List of Spanish Americans: Difference between revisions

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This is a list of notable 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.: Cuban Americans, Mexican Americans and Puerto Rican Americans) or Filipinos (that until 1898 was a Spanish colony), who ultimately trace all of their heritage back to Spain and form part of the ethnic "Spanish American"- population (In the census of 2010 more than 26 million Hispanic and Latino Americans reported having Spanish ancestors).

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.

• Mabel Alvarez - Prominent American artist.
• Federico Castellon - (1914–1971) Painter and sculptor born in Almeria, Spain.
• Javier Cabada - Spanish-American artist who paints colorful, abstract works.^[1]
• Beatriz Colomina - Architecture historian Spanish.
• Frank Garcia (magician) - American son of Spanish immigrants.^[2]
• Mark Miremont - Artist & Philosopher, born in Madrid and raised in the US.
• Stephen Mopope - (1898–1974) was a Kiowa painter, dancer, and flute player of Spanish descent
• Victor Moscoso - Psychedelic underground comix cartoonist, born in Galicia and raised in the US.
• Esteban Munras - (1798–1850) was a 19th-century Spanish artist, probably best known for the vibrantly-colored frescoes that adorn the chapel interior at Mission San Miguel Arcángel in California.
• Narciso Rodriguez, American fashion designer. Son of Cuban parents of Canarian (Spanish) descent.^[3]
• Richard Serra - American sculptor. His father was Spanish native of Mallorca and mother was Russian, in Odessa ^[4]
• Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle - Spanish American artist.^[5]
• Wenceslao Moreno - (1896–1999), Known to his American fans as "Senor 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 and died at the age of 103 in New York City.^[6]
• Carmen Marc Valvo - Fashion designer
• Antonio Prieto (artist) - (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.
• Kat Von D - Tattoo artist of European descent; Spanish ancestry from mom.^[7]

• Micaela Almonester, Baroness de Pontalba - (1795 - 1874) was a wealthy New Orleans-born aristocrat, businesswoman and real estate developer, and one of the most dynamic personalities of that city's history.
• John Arrillaga - real estate businessman
• Joe A. Guerra - (1934 – 2010) was a businessman and a Republican political activist in Laredo, Texas.
• Frank Lorenzo - Airline executive who founded Continental Airlines. He is of Spanish parents.^[8]
• Edward L. Romero - Entrepreneur and American diplomat that served as the U.S. Ambassador to Spain and Andorra in 1998. His family was descended in part of the Spanish settlers who arrived to New Mexico in 1598.^[9]
• Frank Stephenson - American automobile designer. He is son of a Norwegian father and a Spanish mother.^[10]
• Andy Unanue - former vice president of Goya Foods
• Joseph A. Unanue - Served 27-year tenure as president of Goya Foods, the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States
• Vicente Martinez Ybor (September 7, 1818 - December 14, 1896) was a Spanish-American industrialist and Cuban cigar manufacturer.^[11]

• Miguel Arteta - 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^[12]
• Lisa Loomer - playwright and screenwriter of Spanish and Romanian ancestry.^[13]
• George A. Romero - American film director, screenwriter and editor, best known for his series of zombie apocalypse, beginning with Night of the Living Dead (1968). He is son of a Cuban-born father of Castilian Spanish parentage^[14] and a Lithuanian American mother.

• Luis Alberni - Catalan actor (1886–1962)
• Maria Alba - (1910, in Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain – 1999, in San Diego, California), was a Spanish-American film actress.
• Trini Alvarado - American actress, Puerto Rican Mother and Spanish father.
• Armida (actress) - (1911 – 1989) was an American actress, singer, dancer, and vaudevillian born in Mexico and of a Spanish father.^[15]
• Maria Canals Barrera - American actress, voice actress and singer. She is best known for her roles as Theresa Russo in Wizards of Waverly Place, Connie Torres in Camp Rock and Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam
• Ouida Bergère, (1886 – 1974) Spanish father and English/French mother.^[16]
• Carlos Bernard - American actor (24 (TV series)). His mother is of Madrid.^[17]
• 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. ^[18]
• Eduardo Cansino, Jr. - (1919–1974) Actor and brother of Rita Hayworth.
• Richard Cansino - American voice actor and nephew of Rita Hayworth.
• Nestor Carbonell - American actor of Cuban parents of Spanish ancestries (Lost).^[19]
• Tia Carrere - American Actress (General Hospital, Relic Hunter). She is of Filipino, Chinese and Spanish descent.^[20]
• Leo Carrillo - (1881 – 1961) actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist. His great-great grandfather, José Raimundo Carrillo^[21] (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.^[22]
• Lynda Carter - Actress best known as the title character in popular 1970 television series Wonder Woman. Born Linda Jean Córdova Carter.
• Darren Criss: American actor. His mother is Philippine of Chinese, Spanish, and Filipino descent.^[23]
• Imogene Coca - American actress, her father of Spanish descent.
• Mark Dacascos - American actor and martial artist. His father is of Spanish partial descent.
• Richard Davalos - American actor of Finnish and Spanish descent.^[24]
• Cameron Diaz - Father born to Spanish parents via Cuba.^[25]
• Héctor Elizondo - born in New York City, the son of Spanish (Basque)-Puerto Rican parents.^[26]
• Kimberly Estrada - American actress of primarily Chinese, Spanish and Native descent.^[27]
• Joe Estevez- actor and Martin Sheen's brother
• Emilio Estévez - American actor, director, writer. Spanish grandfather from Galicia, Spain.
• Ramón Estévez - American actor, son of Martin Sheen
• Renée Estévez - American actress, daughter of Martin Sheen
• Mel Ferrer - (August 25, 1917 – June 2, 2008) Cuban father of Spanish descent.^[28]
• Martin Garralaga - (10 November 1894, Barcelona, Cataluña, Spain - 12 June 1981 Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California) Spanish-born film and television actor who portrayed more than 200 roles in film and television.
• Jesse Garcia - actor. His parents are Mexican descent and Spanish.^[29]
• Joanna García - mother of Spanish descent.^{[30][31][32][33]}
• William Gaxton - (1893–1963) actor of film and theater.
• Greg Giraldo - (1965–2010) American stand-up comic ^[34]
• Myrtle Gonzalez - (1891 - 1918) American silent film actress. Spanish father.^[35]
• Pedro Gonzalez-Gonzalez - (1925 – 2006) an American character actor best known for his appearances in a number of John Wayne movies. He was the son of a Mexican American father and a Spanish mother.^[36]
• Camille Guaty - family is originally from the Canary Islands.^[37]
• Salma Hayek - Her mother is of Spanish descent.^[38][39]
• Rita Hayworth - (1918 – 1987) American actress and icon. His father was Spanish dancer Eduardo Cansino, Sr., born in Seville, Spain.^[40]
• Tom Hernández - (1915–1984) American actor whose characters were always secondary.^[41][42]
• Pepe Hern (1927–2009) was an American actor whose characters, usually Spanish and Latin, were always secondary. He was brother of Tom Hernández.
• Paz de la Huerta - indie actress and muse of Zac Posen.^[43]
• Vanessa Hudgens - Actress and American singer. His father is American of Irish and Amerindian descent and his mother is Filipino of Chinese, Filipino and Spanish descent.^[44]
• Wolf Hudson - Dominican-American male pornographic actor, director and street dancer. His father was born Dominican of French and Spanish descent
• Celina Jade - Actress, singer and martial artist.
• Lainie Kazan (born May 15, 1940) is an American actress and singer of half Spanish Sephardic ancestry.
• Dorothy Lamour - (1914–1996) Actress of French, Irish and Spanish descent.^[45]
• Liza Lapira - American actress of Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese descent.
• Adele Mara - (April 28, 1923 – May 7, 2010) was an American actress, active in the mid 20th-century.
• Velia Martinez - (1920 – 1993) Actress, singer and former nightclub dancer.
• Patricia Medina - (1919-2012) English-born American actress. His father was a Spanish immigrant of Canary Island and his mother was English.
• Lea Michele - Actress and singer; Has a Spanish-Sephardi Jews father and Italian mother.^[46]
• Alfred Molina - English born American naturalized.^[47] He is of Spanish and Italian descent.^[48]
• Ricardo Montalbán - (1920 – 2009) Mexican radio, television, theatre and film actor to Spanish immigrants parents.^[49]
• Carlos Montalbán - Mexican actor brother of Ricardo Montalbán
• Maria Montez - (1912–1951) Dominican actress of Isleño father and considered one of the most beautiful women of her time. Her father was Canarian.^[50]
• Yolanda "Tongolele" Montes - Exotic dancer and American actress of the Cinema of Mexico. Her father was Spanish/Swedish, her mother French/English.
• Antonio Moreno - (1887 – 1967) Spanish-born American educated actor; he was a leading silent film star of the 1920s.
• Morris W. Morris (1845–1906) - Stage actor & Civil War soldier of the Louisiana Native Guards.
• Kenny Morrison - American actor. He is of Irish, Spanish, and Filipino ancestry.
• Frankie Muniz - Actor (Malcolm in the middle) and racecars driver. His father is Puerto Rican of Asturian (Spanish) descent
• Marisol Nichols - American actress best known for her role in 24 (TV series).^[51]
• Jaclyn Ngan - American actress of Filipino-Chinese-Spanish descent
• Dylan O'Brien - He is of Irish, English, Italian, and Spanish descent.^[52]
• Margaret O'Brien - Renowned child actress, Spanish mother.
• Nia Peeples - American actress, whose mother is a Filipino of Filipino, German, French and Spanish descent.^[53]
• Carlos Pena, Jr. - American actor (Big Time Rush), singer, and dancer. His father is of Spanish and Venezuelan descent, while his mother is of Dominican descent.^[54]
• Julio Perillán - American actor of Spanish parents.^[55]
• Lou Diamond Phillips - American actor. His mother descends partly from Spanish.^[56]
• Anita Pomares, better known as Anita Page - was an American film actress primarily in the 1920s and 1930s and later.^[57]
• Monica Ramon - American actress born in Spain.^[58]
• Nathalia Ramos - Actress and singer. Spanish father. Played the leading role of Yasmin in Bratz: The Movie.
• Robert Ri'chard - He is of Louisiana Creole (French, African American, Native American, and Spanish) descent
• Génesis Rodríguez - American actress. She is the daughter of Venezuelan singer and actor José Luis Rodríguez. His grandfather is from Canary Islands.
• Anthony Ruivivar - American actor.^[59]
• Marin Sais - American actress of the silent film era. She is descended of early Castilian settlers of California´s colonial.^[60]
• Reni Santoni - American film, television and voice actor. Santoni is of French and Spanish descent
• Sarah Shahi - is an actress and American model of Spanish mother.^[61][62]

• Martin Sheen - Born 'Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez', father from Galicia, Spain.^[64]
• Charlie Sheen - American actor, Spanish grandfather.
• Henry Silva - American film and television actor of Spanish and Sicilian descent.^[65]
• Chrishell Stause - She is of both Japanese and Spanish descent.
• Hilary Swank - American film actress. Her maternal grandmother was of Spanish and Shoshone (Native American) ancestry.^[66]
• Chuti Tiu - American actress of Chinese, Filipina and Spanish descent
• Celeste Thorson - American actress, model, screenwriter, and activist of Lebanese, Spanish, Apache (Native American) and South Korean descent.
• Bitsie Tulloch - mother of Spanish descent.^[67]
• Alanna Ubach - American actress of Spanish descent.
• Raquel Welch - Born 'Jo Raquel Tejada', American actress of part Spanish-Bolivian descent.^[68][69]
• Elena Verdugo - 1940s Spanish-American actress.
• Charlyne Yi - American actress, comedian, musician, writer, and painter. Her mother, a native of the Philippines, is of Filipino and Spanish descent ^[70]
• Donna Wilkes - American film actress known for her roles in several films, to Spanish/French mother and Irish father.

• Audrey Bitoni - American pornographic actress and model. She is of Italian/German/Spanish descent.^[71]
• Jimmy Clabots - American actor and model. He is a Cuban and Spanish descent.
• Jo Collins - Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Month for December 1964 and Playmate of the Year for 1965. Half Spanish.^[72]
• Devin DeVasquez - Model and American actress.^[73]
• Danielle Gamba - is an American model and dancer of Italian and Spanish descent.
• Jenna Haze - American pornographic actress of Spanish heritage.^[74]
• Paulina James - is an American pornographic actress of Spanish and Portuguese ancestry.^[75]
• Marina Jamieson - fashion model; American father, Spanish mother.^[76]
• Gianna Lynn - American pornographic actress born in the Philippines and raised in California, of mixed Filipino, Spanish, and Chinese ancestry.^[77]
• Olivia O'Lovely - former American pornographic actress. Her ethnic background is Italian, Spanish, Chilean and French.^[78]
• Ashli Orion - American pornographic actress and model.^[79]
• D'Nika Romero - Model and former basketball player of Spanish descent.
• Jenny Spain
• Samantha Torres - Playboy Playmate a Spanish native, now an American resident, has son with actor Dean Cain.

• Esperanza Spalding - jazz singer and composer.^[80]
• David Archuleta - father of Spanish (Basque) descent.
• Leonardo Balada - Spanish composer.
• Kaci Battaglia - (pronounced Kah-chee), is a singer, dancer and occasional actress, half Spanish heritage.^{[citation needed]}
• Cedric Bixler-Zavala - Rock singer of predominately European descent has Spanish ancestry from father.
• Eduardo Cansino, Sr. - (1895–1968) Flamenco dancer and Spanish actor. Father of Rita Hayworth.
• Julian Casablancas - The vocalist and songwriter of the New York band The Strokes.^[81]
• Nichole Cordova - is a singer and dancer. Cordova is a member of the musical group Girlicious.
• Darren Criss - American actor, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and composer. His Philippine mother is of Spanish partial descent.^[23]
• Xavier Cugat (1900–1990) - Conductor, American Catalan artist and entrepreneur. He was a key figure in the spread of Latin music in the United States popular music.^[82]
• Charo - Spanish-American actress, comedian and Flamenco guitarist. She is best known for her exuberant stage presence and provocative outfits.
• Jonny Diaz - American contemporary Christian pop artist and brother of Matt Diaz. His grandfather who had emigrated from Barcelona.^[83]
• Vernon Duke - (1903 - 1969) American composer/songwriter, born into a noble family of mixed Georgian-Austrian-Spanish-Russian descent, en Belarus.
• Gloria Estefan - Mothers parents were born in Pola de Siero, Asturias and Logroño, La Rioja, Spain .^[84][85]
• Lilian García is an American singer and ring announcer born in Spain. Spanish descent via Puerto Rico.
• Jerry Garcia - Guitarist and singer for the Grateful Dead. Father was born in La Coruña, Spain.^[86]
• Synyster Gates - American musician, best known for being the lead guitarist of the band Avenged Sevenfold. He is of Spanish and German descent.
• Emilio de Gogorza - (1874 – 1949) American baritone.
• Scott Herren - music producer. His father is Catalan and his mother is Irish and Cuban.^[87]
• Julio Iglesias - Spanish singer with American citizenship.
• Enrique Iglesias - Grammy Winning Spanish pop singer songwriter. Spanish father (Julio Iglesias) and Spanish Filipina mother (Isabel Preysler)
• José Iturbi - (1895–1980) was a Spanish conductor, harpsichordist and pianist.
• Jeanette (singer) - London-born, American-raised singer. She is of Canarian and Maltese descent.^[88]
• Chris Kirkpatrick - American singer, dancer, and voice actor who is best known as a founding member of the pop group 'N Sync. He is of Irish, Scottish, Spanish and Indian descent.
• Joseph Lacalle - (1860 - 1937) was a clarinetist, composer, conductor and music critic.
• Bruno Mars - American singer-songwriter and record producer. Mars' mother immigrated to Hawaii from the Philippines as a child, and is of Filipino and some Spanish descent.^[89][90]
• Mikaila - American singer of French, Mexican (Aztec) and Spanish descent.
• Chino Moreno - American musician. He is children to a Spanish-Mexican father and a Spanish/Chinese mother;^[91]
• Alcide Nunez - (1884–1934) Isleño American jazz clarinetist.
• Robert Nunez - Isleño American jazz clarinetist and grandson of Alcide Nunez.
• Kenny Ortega - Emmy-award winning producer, director and choreographer. Most known for directing the High School Musical series and Michael Jackson's This Is It. Spanish grandparents.^[92]
• Irvan Perez - (1923–2008) Isleño singer.^[93]
• Manuel Perez (musician) (1871–1946), American cornetist and bandleader
• Roland Ruby - American composer, lyricist and playwright. He is an Ecuatorian born, but American raised, of Spanish and Italian descent.
• Paul Sanchez - American guitarist and a singer-songwriter. He was a founding member of the New Orleans band Cowboy Mouth, guitarist and one of the primary singers and songwriters for the band from 1990 to 2006. His father was an Isleño of Saint Bernard Parish, Louisiana.
• Matthew Santos - rock and folk singer-songwriter, musician and painter, father of part-Spanish descent.^[94]
• Carly Simon - American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. His mother is of Spanish and half Swiss descent.
• Lucy Simon - American composer for the theatre and popular songs. Sister of Carly Simon.
• Joanna Simon (mezzo-soprano) - Sister of Carly and Lucy Simon.
• Mariee Sioux - American folk singer-songwriter. Her father Gary Sobonya is a mandolin player of Polish and Hungarian descent, and her mother Felicia is of Spanish, Paiute, and Indigenous Mexican descent.
• Camile Velasco - Filipino American singer and came in ninth place on the third season of the reality/talent-search television series, American Idol. She is of Irish, Spanish, and Filipino descent.^[95]
• Jaci Velasquez - she descends of Spanish and Mexican settlers in Texas and French, Scottish, and Arabs immigrants.^[96]
• Angela Vía - American singer/songwriter of mother of Spanish and Mexican descent.

• Mary Joe Fernández - Professional tennis player and two-time Olympic gold medal winner. Father from Spain.^[97]
• Lyle Alzado - (1949 – 1992) was a professional American football defensive end of the National Football League. His father is of Italian-Spanish descent.^[98]
• Jonathan Borrajo - American soccer player of Spanish parents.^[99]
• Gene Brito - (1925 – 1965) was an American football Defensive end in the National Football League. He was of Spanish and Mexicans parents.
• Pete Carril - American former basketball coach.
• Matt Diaz - American professional baseball outfielder for the Miami Marlins of Major League Baseball. His brother is Jonny Diaz. His grandfather who had emigrated from Barcelona.^[83]
• Santiago Formoso - Spanish-American soccer defender who spent spent five seasons in the North American Soccer League.
• Lefty Gomez - Born Vernon Louis Gomez, New York Yankees Hall of Fame pitcher.^[100]
• Keith Hernandez - MVP-winning baseball player, grandfather from Málaga, Spain.
• Manuel Hernandez - Spanish-American soccer player. Born in Spain.
• Al Lopez - Hall-of-Fame baseball player and manager. Spanish parents.^[101]
• David López-Zubero - Former college an international swimmer who competed in three Summer Olympics and won an Olympic bronze medal.
• Martin López-Zubero - American born, Spanish Olympian swimmer with dual-citizenship. His father is Spanish^[102]
• Saoul Mamby - former professional boxer of Spanish and Jamaica descent.^[103]
• Rachel McLish - American female bodybuilding champion, actress and author. Her father was of Spanish ancestry.^[104]
• Midajah - American personal trainer, fitness model and former professional wrestling manager. He is the eldest of four children and is of Norwegian, Irish, Spanish, and French descent.
• Lou Molinet - (1904–1976) was the first Hispanic-American professional football player to play in the National Football League.
• Lou Piniella - Baseball player and manager, Asturian grandparents ^[105]
• Hernando Planells - Assistant coach of the Maine Red Claws of the NBA Development League and former head coach of the Basketball Japan League (BJ) team Ryukyu Golden Kings.
• Glenn Jacobs - Wrestler WWE. He was born in Madrid, Spain.^[106]
• Augusto Perez - former wheelchair curler.
• Tony La Russa - Baseball player and manager, born to Spanish and Italian parents in Ybor City in Tampa Florida.^[107]
• Ralph Onis - (1908 in Tampa, Florida – 1995), was a professional baseball.
• Fabri Salcedo - (1914 in Santander, Cantabria, Spain – 1985 in Rochelle Park, New Jersey) soccer forward.
• Wendy Lucero-Schayes - (American former Olympic diver.
• Craig Torres (bodybuilder)
• Benny Urquidez - kickboxer, martial arts choreographer and actor. His father is descended from Basque Spaniards and Blackfoot Amerindians^[108]
• Ted Williams - (1918 – 2002) American professional baseball player, manager, and World War II and Korean War veteran. His mother was of Spanish (Basque), Russian, and American Indian descent.^[109]

• Santiago Argüello - (1791–1862) soldier in the Spanish army of New Spain in Las Californias, a major Mexican land grant ranchos owner, and part of an influential family in Mexican Alta California and post-statehood California. He was son of Spanish soldier José Darío Argüello^[110]
• Terry de la Mesa Allen, Sr. - (1888–1969) Major General, U.S. Army. Decorated World War II Division commander.^[111]
• Terry de la Mesa Allen, Jr. - (1929–67) Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army. Killed in Vietnam War.
• Jerry Apodaca - Democratic Governor of New Mexico (1974–78).
• Polly Baca - Colorado Legislature from 1975–1986. She is a descendant of Spanish and Mexican settlers of New Mexico and Colorado, arrived there in the colonial period.^[112]
• Pierre G. T. Beauregard (1818–1893) American military officer, politician, inventor, writer, civil servant, and the first prominent general of the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. He was born in a Criole family of France and Spanish descent.
• Santos Benavides (1823–1891) - confederate colonel in the American Civil War. He is descendant of Don Tomas Sanchez, the Spanish founder of Laredo, Texas.
• Dionisio Botiller - (1842–1915) was elected a member of the Los Angeles, California, Common Council, the governing body of the city. Botiller's Spanish-heritage family settled in California in the 18th Century, living near Santa Barbara.^[113]
• Carlos Lopez-Cantera - Florida Republican politician of Miami, who serves as the representative for District 113 of the House of Representatives of the State of Florida.^[114]
• Carlos Antonio Carrillo - (1783–1852), Governor of Alta California, (1837–1838)
• José Antonio Carrillo - (1796–1862), Californio ranchero, official and political.
• Juan José Carrillo - (1842–1916) the first mayor of Santa Monica, California
• Dennis Chavez - (1888–1962) Democratic U.S. Senator from the State of New Mexico.
• Linda Chavez - father's family came to New Mexico from Spain in 1601.^[115]
• Henry Cisneros - Politician and businessman^[116]
• Page Cortez - (1961), is a businessman from Lafayette, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana State Senate from District 23.
• Rudolph B. Davila (April 27, 1916 – January 26, 2002), United States Army officer, of Spanish-Filipino descent who received the Medal of Honor for his actions in Italy during World War II.^[117]
• Manuel Dominguez - (1804–1882), Mayor of Los Angeles (1832). He was of Spanish settlers descent^[118]
• Albert Estopinal (1845–1919), Sugar cane planter from St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, who served as a Democrat in both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature between 1876 and 1900 and in the United States House of Representatives from Louisiana's 1st congressional district from 1908 until his death. Their ancestors came from the Canary Islands, Spain.^[119]
• Albert Estopinal, Jr. (1869–1952), Attorney and politician from St. Bernard Parish in south Louisiana. He was son of Albert Estopinal.
• José Joaquín Estudillo - (1800–1852) the second alcalde of Yerba Buena, California (the precursor to San Francisco), and whose land holdings, known as Rancho San Leandro, formed the basis of the city of San Leandro.^[120]
• Jorge Farragut (1755–1817) - Spanish officer Navy who fought for the American War of Independence. Father of David Farragut.
• David Farragut - (1801–1870) First senior officer of the U.S. Navy during the Civil War. Coined phrase "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead!". His father was the Spanish officer Navy Jorge Farragut^[121]
• Joachim Octave Fernández (1896–1978) - was a member of the U. S. House of Representatives representing the state of Louisiana. He was a Democrat.
• Leon Gary - (1913 - 1996), was a Democratic politician who served from 1948 to 1964 as the mayor of Houma, the seat of Terrebonne Parish in south Louisiana. He is a descendant of Juan Garrido (reduced to "Gary"), who was born c. 1737 in Malaga, Spain.^[122]
• Antonio Maria de la Guerra (1825–1881), Mayor of Santa Barbara, California, several times a member of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors, California State Senator and Captain of California Volunteers in the American Civil War. He was son of Spanish soldier José de la Guerra y Noriega.^[123]
• José Gonzáles - American politician who was Mayor of Gonzales, Louisiana, in the years twenty and considered the best mayor of that village.^[124]
• Joseph Marion Hernández - (1793–1857) was an American politician, plantation owner, and soldier. He was the first Delegate from the Florida Territory, becoming the first Hispanic American to serve in the United States Congress. His parents were Spanish settlers of St. Augustine in what was then East Florida.^[125]
• Baldomero Lopez - (1925–1950) was a first lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War.^[126]
• Manuel Lujan Jr - Republican Congressman from New Mexico & Secretary of Interior.
• Francisco Antonio Manzanares (1843–1904) - businessman and politician.
• Luis H. Marrero (1847–1921) was chief of police in Jefferson Parish in New Orleans, president of parish´s government between 1884 and 1916 and senator from Louisiana from 1892 to 1896. He was descend of Spanish settlers from Canary Island.^[124]
• Bob Martinez - former and first Hispanic Governor of Florida, grandson of Spanish immigrants.
• Joseph Montoya - (1915–1978) Democratic U.S. Senator from the State of New Mexico.
• Juan Moya - (1806–1874), was a prominent Tejano landowner and Mexican army´s captain who fought in the Texas Revolution. He was of Canarian descent.
• Ramón Músquiz - (1797–1867) was governor of Mexican Texas from 1830 to 1831 and 1835.
• Antonio Narbona - (1773 - 1830) Spanish soldier born in Mobile, now in Alabama, when this belonged to Spanish Louisiana. He was Governor of Santa Fe de Nuevo México between September 1825 and 1827 and he fought native American people in the northern part of Mexico (now the southwestern United States) around the turn of the nineteenth century. He was of Spanish descent pure^[127]
• Sammy Nunez - Louisiana politician of Canarian, or Isleño descent.^[128]
• Samuel B. Nunez, Jr. - politician and businessman from St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. He is the son of Sammy Nunez.
• John Ortega - first Hispanic sailor to be awarded the United States' highest military decoration for valor in combat — the Medal of Honor — for having distinguished himself during the South Atlantic Blockade by the Union Naval forces during the American Civil War.
• Miguel Antonio Otero (born 1829) - Spanish politician of the New Mexico Territory.
• Miguel Antonio Otero (born 1859) - Governor of New Mexico Territory (1897–1906).
• Mariano S. Otero (1844–1904) - delegate from the Territory of New Mexico.
• Leander Perez - (1891–1969) Louisiana judge and politician of Isleño descent.
• Pío Pico - (1801 – 1894) - the last Governor of Alta California under Mexican rule. He was of Native American, Spanish and African mixed-race ancestry.
• Andrés Pico - (1810 – 1876) Californio rancher, military commander and was elected to the state assembly and senate after California became a state. Andrés Pico was the younger brother of Pío Pico
• Elwood Richard Quesada - (1904 – 1993) was a United States Air Force General, FAA administrator, and, later, a club owner in Major League Baseball. He was of Irish and Spanish descent.
• Bill Richardson - American politician, who served as the 30th Governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011. His mother is the Mexican daughter of a Spanish father from Villaviciosa, Asturias, Spain and a Mexican mother^[129]
• Junior Rodriguez - Politician from St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, of Isleño descent.
• Maritza Sáenz Ryan- United States Army officer, and the head of the Department of Law at the United States Military Academy. She is the first woman and first Hispanic West Point graduate to serve as an academic department head. She is daughter of a Puerto Rican father and Spanish mother.^[130]
• José de la Cruz Sánchez - (1799–1878) was the eleventh Alcalde of San Francisco in 1845.
• Francisco Sanchez (1805–1862) was Commandante of the San Francisco Presidio and the eighth alcalde of San Francisco, California in 1843. He was brother of José de la Cruz Sánchez.
• Erasmo Seguín - (1782 – 1857) prominent citizen and politician in San Antonio, Texas. He was of French and Spanish descent in San Antonio de Bexar (now San Antonio, Texas).^[131]
• Juan Seguín - (1806 - 1890) Texas Senator, Mayor, Judge, and Justice of the Peace and a prominent participant in the Texas Revolution. He was son of Erasmo Seguín.
• Manuel Antonio Santiago Tarín - (1811–1849) Tejano soldier and a recruiter and participant in the Texas Revolution on the Texian side. His father was a Spanish officer.
• Eamonn de Valera - (1882 - 1975) American born leader of Ireland's struggle for independence from Britain in the War of Independence and of the anti-Treaty opposition in the ensuing Irish Civil War (1922–1923). He was the founder of Fianna Fáil, head of government (President of the Executive Council, later Taoiseach) and President of Ireland (1959 - 1973). He was son to an Irish mother and a Cuban father of Spanish descent.^[132]
• Juan Verde - Political, business and Spanish social entrepreneur from the Canary Islands. He serving as International Co-Chair for the reelection campaign of President Barack Obama and worked also on the political campaigns of Senator Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Al Gore, John Kerry, and Hillary Clinton. In addition of developing and directing a strategy to mobilize millions of American citizens residing outside of the United States.^[133]
• Agustín V. Zamorano (1798–1842), was a printer, soldier, and provisional Mexican colonial Governor of Alta California. He was born in Florida, by which him obtained the American citizenship when the territory be joined to United States

• Anderson Cooper - TV News Reporter. Of English, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, Spanish and Dutch descent.
• Bill Gallo - (1922 - 2011) Cartoonist and newspaper columnist for the New York Daily News.^[134]
• Suzanne Malveaux - TV News Reporter. She comes from a Creole family in Louisiana of French, Spanish and African origin.^[135]
• Craig Rivera - American television journalist, producer, and correspondent for Fox News Channel. His father was a Puerto Rican of Sephardic Jew descent.
• Geraldo Rivera - American lawyer, journalist, writer, reporter and talk show host. His father was of Puerto Rican Sephardic Jew ancestry. He is brother of Craig Rivera. ^[136][137]

• Alberto Acereda - Writer, professor of Spanish language and literature in USA and Spanish author of numerous articles on politics and op-eds in several European and American newspapers.
• Estelle Anna Lewis - (1824 – 1880) was a United States poet and dramatist. She was of English and Spanish descent.
• Mercedes de Acosta - (1893–1968) Poet and playwright, also known for her lesbian affairs with Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich.^[138]
• Felipe Alfau (1902–1999) - Catalan novelist and poet.
• Jaime de Angulo - (1887–1950) was a linguist, novelist, and ethnomusicologist in the western United States. He was born in Paris of Spanish parents.
• Sergio Aragonés - cartoonist and Spanish writer known for his contributions to Mad Magazine and creator of the comic book Groo the Wanderer."^[139]
• Hilario Barrero - Spanish poet and teacher.^[140]
• Jessica Hagedorn - Filipino-American playwright, writer, poet, storyteller, musician, and multimedia performance artist, to a Scots-Irish-French-Filipino mother and a Filipino-Spanish father.
• Amber L. Hollibaugh - American writer, film-maker and political activist. She is the daughter of a Romany father of Spanish descent and an Irish mother.^[141]
• Lorraine C. Ladish - American author of American and Spanish descent.
• Odón Betanzos Palacios (1925–2007) - poet, novelist and Spanish literary critic.^[142]
• Carmen M. Pursifull - English-language free verse poet and former New York City Latin dance and Latin American music figure in the 1950s. She is of Puerto Rican and Spanish descent.^[143]
• Anaïs Nin - Born Angela Anaïs Juana Antolina Rosa Edelmira Nin y Culmell, was an American author born to Spanish-Cuban parents in France, where she was also raised.
• Matthew Randazzo V - American true crime writer and historian. He is of Sicilian-American, Isleño, and Cajun descent.^[144]
• George Santayana- (1863–1952) Spanish born, philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist.
• Jose Yglesias - (November 29, 1919 – November 7, 1995)was an American novelist and journalist. Yglesias was born in the Ybor City section of Tampa, Florida, and was of Cuban and Spanish descent. His father was from Galicia.
• Rafael Yglesias - Rafael Yglesias (born May 12, 1954, New York) is an American novelist and screenwriter. His parents were the novelists Jose Yglesias and Helen Yglesias.

• José Antonio Aguirre (early Californian) - (1799–1860) merchant and rancher in Alta California.^[145]
• Arcadia Bandini de Stearns Baker - (1825–1912) Wealthy Los Angeles Landowner. She was the granddaughter of the Spanish captain José María Estudillo.^[146]
• Eulogio F. de Celis - predominant landowner in the San Fernando Valley section of Los Angeles, California, in the mid-19th Century. He was son of Spanish settlers.
• Eulalia Pérez de Guillén Mariné - (1766?-1878) Supercentenarian Californio and owner of Rancho del Rincón de San Pascual (Southern California).^[147]
• Bernardo Yorba - (1800–1858) he was one of the most successful ranchers in Alta California, having thousands of cattle and horses grazing on land grants totaling more than 35,000 acres. He was son of Spanish soldier, José Antonio Yorba.^[148]

• Francisco Mora y Borrell - (1827–1905) Catalan American Roman Catholic priest
• Thaddeus Amat y Brusi – (1810–1878) Roman Catholic Catalan cleric who eventually became Bishop of Los Angeles, California.
• Robert Fortune Sanchez - (1934 – 2012) was the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico. Some of his ancestors were Spanish settlers in New Mexico.
• Henriette DeLille - (1813–1862) founded the Catholic order of the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, which was composed of free women of color. Her mother was a Creole of color of French, Spanish and African ancestry and born in New Orleans.^[149]
• Antonio José Martínez - (1793–1867) Nuevomexicano priest, educator, publisher, rancher, farmer, community leader, and politician.
• Ricky Rodriguez - (1975 – 2005), former member of the Children of God (COG), now known as The Family International (TFI).
• José González Rubio - (1804–1875) Roman Catholic friar prominent in the early history of California.
• Peter Morales - President of the Unitarian Universalist Association, elected in 2009. Morales is the first Latino president. He is of Mexican and Spanish descent.

• Gloria Anzaldúa (1942–2004) scholar of Chicana cultural theory, feminist theory, and queer theory. She descendant of many of the prominent Basque and Spanish explorers and settlers to come to the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries.
• Ernest Fenollosa - (1853–1908) American professor of philosophy and political economy at Tokyo Imperial University.
• Xavier Sala-i-Martin - (born June 17, 1962, Cabrera de Mar, Barcelona, Catalonia Spain) Catalan-American professor of economics at Columbia University.
• Juan Bautista Rael - (1900–1993) Nuevomexicano ethnographer, linguist, and folklorist who was a pioneer in the study of the Nuevomexicanos, his stories and his language, both from Northern New Mexico and Southern Colorado.
• Jamaal al-Din M. Zarabozo - Spanish-parented, French-born, and American-based Islamic scholar, lecturer, and author of numerous books on Islam and speaker of many lectures on Islam.

• Michael Lopez-Alegria - Spanish-American astronaut. Holds American record for most EVA hours (spacewalks or moonwalks). Born in Madrid.^[150]
• Luis F. Alvarez - (1853 – 1937) Developed diagnosis for macular leprosy
• Luis W. Alvarez - (1911 – 1988) Nobel Prize-winning physicist and key participant in the Manhattan Project
• Walter Alvarez - Geologist who first proposed the asteroid-impact theory to explain the extinction of the dinosaurs
• Walter C. Alvarez - (1884 – 1978) American doctor of Spanish descent. He authored several dozen books on medicine, and wrote introductions and forewords for many others. Referred to as "America's Family Doctor" for his syndicated medical column in hundreds of newspapers.
• Francisco J. Ayala - Biologist and philosopher, recipient of the 2010 Templeton Prize; born in Madrid
• Isador Coriat - (1875 – 1943) was an American psychiatrist and neurologist. He was one of the first American psychoanalysts. He was of Moroccan-Spanish descent on father's side and German on mother's side. ^[151]
• Pedro Cuatrecasas American biochemist and an Adjunct Professor of Pharmacology & Medicine at the University of California, San Diego
• Frank J. Duarte - Laser physicist and author
• Valentin Fuster - Catalan American cardiologist
• Rodolfo Llinás - Professor of Neuroscience and Chairman of the department of Physiology & Neuroscience at the NYU School of Medicine. Born in Bogotá (Colombia), with Spanish grandfather
• Severo Ochoa - (1905 – 1993) Nobel Prize-winning biochemist who worked on the synthesis of RNA
• Ramón Verea - (1833 - 1899) Spanish journalist, engineer and writer. Inventor of a calculator with an internal multiplication table

Particle physicist Luis Alvarez

Laser physicist Frank Duarte

Astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria

• Aida de Acosta - (1884–1962) the first woman to fly a plane solo motor.
• Concepción Argüello - (1791–1857) was an Alta Californian noted for her romance with Nikolai Rezanov, a Russian promoter of the colonization of Alaska and California. She was the daughter of José Darío Argüello, the Spanish governor of Alta California and Presidio Commandante.
• Eugene W. Biscailuz (1883-1969) - Sheriff of Los Angeles County. His mother was descended from old Spanish settlers of California.
• Tony Bouza - 40-year veteran of municipal police, serving as Minneapolis police chief from 1980 to 1989. He was born in Spain^[152]
• John Henry Carpenter (1928 - 1998) was most widely known as the friend and accused murderer of actor Bob Crane in 1978. He was of Native American and Spanish heritage.^[153]
• Raymond Fernandez - (1914–1951) and his common-law wife Martha Beck became known as The Lonely Hearts Killers.^[154]
• Yasmin Aga Khan - philanthropist with Spanish blood from her mother, Rita Hayworth.
• Andrea Heinemann Simon - (1909 - 1994) was a community leader and the mother of award-winning singer, Carly Simon. She is of Spanish-Swiss descent.
• Perez Hilton - Mario Armando Lavandeira, Jr. (born March 23, 1978), known professionally as Perez Hilton is an American blogger and television personality.
• Manuel Lisa - (1772, New Orleans - 1820), was a 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.^[155]
• Rita de Acosta Lydig - (1875–1929) Socialite. She was considered "the most picturesque woman in America".
• Paul Charles Morphy - (1837–1884) American chess player.^[156]
• Ignacio Peralta (1791–1874) Spanish settler in California and son of Spanish soldier Luís María Peralta.
• Kika Perez, aka Ilva Margarita Perez, is a Colombian American Actress/TV host.
• Manuel Real - judge of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California.^[157]
• Tony Serra - American civil rights lawyer, activist and tax resister from San Francisco.
• JWoww - American television personality - She is of Spanish-Irish descent.^[158]

• Catalan American
• Galician American
• Basque-American
• Criollos
• Spanish Filipinos
• Spanish Argentine
• Spanish Mexicans
• Hispanic American
• List of Puerto Ricans
• Californio
• List of Spanish settlers from the U.S. Hispanic colonies