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This is a list of notable German Americans.
German Americans (Deutschamerikaner) are citizens of the United States of ethnic German ancestry and form the largest ancestry group in the United States, accounting for 17% of US population.[1] The first significant numbers arrived in the 1680s in New York and Pennsylvania. Some eight million German immigrants entered the United States since then. Immigration continued in substantial numbers during the 19th century; the largest number of arrivals came 1840–1900, when Germans formed the largest group of immigrants coming to the U.S., outnumbering even the Irish and English.[2] Some arrived seeking religious or political freedom, others for economic opportunities greater than those in Europe, and others simply for the chance to start afresh in the New World. California and Pennsylvania have the largest populations of German origin, with over six million German-Americans residing in the two states alone[3]. Over 50 million people in the United States identify German as their ancestry[4].
Americans of German descent live in nearly every American county, from the East Coast, where the first German settlers arrived in the 1600s, to the West Coast and in all the states in between. German-Americans and those Germans who settled in the US have been influential in most every field, from science, to architecture, to entertainment to commercial industry.
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This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
Contents |
List
Art and literature
Architects
- Dankmar Adler - steel framed skyscrapers, leader of Chicago school of architecture[5]
- Julius Berndt - artist, architect and entrepreneur[6][7][8]
- Adolf Cluss - architect, builder of numerous public buildings in Washington D.C.[9]
- Walter Gropius - pioneering master of "modern" architecture, founder of Bauhaus[10]
- John A. Roebling - architect, best known for designing the Brooklyn Bridge[11]
- Ludwig Mies van der Rohe - pioneer of "modern" architecture, second Chicago school of architecture[12]
- August Schoenborn - U.S. Capitol Dome[13]
Artists
- Anni Albers - printmaker, textile artist [14]
- Albert Bierstadt - painter, best known for his large landscapes of the American West[15]
- Rudolph Dirks - comic strip artist who created The Katzenjammer Kids[16]
- Alfred Eisenstaedt - photographer and photojournalist best remembered for his photograph capturing the celebration of V-J Day
- Andreas Feininger - photographer and writer on photographic technique[citation needed]
- Lyonel Feininger - painter and caricaturist[citation needed]
- Steven Fischer - film producer; cartoonist[citation needed]
- George Grosz - prominent member of the Berlin Dada and New Objectivity group, known especially for his savagely caricatural drawings of Berlin life in the 1920s[17]
- Uli Herzner - fashion designer[18]
- Hans Hofmann- abstract expressionist painter[19]
- Ubbe Ert Iwwerks - Academy Award-winning animator, cartoonist and special effects technician, famous for his work for Walt Disney[citation needed]
- Harold Knerr - illustrator of The Katzenjammer Kids until 1949[20]
- John Lewis Krimmel - America's first genre painter[citation needed]
- Fritz Lang - film director, screenwriter and occasional film producer[citation needed]
- J. C. Leyendecker - cartoonist[citation needed]
- Emanuel Leutze - history painter best-known for his painting Washington Crossing the Delaware[21]
- Nicola Marschall - artist, designed the first Confederate flag and the Confederate uniform[22]
- Louis Maurer - lithographer[23]
- Thomas Nast - political cartoonist[24]
- Erwin Panofsky - art historian[25]
- Louis Prang - printer, lithographer and publisher, one of the famous "Forty-Eighters"[citation needed]
- Vinnie Ream - sculptor, famous for her work of Abraham Lincoln in the U.S. Capitol rotunda[citation needed]
- Severin Roesen - still life painter[26]
- Charles M. Schulz - cartoonist best known worldwide for his Peanuts comic strip[citation needed]
- Christian Schwartz - type designer[citation needed]
- Otto Soglow - cartoonist best known for his comic strip The Little King[citation needed]
- Alfred Stieglitz - photographer instrumental in making photography an acceptable art form alongside painting and sculpture[citation needed]
- Christopher Sauer - earliest type founder in America, published the first German Bible, 1743, and the first religious magazine in America, 1764[27]
- Henry William Stiegel - glassmaker and ironmaster[citation needed]
- Kat Von D (Katherine von Drachenberg) - tattoo artist[28][29]
- Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven - avant-garde, Dadaist artist and poet[citation needed]
- Carl von Marr - painter[citation needed]
- Baroness Hilla von Rebay - abstract painter, helped establish the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City[30]
- Karl Ferdinand Wimar - painter[31]
Authors and writers
- Kathy Acker - author [32]
- Sade Baderinwa - news reporter/journalist
- Monika Bauerlein - co-editor of Mother Jones magazine[citation needed]
- L. Frank Baum - author, actor, and independent filmmaker best known as the creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz[citation needed]
- Vicki Baum - writer[33]
- Richard Bock - sculptor and associate of Frank Lloyd Wright[citation needed]
- Charles Bukowski - poet and novelist[34]
- August Derleth - author of Sac Prairie saga, science fiction, mystery[citation needed]
- Theodore Dreiser - author of the naturalist school, known for dealing with the gritty reality of life[35]
- Gottfried Duden - travel author[36]
- Roger Ebert - Pulitzer Prize-winning film critic[37]
- Martin Ebon - author of non-fiction books from the paranormal to politics[38]
- George DiCaprio - writer, editor, and major west coast underground comic book distributor[39]
- Charles Follen - poet and patriot[40]
- Bruno Frank - author, poet, dramatist and humanist[citation needed]
- Isaac Kaufmann Funk - editor, lexicographer, publisher, and spelling reformer[citation needed]
- Cork Graham - screenwriter, war correspondent, and author [41]
- Ursula Hegi - novelist[citation needed]
- Patricia Highsmith - novelist known for her psychological thrillers[42]
- Friedrich Hirth - sinologue[43]
- Julia Kasdorf - poet[citation needed]
- Siegfried Kracauer - film historian, sociologist and author[44]
- Howard Kurtz - journalist, blogger, author and media critic[citation needed]
- Thomas Mann - Nobel prize-winning author[citation needed]
- Walter Lippman - writer, journalist, and political commentator[citation needed]
- H. L. Mencken - journalist[45]
- Henry Miller - writer and painter[46]
- Anna Balmer Myers - author of Mennonite (Pennsylvania Dutch) novels[citation needed]
- Sylvia Plath - poet, novelist, and short story writer[47]
- Joseph Pulitzer - publisher best known for posthumously establishing the Pulitzer Prizes and for originating yellow journalism[48]
- Heinrich Armin Rattermann - author, poet, and historian[49]
- Wolfgang Reitherman - Disney animator and director[50]
- Erich Maria Remarque - German-born author, naturalized U.S. citizen[citation needed]
- Conrad Richter - Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist[51]
- Mary Roberts Rinehart - author[52]
- Hope Rockefeller Aldrich - journalist[citation needed]
- Charles Sealsfield - the pseudonym of Austrian-American author of novels and travelogues, Carl (or Karl) Anton Postl[53]
- Curt Siodmak - screenwriter[54]
- Gertrude Stein - author[55][56]
- John Steinbeck - Nobel prize-winning author, one of the best-known and most widely read American writers of the 20th century[57][58]
- Dr. Seuss (born Theodor Seuss Geisel) - writer and cartoonist[59]
- Henry Villard - journalist[60]
- Kurt Vonnegut[61]
Entertainment
Actors and actresses
- Eddie Albert - (born Edward Albert Heimberger) Oscar and Emmy Award-nominated American stage, film, character actor, gardener, humanitarian activist, and World War II hero[62]
- Edward Albert - (born Edward Laurence Heimberger) film and television actor[63]
- Woody Allen - (born Allen Stewart Königsberg) actor, film producer[64]
- Edward Arnold - actor [65]
- Fred Astaire - actor [66][67]
- Mary Astor - actress [68]
- Lauren Bacall - actress [69]
- Catherine Bach - actress [70]
- Maxine Bahns - actress[71]
- Jaid Barrymore - actress[72]
- Chris Bauer - actor[citation needed]
- Carl Betz - actor and World War II Veteran[73]
- Curt Bois - actor[74]
- Eric Braeden - actor [75][76]
- Victor Brandt - actor[citation needed]
- Felix Bressart - actor [77]
- Agnes Bruckner - actress [78]
- Sandra Bullock - actress [79]
- Carol Channing - actor [80]
- Harry Cohn - founded C.B.C. Films in 1920, later Columbia Pictures[81]
- Kevin Costner - actor[82]
- Helmut Dantine - actor[83]
- Doris Day - actress, singer [84][85]
- Johnny Depp - actor[86]
- Cameron Diaz - actress[87][88][89][90]
- Leonardo DiCaprio - actor
- Marlene Dietrich - actress[94]
- Phyllis Diller - entertainer, comedienne and film, television, and stage actress[95]
- Peter Douglas - Emmy award winning director and producer[96]
- Haylie Duff - actress and sister of Hilary Duff
- Hilary Duff - actress[97]
- Kirsten Dunst - film actress & former model[98]
- George Dzundza - actor known for his role as Sgt. Max Greevey in the first season of the TV crime drama Law & Order[99]
- Douglas Fairbanks - actor of the silent era[100]
- Dakota Fanning - child actress (I Am Sam, Uptown Girls, Taken)[101]
- Fritz Feld - actor [102]
- Tina Fey - writer, comedian and a Prime Time Emmy-nominated actress[103]
- William Fichtner - actor[104]
- Dennis Franz - born Dennis Franz Schlachta, Emmy-, Screen Actors Guild-, and Golden Globe Award-winning actor[105][106]
- Clark Gable - actor[107]
- Mitzi Gaynor - born Francesca Marlene de Czanyi von Gerber -- Actress, singer, and dancer[108]
- Lillian Gish - actress[109]
- Harry Groener - three-time Tony Award nominee [110]
- Uta Hagen - actress[111]
- Jon Hamm - actor
- David Hasselhoff - actor[112]
- Katherine Heigl - actress[113]
- Marg Helgenberger - actress[114]
- Paul Henreid - born Paul Georg Julius Hernried Freiherr von Wassel-Waldingau[citation needed]
- Edward Herrmann - television and film actor[115]
- Tab Hunter - film actor and singer[citation needed]
- Emil Jannings - the very first actor to receive the Academy Award for Best Actor[116]
- Leatrice Joy - (born Leatrice Joy Zeidler) silent film era actress[citation needed]
- Werner Klemperer - actor[117]
- Sarah Kozer - television personality[citation needed]
- Peter Krause - actor[citation needed]
- Kurt Kreuger - actor[118]
- Berry Kroeger - actor[citation needed]
- Veronica Lake - actress and pin-up model[119]
- Cyndi Lauper - singer, actress[120]
- Jessica Lange - actress[121]
- Taylor Lautner - actor/martial artist[122]
- Justin Lazard - actor, model[citation needed]
- Allison Mack - actress[citation needed]
- Fredric March - actor[citation needed]
- Rudolf Martin - actor[citation needed]
- Marx Brothers - actors[citation needed]
- Ray Mayer - actor[citation needed]
- Helen Menken - actress, born Helen Meinken[citation needed]
- Candice Michelle - model/actress/WWE diva[123]
- Heidi Montag - entertainer[citation needed]
- Nick Nolte - actor[124]
- Chris O'Donnell - actor who played Robin in two Batman movies[citation needed]
- Lotte Palfi - actress[125][126]
- Lilli Palmer - (born Lillie Marie Peiser) actress[127]
- Michelle Pfeiffer - actress[128]
- Amy Poehler - actress and comedian[citation needed]
- Erich Pommer - actor and film producer[129]
- George Raft - (born George Ranft) actor[130]
- Luise Rainer - actress[131]
- Donna Reed - actress[citation needed]
- Elisabeth Röhm [132]
- Sig Ruman - actor[citation needed]
- Roy Scheider - actor[citation needed]
- August Schellenberg - actor[133]
- Helen Schneider - actress and singer
- John Schneider - country singer and actor
- Michael Schoeffling - actor[citation needed]
- Josef Sommer - actor[134]
- Matt Schulze - actor[citation needed]
- Nick Stahl - actor[citation needed]
- Eric Stoltz - actor[citation needed]
- Ludwig Stossel - actor[135]
- Charlize Theron - actress [136]
- Tiffani Thiessen - actress[137]
- Liv Tyler - actress[citation needed]
- Alida Valli - actress, born Alida Maria Laura von Altenburger
- Conrad Veidt - actor[citation needed]
- Mike Vogel - actor [138]
- Erik von Detten - actor[139]
- Angelina Jolie - actress , born Angelina Jolie Voight[citation needed]
- Jon Voight - actor[140].
- Jenna von Oÿ - actress and singer[141]
- Christopher Walken - actor [142]
- Paul Walker - actor[143]
- Erin Wasson - actress/model[144]
- Johnny Weissmuller - Olympic swimmer, actor, best known as Tarzan[145]
- Thomas J. Hageboeck – actor, born in 1945, died in 1996.
- Mae West - actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol[146]
- Bruce Willis - actor[147]
- Katie Wuhrer - actress[citation needed]
- Wolfgang Zilzer - actor[148]
Celebrities
- Paul Burmeister - analyst for the NFL Network[citation needed]
- Lauren Conrad, reality television personality. [149] Also has Irish ancestry.
- Siegfried Fischbacher - magician[150]
- Paris Hilton - Hilton Hotel heiress[151]
- Nikki Hilton - Hilton Hotel heiress[152]
- Roy Horn - magician[153]
- Stacy Keibler - World Wrestling Entertainment diva, model and ex-cheerleader of the Baltimore Ravens
- Jimmy Kimmel - comedian, writer, talk show host, game show host, and producer[154]
- Heidi Montag - reality television celebrity.[155] Also has Irish ancestry.
- Keith Olbermann - news anchor, commentator and radio sportscaster[156]
- Stefani Schaeffer - named Season 6 Apprentice[citation needed]
- Ruth Westheimer - media sex educator “Dr. Ruth”[citation needed]
Directors/producers
- Roland Emmerich - Hollywood film director; born in Stuttgart[157]
- Steven Fischer - producer/director; two time Emmy Award nominee[citation needed]
- Marc Forster - director[citation needed]
- John Frankenheimer - film director[citation needed]
- Mark Hellinger - producer[citation needed]
- Carl Laemmle - pioneer in American film making and a founder of one of the original major Hollywood movie studios[citation needed]
- Ernst Lubitsch - acclaimed film director, special Academy Award winner[158][159]
- Anthony Mann - film director and actor[160]
- Russ Meyer - motion picture director and photographer[161]
- F. W. Murnau - film director of the silent era[162]
- Harold Nebenzal - film producer and screenwriter[163]
- Seymour Nebenzahl - film producer[164]
- Kurt Neumann - Hollywood film director who specialized in science fiction[165]
- Mike Nichols- Academy Award winning film director, writer and producer[166]
- Arch Oboler - scriptwriter, novelist, producer and director who was active in films, radio and television[167]
- Wolfgang Petersen- director[168]
- Gottfried Reinhardt - producer and director[169]
- George Schaefer - director of television and Broadway theatre[citation needed]
- Eric Schaeffer - actor/writer/director in film and television[citation needed]
- Victor Schertzinger - composer, film director, film producer, and screenwriter[citation needed]
- Eugen Schüfftan - cinematographer and inventor[170][171]
- Reinhold Schünzel - director and actor[172]
- Robert Siodmak - director[173]
- Irving Thalberg - film producer, the 'Boy Wonder'[citation needed]
- Paul Vogel - cinematographer[citation needed]
- Wim Wenders - film director[174]
- William Wyler - film director[175]
Humorists
- Matt Groening - cartoonist, The Simpsons and Futurama creator[176]and creator of the comic strip Life in Hell.
- Dave Letterman - late-night talk show host and comedian and the host of Late Show with David Letterman[177]
Models
- Carol Alt - supermodel and actress[citation needed]
- Megan Ewing - model[178]
- Jinx Falkenburg - model[citation needed]
- Heidi Klum - supermodel
- Julia Schultz - model and actress[citation needed]
Music
- Bix Beiderbecke - jazz cornet player and a classical and jazz pianist[179]
- Frank Heino Damrosch - conductor and educator[citation needed]
- Leopold Damrosch - conductor[citation needed]
- Walter Johannes Damrosch - conductor[180]
- Glenn Danzig - singer, songwriter and musician[citation needed]
- Carlos Dengler - Interpol guitarist[citation needed]
- John Denver - musician[181]
- Howard Dietz - publicist, lyric writer and librettist[182]
- Adolph Deutsch - Academy Award-winning composer, conductor and arranger[citation needed]
- Fred Durst - musician, director, and actor, known primarily as the founder of nu metal band Limp Bizkit[citation needed]
- Antje Duvekot - singer, songwriter, and guitarist[citation needed]
- Chris Fehn- percussionist Slipknot[citation needed]
- Lukas Foss - conductor[183]
- Daryl Hall - (born Daryl Franklin Hohl) singer/songwriter[citation needed]
- James Hetfield - singer/rhythm guitarist of Metallica[citation needed]
- Elbert Joseph Higgins - songwriter[184]
- Paul Hindemith - composer, violinist and influential teacher.[185]
- Hanya Holm - choreographer[186]
- Horst P. Horst - photographer[187]
- Elizabeth Hummel - singer-songwriter[citation needed]
- Jonas Brothers - musicians
- Norman Frauenheim - acclaimed pianist and music teacher[188]
- Hugo Friedhofer - Film music composer[189]
- Dave Grohl - rock musician and songwriter[citation needed]
- Gus Kahn - musician, songwriter and lyricist[citation needed]
- Edd Kalehoff - music composer who specializes in compositions for television[citation needed]
- Jerome Kern - composer[citation needed]
- Jewel Kilcher - singer, songwriter, actress, poet and philanthropist, generally known just by her first name, Jewel[citation needed]
- Henry Kleber - influential performer, composer, music merchant, impresario, and teacher.[190]
- Johnny Klein - drummer for Lawrence Welk on the The Lawrence Welk Show[citation needed]
- Otto Klemperer - conductor[191]
- Alison Krauss (Krauß) - bluegrass-country singer and fiddle player[citation needed]
- Nick Lachey - pop singer[192]
- Tallan Latz - blues guitar prodigy[citation needed]
- Charles Martin Loeffler - composer[193]
- Marilyn Manson- singer[citation needed]
- Christian Frederick Martin - guitar maker, founded C. F. Martin & Company[citation needed]
- Jaco Pastorius - musician and songwriter widely acknowledged for his virtuosity of the fretless bass[194]
- Elvis Presley - singer[195]
- Linda Ronstadt - singer, songwriter.[196][197]
- Bruno Walter Schlesinger - conductor and composer[citation needed]
- Jeff Schroeder - guitarist, Smashing Pumpkins[citation needed]
- Theodore Thomas - conductor[198]
- Dee Dee Ramone - Bassist for The Ramones[199]
- Heinz Eric Roemheld - Academy Award-winning composer[citation needed]
- Arnold Schoenberg - expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School[200]
- Max Steiner - composer of music for theater and films[citation needed]
- Zacky Vengeance - Rhythm Guitarist for Avenged Sevenfold[citation needed]
- Kurt Weill - composer[201]
- Pete Wentz - Bassist for the band Fall Out Boy[citation needed]
- Lawrence Welk - bandleader[202]
- Hugo Winterhalter - easy listening arranger and composer[citation needed]
- Ace Young - singer[203]
Entrepreneurs
- John Jacob Astor - merchant[204]
- William Waldorf Astor, 1st Viscount Astor - financier and statesman
- George Frederick Baer - lawyer, Social Darwinist railroad baron (former President of the Reading Railroad) [205]
- Ralph Baer - father of the home video game consule[206]
- John Jacob Bausch - optician who co-founded Bausch & Lomb[207]
- Andy Bechtolsheim - co-founder of Sun Microsystems and one of the first investors in Google[citation needed]
- Joseph Augustus Biedenharn - credited with first bottling the popular soda fountain drink Coca-Cola in the summer of 1894[citation needed]
- Maximilian Berlitz - Berlitz Language School[208]
- William Edward Boeing - aviation pioneer who founded The Boeing Company[citation needed]
- Henry Buhl Jr. - entrepreneur and public science educator[209][210]
- Walter Chrysler - Chrysler automobile developer[208][211]
- Noah Dietrich - CEO of the Howard Hughes empire[citation needed]
- Walt Disney - film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, and philanthropist[212]
- John Doerr - venture capitalist at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers
- August Duesenberg - automobile pioneer manufacturer[citation needed]
- Fred Duesenberg - automobile pioneer designer, manufacturer and sportsman[citation needed]
- Harvey Firestone - founder of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company[213]
- August Charles Fruehauf - blacksmith who invented the tractor trailer or semi-trailer (Sattelschlepper in German) in 1914 and founded the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation [214]
- Gustav Goelitz - candy and ice cream merchant whose endeavours led to candy corn and the Jelly Belly candy company[215]
- Theodor August Heintzman - piano manufacturer (Heintzman & Co.) and inventor[citation needed]
- Henry J. Heinz - H. J. Heinz Company ketchup founder[216]
- H. J. Heinz II - best known as Jack Heinz, a business executive and CEO of the H. J. Heinz Company
- Milton S. Hershey - Hershey chocolate founder[216]
- Barron Hilton - chairman of the Hilton Hotel chain and grandfather of Paris Hilton
- Conrad Hilton - founder of the Hilton Hotel chain and great grandfather of Paris Hilton & Nicky Hilton[217][152]
- Richard Hilton, Businessman and father of Paris Hilton
- Max Kade - pharmaceutical industry tycoon, endowed the Max Kade foundation[218]
- Otto Hermann Kahn - investment banker[219]
- Edgar J. Kaufmann - department store entrepreneur[citation needed]
- John W. Kieckhefer - pioneer in the use of fibre shipping containers and one of the wealthiest men in America in 1957[citation needed]
- John Kluge - television industry mogul[220]
- William Knabe - industrialist and piano-manufacturer[221]
- Francis Koenig - investor
- Johan Adam Lemp - the father of modern brewing in St. Louis, started the William J. Lemp Brewing Company[222]
- Alfred Lion - co-founder of Blue Note Records[223]
- Solomon Loeb - banker, co-founder of Kuhn, Loeb & Co.[citation needed]
- William H. Luden - developer of the menthol cough drop, the first ever, Luden's Menthol Cough Drops[citation needed]
- Peter Luger - steak restauranteur[224]
- Abby Rockefeller Mauzé - philanthropist[citation needed]
- Oscar Mayer - meat entrepreneur[225]
- F. L. Maytag - founded the Maytag Company[citation needed]
- George W. Merck - scientist and former president of Merck & Co.[citation needed]
- Adolph Ochs - newspaper publisher and former owner of The New York Times and The Chattanooga Times (now the Chattanooga Times Free Press)[citation needed]
- Hermann Oelrichs - businessman, multimillionaire, and owner of Norddeutsche Lloyd shipping[citation needed]
- Fabian Pascal - consultant to large software vendors[226]
- Charles Pfizer - founded the Pfizer Inc. pharmaceutical company[citation needed]
- George Remus - famous Cincinnati lawyer and bootlegger during the prohibition era[citation need