List of Welsh Americans

Updated on Sep 19, 2024

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This is a list of notable Welsh 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 Welsh American or must have references showing they are Welsh American and are notable.

Fine Art

Earl W. Bascom (1906-1995), "Cowboy of Cowboy Artists"

Entertainment

Jessica Alba (born 1981), movie actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Alexis Arquette (born 1969), movie actress, distant Welsh ancestry

David Arquette (born 1971), movie actor and TV director, distant Welsh ancestry

Patricia Arquette (born 1968), movie and TV actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Richmond Arquette (born 1963), movie actor, distant Welsh ancestry

Rosanna Arquette (born 1959), movie actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Michael Aston (1964), born in Cornelly, musician

Andrea Bowen (born 1990), actor

Dean Cain (born 1966), actor, mother is of partial Welsh ancestry

Erika Christensen (born 1982), actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Kelly Clarkson (born 1982), singer, distant Welsh ancestry

Bette Davis (1908–1989), two-time Academy Award-winning actress of stage, screen and television; distant Welsh ancestry

Billy De Wolfe, actor, mother was Welsh

Sophie Dee, born in Llanelli, Wales

Thomas Dekker, actor, mother is Welsh

Michael Douglas, distant Welsh ancestry

Leslie Easterbrook, distant Welsh ancestry

Bill Evans (born 1929), jazz pianist / composer

Sara Evans (born 1971), country music singer

Glenn Ford (1916–2006), film actor

Carson Grant (born 1950), actor

D. W. Griffith (1875–1948), early film director

Teri Hatcher (born 1964), actress and writer, distant Welsh ancestry

Bob Hope (1903–2003), actor/comedian, mother was Welsh

Anthony Hopkins (born 1937), born in Port Talbot, Glamorgan; Academy-Award-winning film/stage actor

John Houseman (1902-1988), film producer

Anjelica Huston, distant Welsh ancestry

John Huston, distant Welsh ancestry

Quincy Jones (born 1933), record producer, conductor, arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter, Welsh paternal grandfather

Rashida Jones (born 1976), actress, Welsh paternal great-grandfather

Tommy Lee (born 1963), drummer for hard rock/heavy metal band Mötley Crüe

Zachary Levi (born 1980), actor, distant Welsh ancestry

Ted Levine (born 1957), actor, mother was part Welsh

Blake Lewis (born 1981), American Idol contestant and singer

Juliette Lewis, actress and singer

Harold Lloyd (1893–1971), actor

Myrna Loy (1905–1993), actress

Marco Marenghi, animator, born in Rhondda

Ray Milland (1905–1986), actor

Wayne Newton, distant Welsh ancestry

Leslie Nielsen, actor (1926–2010), Welsh mother

The Osmonds, including Donny Osmond (born 1957), half of the brother-sister singing act Donny & Marie; of part Welsh descent, traced their ancestry back to Merthyr Tydfil

Karyn Parsons (born 1966), actress, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Welsh descent on father's side

Michelle Pfeiffer (born 1958), distant Welsh ancestry

Michael Phelps

Justin Pierce, English-born actor of Welsh descent; former husband of Gina Rizzo

Chris Pine, actor, distant Welsh ancestry

Shawn Pyfrom, paternal grandfather is of Welsh ancestry

Kim Richards (born 1964), actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Kyle Richards (born 1969), actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Monica Richards, author and musician

Jason Robards, distant Welsh ancestry

Eric Roberts (born 1956), actor, distant Welsh ancestry

Julia Roberts (born 1967), actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Coco Rocha, Canadian model of Welsh, Irish, and Russian descent

Gena Rowlands, actress, father was of Welsh descent

Susan Sarandon (born 1946), Oscar-winning actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Brooke Shields, distant Welsh ancestry

Esperanza Spalding (born 1984), singer/songwriter, distant Welsh ancestry

Tiffani Thiessen, actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Henry Thomas (born 1971), actor, distant Welsh ancestry

Lynda Thomas (born 1981), musician, singer-songwriter

Scott Walker

Tuc Watkins (born 1966), actor

Betty White, actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Michelle Williams (born 1980), actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Robin Williams, distant Welsh ancestry

Vanessa Williams (born 1963), actress, distant Welsh ancestry

Cassandra Wilson (born 1955), née Cassandra Fowlkes, jazz vocalist; distant Welsh ancestry through her father

Patrick Wilson, distant Welsh ancestry

Literature

Sinclair Lewis (1885–1951), novelist/playwright

Jack London (1876–1916), author

Edgar Lee Masters (1868–1950), poet/biographer/dramatist

Lorin Morgan-Richards (1975), author/publisher/curator

Ogden Nash (1902–1971), wrote clever humorous poetry

Politics

John Adams, President of the United States, Vice President of the United States (1735–1826);traced his ancestry to Pembroke, Pembrokeshire and to Penybanc Farm at Llanboidy, Carmarthenshire

John Quincy Adams, President of the United States, Secretary of State (1767–1848)

Benedict Arnold, Revolution general who defected from the American to the British side

John Henry Bowen, U.S. Representative from Tennessee

George W. Bush, 43rd President United States; distant Welsh ancestry

Martha Hughes Cannon (1857-1932), physician, Utah women's rights advocate and suffragist, first female state senator elected in the United States, member of the Utah Senate from the 6th district (1897-1901)

Dick Cheney, forty-sixth Vice President of the United States (2001-2009)

Cassius Marcellus Clay (1810–1903), abolitionist

Hillary Clinton (born 1947), Secretary of State, U.S. Senator from New York, former First Lady, candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination

Calvin Coolidge, twenty-ninth Vice President of the United States (1921–1923) and 30th President of the United States (1923–1929)

John J. Crittenden, Governor of Kentucky

James J. Davis (1873–1947), Secretary of Labor and U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania

Jefferson Davis (1808–1889), soldier, politician, and first and only President of the Confederate States (1862–1865)

Alvin Evans, U.S. Representative from Pennsylvania; United States Senator from Iowa

John Floyd, Governor of Virginia

John B. Floyd, Governor of Virginia

William Floyd, United States Declaration of Independence signatory

James Garfield (1831–1881), 20th President of the United States

Nicholas Gilman, United States Senator from New Hampshire

Button Gwinnett, United States Declaration of Independence signatory

Charles Evans Hughes, Governor of New York

Andrew Humphreys, U.S. Representative from Indiana

Andrew A. Humphreys, United States Army officer and Union General in the American Civil War

E. Howard Hunt, CIA Intelligence Officer; a key figure in organizing and participating in the Watergate burglaries

Arthur James, Governor of Pennsylvania

Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States; first Secretary of State; said his father came from the foothills of Snowdon

Robert E. Lee, Confederate general

Francis Lewis, United States Declaration of Independence signatory

James Madison, 4th President of the United States

John Marshall, statesman, Chief Justice of the United States

George Mathews, Governor of Georgia

Henry M. Mathews, Governor of West Virginia

John G. McCullough, Governor of Vermont

James Monroe (1758–1831), fifth President of the United States

James Morgan, United States Congressman from New Jersey

Lewis Morris, United States Declaration of Independence signatory

Robert Morris, United States Declaration of Independence signatory

Patty Murray, United States Senator from Washington

Barack Obama, 44th President United States; distant Welsh ancestry

P.B.S. Pinchback, Governor of Louisiana

Hugh H. Price, U.S. Representative from Wisconsin

Rodman M. Price, Governor of New Jersey

John H. Pugh, U.S. Representative from New Jersey

Thomas Rees, U.S. Congressman, parents/grandparents from Wales

Ann Romney (born 1949), wife of American businessman and politician Mitt Romney

Isaac Shelby, Governor of Kentucky

Daniel Webster (1782–1852), United States Senator and Secretary of State

Thomas Wynne (1627–1691), physician to William Penn; speaker of the first Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly

Industry and business

Jasper Newton "Jack" Daniel, Tennessee-born founder of Jack Daniel's whiskey

Bob Evans (1918–2007), founder of Bob Evans Restaurants

William Fargo (1818–1881), pioneer expressman

Howard Hughes (1905–1976), pioneering aviator, engineer, industrialist, and film producer

J. P. Morgan (1837–1913), banker

Jonathan I. Schwartz, President and Chief Executive Officer of CareZone

Howard Stringer (born 1942), businessman and Chief Executive Officer of Sony Corporation

David Thomas, prominent ironmaster and philanthropist during the Industrial Revolution in Pennsylvania

Other

Earl W. Bascom (1906-1995), inventor, "Father of Modern Rodeo"

James Bowie (1796-1836), Pioneer and Texas revolutionary

Daniel Boone (1734–1820), American pioneer

Mary Katherine Campbell (1905-1990), Miss America titleholder 1922 and 1923, First Runner-Up 1924

Hiram Wesley Evans (1881–1966), Imperial Wizard of the "second" Ku Klux Klan from 1922 until 1939.

Lewis Evans (1700–1756), colonial surveyor and geographer

Cowboy Morgan Evans (1903–1969), Texas rancher; 1928 World Series Rodeo Bulldogging champion; competition bull rider; oil production roughneck; drilling foreman; oilman

Oliver Evans (1755–1819), inventor

Murray Humphreys (1899–1965), Chicago mobster, chief political and labor racketeer in the Chicago Outfit during Prohibition

Frank James, cowboy/outlaw

Jesse James, cowboy/outlaw

George Jones (1811–1891), New-York Daily Times co-founder

John L. Lewis (1880–1969), organized labor union leader

Meriwether Lewis (1774–1809), explorer

Bradley Manning (1987-), mother was Welsh

Daniel Morgan (1736–1802), Brigadier General in the American Revolution in the Continental Army; served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Virginia

William Farrand Prosser (1834–1911), Union Colonel in the American Civil War; served in the United States House of Representatives, representing Tennessee

Henry Morton Stanley (1841–1904), journalist/explorer

George Henry Thomas (1816–1870), Union General during the American Civil War

Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), one of the most prominent and influential architects of the first half of the 20th century

Elihu Yale (1649–1721), first benefactor of Yale University

References

List of Welsh Americans Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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