To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Italian American or must have references showing they are Italian American and are notable.
Digital artists and illustrators
Rich DiSilvio (born 1957) - illustrator, photographer, fine artist, digital artist, web designer, new media developer, architectural designer and writer
Louise Fili (born 1951) - graphic designer, 2014 American Institute of Graphic Arts Medalist
Fred Marcellino (1939–2001) - illustrator
Ettore DeGrazia
Robert De Niro, Sr. (1922–1993) - abstract expressionist, father of actor Robert De Niro, Jr.
Robert Longo
Tony Sisti (1901–1983) - painter and boxer
Frank Stella (born 1936) - painter and printmaker
Joseph Stella (1877–1946) - futurist painter known for his depictions of industrial America
Severo Antonelli (1907–1995) - legendary figure in Philadelphia Italian American history and the subject of one of the largest ever one-man shows at the Smithsonian Institution
Franco A. "Frank" Barsotti (1937–2012) photographer and professor emeritus from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Justin Guariglia (1974–) - photographer and contributing editor to National Geographic Traveler, and a regular contributor to Smithsonian Magazine
Luis Marden (1913–2003) - photographer, explorer, writer, filmmaker, diver, navigator, and linguist who worked for National Geographic magazine
Francesco Scavullo (1921–2004) - fashion photographer known for his work on the covers of Cosmopolitan magazine and his celebrity portraits
Mario Sorrenti (born 1971) - fashion photographer
Vincent Cavallaro
Jasper D'Ambrosi
John DeAndrea
Joe De Santis
Mark di Suvero
Virginio Ferrari
Corrado Parducci
Piccirilli Brothers
Italo Scanga - neo-Dadaist
Joe Bastianich - chef
Lidia Bastianich - chef
Caesar Cardini - creator of the Caesar salad
Michael Chiarello - American celebrity chef specializing in Italian-influenced California cuisine
Giada De Laurentiis - host of the Food Network program Everyday Italian
Gina Keatley - chef and television personality; influenced charities in New York City
Sirio Maccioni- restaurateur and author
Rachael Ray - Food Network chef and Emmy-winning television personality
Anthony Adducci (1937–2006) - pioneer of the medical device industry in Minnesota; best known for founding Guidant Corp. precursor Cardiac Pacemakers, inc., now part of Boston Scientific, the company that manufactured the world's first lithium battery-powered artificial pacemaker
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca
Enea Bossi
Lorenzo Del Riccio-Inventor of fotofinish camera
Daniel DiLorenzo
Gerard J. Foschini
Domingo Ghirardelli
The Jacuzzi family - developed the deep well water pump that led to the famous whirlpool bath
Antonio Meucci (born 1808) - credited by the Congress of the United States with the invention of the telephone
Lorenzo Ponza- inventor of the modern baseball pitching machine
Francis Rogallo - engineer at NASA, designed the Rogallo wing, which found its greatest success in hang gliders and kites
Andrew Toti
Dr. Andrew Viterbi (born 1935) - billionaire, cofounder of Qualcomm, inventor of the Viterbi algorithm
Frank Zamboni- inventor of the modern ice resurfacer
Samuel Alito - Supreme Court Associate Justice
Vincent Bugliosi - successfully prosecuted Charles Manson; an expert on the John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy assassinations
Ann Marie Calabria - judge on the North Carolina Court of Appeals
Frank Caprio - Chief Judge of the Providence Municipal Court
William J. Castagna - judge on the United States District Court
Richard J. Daronco - assassinated judge of the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York
Victoria A. Graffeo - Associate Judge of the New York Court of Appeals
Jaynee LaVecchia - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of New Jersey
Antonin Scalia - Supreme Court Associate Justice
John Sirica - judge most famous for presiding over the Watergate hearings
Joseph Arpaio (born 1932 in Springfield, Massachusetts) - law enforcement officer, most notably as the Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona; the child of immigrants from Naples
Gil Garcetti (born 1941)- Los Angeles County's 40th district attorney
Joseph D. Pistone - undercover FBI agent who went undercover as Donnie Brasco and infiltrated the Bonanno crime family.
Louis Freeh (born 1950 in Jersey City, New Jersey) - Director of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 1993 to 2001
Rudolph Giuliani - early career was a US attorney in S.D.N.Y., prosecuting high-profile cases, including Cosa Nostra cases
Dan Mitrione- Italian-born American police officer, FBI agent, and U. S. government advisor for the CIA in Latin America.
Frank Rizzo
Frank Serpico
Joe Petrosino - NYCPD lieutenant in charge of the Italian Squad, an elite corps of Italian-American detectives formed to fight the Mafia
Charles Joseph Bonaparte - member of Theodore Roosevelt's Cabinet and founder of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Melissa Anelli - resident of Staten Island, journalist at Staten Island Advance and webmaster of The Leaky Cauldron
Maria Bartiromo - financial reporter
Joe Benigno - WFAN sports radio personality
David Brancaccio - journalist
Harry Caray (1914–1998) - born Harry Christopher Carabina, sports broadcaster, did play-by-play for the St. Louis Cardinals, Chicago White Sox, and most famously the Chicago Cubs; Cubs win! Cubs win!
Matt Casamassina - video game journalist working for IGN
Danny Casolaro - freelance journalist
Igor Cassini - journalist
Chris Cimino - co-host of Today in New York on WNBC, the NBC affiliate in New York City
Kellyanne Conway - president and CEO of The Polling Company Inc./Woman Trend, and has been a political commentator on CNN, Fox News, Fox Business, and more.
Anthony Cumia - "Anthony" of the Opie and Anthony show
Rick Francona - NBC military analyst
Michael Gargiulo - co-host of Today in New York on WNBC, the NBC affiliate in New York City
Megyn Kelly - Fox News Channel political commentator and former corporate defense attorney
Steve Lopez - journalist; a columnist for the Los Angeles Times since 2001; the son of Spanish and Italian immigrants
Jon Paul Morosi- journalist, Fox Sports an MLB commentator
Ann Nocenti - journalist, writer and editor, known for her work on comic books and magazines
Generoso Pope Jr. (1927–1988) - founder of the National Enquirer
Tony Rizzo - sports anchor with WJW-TV, the Fox affiliate in Cleveland
Allison Rosati - WMAQ-TV nightly anchor – maternal Italian ancestry
Lauren Scala - co-host of Today in New York on WNBC, the NBC affiliate in New York City
Elaine Sciolino - Paris bureau chief of The New York Times
Al Giordano - political commentator, and former anti-nuclear and environmental activist.
Sgt. John Basilone - USMC, Medal of Honor recipient of World War II
Major John Belli - the Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army from 1792 to 1794
Corporal Anthony Casamento - USMC, Medal of Honor recipient of World War II
Lieutenant General Peter W. Chiarelli
Col. Luigi Palma di Cesnola - Civil War Union Cavalry officer, and Medal of Honor recipient.
Lt Col Rick Francona - U S Air Force officer
Major Don Gentile (Dominic Salvatore Gentile) (1920–1951) - U S Air Force officer
Edmund P. Giambastiani - Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Giovanni Martini - trumeter; only member of Custer's army to leave the site of the Battle of the Little Big Horn alive
General Raymond T. Odierno - incumbent Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Peter Pace - USMC, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
Antonio Pierro - lived to be one of the oldest surviving veterans of World War I
Joseph L. Romano
Maj. Gen. Francis D. Vavala - Adjutant General, Delaware Army National Guard
Humbert Roque Versace - United States Army officer and POW in Vietnam
Gen. Anthony Zinni - USMC, former Commander in Chief of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM)
Richard F. Celeste - U.S. Ambassador to India, 1997–2001
Paul Cellucci - U.S. Ambassador to Canada, 2001–2005
Peter Cianchette - U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica, 2008–
Luigi R. Einaudi - acting Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS)
Thomas M. Foglietta - U.S. Ambassador to Italy, 1997–2001
John J. Maresca - U.S. Ambassador, United States Delegation to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, 1992–1994
Joseph A. Mussomeli - U.S. Ambassador to The Philippines; Ambassador to Cambodia, 2005–2008;
Francis J. Ricciardone, Jr. - U.S. Ambassador to The Philippines and Republic of Palau, 2002–2005; Ambassador to Egypt, 2005–2008; and Deputy Ambassador to Afghanistan, 2008–
Peter F. Secchia - U.S. Ambassador to Italy, 1989–1993
Ronald P. Spogli - U.S. Ambassador to Italy and first U.S. Ambassador to San Marino, 2005–2009
John Baldacci - former governor of Maine (2003–2011)
Donald Carcieri - former governor of Rhode Island (2003–2011)
Dick Celeste - former governor of Ohio (1983–1991)
Argeo Paul Cellucci - former governor of Massachusetts (1997–2001)
Chris Christie - governor of New Jersey
Andrew Cuomo - governor of New York (2010–present)
Mario Cuomo - former governor of New York (1983–1994)
Edward D. DiPrete - former governor of Rhode Island (1985–1991)
Michael DiSalle - former governor of Ohio (1959–1963)
James Florio - former governor of New Jersey (1990–1994)
Foster Furcolo - former governor of Massachusetts (1957–1961)
Ella T. Grasso - former governor of Connecticut (1975–1980); first woman to be elected governor without following a husband
Andrew H. Longino - former governor of Mississippi (1900–1904)
Janet Napolitano - former governor of Arizona (2003–2009)
John Orlando Pastore - former governor of Rhode Island
William Paca - signer of the American Declaration of Independence, member of the Continental Congress, governor of Maryland, Federal District Judge
George Pataki - former governor of New York (1995–2006)
Al Smith - former governor of New York (1919–1921; 1923–1929)
John A. Volpe - former governor of Massachusetts (1961–1963; 1965–1969)
Hugh Addonizio (1914–1981) - mayor of Newark, New Jersey, 1962–1970
Joseph Alioto (1916–1998) - mayor of San Francisco, 1968–1976
Thomas L. J. D'Alesandro, Jr. (1903–1987) - mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, 1947–1959; prior to being mayor, he was a representative from Maryland's 3rd congressional district (1939–47); father of U.S. Representative Nancy Pelosi
Luigi Boria (b. 1958)– mayor of Doral, Florida, since 2012. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela.
Richard Caliguiri (1931–1988) - mayor of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 1978–1988
Anthony Celebrezze (1910–1998) - mayor of Cleveland, Ohio, 1953–1962
Vincent Cianci, Jr (b. 1941) - mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, 1975–1984 and 1991–2002
David Cicilline (b. 1961) - mayor of Providence, Rhode Island, 2003-; Jewish mother
John DeStefano, Jr. (b. 1955) - mayor of New Haven, Connecticut, since 1993
Frank Fasi (b. 1920) - Mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii, 1969–1981 and 1984–1994
Eric Garcetti (b. 1971) - mayor of Los Angeles, California, since 2013.
Philip Giordano (b. 1963) – mayor of Waterbury, Connecticut, 1995–2001 when was arrested for municipal corruption and convicted of sex offender. He was born in Caracas, Venezuela.
Rudolph Giuliani (b. 1944) - Mayor of New York, 1994–2001
Dick A. Greco (b. 1933) - mayor of Tampa, Florida, 1967–1974 and 1995–2003
Pam Iorio (b. 1959) - Mayor of Tampa, Florida, since 2003
Vincent R. Impellitteri (1900–1987) - Mayor of New York, 1950–1953
Fiorello La Guardia (1882–1947) - Mayor of New York, 1934–1945; both parents Italian-born; father lapsed Catholic; mother Jewish
Anthony M. Masiello (b. 1947) - mayor of Buffalo, New York, 1994–2005
Thomas Menino (1942–2014) - Mayor of Boston, Massachusetts, 1993–2014
Robert Maestri (1899–1974) - mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, 1936–1946
George Moscone (1929–1978) - mayor of San Francisco, 1976–1978
Frank Rizzo (1920–1991) - mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1972–1980
Angelo Rossi (1878–1948) - mayor of San Francisco, 1931–1944
Victor Schiro (1904–1992) - mayor of New Orleans, Louisiana, 1961–1970
Frank A. Sedita (1907–1975) - mayor of Buffalo, New York 1958–1961, 1966–1973
Aldo Tatangelo (1913 – 2008)- mayor of Laredo, Texas, 1978–1990
Msgr. Geno Baroni (1930–1984) - the Catholic Coordinator for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Francis X. DiLorenzo (born 1942) - the twelfth bishop of the Diocese of Richmond in Virginia
John Clement Favalora - Archbishop of the Latin Rite Archdiocese of Miami
Fr. Stan Fortuna - Roman Catholic priest
James Groppi - Roman Catholic priest and noted civil rights activist
Francis Mugavero - first Italian-American Bishop of Brooklyn, 1968–1990
Anthony M. Pilla - bishop of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese, 1979–2006
Joseph Rosati - the first Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Louis
Joseph Louis Bernardin (1928-1996), Archbishop of Cincinnati, Archbishop of Chicago
Anthony Joseph Bevilacqua (1923–2012), served as Bishop of Pittsburgh and Archbishop of Philadelphia
Daniel Nicholas DiNardo (born 1949), Archbishop of Galveston-Houston
Justin Francis Rigali (born 1935), Archbishop of Philadelphia
Eugenio Calabi - mathematician
Charles DeLisi
Renato Dulbecco
Federico Faggin
Robert Fano (born 1917) - computer scientist
Ugo Fano (1912–2001) - physicist
Anthony Fauci - immunologist contributing to research in the areas of AIDS and other immunodeficiencies
Enrico Fermi (1901–1954) - physicist
Robert Gallo
Albert Ghiorso - nuclear scientist who helped discover several chemical elements on the periodic table
Riccardo Giacconi
Louis Ignarro
Robert Lanza
Paul J. Lioy - exposure science
Mariangela Lisanti - theoretical physicist
Salvador Luria
Fulvio Melia - physicist, astrophysicist, and author
Antonio Meucci - telephone inventor
Rita Levi-Montalcini
Franco Modigliani
Lisa Marie Nowak - born Lisa Marie Caputo; astronaut
William Daniel Phillips
Bruno Rossi
Gian-Carlo Rota
Jack Sarfatti
Piero Scaruffi (born 1955) - cognitive scientist
Walter Schirra - astronaut
Emilio Segrè - Nobel Prize-winning physicist and academic
Luigi Luca Cavalli-Sforza (born 1922) - geneticist
Andrew Viterbi
Philip Zimbardo
Mario Capecchi - University of Utah
John D. Caputo
Frank A. Cipriani
Thomas A. DeFanti
John J. DeGioia - President of Georgetown University
Frank J. Fabozzi
A. Bartlett Giamatti (1938–1989) - President of Yale University, later Major League Baseball commissioner; Italian father
Robert Gallucci - Dean of the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University
Lino Graglia - University of Texas in Austin
Paul J. Lioy - University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
Robert Magliola - academic specialist in hermeneutics, philosophy, and religious studies
Silvio Micali - Professor of Computer Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, distinguished for his work on cryptography
Fulvio Melia - Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Arizona in Tucson
Franco Modigliani - MIT economics professor and winner of the 1985 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics
L. Jay Oliva - former President of New York University (NYU) and author of many books on European and Russian history
Camille Paglia - professor at humanities at the University of the Arts
P. M. Pasinetti - professor of comparative literature and Italian at UCLA
Walter Piston - professor of Music at Harvard University 1926-1960. Pulitzer Prize winner 1948 and 1961
Ken Auletta - writer/journalist and media critic for The New Yorker
David Baldacci (1960–) - best-selling novelist; a distant cousin of John Baldacci, former governor of Maine
Andrew Berardini - art critic and fiction writer
Greg Berlanti - television writer and producer
Giannina Braschi - poet and novelist
Leo Buscaglia (1924–1998) - author and motivational speaker
Duane Capizzi - screenwriter
Lorenzo Carcaterra - novelist and screenwriter
John Ciardi - poet and etymologist
Angelo F. Coniglio - civil engineer, genealogist and author
Gregory Corso - poet
John Corvino - philosopher
Lorenzo Da Ponte - poet, writer, librettist
William L. DeAndrea - mystery writer
Keith R. A. DeCandido
Don DeLillo (1936–) - author
Guy Anthony De Marco - author
Tomie dePaola - author
Louise DeSalvo - writer, editor, professor, and lecturer
Pietro Di Donato - writer
Rich DiSilvio - writer, author of The Winds of Time
John Fante - novelist and screenwriter
Lawrence Ferlinghetti - poet, essayist and painter
David Franzoni - screenwriter of Gladiator and King Arthur
John Fusco - novelist (Paradise Salvage) and screenwriter of Young Guns, Hidalgo, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
Paul Gallico - Italian father
Daniela Gioseffi (1941– ) - poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist, performer, social justice activist
Arturo Giovannitti - poet, political activist
Barbara Grizzuti Harrison (1934–2002) - writer
Evan Hunter - aka Ed MacBain, born Salvatore Lombino
Philip Lamantia
Teresa de Lauretis
Luis Marden - born Annibale Luis Paragallo, writer for National Geographic
Fulvio Melia - author of several popular science books, including The Black Hole at the Center of Our Galaxy
Charles Messina - writer/director of the play Mercury: The Afterlife and Times of a Rock God, the film Merging, and co-author the book My Father, My Don
Diana Ossana - Academy Award-winning screenwriter
Camille Paglia - post-feminist literary and cultural critic
Christopher Paolini
Michael Parenti
P.M. Pasinetti - novelist, playwright, journalist, professor
Mario Pei
Tom Perrotta - novelist and screenwriter best known for the novels Election (1998) and Little Children (2004)
Joseph D. Pistone
Diane di Prima - poet of the Beat generation
Mario Puzo (1920–1999) - writer/screenwriter and best-selling author of The Godfather
Terry Rossio - screenwriter
Shane Salerno - screenwriter
R.A. Salvatore (born 1959) - born Robert Anthony Salvatore, science fiction and fantasy author, best known for his Forgotten Realms and Star Wars novels
Leslie Scalapino - poet
Piero Scaruffi - poet, historian, scientist
Dom (Domenico) Serafini - TV trade magazine editor
Michelangelo Signorile - journalist, columnist, talk radio host and gay activist
Gay Talese
Adriana Trigiani
Tom Verducci - sportswriter
Giuseppe Mario Bellanca - designer of the first monoplane in the United States with an enclosed cabin
Frank Borzage - first person to win the Academy Award for Directing, for Seventh Heaven (1927)
Enea Bossi - designer of the first stainless steel aircraft and designer of the disputed first fully human-powered plane
Anthony Celebrezze (1910–1998) - the first non-native to be appointed to the U.S. Cabinet
Geraldine Ferraro (1935–2011) - the first woman in U.S. history to be nominated for the vice presidency of the United States from a major political party
Ella T. Grasso (1919–1981) - born Ella Rose Tambussi Grasso, first woman to be elected governor of a U.S. state without succeeding her husband
Giuseppina Morlacchi (1846–1886) - ballerina and dancer, introduced the can-can to the American stage
Nancy Pelosi - the first woman in U.S. history to hold the office of Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Dennis Tito - the world's first space tourist
Joe Valachi (1904–1971) - the first member of the Mafia to testify to the Senate about organized crime
Dr. Frank Passantino (1927-2003) - helped establish Italian-American Day at the S.F. Giants' ballpark.
Marella Agnelli - furniture designer
Luigi Antonini - labor leader
Mike Bongiorno - TV personality
Alyssa Campanella - father is of Italian descent (from Naples); mother is of Danish and German ancestry
Oleg Cassini - Russian-Italian-American fashion designer
Andrew Cunanan - spree killer; mother was Italian-American
Emily DiDonato – American model of Italian, Irish, and Native American ancestry
Ralph DiGia - pacifist and social justice activist
James Doti - longtime president of Chapman University
Tabitha D'umo - choreographer and creative director
Angelo Dundee - trainer of several boxing champions
Elizabeth Edwards - née Anania, wife of John Edwards, a former U.S. Senator from North Carolina
Vanessa Hessler - American model and actress
Nick LaRocca - musician, composer
Stacy London - stylist and fashion consultant; Sicilian mother, Jewish father
Charles Ponzi (1882–1949) - one of the greatest swindlers in American history; inventor of the Ponzi scheme
Carrie Prejean - American model, author, former Miss California USA 2009 and Miss USA 2009 first runner-up
John Scarne - born Orlando Carmelo Scarnecchia, gambling expert and sleight-of-hand card performer
Mary Schiavo - former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation
Michael Schiavo - ex-husband of Terri Schiavo, the woman whose comatose state and subsequent court case garnered much media attention
Milton Sirotta - at age nine coined the term googol
Carmela Teoli - 14-year-old mill worker whose Congressional testimony helped end the 1912 Lawrence textile strike
Jack Valenti - of Sicilian heritage, president of the Motion Picture Association of America from 1966 to 2007
Michael Viscardi - mathematician
Elettra Rossellini Wiedemann - fashion model, and socialite of Italian, Swedish, French and German descent
List of Italian Americans Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
