This is a list of notable Romani people and people of Romani descent.
Activists Nicolae Gheorghe – Romanian Roma Movement founder Pastora Filigrana – Spanish labour lawyer, trade unionist, feminist, columnist, and human rights activist Alfonso Mejia-Arias – Mexican musician and politician Ceija Stojka – Austrian artist and writer Constantin S. Nicolăescu-Plopșor – Romanian historian, archeologist, anthropologist and writer Ian Hancock – English linguist Vasile Ionescu - Romanian Activist Katarina Taikon – Swedish actress and author Marcel Courthiade – French linguist Milena Hübschmannová – Czech professor Paul Polansky – American writer Ronald Lee – Canadian writer Saša Barbul – Serbian actor and film director Anzhelika Bielova – Ukrainian Romani activist
Artists Sandra Jayat, French painter, poet and author Damian Le Bas, English artist Delaine Le Bas, English artist Kiba Lumberg, Finnish artist and author Joe Machine, English painter La Chunga, Spanish painter Tracey Emin, English artist Antonio Solario, Italian painter Otto Mueller, German painter
Athletes Boxers Billy Joe Saunders – English Johnny Frankham - English Dorel Simion – Romanian Faustino Reyes – Spanish Ivailo Marinov – Bulgarian Marian Simion – Romanian Samuel Carmona Heredia – Spanish Serafim Todorov – Bulgarian Zoltan Lunka – German Johann Wilhelm Trollmann, German Jakob Bamberger, German Gary Buckland, Welsh Domenico Spada, Italian Michele di Rocco, Italian
Cycling Roger De Vlaeminck – Belgian
Kickboxers Václav Sivák – Czech
Professional Wrestlers Gigi Dolin – American
Footballers
André-Pierre Gignac – French Andy Delort - mixed French and Algerian Antonio Amaya – Spanish Bănel Nicoliță – Romanian Carlos Martins – Portuguese Carlos Muñoz Cobo – Spanish Christos Patsatzoglou – Greek Dani Güiza – Spanish Dejan Osmanović – Serbian Diego Rodríguez – Spanish Emil Abaz – Macedonian Eric Cantona – French Eugen Bari – Slovak Freddy Eastwood – Welsh Georgi Ivanov - Gonzo – Bulgarian Hristo Stoichkov - Bulgarian Gigi Meroni – Italian Giorgos Giakoumakis – Greek István Pisont – Hungarian János Farkas – Hungarian Jesús Navas – Spanish Jordan Galtier – French José Antonio Reyes – Spanish Kristián Bari - Slovak Lazaros Christodoulopoulos – Greek Marco Navas – Spanish Mircea Lucescu – Romanian Milan Baroš – Czech Mykola Morozyuk – Ukrainian Lobo Carrasco – Spanish Guille Fernández – Spanish, Toni Fernández – Spanish Rafael Jiménez Jarque – Spanish Joaquin Fernandez Moreno – Spanish Petre Marin - Romanian Predrag Luka - Serbian Rab Howell – English Răzvan Marin - Romanian Ricardo Quaresma – Portuguese Téji Savanier – French Telmo Zarra – Spanish Nacho Novo – Spanish Tony Vairelles – French Yohan Mollo - French
Hockey players Dominik Lakatoš – Czech
Cinema and theater Hiba Abouk – Spanish actress Sandro de América – Argentine actor Saša Barbul – Serbian actor Gratiela Brancusi – American-Romanian actress Yul Brynner – Russian-American actor and honorary president of the International Romani Union Jesús Castro – Spanish actor Lyalya Chyornaya – Russian actress Jan Cina – Czech actor Joaquín Cortés – Spanish ballet and flamenco dancer Billy Drago – American actor Alba Flores – Spanish actress Tony Gatlif – French film director Bob Hoskins – English actor Manoush – French actress Moira Orfei – Italian circus performer Blanca Romero – Spanish actress Custodia Romero – Spanish flamenco dancer Alina Șerban – Romanian actress Leonor Teles – Portuguese film director Tracey Ullman – British-American actress Anneli Sauli – Finnish actress Connor Swindells – English actor Danny Lee Wynter – British actor Virginia Raffaele – Italian actress
Musicians
100 Kila – Bulgarian rapper Adam Ant – English singer and musician Adrian Minune – Romanian singer Věra Bílá Aggelopoulos Manolis (1939–1989) – Greek singer and actor Albert Lee (born 1943) – London born and raised country rock guitar Andro (born 2001) – Russian singer Antonio Flores (1961–1995) – Spanish singer-songwriter and actor Antoñita Singla - Flamenco dancer, years active: 1960–1988 Ayo – A sinti and yoruba singer. Azis – Bulgarian singer Biréli Lagrène (born 1966) – French jazz guitarist, violinist and bassist Boban Marković – Serbian brass bandleader and trumpet player Bódi Guszti – Hungarian musician Calle Jularbo – Swedish accordionist Camarón de la Isla (1950–1992) – Spanish flamenco singer Carlos Montoya (1903–1993) – Spanish flamenco guitarist Carmen Amaya – Spanish flamenco dancer Cher Lloyd – English singer Christian Escoudé – French jazz guitarist Connect-R – Romanian singer Damian Drăghici – Romanian musician Dani Mocanu – Romanian manele singer Denny Laine – British musician (The Moody Blues, Wings) Didem – Turkish bellydancer Diego el Cigala – Spanish flamenco singer Django Reinhardt – Belgian guitarist Drafi Deutscher – (1946–2006) German Sinto songwriter, singer and composer Džej Ramadanovski (1964–2020) – born in Belgrade (former Yugoslavia), modern Serbian folk singer Edyta Górniak (born 1972) – Polish singer Elek Bacsik – Hungarian-American jazz guitarist and violinist Eleni Vitali – Greek singer and composer Esma Redžepova (1943–2016) – Macedonian singer and songwriter Eugene Hütz – Ukrainian singer, guitarist, DJ and actor Falete (Rafael Ojeda Rojas) – Spanish singer Fanfare Ciocărlia (formed 1996) – Romanian brass band Félix Lajkó (born 1974) – Hungarian-Serbian violinist and composer (part Romani) Florin Salam – Romanian singer György Cziffra (1921–1994) – Hungarian virtuoso pianist Gigi Radics – Hungarian singer Haris Džinović (born 1951) – Bosnian folk singer Harri Stojka – Austrian jazz guitarist Häns'che Weiss, famous for his Gypsy jazz style, won the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis Hüsnü Şenlendirici – Turkish musician Ion Voicu (1923–1997) – Romanian violinist and orchestral conductor, founder of Bucharest Chamber Orchestra Irini Merkouri (born 1981) – Greek pop singer Iva Bittová – Czech singer and violinist Ivo Papazov (born 1952) – Bulgarian jazz clarinetist János Bihari – Hungarian violinist Jentina – English rapper Jerry Mason – American singer, guitarist Jimmy Rosenberg (born 1980) – Dutch swing guitarist Joaquín Cortés – Spanish flamenco dancer Joe Longthorne (1955-2019) – English singer and impressionist Joe Zawinul – Austrian jazz keyboardist Johnny Răducanu (1931–2011) – Romanian jazz musician Kal – Romani world music band from Serbia Kibariye – Turkish singer of Romani descent Kostas Hatzis – Greek singer-songwriter and musician Lolita Flores (1958) – Spanish singer and actress Los Niños de Sara – French (Spanish origin, Iberian Kale) rumba and flamenco singers and guitar players Manitas de Plata (born 1921) – Spanish guitarist Manolis Angelopoulos – Greek singer Marianne Rosenberg (born 1955) – German singer-songwriter; daughter of German Gypsy who survived Auschwitz Marija Šerifović – Serbian singer, winner of Eurovision Song Contest 2007 Mariska Veres – Dutch singer Mercedes Bentso – Finnish rapper Mónika Lakatos – Hungarian singer Montse Cortés – Spanish flamenco singer Natalia Jiménez – Spanish singer-songwriter Neon Hitch - English singer-songwriter Nicole Cherry – Romanian singer Nicolae Guță – Romanian manele singer Nicolae Neacșu ("Culai") – Lăutar, was the leader of Taraf de Haïdouks 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 Nikolai Shishkin – Russian guitarist and singer Niña Pastori – Spanish flamenco singer Panna Czinka (1711–1772) – Hungarian violinist, born in Kingdom of Hungary in modern Slovakia Patrik Vrbovský - "Rytmus", slovak hip hop artist, active since '92 Paulus Schäfer (born 1978) – Dutch jazz guitarist Pere Pubill Calaf "Peret" (1935–2014) – Catalan Spanish singer, guitar player and composer Pista Dankó – Hungarian composer Radoslav Banga – of Czech group Gypsy.cz Rafet El Roman – Turkish singer Ramón Montoya (1889–1949) – Spanish flamenco guitarist Rayito (Antonio Rayo) – Spanish guitarist, singer and composer. Father Gitano (Iberian Kalo) and mother Japanese Remedios Amaya – Spanish singer Remu Aaltonen - Finnish drummer and singer Robert Plant (born 1948) – English singer and songwriter (former vocalist of Led Zeppelin). Romanichal mother Robi Botos – Hungarian-Canadian jazz pianist Romica Puceanu (1928–1996) – Romanian singer (urban Lăutărească music) Rosa López (born 1981) – Spanish singer Rosario Flores (born 1963) – Spanish singer and actress, Latin Grammy award winner Šaban Bajramović – Serbian singer Sandu Ciorbă – Romanian singer Santino Spinelli – Italian singer and musician Sasha Kolpakov (born 1943) – Russian guitarist Schnuckenack Reinhardt – German violinist and composer, a pioneer of sinti jazz. Selim Sesler – Turkish virtuoso Sido – Former rapper, well known for popularizing the aggro line of music in Germany in the 90s. Sinan Sakić – Serbian singer Sofi Marinova – Bulgarian singer Alex Velea – Romanian singer Sotis Volanis – Greek pop folk singer Stiv Bators – American vocalist Stochelo Rosenberg (born 19 February 1968) – Gypsy jazz guitarist who leads the Rosenberg Trio Taisto Tammi – Finnish singer Taraful Haiducilor – (Taraf de Haïdouks) Romanian band, formed 1989 Tea Tairović – Serbian singer Toni Iordache – Romanian musician Tonino Baliardo – Franco-Spanish guitar player; also a member of the Gipsy Kings Joci Pápai – Hungarian singer Valentina Ponomaryova (born 1939) – Russian singer Věra Bílá – Czech vocalist Vicente Escudero – Spanish flamenco dancer Viki Gabor - Polish singer Wally Tax – Dutch rock singer, of The Outsiders; son of a Dutch father and a Russian Romani mother Tzancă Uraganu – Romanian singer Žarko Jovanović – Serbian musician Yuri Yunakov – Bulgarian musician Ron Wood - British musician
Politicians
Ágnes Osztolykán – Hungarian politician Carlos Miguel – Portuguese minister and mayor Flórián Farkas – Hungarian politician Idália Serrão – Portuguese secretary of state and MP Irena Bihariová – Slovak lawyer and politician James Farnell – Australian politician Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia – Spanish MEP Juscelino Kubitschek – 21st President of Brazil Ladislas Lazaro – American politician Lívia Járóka – Hungarian MEP László Berényi – Hungarian politician Nazif Memedi – Croatian politician Gogu Rădulescu – Romanian politician Srđan Šajn – Serbian politician Talât Pasha – Turkish politician Özcan Purçu – Turkish politician Peter Pollák – Slovak politician Washington Luís – 13th President of Brazil
Various Dehran Asanov - Macedonian-German Salafi preacher and charity fraudster
Alfie Best – British businessman Ceferino Giménez Malla – Spanish beatified Roman Catholic catechist Duško Kostić – Croatian academic Francisco Rivera Ordóñez – Spanish bullfighter Granny Boswell – Irish wise woman and healer GypsyCrusader – American white supremacist internet personality Hristo Kyuchukov – German linguist John-Henry Phillips FSA – English writer, archaeologist, filmmaker, and television presenter. Michael Costello – American fashion designer Mystic Meg – English astrologer Timofey Prokofiev – Soviet marine infantryman, Hero of the Soviet Union
Rodney Smith – English evangelist
Róisín Mullins – Irish television presenter Jean Gordon – Scottish Gypsy Mustafa Shibil – Bulgarian Muslim Raymond Buckland – English writer on the subject of Wicca and witchcraft George Bramwell Evens – British radio broadcaster Jamie Macpherson – Scottish fiddler Rafael Gómez Ortega – Spanish bullfighter Petr Torak – Czech-British former police officer Miranda Vuolasranta – Finnish activist Philomena Franz – Holocaust survivor Zoni Weisz – Holocaust survivor Elisabeth Guttenberger – Holocaust survivor Margarethe Kraus – Holocaust survivor Meeri Koutaniemi – Finnish photographer and journalist August Krogh – Danish professor Hugo Höllenreiner – Holocaust survivor
Writers
Bronisława Wajs – Polish