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.
Architects and builders
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
Domingo Marcucci – Venezuelan-born American 49er, shipbuilder and shipowner
Entrepreneurs and businesspeople
Guido Antonini Wilson – Entrepreneur
Mary Black-Suarez – Venezuelan executive producer and entertainment consultant. She is the founder of MBS Entertainment and co-founder of SOMOS Productions
Adriana Cisneros – Venezuelan journalist. CEO and Vice Chairman of Cisneros Group
Gustavo Cisneros – Venezuelan-born mass media entrepreneur
Andres Gluski – CEO of AES Corporation
Thor Halvorssen Hellum – Venezuelan-Norwegian businessman who served as CEO and President telephone company, 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 and chief executive officer of Strategic Investment Group (SIG)
Lorenzo Alejandro Laviosa López – Venezuelan entrepreneur, racketeer and businessman
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
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
Luis Villanueva – Venezuelan American television and entertainment executive that has made significant contributions to the Latin American and U.S. Hispanic entertainment markets. He is currently President and CEO of SomosTV LLC
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
Jorge Blanco – Venezuelan artist who created the comic strip The Castaway/El Náufrago, which became an overnight success
Nicolas Felizola – fashion designer
Rodner Figueroa – former TV host from Univision, 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
Camilo Him – Venezuelan-born American naturalized and Paris-based fashion photographer, artist and film director
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
Julio Gassete – Venezuelan-born TV former comedian of Bienvenidos TV show. He lives currently in Miami, Florida
Erika De la Vega – Venezuelan stand up comedy actress and fashion model
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
Brooke Haven – American pornographic actress
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
Maria Elena Heredia – Venezuelan actress
Alejandro Hernández Reinoso – Venezuelan film director, writer, humorist, singer-songwriter, composer
Lilimar Hernandez – Venezuelan 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
Indira Páez – playwright
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
Abraham Pulido – Venezuelan television and film director
Édgar Ramírez – Venezuelan actor
Julie Restifo – actress. American-born, Venezuelan-raised
Génesis Rodríguez – 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 – Venezuelan actor
Franklin Virgüez – actor
Henry Zakka – Venezuelan actor and producer
Eglantina Zingg – actress, model and television host
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
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
Augusto Brandt – Violinist and composer
Andrea Burns – singer
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
Randy Carlos – Composer and Orchestra director named el "Rey de la Pachanga"
Teresa Carreño – Venezuelan-born pianist and composer
Sylvia Constantinidis – Venezuelan-born pianist, conductor, writer, music educator and composer. Former 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
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
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 a former member of the Menudo teen group
Luis Perdomo – jazz pianist and composer
Mario Campani – Italo-Venezuelan American guitar player born in Caracas. Campani is currently performing with the hard rock band The White Wagon
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 Ruiz – pianist and composer
Juan Carlos Salazar – Singer, Cuatro-player and songwriter/composer in addition to being an engineer with an MBA, and university instructor
Marger Sealey – Singer, composer and actress
Alberto Šlezinger – Venezuelan-born singer, songwriter and composer
Carmen Helena Téllez – Venezuelan-American music conductor
Yva Las Vegass – Venezuelan-born singer and composer radicated in Seattle since 1980
Zamora – Venezuelan pianist and composer nominated on Grammy Award 2010 in the "New Age" music category
Bob Abreu – Venezuelan baseball player
Luis Aparicio – Baseball player. Hall of Fame of MLB
Nestor Aparicio – Sportswriter and radio personality
Junior Alvarado – jockey
José de Armas – professional tennis player
Manuel Azpurua Sosa – thoroughbred racehorse trainer
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 three Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey in the row (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016)
Eibar Coa – Venezuelan jockey winner of the Breeder's Cup Sprint 2010
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)
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
Antonio Sano – thoroughbred racehorse trainer.
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 the newly formed New York Cosmos soccer club
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
Edwin Valero – Undefeated southpaw Venezuelan boxer and former two weight world champion who fought up to light welterweight
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
José Aristimuño – journalist, press sub secretary of Democratic Party
Eli Bravo – journalist, TV host
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
Ana Julia Jatar – Venezuelan journalist owner of MasMedia Boston
Rafael Poleo – a 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
Juan Vene – Journalist
Patricia Zavala – Venezuelan TV host and model. She hosts E! Entertainment Television's Coffee Break
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 – twin sister of soap opera actress Gabriela Spanic, captain in the US Army
Luigi Boria – Venezuelan-born mayor of Doral, Florida
Peter Camejo – (1939–2008) was an American activist and politician. He is 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.
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
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
José Luis Cordeiro – Venezuelan mechanical engineer. Futurologist at Singularity University
Humberto Campins – professor of Physics and Astronomy at University of Central Florida.
Tobias Bluzmanis – Expert in locks and locksmithing
Melchor Centeno Vallenilla – Electrical engineer
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
Hugo Gaggioni – Venezuelan electronic engineer, CTO of Sony America.
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 – Venezuelan engineer leader of NASA virtual reality laboratory
William Nazareth – Venezuelan mathematician
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
Santiago Schnell – Venezuelan-born biophysical chemist and computational physiologist who holds an Associate Professorship in Molecular & Integrative Physiology at the University of Michigan
Jorge Falcon Sillet – Veterinary. Master of Science of University of California. 1985. CEO of Equine Performance Service, US
Andres Tremante – Venezuelan mechanical engineer of Florida International University
Eleonora Villegas-Reimers - Venezuelan Wheelock College Associate Professor of Human Development, Chair Elementary and Special Education Department
Ricardo Hausmann – economist, writer
Leopoldo Martínez Nucete – economist, director of Center for Democracy and Development in the Americas (Miami, Florida)
Moisés Naím – economist, Foreign Police chief editor, writer, TV-host
Francisco Monaldi – economist, professor at Harvard University
Laura Palacios – economist, professor at Columbia University
Antonio Arraiz – Venezuelan writer
Perla Farías Lombardini – Telemundo writer
Boris Izaguirre – Spanish Venezuelan writer and Telemundo TV host
T. J. MacGregor – Venezuelan-born writer
Susana Rotker – writer, essaist
Miguel Tinker Salas – Venezuelan historian, writer and professor at Pomona College (Califorrnia)
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
Patricia Phelps de Cisneros – Art collector and philanthropist
Tanya Capriles Brillembourg – Art collector and philanthropist
Diego Ruiz– League of Legends player based in Los Angeles
List of Venezuelan Americans Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
