List of Slovak Americans

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This is a list of notable Slovak 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 Slovak American or must have references showing they are Slovak American and are notable. Some of this list might have Slovak immigrant ancestors of German, Hungarian, or Romani descent.

List[]

Arts, culture, and entertainment[]

  • Jon Bon Jovi – rock musician, singer, songwriter and actor (paternal grandmother of Slovak descent)
  • Tom Selleck - actor (father was immigrant from eastern Slovakia)
  • David Boreanaz – actor (mother was half Slovak descent - actually Slovene)
  • Jim Caviezel – film actor (paternal grandmother of Slovak descent)[1]
  • Scarlett Chorvat – film and television actress
  • Alexandra Daddario – actress
  • Matthew Daddario – actor
  • Laco Déczi (Ladislav Déči) – Slovak-American jazz trumpeter and composer, leader of Jazz Celula New York
  • Steve Ditko – comic book artist and writer, co-creator of the Marvel Comics heroes Spider-Man and Doctor Strange
  • Moritz Fuerst – artist employed with United States Mint in the 19th century
  • Dave Grohl – rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and film director, of part Slovak descent
  • James Haven – actor and producer
  • Audrey Hepburn – actress (her grandmother was from village in southern Slovakia)
  • Steve Ihnat – actor, director
  • Justin Jedlica – "human Ken doll"
  • Angelina Jolie – actress, former fashion model and Goodwill Ambassador for the UN Refugee Agency; daughter of Jon Voight (paternal grandfather of Slovak descent)
  • Bianca Kajlich – actress, her father, Dr. Aurel Jan "Relo" Kajlich, was a Slovak immigrant
  • Candace Kroslak – actress
  • Austin Mahone – singer and songwriter
  • Victor S. Mamatey – professor of history, active in Slovak immigrant organizations in the United States
  • Luba Mason – singer, actress, dancer and songwriter
  • Pola Negri – actress, her father, Juraj Chalupec, was a Slovak immigrant
  • Paul Newman – actor and film director (his mother was Slovak)[2][3]
  • John Ondrasik – musician, performing as "Five for Fighting"
  • Emil Sitka – actor, parents were Slovak immigrants
  • Ivan Reitman – movie director (born in Slovakia)
  • Jason Reitman – movie director (son of Ivan Reitman)
  • Robert Urich – actor
  • Katarina Van Derham – model, actress, and publisher
  • Jon Voight – actor (paternal grandfather was a Slovak immigrant from Košice; paternal grandmother was also of Slovak descent)
  • Andy Warhol – artist, film director (his parents were immigrants from small village Miková in eastern Slovakia)

Business[]

  • John Dopyera – inventor, entrepreneur
  • John D. Hertz – businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder, and philanthropist, one of the earliest owners of The Hertz Corporation (born in small village in central Slovakia)
  • iJustine – blogger
  • Travis Kalanick – founder of Uber (paternal grandfather was a Slovak immigrant from Valaškovce)[4]
  • Frank Lowy – owner and manager of Westfield-branded shopping centers
  • Anna Olson – restaurant owner

Law and politics[]

  • Michael Badnarik – software engineer, political figure, and radio talk show host
  • Mark Critz – U.S. Congressman
  • William T. Dzurilla – international attorney and law clerk to Justice Byron White of the United States Supreme Court
  • Carolyn Forché – professor, poet, editor, and human rights advocate
  • John Mica – Republican former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Florida
  • Joseph M. Gaydos – Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania
  • Peter P. Jurchak – legal counsel for the United Mine Workers
  • John Katko – U.S. Representative from New York
  • Vincent Obsitnik – diplomat born in Slovakia, former Ambassador of the United States of America to Slovakia
  • Tom Ridge – Republican, 43rd Governor of Pennsylvania and 1st Secretary of United States Department of Homeland Security
  • John Roberts – Chief Justice of the United States
  • Philip Ruppe – U.S. Representative
  • Claudine Schneider – U.S. Representative from Rhode Island
  • Joe Sestak – U.S. Representative, Democrat, Pennsylvania 7th District; retired US Naval vice-admiral; democratic presidential candidate in 2020 election
  • Steve Sisolak - Governor of Nevada
  • John Slezak - was United States Under Secretary of the Army from 1954 to 1955
  • Judy Baar Topinka – Republican politician in Illinois
  • Jesse Ventura – 38th Governor of Minnesota, wrestler, television personality
  • Pete Visclosky – U.S. Representative for Indiana's 1st congressional district

Military[]

  • Štefan Banič – constructor of a parachute-like device which he donated to the US Army, but was not used
  • Joseph E. Durik – Seaman Apprentice of United States Naval Reserve
  • Matej Kocak – Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps; double Medal of Honor recipient in World War I
  • Richard Marcinko – U.S. Navy SEAL and founder of SEAL Team 6
  • Michael Strank – Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps, one of the six flag-raisers who helped raise the second U.S. flag atop Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945

Religion[]

  • Joseph Victor Adamec – bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Altoona–Johnstown
  • David A. Bednar – member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church)
  • Teresa Demjanovich – Roman Catholic nun
  • John Hardon – priest, author, theologian, community leader
  • Michael Novak – was an American Catholic philosopher, journalist, novelist, and diplomat
  • Jaroslav Pelikan – scholar of the history of Christianity, Christian theology and medieval intellectual history
  • David Allen Zubik – the twelfth and current bishop of Roman Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Science and medicine[]

  • Gene Cernan – NASA astronaut, naval aviator, electrical engineer, aeronautical engineer, and fighter pilot
  • John Dopyera – inventor of the resonator acoustic guitar
  • Mike Fincke – NASA astronaut, International Space Station commander
  • Daniel Carleton Gajdusek – Nobel Prize winner for discovery of viruses with prolonged incubation periods
  • Ivan Alexander Getting – electrical engineer, inventor of GPS
  • Jozef Murgaš – inventor, architect, botanist, painter, US patriot, and Roman Catholic priest
  • Douglas D. Osheroff – physicist
  • Hugh David Politzer – physicist, Nobel Prize winner for the discovery of asymptotic freedom in quantum chromodynamics
  • Ján Vilček – biomedical scientist, educator, inventor and philanthropist; currently a professor in the Department of Microbiology at the New York University School of Medicine and President of the Vilcek Foundation

Sports[]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ USA WEEKEND Magazine[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Newsletter – Fall 2002 Archived July 15, 2006, at the Wayback Machine
  3. ^ "Reader feedback: Don't forget Czechoslovak films". The Slovak Spectator. Archived from the original on September 30, 2007.
  4. ^ "Zakladatel Uberu ma Sloveske korene" (in Slovak). dennikn.sk. Retrieved March 3, 2017.
  5. ^ Scalzo, Joe (September 30, 2007). "Pavlik credits Valley support for victory". The Vindicator. p. 1.
  6. ^ "Having a hand in baseball history". The Chicago Tribune. April 17, 2006.
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