List of Romani people

This is a list of notable Romani people and people of Romani origin.

Politicians and activists

• Juscelino Kubitschek - Brazilian president. His mother was of Czech and Roma descent.
• Damian Draghici – (born 1970) Currently Member of the European Parliament, former MP Romanian Parliament - Senator, Adviser of the Prime Minister on Roma issues
• Rajko Đurić – (born 1947) Serbian writer and academic, leader of Roma Union of Serbia
• Alfonso Mejia-Arias – musician, writer and politician, Mexico
• Ian Hancock – Romani scholar and activist, born in UK, living in USA, Professor at the University of Texas
• Lívia Járóka – Hungarian Member of the European Parliament
• Mădălin Voicu – (born 1952) Romanian politician. His father, Ion Voicu, is Romani
• Ştefan Răzvan – (? – 1595) Prince of Moldavia, Ruled Moldavia for four months. (Romani father)
• Nicolae Păun – Romanian politician
• Ágnes Osztolykán - Hungarian politician
• Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia – Ex-member of the European Parliament, founder of the Romani Union, Spain
• Viktória Mohácsi – (born 1975) Hungarian Member of the European Parliament
• Ronald Lee – (born 1934, in Montreal), Canadian Romani novelist, activist and U.N. delegate
• Romani Rose – German Sinto activist
• Dávid Daróczi – (1972–2010) Government Spokesperson of the Republic of Hungary
• Rudolf Sarközi – chairman of the Austrian Romani association Kulturverein.
• Sani Rifati – Serbian activist
• Ali Krasniqi – Albanian writer and activist
• Bajram Haliti – Kosovar activist
• Flórián Farkas - Hungarian politician
• Soraya Post - (born 1956) Swedish politician for the Feminist Initiative party.

^[1]

Authors and writers

• Veijo Baltzar – Finnish writer^[2]
• Rajko Djuric – (born 1947) Serbian writer & activist
• Caren Gussoff – American writer. Claims "Romani and mixed heritages".
• Delia Grigore – (born 1972) Romanian writer, academic and activist
• Ronald Lee – Canadian writer, Romani activist and lecturer at the University of Toronto.^[3]
• Matéo Maximoff – French writer
• Louise Doughty – British writer
• John Bunyan – Christian author^[4]
• Lafcadio Hearn – Irish writer^[5]
• Charlie Smith – poet.
• Baja Saitovic Lukin – poet
• Mehmed Merejan
• Ceija Stojka – (born 1933) Austrian author and painter
• Katarina Taikon – (1932-1995) Swedish children's writer
• Bronisława Wajs – (1908–1987) AKA "Papusza", Polish poet and singer

Musicians

• Azis - (1978-) Bulgarian chalga (pop-folk) singer.
• Alfonso Mejia-Arias - (1961-) Mexican musician and activist.^[6]
• Cher Lloyd-(1993) British pop singer/rapper of Romani descent.
• Sinan Sakić - Serbian Folk singer of Romani descent.
• Django Reinhardt - (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) Belgian-born pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer who invented an entirely new style of jazz guitar technique (sometimes called 'hot' jazz guitar) that has since become a living musical tradition within French Manouche culture.
• Mariska Veres – (1947–2006) Lead singer of the Dutch rock group Shocking Blue. Daughter of Hungarian Romani violinist Lajos Veres and Franco-Russian mother.
• Carmen Amaya – (1913–1963) Spanish flamenco dancer
• Vicente Escudero – Spanish flamenco singer, dancer and choreographer; occasionally painter, writer and actor.
• Sotis Volanis- Greek Singer.
• Pyotr Leshchenko – Russian (born 1858–1903))
• Grigoraş Dinicu – Romanian composer and violinist
• Anjeza Shahini – Albanian
• Pista Dankó – (born 1858–1903) Hungarian-born bandleader and composer
• Sandro de América – (1945–2010) Argentinian singer and actor
• Adam Ant – (born 1954) British punk/new wave musician; maternal grandmother is Romanichal.
• Elek Bacsik – (1926–1993) Hungarian-born American jazz violinist and guitarist
• Robi Botos – Canadian musician and composer from Hungary
• Joe Zawinul – Austrian musician. His grandmother was a Hungarian Romani, and his grandfather was from southern Moravia.
• Eugene Hütz – Ukrainian singer, guitarist, writer and actor
• Šaban Bajramović – (1936–2008) Serbian singer
• János Bihari – (1764–1824) Hungarian violinist
• Věra Bílá – (born 1954) Czech folk and pop singer
• Iva Bittová – (born 1958) Czech singer, violinist and composer
• Diego "El Cigala" – (born 1968, Madrid) Spanish flamenco singer
• Joaquín Cortés – Spanish flamenco dancer
• "Rayito" Antonio Rayo – Spanish Guitarist, singer and composer. Father Gitano (Iberian Kalo) and Japanese mother.
• Panna Cinka – (1711–1772) Hungarian Violinist, born in Kingdom of Hungary in modern Slovakia
• Georges Cziffra – (1921–1994) Hungarian virtuoso pianist
• Drafi Deutscher – (1946–2006) German Sinto songwriter, singer and composer
• Damian Draghici – Romanian, composer and Jazz panflute player, Politician
• Fanfare Ciocărlia – (formed 1996) Romanian brass band
• "Falete" Rafael Ojeda Rojas – Spanish singer
• Lolita Flores – (1958) Spanish singer and actress.
• Antonio Flores – (1961–1995) was a Spanish singer-songwriter and actor.
• Rosario Flores – (born 1963) Spanish singer and actress, Latin Grammy award winner
• Camarón de la Isla – (1950–1992) Spanish flamenco singer
• Kal – Romani world music Band from Serbia
• Nicolas Reyes (born 1958) – Franco-Spanish singer, guitar player; lead singer for the Gipsy Kings, a band made up mostly of members of his extended family
• Tonino Baliardo – Franco-Spanish guitar player; also a member of the GIpsy Kings
• Los Niños de Sara – French (Spanish origin, Iberian Kale) rumba and flamenco singers and guitar players
• Ketama – Spanish new-flamenco band
• Sasha Kolpakov – (born 1943) Russian guitarist
• Biréli Lagrène – (born 1966) French jazz guitarist, violinist and bassist
• Denny Laine – British musician (The Moody Blues, Wings)
• Félix Lajkó – (born 1974) Hungarian-Serbian violinist and composer (part Romani)
• Albert Lee - (born 1943) London born and raised country rock guitar legend. His father is Romanichal.^[7]
• Joe Longthorne – (born 1955) English singer and impressionist
• Irini Merkouri – (born 1981) Greek pop singer
• Aggelopoulos Manolis – (1939–1989) Greek singer and actor
• Sofi Marinova – Bulgarian singer
• Boban Marković – Serbian brass bandleader and trumpet player
• Jerry Mason – American Singer, Guitarist
• Carlos Montoya – (1903–1993) Spanish flamenco guitarist
• Ramón Montoya – (1889–1949) Spanish flamenco guitarist
• Ivo Papazov – (born 1952) Bulgarian jazz clarinetist
• Manitas de Plata – (born 1921) Spanish guitarist
• Valentina Ponomaryova – (born 1939) Russian singer
• Džej Ramadanovski – born 1964 in Belgrade (former Yugoslavia), modern Serbian folk singer
• Johnny Răducanu – (born 1931) Romanian jazz musician
• Esma Redzepova – (born 1943) Macedonian singer and songwriter
• Jimmy Rosenberg – (born 1980) Dutch swing guitarist
• Marianne Rosenberg – (born 1955) German singer and songwriter. Daughter of German Gypsy who survived Auschwitz.
• Paulus Schafer - (born 1978) Dutch jazz guitarist
• Tchavolo Schmitt – (born 1954) French jazz guitarist
• Taraful Haiducilor – (Taraf de Haïdouks) Romanian band, formed 1989
• Nicolae Neacşu ("Culai") – Lăutar, was the leader of Taraf de Haïdouks
• Wally Tax – Dutch rock singer, of The Outsiders. Son of a Dutch father and a Russian Romani mother.
• Ion Voicu – (1923–1997) Romanian violinist and orchestral conductor, founder of Bucharest Chamber Orchestra
• Sotis Volanis – Greek pop folk singer
• Harri Stojka – Austrian jazz guitarist
• Radoslav Banga – of Czech group Gypsy.cz
• Joy Olasunmibo Ogunmakin – Ayọ (stage name), German singer
• Didem – Turkish Bellydancer
• Romica Puceanu – (1928–1996) Romanian singer (Urban Lăutarească Music)
• Gabi Luncă – (born 1938) Romanian singer (Urban Lăutarească Music)
• Pere Pubill Calaf "Peret" – (1935-2014) Catalan Spanish singer, guitar player and composer
• Edyta Górniak - (born 1972) Polish singer
• Robert Plant - (born 1948) English singer and songwriter (former vocalist of Led Zeppelin). Romanichal mother
• Natalia Jiménez - (born 1981) Spanish pop singer (Portuguese mother of "Cigano" descent).

Cinema and theater

• Yul Brynner – Actor. Romani
• Charles Chaplin – Actor, director, composer; of 1/4 Romanichal (Angloromani) descent
• Tony Gatlif - French film director
• Bob Hoskins – Actor. Grandmother was Romani from Germany.
• Hiba Abouk- Spanish actress
• Pastora Vega- Spanish actress
• Marcia Nicole Barandyai known as Manoush – French-German actress. Her mother is of Manouche origin.
• Nikolai Slichenko – Russian actor
• Noomi Rapace - Swedish actress. Her father was a Spanish Flamenco singer of Romani descent
• Ştefan Bănică, Sr. – Romanian actor
• Ştefan Bănică, Jr. – Romanian actor and musician

Artists

• Antonio Solario – Italian artist
• Helios Gómez – Spanish artist, writer and poet
• Otto Mueller – painter and printmaker, Sinti mother
• Micaela Flores Amaya, La Chunga, Flamenco dancer and painter
• Joe Machine, (1973) British Stuckist painter

Athletes

• Ilie Năstase – Romanian tennis player of selfdeclared Romani descent

Boxers

• Johnny Frankham -British Boxer, Knocked down Cassius Clay in an exhibition fight.
• Dawid Kostecki – Polish light heavyweight boxer of Romani descent
• Ivailo Marinov – also known as Ismail Mustafov, Ismail Huseinov or Ivailo Khristov) is a Rom Bulgarian boxer, who won the bronze medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in light flyweight, and the gold medal in the same category at the 1988 Summer Olympics
• Serafim Todorov – was a Bulgarian/Georgian boxer at the 1996 Summer Olympics who won a silver medal. He is the last boxer to ever defeat the highly regarded Floyd Mayweather Jr.
• Jem Mace – Bareknuckle Boxing Champion, Father of Modern Boxing; called "The Gypsy," but denies Romani ancestry in his autobiography
• Johann Wilhelm Trollmann – German light-heavyweight boxer killed during the Porajmos
• Silvio Branco – Italian light heavyweight Boxing Champion
• Michele di Rocco – Italian Light Welterweight Boxing Champion
• Zoltan Lunka – Germany
• Faustino Reyes – Spanish Boxing he won the silver medal in the featherweight division (– 57 kg), 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona
• Billy Joe Saunders – British Boxing, represented Great Britain in the 2008 Olympics
• Norbert Kalucza – Hungarian Boxing
• Jakob Bamberger - German amateur boxer, twice the German Vice-flyweight champion, Olympic selection in 1936, in the years 1970/80 activist in Sinti civil rights movement^[8]
• Luke Tyson Fury^[9] - British professional boxer who fights in the heavyweight division.

Football players-managers

• Jesús Navas – Spanish (Manchester City)^[10]
• José Antonio Reyes – Spanish (Sevilla)^[11][12]
• Pierre-Yves André – French (Retired)
• Aljoša Asanović - Croatian (Retired)
• Richard Carpenter – English (Retired)
• Freddy Eastwood – Welsh (Free Agent)
• Arturo Garcia, Arzu – Spanish (Free Agent)
• André-Pierre Gignac – French (Olympique Marseille)
• Dani Güiza – Spanish (Getafe)
• José Mari – Spanish (Xerez CD)
• Nacho Novo – Spanish (Carolina Railhawks)
• Petre Marin – Romanian (Retired)
• Bănel Nicoliță – Romanian (Nantes)
• Christos Patsatzoglou - Greek (Iraklis Psachna)
• Ricardo Quaresma – Portuguese (Porto)
• Corey Houser - Romanian

Various

• Rodney "Gipsy" Smith – (1860–1947), British evangelist
• Sofia Kovalevskaya – Major Russian female mathematician of 1/4 Romani descent^[13]
• Jimmy Marks – litigant in a lawsuit against the city of Spokane, Washington
• Settela Steinbach – Holocaust victim
• Ceferino Giménez Malla – Spanish beatified Catholic catechist

References