List of Spanish Americans

This is a list of notable Americans who self-identify themselves as Americans of Spanish descent, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.

There are also many people in the United States of Hispanic "national" origin, (''e.g. Mexican Americans, Cuban Americans, etc) or other Latin Americans, who self-identify their heritage as being Spaniard in census data.

The list also includes many settlers and descendants of Spanish settlers who lived in the Spanish colonies south of the current U.S. when those territories were incorporated into U.S. and to his inhabitants were given the U.S. citizenship (Louisiana is incorporated in 1803, Florida in 1819, and the Southwest was incorporated in 1848).

This list is ordered by surname within section.

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Spanish American or must have references showing they are Spanish American and are notable.

List

Artists and designers

* Adela Akers (born February 7, 1933) – American textile artist born in Spain
* Mabel Alvarez (1891–1985) – prominent American artist
* Carlos Baena – Spanish-born American employee in the Pixar studies
* Javier Cabada (born October 25, 1931) – Spanish-born American artist who paints colorful, abstract works
* Eva Camacho-Sánchez – Spanish raised American fashion designer and maker who is focused in felted decorations, jewelry, housewares, and accessories at her company Lana Handmade.
* Federico Castellón (1914–1971) – painter and sculptor born in Almeria, Spain
* Beatriz Colomina (born 1952) – Spanish-born architecture historian
* Julio de Diego (1900–1979) – Spanish-born American visual artist
* Anh Duong (born October 25, 1960) – French-American artist, actress, and model, daughter of a Spanish mother and Vietnamese father.
* John A. Garcia (born 1949) – Spanish-born entrepreneur and philanthropist. He is best known as a pioneer of the modern American computer game industry.
* Frank Garcia (1927–1993)– American son of Spanish immigrants
* Xavier Gonzalez (1898–1993) – Spanish-born American artist.
* Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle (born 1961) – Spanish-born American artist
* Adele Morales (1925–2015) – American painter and memoirist. He is of Spanish and Peruvian descent.
* Wenceslao Moreno (1896–1999) – known to his American fans as "Señor Wences", Moreno was for decades a top ventriloquist in Spain, elsewhere in Europe, as well as in Latin America and the United States. In the US, he was a favorite in vaudeville and, later, television, especially on ''The Ed Sullivan Show''. He was born in Salamanca, Spain, and died at the age of 103 in New York City.
* Stephen Mopope (1898–1974) – Kiowa painter, dancer, and flute player of Spanish descent.
* Victor Moscoso (born 1936) – Psychedelic underground comix cartoonist, born in Galicia and raised in the US.
* Esteban Munras (1798–1850) – 19th-century Spanish artist, probably best known for the vibrantly-colored frescoes that adorn the chapel interior at Mission San Miguel Arcángel in California.
* Antonio Prieto (1912–1967) – Spanish-born American ceramic artist and art professor at Mills College, Oakland, California. He was instrumental in developing an important ceramics collection for the Mills College Art Museum.
* Narciso Rodriguez, American fashion designer. Son of Cuban parents of Canarian (Spanish) descent
* Richard Serra (born November 2, 1938) – American sculptor. His father was Spanish native of Mallorca and mother was Russian, in Odessa
* Urbici Soler i Manonelles (1890–1953) – American sculptor and art educator.
* Faye Resnick (born July 3, 1957) – American television personality, author, and interior designer. She is of Spanish, Italian and English descent
* Carmen Marc Valvo – fashion designer
* Kat Von D (born March 8, 1982) – tattoo artist of European descent; Spanish ancestry from mom

Business

* Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba (1795–1874) – Wealthy New Orleans-born aristocrat, businesswoman and real estate developer, and one of the most dynamic personalities of that city's history.
* John Arrillaga (1937–2022) – real estate businessman
* John Casablancas (1942–2013) – American modeling agent and scout. He is credited for developing the concept of supermodel. His parents were Spanish, having escaped Spain during the Spanish Civil War
* Manuel Lisa (1772–1820) – Spanish fur trader, explorer, and United States Indian agent. He was among the founders in St. Louis of the Missouri Fur Company, an early fur trading company, and he was also the first settlers of Nebraska
* Frank Lorenzo (born May 19, 1940) – airline executive who founded Continental Airlines. He is of Spanish parents
* Juan de Miralles (1713–1780) – Spanish-born arms dealer and messenger to the American Continental Congress.
* Edward L. Romero (born January 2, 1934) – entrepreneur and American diplomat who served as the U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra in 1998 - 2001. His family was descended in part of the Spanish settlers who arrived to New Mexico in 1598
* Frank Stephenson (born October 3, 1959) – American automobile designer. He is son of a Norwegian father and a Spanish mother
*Unanue family
** Andy Unanue – former vice president of Goya Foods
** Joseph A. Unanue (1925–2013) – served 27-year tenure as president of Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States
* Rodolfo Valentin (born June 22, 1944) – New York City hairdresser and entrepreneur, to Italian and Spanish parents.
* Benito Vázquez (1738–1810) – Spanish-born soldier, fur trader, merchant and explorer. He emigrated to Missouri when it was part of Louisiana and lived there until the end of his life.
* Louis Vasquez (1798–1868) – American Mountain man and trader. Born in Missouri, he was the son of Benito Vázquez
* Vicente Martinez Ybor (1818–1896) – Spanish-American industrialist and Cuban cigar manufacturer

Entertainment

Screenwriter, Directors and Producers of film and television

* Rafael Alvarez (born May 24, 1958) – American screenwriter. He is of Spanish partial descent
* Miguel Arteta (born 1965) – Puerto Rican director of film and television, known for his independent film ''Chuck & Buck'' (2000), for which he received the Independent Spirit John Cassavetes Award, and ''Cedar Rapids''. He is of Peruvian father and Spanish mother
* Rafael Casal (born 1985) – American writer, actor, producer, and showrunner. He is of Irish, Spanish, and Cuban descent.
* Jaume Collet-Serra (born March 23, 1974) – Spanish-born American film director and producer.
* Lisa Loomer – playwright and screenwriter of Spanish and Romanian ancestry
* George A. Romero (1940–2017) – American film director, screenwriter and film editor, best known for his series of zombie apocalypse, beginning with ''Night of the Living Dead'' (1968). His father was born in A Coruña, Spain, and raised in Cuba and his mother was a Lithuanian American.
* Carles Torrens (born 1984) – Spanish-born film and television director, screenwriter, editor, and producer.

Actors and actresses

* Luis Alberni (1886–1962) – Catalan actor
* Maria Alba (1905–1999) – Spanish-born American film actress
* Trini Alvarado (born January 10, 1967) – American actress, Puerto Rican Mother and Spanish father
* Armida (1911–1989) – American actress, singer, dancer, and vaudevillian born in Mexico and of a Spanish father
* Tina Aumont (1946–2006) – American actress daughter of María Montez
* Ariana Barouk – TV host, actress, model, and singer, who represented Cuba in the seventh edition of the environmentally oriented Miss Earth, International Beauty Pageant. His parents are Cubans of partially Spanish descent (her grandmother maternal was Spanish)
* Joan Bennett (1910–1990) – American stage, film and television actress. Her mother was actress Adrienne Morrison, daughter of actor Lewis Morrison, who was of English, Spanish, Jewish, and African ancestry
* Constance Bennett (1904–1965) – American actress sister of Joan Bennett
* Barbara Bennett (1906–1958) – actress/dancer sister of Joan and Constance Bennett
* Maria Canals-Barrera (born September 28, 1966) – American actress, voice actress and singer of Catalan descent.
* Ouida Bergère (1886–1974) – Spanish father and English/French mother
* Carlos Bernard – American actor (24 (TV series)). His mother is from Madrid
* Alexis Knapp (born in Avonmore, Pennsylvania) - American actress. Her mother is Cuban of Spanish descent.
* Paloma Bloyd (born in Chicago, Illinois) – American actress. Her mother is from Spain.
* Fortunio Bonanova (1895–1969) – Spanish born baritone singer and a film, theater, and television actor.
* Diego Boneta – American actor and singer. His father is Mexican, while his mother was born in the United States, to a Puerto Rican father and Spanish mother
* Richard Cansino – American voice actor and nephew of Rita Hayworth.
* Leo Carrillo (1881–1961) – actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist. His great-great-grandfather, José Raimundo Carrillo (1749–1809), was a Spanish settler of San Diego, California.
* Charisma Carpenter – American actress (''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'') of mother of Cherokee and Spanish descent
* Lynda Carter – actress and singer best known as the title character in popular 1970s television series ''Wonder Woman''. Her mother was of Spanish and Mexican descent
* Jessica Chastain – American actress, her father of Spanish descent.
* Imogene Coca (1908–2001) – American actress, her father of Spanish descent.
* Mark Dacascos – American actor and martial artist. His father is of Spanish partial descent.
* Richard Davalos (1930–2016) – American actor of Finnish and Spanish descent
* Cameron Diaz – father was of Spanish-Cuban descent
* Héctor Elizondo – born in New York City, the son of Spanish (Basque)- Puerto Rican parents

* Joe Estevez – actor and Martin Sheen's brother, Spanish father
* Emilio Estevez – American actor, director, writer. Spanish paternal grandfather, from Galicia, Spain.
* Ramón Estévez – American actor, son of Martin Sheen
* Renée Estévez – American actress, daughter of Martin Sheen
* Mel Ferrer (1917–2008) – American actor, director of stage and screen and film producer. Cuban father of Spanish descent
* Santino Fontana – American actor, director, and composer, widely known for playing Greg on the television show ''Crazy Ex-Girlfriend''. He is one quarter Spanish descent
* Trixie Friganza (1870–1955) – American actress of Spanish and Irish parents
* Martin Garralaga (1894–1981) – Spanish-born film and television actor who portrayed more than 200 roles in film and television
* Dominik Garcia-Lorido – American actress who has maternal Spanish-Austrian descent
* Jesse Garcia – actor. His parents are Mexican and Spanish descent
* Joanna García – mother of Spanish descentDeggans, Eric
"'Reba' has a touch of Tampa"
''St. Petersburg Times'', February 1, 2002.
* William Gaxton (1893–1963) – American actor of film and theater
* Greg Giraldo (1965–2010) – American stand-up comicGadino, Dylan P
"Greg Giraldo: Comedy game plan in effect"
(interview), ''Punchline'', October 29, 2009
WebCitation archive

* Lita Grey (1908–1995) – American actress, her mother's family was descended from a Californian Spanish family
* Thomas Gomez (1905–1971) – American actor of Spaniard descent
* Myrtle Gonzalez

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