player
Olmedo Sáenz, professional baseball player
Manny Sanguillén, professional baseball player
Rennie Stennett, professional baseball player
Ruben Tejada, professional baseball player

Basketball

William Bedford, former basketball player
Rolando Blackman, former basketball player
Lorenzo Charles, professional basketball player (Panamanian parents)
Ed Cota, basketball player
Kevin Daley, basketball player and Harlem Globetrotter
Gary Forbes, professional basketball player
Rubén Garcés, former basketball player
Stuart Gray, professional basketball player
Leroy Jackson, professional basketball player
Ricky Lindo (born 2000), American-Panamanian basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
Donovan Mitchell, professional basketball player

Boxing

Pedro Alcazar, world boxing champion
Panama Al Brown, world boxing champion, first Hispanic world champion in history
Roberto Durán, world boxing champion
Alfonso Frazer, world champion boxer
Guillermo Jones, professional boxer
Jorge Luján, boxer
Ernesto Marcel, professional boxer
Eusebio Pedroza, former world boxing champion
Hilario Zapata, professional boxer

Football (American)

Leonardo Barker, professional American football player
Frank Davis, professional football player
Darius Holland, professional American football player
Roberto Wallace, professional football player

Soccer

Edwin Aguilar, soccer player
Michael Amir Murillo, soccer player
Andrés Andrade Cedeño, soccer player
Felipe Baloy, soccer player
Édgar Bárce, soccer player
Yoel Bárcenas, soccer player
Adalberto Carrasquilla, soccer player
Roberto Corbin, soccer player
Harold Cummings, soccer player
Jorge Dely Valdés, soccer player
Gabriel Enrique Gómez, soccer player
Luis Ernesto Tapia, soccer player
Rommel Fernández, soccer player
Aníbal Godoy, soccer player
Carlos Harvey, soccer player
Kevin Kurányi, German soccer player
Roberto Nurse, soccer player
Jaime Penedo, soccer player
Blas Pérez, soccer player
Luis Antonio Rivera, soccer player
Arturo Tejada, soccer player
Luis Tejada, soccer player
Román Torres, soccer player

Track & field

Reginald Beckford, sprinter
Bayano Kamani, track and field athlete
Lloyd La Beach, sprinter, first Olympic medal winner from Panama
Irving Saladino, former World and Olympic track and field champion

Others

Eileen Coparropa, Olympic swimmer
George Headley, cricket player
Bobby Lashley, professional wrestler and former mixed martial arts fighter
Laffit Pincay, Jr., horse jockey
Oscar Willis Layne, cyclist

Other

Princess Angela of Liechtenstein, member of the Royal House of Liechtenstein
Jorge Cham, webcomic producer, author and cartoonist of PhD comics