Notable Spanish People

Jennifer Lopez

Jennifer Lopez is a globally renowned singer, actress, dancer, and businesswoman who successfully transitioned from a "Fly Girl" dancer to a multifaceted Hollywood powerhouse. Her career highlights include starring roles in films like Selena and Hustlers, hit songs such as "On the Floor" and "Jenny from the Block," and establishing herself as a pioneering figure for Latinx representation in media.

Antonia Novello

Dr. Antonia Novello is a pioneering Puerto Rican physician who made history as the first woman and first Hispanic to serve as the Surgeon General of the United States from 1990 to 1993. Throughout her career, she was a dedicated public health advocate, focusing her efforts on improving the health of women, children, and minority populations, and spearheading campaigns against youth smoking and underage drinking.

Roberto Clemente

Roberto Clemente was a legendary Puerto Rican baseball player for the Pittsburgh Pirates, known for his tremendous skill as a right fielder and for achieving exactly 3,000 career hits. He is equally revered as a global humanitarian who tragically died in a plane crash while delivering aid to earthquake victims in Nicaragua.

Carolina Herrera

Carolina Herrera is a Venezuelan-American fashion designer who launched her namesake brand in 1981, becoming famous for her sophisticated and elegant style. Her global brand, which also includes an extensive fragrance line, has dressed numerous notable figures including several First Ladies of the United States.

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz is an American politician, attorney, and Republican Senator for Texas since 2013, known for his strongly conservative views and association with the Tea Party movement. A graduate of Princeton and Harvard Law, he previously served as the Solicitor General of Texas and was a prominent candidate in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries

Lionel Messi

Lionel Messi is a prolific Argentine footballer widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the sport, holding a record eight Ballon d'Or awards. His legendary career includes leading the Argentina national team to victory in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, alongside numerous championships with clubs like FC Barcelona.

Gloria Estefan

Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-American singer-songwriter widely hailed as the "Queen of Latin Pop" and one of the most successful Latin crossover artists in history, known for hits like "Conga" and "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You." Her groundbreaking fusion of Latin rhythms with American pop music, both with the Miami Sound Machine and as a solo artist, has led to over 100 million records sold worldwide and numerous accolades, including multiple Grammy Awards and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Selena Quintanilla

Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, known as the "Queen of Tejano Music," was a Mexican-American singer, songwriter, and fashion icon who broke cultural and gender barriers in the male-dominated Tejano music industry during the late 20th century. Her groundbreaking fusion of Tejano, Cumbia, and pop, which earned her a Grammy, and her untimely death in 1995 at the age of 23 cemented her legacy as one of the most beloved and influential Latin artists of all time.

Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio is an American Republican politician and diplomat who currently serves as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, having been unanimously confirmed by the Senate in early 2025. Prior to this role, the son of Cuban immigrants was a three-term U.S. Senator representing Florida, known for his conservative policy positions and strong stance on foreign policy, particularly concerning China and Latin America

Mario Molina

Mario Molina was a Mexican-born American chemist who was a co-recipient of the 1995 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his pioneering work on atmospheric chemistry. He and his colleagues demonstrated that chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) gases could destroy the Earth's protective ozone layer, a discovery that led to the international environmental treaty, the Montreal Protocol.

Sonia Sotomayor

Sonia Sotomayor is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, having been appointed by President Barack Obama in 2009. She is notable as the first Hispanic and Latina Justice, following her distinguished career as an assistant district attorney, a private litigator, and a federal judge on the U.S. District Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Carlos Santana

Carlos Santana is a renowned Mexican-American guitarist who pioneered a distinctive blend of rock, Latin, blues, and jazz music with his band, Santana. His signature sound and work on albums like Abraxas and the multi-Grammy-winning Supernatural have made him a global music icon.

Rita Moreno

Rita Moreno is an acclaimed Puerto Rican actress, singer, and dancer who is one of the few performers to have won all four major American entertainment awards: an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony (EGOT). She won her Academy Award for her iconic role as Anita in the 1961 film adaptation of West Side Story, making her the first Hispanic woman to win an Oscar.

Frida Kahlo

Frida Kahlo was a groundbreaking 20th-century Mexican painter renowned for her deeply personal and often surreal self-portraits that explored themes of identity, postcolonialism, gender, and her lifelong physical and emotional pain. Her powerful body of work, distinguished by its vibrant Mexican folk art style and unflinching honesty, has cemented her legacy as a feminist and cultural icon.

George Pérez

George Pérez was a legendary American comic book artist and writer renowned for his incredibly detailed, dynamic artwork, especially on large ensemble and crossover stories. His most famous and influential works include co-creating The New Teen Titans, penciling the universe-altering Crisis on Infinite Earths, and a landmark run as writer and artist on Wonder Woman.

Ellen Ochoa

Ellen Ochoa was an American engineer and former astronaut who became the first Hispanic woman to travel to space aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1993. She later served in a distinguished leadership role as the first Hispanic and second female Director of NASA's Johnson Space Center.

Sandra Cisneros

Sandra Cisneros is an influential American writer, poet, and essayist best known for her novel The House on Mango Street, which illuminates the Mexican American and working-class experience. Her work, which often blends literary forms, explores themes of independence, identity, and the challenges faced by women in patriarchal cultures.

Tito Puente

Tito Puente, nicknamed "El Rey," was an immensely influential American bandleader, composer, and musician born to Puerto Rican immigrants, widely known for his mastery of the timbales. He pioneered a dynamic fusion of Afro-Cuban rhythms with jazz and big-band arrangements, popularizing mambo and Latin jazz worldwide through a career that spanned five decades. Played 7 instruments

Richie Valens

Ritchie Valens was an American rock and roll pioneer, widely regarded as the first U.S. Latino rock star, whose brief career tragically ended in a 1959 plane crash at age 17. He is best known for hits like "Donna" and his rock-and-roll adaptation of the traditional Mexican folk song, "La Bamba."

Dolores Huerta

Dolores Huerta is a renowned American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA) with César Chávez, which later became the United Farm Workers (UFW). She was instrumental in organizing farmworkers, negotiating contracts for better wages and working conditions, and is credited with creating the rallying cry, "¡Sí, se puede!" ("Yes, we can!").

Sylvia Mendez

Sylvia Mendez is an American civil rights activist who, at age eight, was the central figure in the landmark 1946 desegregation case Mendez v. Westminster. This successful lawsuit challenged segregated schools for Hispanic children, leading to the end of school segregation in California and serving as a crucial precedent for the 1954 Supreme Court case, Brown v. Board of Education.

Cesar Romero

Cesar Romero was a Cuban-American actor known for his prolific career spanning over six decades in film and television. He is best remembered for his iconic role as the Joker in the 1960s Batman television series, and for often playing the "Latin lover" archetype and the Cisco Kid in films.

Carlos Fuentes

Carlos Fuentes was a highly influential Mexican novelist and essayist, recognized as a key figure in the Latin American literary boom. His experimental works, such as The Death of Artemio Cruz, explored Mexican identity, history, and social corruption, earning him global literary acclaim and honors like the Cervantes Prize.

Salvador Dalí

Salvador Dalí was a Spanish Surrealist master celebrated for his technically precise yet bizarre and fantastical paintings, most famously The Persistence of Memory with its melting clocks. His flamboyant personality, iconic upturned mustache, and works exploring the subconscious and dreams made him a global cultural icon of 20th-century art.

Desi Arnez

Desi Arnaz was a Cuban-born American musician, actor, and television producer best known for starring as Ricky Ricardo alongside his wife Lucille Ball in the classic sitcom I Love Lucy. He and Ball co-founded Desilu Productions, where Arnaz introduced groundbreaking production techniques that revolutionized the television industry, such as the multi-camera setup and filming for reruns.

Cesar Chavez

Cesar Chavez was an influential American labor leader and civil rights activist who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW). Utilizing nonviolent tactics like boycotts, fasts, and marches, he fought tirelessly to secure better wages, working conditions, and rights for American farmworkers, particularly in California.

Irene Cara

Irene Cara was an American singer and actress who rose to fame for her role as Coco Hernandez in the 1980 film Fame, for which she sang the title track and the hit song "Out Here on My Own." Her biggest musical success came from co-writing and performing the iconic theme song "Flashdance... What a Feeling" from the 1983 film Flashdance, winning her an Academy Award and two Grammy Awards.

Jenna Ortega

Jenna Ortega is an American actress who rose to international recognition for her acclaimed portrayal of Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday. She began her career as a child actor in shows like Stuck in the Middle and has since become known as a "scream queen" for her work in the horror genre, including films like Scream and X.

Che Guevara

Ernesto "Che" Guevara was an Argentine Marxist revolutionary, physician, and guerrilla leader who became a key figure in the Cuban Revolution alongside Fidel Castro. After serving in the Cuban government, he left to promote armed socialist revolutions elsewhere, ultimately being captured and executed in Bolivia in 1967, which solidified his image as an international icon of rebellion and anti-imperialism.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, an Argentine Jesuit, was elected the 266th pope of the Catholic Church in 2013, becoming the first pope from the Americas. Taking the name Francis, he is known for his humility, commitment to social justice, and emphasis on the Church's role in serving the poor and marginalized.

Celia Cruz

Celia Cruz was an iconic Cuban-American singer, widely celebrated as the "Queen of Salsa" for her powerful voice, flamboyant style, and vital contributions to Latin music. Rising to fame in Cuba with La Sonora Matancera before moving to the U.S., she was instrumental in popularizing the salsa genre worldwide and became known for her signature catchphrase, “¡Azúcar!”

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American composer, lyricist, actor, and writer, best known for creating and starring in the groundbreaking Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton. The latter, a hip-hop and R&B retelling of the life of Alexander Hamilton with a diverse cast, became a global cultural phenomenon, earning him numerous awards including the Pulitzer Prize and multiple Tony Awards

Louis Buñeul

Luis Buñuel was a visionary Spanish filmmaker and a leading figure of the Surrealist movement, whose works blend shocking, dream-like imagery with biting social satire. Throughout his career, his films relentlessly attacked the hypocrisies of the bourgeoisie, the repression of desire, and the rigid authority of the Catholic Church.

Rita Hayworth

Rita Hayworth was a quintessential Hollywood star and pin-up girl of the 1940s, celebrated as a "Love Goddess" and renowned dancer for glamorous film noir and musical roles, most famously in Gilda (1946). Her off-screen life was marked by turbulent marriages and a later, public battle with Alzheimer's disease, which brought increased awareness to the illness.

Pablo Picasso

Pablo Picasso was a Spanish painter and sculptor, regarded as one of the most influential artists of the 20th century for his radical stylistic shifts and immense volume of work. He fundamentally changed art history by co-founding the Cubist movement, which fragmented forms and depicted subjects from multiple perspectives, as seen in his powerful anti-war masterpiece, Guernica.

Oscar De Lay Hoya

Oscar De La Hoya is a highly influential Mexican-American boxing legend known as "The Golden Boy," who won an Olympic gold medal in 1992 before capturing 11 world titles across six different weight classes as a professional. After retiring, he became a major boxing promoter, founding Golden Boy Promotions, and remains a significant figure in the sport.

Bad Bunny

Bad Bunny is a globally dominant Puerto Rican artist who is widely credited with bringing Latin trap and Spanish-language music to the forefront of the international mainstream. Known for his distinctive style and cultural activism, he has set major streaming records and used his platform to advocate for Puerto Rican identity and social justice.

Neya Rivera

Naya Rivera was an American actress, singer, and model best known for her breakthrough role as the fierce cheerleader Santana Lopez on the TV series Glee. Her career began in childhood, but her lasting legacy is often tied to her critically praised portrayal of a Latina lesbian character and her charitable work supporting causes like LGBTQ+ rights.

Carmen Herrera

Carmen Herrera was a Cuban-born American abstract, minimalist artist known for her spare, hard-edged geometric compositions that frequently used only two contrasting colors. After decades of working in obscurity despite pioneering her style, she finally received international acclaim and museum recognition late in life, selling her first painting at age 89.

Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, also known as AOC, is an American politician and activist who began representing New York's 14th congressional district in 2019, becoming the youngest woman and youngest Latina ever elected to the U.S.Congress. She is known for her progressive platform, which advocates for policies like a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and a federal jobs guarantee.

Julián Castro

Julián Castro is an American politician who served as the 16th Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Barack Obama from 2014 to 2017. Prior to his cabinet role, the member of the Democratic Party was the Mayor of San Antonio, Texas, from 2009 to 2014.

Julia Alveraz

Julia Alvarez is an acclaimed Dominican-American poet, novelist, and essayist, whose work often explores themes of immigration, identity, and assimilation. She is best known for her novels How the García Girls Lost Their Accents and In the Time of the Butterflies, the latter being a fictionalized account of the Mirabal sisters' resistance to the Trujillo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic.