This is a list of notable Sri Lankan American citizens, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants, but does not include Sri Lankan nationals living or working in the U.S. The list includes a brief description of the reason for their notability.

Academics

* Rohan Abeyaratne - academic and engineer * Athula Attygalle - professor in mass spectrometry *

Ananda Coomaraswamy Ananda Kentish Muthu Coomaraswamy ( ta, ஆனந்த குமாரசுவாமி, ''Ānanda Kentiś Muthū Kumāraswāmī''; si, ආනන්ද කුමාරස්වාමි ''Ānanda Kumārasvāmī''; 22 August 1877 − 9 Septem ...

- philosopher *

Sarath Gunapala Sri Lanka Ranajana Dr Sarath Gunapala ( Sinhala:සරත් ගුණපාල) is a solid-state physicist, senior research scientist and group supervisor at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. He works primarily in Quantum Well Infrared Phot ...

- solid-state physicist, senior research scientist and group supervisor at NASA's

Jet Propulsion Laboratory The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) is a federally funded research and development center and NASA field center in the City of La Cañada Flintridge, California, United States. Founded in the 1930s by Caltech researchers, JPL is owned by NASA an ...

* Shelton Gunaratne - Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications at Minnesota State University Moorhead * Ratnajeevan Hoole - professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University *

Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa (16 December 1875, Sri Lanka – 18 June 1953, United States) was a Sri Lankan Sinhalese author, occultist, freemason and theosophist. The fourth president of the Theosophical Society, Jinarajadasa was one of the wo ...

- freemason,

theosophist Theosophy is a religion established in the United States during the late 19th century. It was founded primarily by the Russian Helena Blavatsky and draws its teachings predominantly from Blavatsky's writings. Categorized by scholars of religion ...

and president of the

Theosophical Society Adyar The Theosophy Society was founded by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky and others in 1875. The designation 'Adyar' is sometimes added to the name to make it clear that this is the Theosophical Society headquartered there, after the American section ...

* Nalin Kulatilaka - Professor of Finance at School of Management * Patrick Mendis - educator, diplomat, author, and executive in US government service * Anura C. Perera - science writer, astronomer * Nalin Samarasinha - astronomer, first Sri Lankan to have an asteroid named after him *

Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah (16 January 1929 – 19 January 2014) was a social anthropologist and Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor ''(Emeritus)'' of Anthropology at Harvard University. He specialised in studies of Thailand, Sri Lanka, and Tamils, a ...

- Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, Harvard University *

Siva Sivananthan Professor Sivalingam Sivananthan ( ta, சிவலிங்கம் சிவானந்தன்) is an American academic, scientist, businessman and Director of the Microphysics Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Early lif ...

- professor, scientist and Director of the Microphysics Laboratory at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

* Sam Weerahandi - former professor; the first ASA Fellow of Sri Lankan origin * Lakshmi Damayanthi – Professor; State University of New York, Binghamton

Actors

* Sanjit De Silva - actor, known for roles in The Company Men and American Desi * Fabianne Therese - actor * Lakshmi Damayanthi - actress, Director, Producer

Architecture

* Raj Barr-Kumar - fellow and past president of the AIA

Artists

* Anne Cherubim - Painter

Business

* Namal Nawana - CEO of

Smith & Nephew Smith & Nephew plc, also known as Smith+Nephew, is a British multinational medical equipment manufacturing company headquartered in Watford, England. It is an international producer of advanced wound management products, arthroscopy products, ...

* Raj Fernando - chairman and CEO of Scoutahead.com and philanthropist * Sanjay Kumar - businessman *

Kumar Mahadeva Wijeyaraj Kumar Mahadeva ( ta, குமார் மகாதேவா) is a Sri Lankan American businessman. He is the founder, and original chairman and chief executive officer (CEO), of Cognizant Technology Solutions. He was the CEO of Cogni ...

- entrepreneur and CEO * Chamath Palihapitiya - venture capitalist, software developer * Raj Rajaratnam - founder of Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund management firm, convicted of insider trading

Film

* Thushari Jayasekera - actress, writer, emcee, and performance artist; with her role on NBC's ''Outsourced'' (2010-2011), she is the first American actress of Sri Lankan origin to play a principal role in a primetime show on a major American TV network *

Chandran Rutnam Chandran Rutnam is a Sri Lankan filmmaker and entrepreneur. Rutnam has hosted numerous Hollywood films for their location shoots in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. He was the Line Producer/Production Supervisor on several international productions incl ...

- film director, producer, screenwriter * Fabianne Therese - actress, director * Bernard White - actor, screenwriter, film director *

Gina Zamparelli Gina N. Zamparelli (8 May 1959 – 21 May 2018) was an American, Los Angeles–based, concert promoter. Family Zamparelli was the daughter of Sri-Lankan model and Miss Universe title-holder Maureen Hingert and American designer Mario Armond Za ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

-based concert promoter; daughter of

Maureen Hingert Maureen Neliya Ballard (née Hingert) (born 9 January 1937), also professionally known as Jana Davi is a former Sri Lankan dancer, model, actress and beauty pageant titleholder. Biography Hingert was born on 9 January 1937 in Colombo, Ceylon. ...

Medical

Bandula Wijay Bandula Wijerathne (born, 1946 in Galle, Sri Lanka) is an Sri Lankan inventor lives in USA, businessman, and diplomat. He also serves as a Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Kotelawala Defense University and he is appointed as an Ambassador fo ...

- inventor, businessman, and diplomat. Invented "Nested Loop" vascular stent.

Military

* John Kingsman Beling - Rear Admiral of the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

Musicians

DeLon Dilan Jayasingha (born March 14, 1980), known professionally as Dilan Jay, is an American actor, singer, and producer. He was the first artist from his country of heritage ( Sri Lanka) to place on the U.S. ''Billboard'' charts and have a No ...

- rapper and record producer; first Sri Lankan-American to appear on the ''Billboard'' charts *

Clarence Jey Clarence Ranjith Jeyaretnam, better known as Clarence Jey, is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter of Sri Lankan Tamils, Sri Lankan Tamil heritage who has had music chart on the US Billboard Hot 100, ''Billbo ...

- US ''Billboard'' and Grammy-credited record producer and songwriter *

Ranidu Lankage Ranidu Lankage ( Sinhala:රනිදු ලංකාගේ) is a Sinhalese R&B and hip hop artist who raised the international profile of Sinhalese RnB/pop.Weerasuriya, Sanath. (2007-03-25Dance to the music of Ranidu, By Sanath Weerasuriya, S ...

- rapper * Ruwanga Samath - record producer and the president of The Bird Call Productions

Politicians

* Basil Rajapaksa - Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament * Gotabaya Rajapaksa - 8th President of Sri Lanka; U.S. citizen from 2003 to 2019

Rebels

Visvanathan Rudrakumaran Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran ( ta, விசுவநாதன் உருத்ரகுமாரன்) is the prime minister of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, which aims to realize accountability for crimes against humanity, war cr ...

- Chairman of the Provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, a pro-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam) front organization (LTTE has been described as a terrorist organization by the U.S., European Union and many other countries)

Religion

* Bawa Muhaiyaddeen - teacher and Sufi mystic * Witiyala Seewalie Thera - founder/President and abbot of the Minnesota Buddhist Vihara; recently appointed Deputy Chief Sangha Nayaka of North America

Singers

Danielle de Niese Danielle de Niese (born 11 April 1979) is an Australian-American lyric soprano. After success as a young child in singing competitions in Australia, she moved to the United States where she developed an operatic career. From 2005 she came to wi ...

- opera singer * Sean Panikkar - opera singer * Tharanga Goonetilleke - opera singer

Sports

* Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam - Olympian for

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Black Saturday in Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh, becomes m ...

and 1956 Olympic Games *

Barney Henricus Ansdale "Barney" William Henricus (June 22, 1915 – May 7, 2007) was a Ceylonese sportsman and police officer. As a boxer he competed in the 1938 British Empire Games, where he won the gold medal in the featherweight class after winni ...

- 1938 British Empire Games boxing gold medallist * Christine Sonali Merrill - Olympian in

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

; engineer * Roy Silva - cricketer who has represented the US in Twenty20 International *

Tiana Sumanasekera Tiana Sumanasekera (born September 15, 2007) is an American artistic gymnast and a member of the United States women's national artistic gymnastics team. She is the 2023 Pan American all-around and balance beam champion. Early life Sumanase ...

- member of the U.S. national gymnastics team * Sunil Weeramantry - chess trainer, author

Writers

* Indran Amirthanayagam - author * V. V. Ganeshananthan - fiction writer, essayist, and journalist * Patrick Mendis - educator, diplomat, author, and executive in US government service * Mary Anne Mohanraj - speculative fiction writer and editor who helped found

Strange Horizons ''Strange Horizons'' is an online speculative fiction magazine. It also features speculative poetry and nonfiction in every issue, including reviews, essays, interviews, and roundtables. History and profile It was launched in September 2000, and ...

Harper Collins
"She was concerned that as one of the first Sri Lankan-Americans writing in English, her depiction of Sri Lankan culture might be taken as overly authentic and authoritative." *

Nayomi Munaweera Nayomi Munaweera is a Sri Lankan American writer and author of '' Island of a Thousand Mirrors'', which won Commonwealth Book Prize for the Asian Region in 2013, and '' What Lies Between Us'' (2016), which won the Sri Lankan National Book Award f ...

- author *

Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha (born April 21, 1975, in Worcester, Massachusetts) is a U.S. /Canadian poet, writer, educator and social activist. Their writing and performance art focuses on documenting the stories of queer and trans people of ...

- poet, writer, educator, social activist *

Romesh Ratnesar Romesh Ratnesar (born June 11, 1975) is an American journalist and author. He is the Deputy Editor of Bloomberg Businessweek

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

Rosemary Rogers Rosemary Rogers (née Jansz; 7 December 1932 – 12 November 2019) was a Sri Lankan Burgher best-selling author of historical romance novels. Her first book, ''Sweet Savage Love'', was published in 1974. She was the second romance author, after ...

- best-selling author of romance novels in the US; has been on the ''New York Times'' best-sellers list * Sunil Yapa - fiction writer, author of ''Your Heart Is a Muscle The Size of a Fist'' (2016), which he promoted as a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers

Others

* Rifqa Bary *

Natalie and Nadiya Anderson Natalie Anderson and Nadiya Anderson (born April 11, 1986) are American television personalities and twins, most commonly known as "The Twinnies". They appeared on ''The Amazing Race'' and '' Survivor: San Juan del Sur''. Nadiya was the first co ...

- twin sisters who had competed in ''

The Amazing Race ''The Amazing Race'' is an adventure reality game show franchise in which teams of two people race around the world in competition with other teams. The ''Race'' is split into legs, with teams tasked to deduce clues, navigate themselves in forei ...

'' and '' Survivor'' * Upeshka - professional poker player

References

{{Reflist Sri Lankans *

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

Sri Lankan Sri Lankan