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
Domingo Marcucci - shipbuilder and shipowner in San Francisco, California
Nelson Mezerhane – banker, owner of Diario Las Americas 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 based in Miami, Florida
Devorah Rose – Editor-in-Chief of Social Life Magazine
Irene Saez – Miss Universe 1981, former director of ColonialBank
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.^[1]^[2]^[3] He attended the School of Visual Arts (NYC)^[4]
Elizabeth Avellán – film producer, born in Venezuela
Daniela Bascopé – American born, raised in Venezuela as 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
Víctor Cámara – actor
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
Lupita Ferrer- Venezuelan born actress based in Miami, Florida
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 Venezuelan born
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
Willy Martin – Venezuelan-born, telenovela actor at Nickelodeon
Carlos Montilla – Venezuelan television and theater actor
Lilibeth Morillo – actress
Veronica Osorio- 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^[5]
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
Rudy La Scala – singer and composer
Andres Levin-musician, record producer, bandleader
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 working in the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Michelena toured with the Emma Abbott Grand Opera Company. He was the father of Beatriz, Vera and Teresa Luisa Michelena, all born in the US.^[6]
Alfredo del Monaco – Venezuelan composer
Silvano Monasterios – jazz pianist and composer
Ricardo Montaner – Venezuelan singer and composer
- R&B singer and social media personality
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
José Altuve - Venezuelan baseball player for the Houston Astros and 2017 World Series champion
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.
Mauro Cichero, footballer
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
Ivan Olivares- professional basket player
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
Carla Angola – TV host of EVTV Miami
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 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
Lindsay Casinelli– Venezuelan TV host of Univision network
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
Alberto Sardiñas - Venezuelan born syndicated radio personality
James Tahhan – Venezuelan-born restaurateur known as "Chef James", TV personality, TV producer, and published author
Lourdes Ubieta - Venezuelan-born Cuban-American radio talk show host on Actualidad Radio 1020/1040 AM
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) – American activist and politician. He was of Venezuelan descent.^[7]
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
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
Daniel de Leon – Venezuelan American union labor dirigent in New York.
P. Michael McKinley – American diplomat and the United States Ambassador to Afghanistan
Patricia Rucker - member of the West Virginia House of Representatives
Irene Sáez – Venezuelan politician and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1981

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
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

Writers[]

Antonio Arraiz – Venezuelan writer
Alegría Bendayán de Bendelac- writer and jewish poet
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.^[8]^[9]
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

References[]

^ Muther, Christopher. "'SNL' star Armisen drums up a career in comedy", Boston Globe, January 30, 2004 (fee required for full article)
^ Karni, Annie (2010-12-02). "Painting the Town Fred | New York Post". NYPOST.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-18. Retrieved 2012-05-30.
^ AP Photo (2012-01-05). "Photo from AP Photo - Fred Armisen, Hildegardt Gemer News, photos, topics, and quotes". 1click.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2012-05-30.^{[permanent dead link]}
^ "Fred Armisen: Biography," TV Guide, accessdate=2009-11-10.
^ Press office. Maria Conchita Alonso Endorses John McCain Archived 2008-12-01 at the Wayback Machine JohnMcCain.com, October 31, 2008.
^ "Fernando Michelena, photograph by Theodore C. Marceau". Libraries: Digital Collections. University of Louisville. Retrieved April 13, 2010.
^ "Ancestry of Peter Camejo". Wargs.com. Retrieved 2011-01-01.
^ "Jeanmarie Simpson". A Single Woman the Movie. 1959-11-20. Retrieved 2017-03-18.
^ [1]

[1] Muther, Christopher. "'SNL' star Armisen drums up a career in comedy", Boston Globe, January 30, 2004 (fee required for full article)

[2] Karni, Annie (2010-12-02). "Painting the Town Fred | New York Post". NYPOST.com. Archived from the original on 2013-07-18. Retrieved 2012-05-30.

[3] AP Photo (2012-01-05). "Photo from AP Photo - Fred Armisen, Hildegardt Gemer News, photos, topics, and quotes". 1click.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2012-05-30.^{[permanent dead link]}

[4] "Fred Armisen: Biography," TV Guide, accessdate=2009-11-10.

[5] Press office. Maria Conchita Alonso Endorses John McCain Archived 2008-12-01 at the Wayback Machine JohnMcCain.com, October 31, 2008.

[6] "Fernando Michelena, photograph by Theodore C. Marceau". Libraries: Digital Collections. University of Louisville. Retrieved April 13, 2010.

[7] "Ancestry of Peter Camejo". Wargs.com. Retrieved 2011-01-01.

[8] "Jeanmarie Simpson". A Single Woman the Movie. 1959-11-20. Retrieved 2017-03-18.

[9] [1]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]