List of Romani people

This is a list of famous or otherwise prominent Romani people (also known as Gypsies) and people of Romani origin. When adding to the list, please provide at least one reliable source that identifies the individual concerned as being of Romani ethnicity.

Politicians and activists

• Damian Draghici – (born 1970) Humanitarian, Civil Society Supporter, Ambassador for European Year of Equal Opportunities for All, musician, Romania
• Jovan Damjanović – Serbian politician – The first Romani appointed as minister in a government anywhere in the world [1]
• Rajko Djuric – (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
• 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

Authors and writers

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

Musicians

• 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. Her father was the Hungarian violinist Lajos Veres
• Ronnie Wood – (1947–) Guitarist and bassist with Faces, and Rolling Stones
• Carmen Amaya – (1913–1963) Spanish flamenco dancer
• Vicente Escudero – Spanish flamenco singer, dancer and choreographer; occasionally painter, writer and actor.
• Pyotr Leshchenko – Russian (born 1858–1903))
• Grigoraş Dinicu – Romanian composer and violinst
• 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; of Romanichal descent
• Elek Bacsik – (1926–1993) Hungarian-born American jazz violinist and guitarist
• Robi Botos – Canadian musician and composer from Hungary
• Joe Zawinul – Austrian
• Eugene Hütz – Ukrainian singer, guitarist, writer and actor
• Saban Bajramovic – (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 mother Japanese
• 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 panflute player
• Fanfare Ciocărlia – (formed 1996) Romanian brass band
• "Falete" Rafael Ojeda Rojas – Spanish singer
• Lola Flores – (1923–1995) was a Spanish singer, dancer and actress.
• 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
• Gipsy Kings – French (Spanish origin, Iberian Kale) rumba and flamenco singers and guitar players
  • Nicolas Reyes – Franco-Spanish singer, guitar player
  • Paul Reyes – Franco-Spanish singer and guitar player
  • Canut Reyes – Franco-Spanish singer and guitar player
  • Patchai Reyes – Franco-Spanish singer and guitar player
  • André Reyes – Franco-Spanish singer and guitar player
  • Diego Baliardo – Franco-Spanish guitar player
  • Paco Baliardo – Franco-Spanish guitar player
  • Tonino Baliardo – Franco-Spanish guitar player
• Los Niños de Sara – French (Spanish origin, Iberian Kale) rumba and flamenco singers and guitar players
  • Antonio ("Tonio") Contreras – Franco-Spanish singer and guitar player
  • Ramón Compás – Franco-Spanish singer and guitar player
  • Santiago ("Santi") Lorente – Franco-Spanish singer and guitar player
  • Coco – Franco-Spanish singer and guitar player
• 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) British country/rock guitar player
• 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
• Dzej 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
• 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
• Martin Taylor – (born 1956) British guitarist
• Manuel Torre – (1878–1933) Spanish flamenco singer
• Isabel Pantoja – Spanish singer
• Encarnación Salazar and Antonia Salazar, better known as "Azúcar Moreno". Spanish singers
• 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)
• Nicolae Guţă – (born 1967) Romanian singer (Manele Music)
• Florin Salam – (born 1979) Romanian singer (Manele Music)
• Adrian Copilul Minune – (real name Adrian Simionescu, born 1974) Romanian singer (Manele Music)
• Cher Lloyd – Popular singer (including rapping)
• Esma Redžepova – Macedonian vocalist, songwriter, and humanitarian. Born in Skopje
• Pere Pubill Calaf "Peret" – (born 1935) Catalan Spanish singer, guitar player and composer

Cinema and theater

• Fairuza Balk – actor
• Yul Brynner – actor
• Charles Chaplin – actor
• Bob Hoskins – actor
• Leonard Whiting – British actor
• Marcia Nicole Lakatos – actress
• Soledad Miranda – Andalusian Flamenco Dancer and later Horror Film Actress from Seville, mother was Gitana
• Nikolai Slichenko – Russian actor
• Tony Gatlif – French film maker
• Ştefan Bănică, Sr. – Romanian actor
• Jean Constantin – Romanian actor
• Angel Dark – Slovak pornstar
• Moira Orfei – Italian actress
• Noomi Rapace – Swedish/Spanish actor
• Tracey Ullman – British actress, her father is Polish and her mother of Romani descent

Artists

• Antonio Solario – Italian artist
• Helios Gómez – Spanish artist, writer and poet
• Serge Poliakoff (1906–1969) – painter
• Otto Mueller – painter and printmaker, Sinti mother
• Micaela Flores Amaya, La Chunga, Flamenco dancer and painter
• Joe Machine, (1973) British Stuckist painter
• Mića Popović (1957) – Serbian painter, writer and experimental filmmaker.
• Veijo Baltzar – Finnish writer, theater director, visual artist

Athletes

Boxers

• Dawid Kostecki – Polish light heavyweight boxer of romani decent
• 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.
• Boris Georgiev – is an amateur boxer from Bulgaria who won a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in the Light Welterweight class
• 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
• 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

Football players

• Tommaso Vailatti – Italian (Torino)
• Gigi Meroni – Italian (Torino)
• Joël Cantona – French (Olympique de Marseille)
• André-Pierre Gignac – French (Toulouse)
• Yohan Mollo – French (AS Monaco FC)
• Pierre-Yves André – French (SC Bastia)
• Tony Vairelles – French (Olympique Lyonnais)
• David Vairelles – French (Nancy)
• Cédric Bockhorni – French (Nancy)
• Richard Carpenter – English (Fulham)
• Freddy Eastwood – Welsh (Coventry City)
• Raby Howell – English (Liverpool, Sheffield United and Preston North End)
• José Antonio Reyes – Spanish (Atletico de Madrid)
• Arturo Garcia, Arzu – Spanish (Real Betis)
• Jesús Navas – Spanish (Sevilla Fc)
• José Mari – Spanish (Real Betis)
• Dani Güiza – Spanish (Fenerbahce)
• Bănel Nicoliţă – Romanian (Steaua)
• Petre Marin – Romanian (Steaua Bucaresti)
• Marian Ognyanov – Bulgarian (Levski)
• Milan Baros – Czech (Galatasaray)
• Ricardo Quaresma – Portuguese (Beşiktaş)
• Carlos Aranda – Spanish (Levante)

Journalism

• George Bramwell Evens – journalist, United Kingdom

Various

• Kerope Patkanov – scientist
• Rodney "Gipsy" Smith – (1860–1947), British evangelist
• August Krogh – scientist, Nobel prize winner
• Sofia Kovalevskaya – Major Russian female mathematician of 1/4 Romani descent
• Jimmy Marks – litigant in a lawsuit against the city of Spokane, Washington
• Settela Steinbach – Holocaust victim
• Ceferino Giménez Malla – a Spanish beatified Catholic catechist
• Juana Martín Manzano – Spanish fashion designer

Sources

• Famous Gypsies – famous Romani and people of Romani ancestry.
• Romano Muy – articles about famous or outstanding Romanis (in Russian)