This is a list of notable Sri Lankan American citizens, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants, but does not include Sri Lankan nationals living or working in the U.S. The list includes a brief description of the reason for their notability.

Academics Rohan Abeyaratne – academic and engineer Athula Attygalle – professor in mass spectrometry Ananda Coomaraswamy – philosopher Sarath Gunapala – solid-state physicist, senior research scientist and group supervisor at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Shelton Gunaratne – Professor Emeritus of Mass Communications at Minnesota State University Moorhead Ratnajeevan Hoole – professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering at Michigan State University Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa – freemason, theosophist and president of the Theosophical Society Adyar Nalin Kulatilaka – Professor of Finance at School of Management Patrick Mendis – educator, diplomat, author, and executive in US government service Anura C. Perera – science writer, astronomer Cyril Ponnamperuma – chemist, astrobiologist Nalin Samarasinha – astronomer, first Sri Lankan to have an asteroid named after him Siva Sivananthan – professor, scientist and Director of the Microphysics Laboratory at the University of Illinois Murugesu Sivapalan – Engineer and hydrologist, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Stanley Jeyaraja Tambiah – Esther and Sidney Rabb Professor of Anthropology, Emeritus, Harvard University Sam Weerahandi – former professor; first ASA Fellow of Sri Lankan origin

Architecture Raj Barr-Kumar – former president of the AIA

Artists Anne Cherubim – painter

Business Raj Fernando – chairman and CEO of Scoutahead.com and philanthropist Sanjay Kumar – businessman Kumar Mahadeva – entrepreneur and CEO Namal Nawana – CEO of Smith & Nephew Chamath Palihapitiya – venture capitalist, software developer Raj Rajaratnam – founder of Galleon Group, a New York-based hedge fund management firm, convicted of insider trading Bandula Wijay – inventor, businessman, and diplomat. Invented "Nested Loop" vascular stent.

Film Thushari Jayasekera – actress, writer, emcee, and performance artist; with her role on NBC's Outsourced (2010-2011), she is the first American actress of Sri Lankan origin to play a principal role in a primetime show on a major American TV network Chandran Rutnam – film director, producer, screenwriter Sanjit De Silva – actor, known for roles in The Company Men and American Desi Maya Stojan – actress Fabianne Therese – actress, director Bernard White – actor, screenwriter, film director Gina Zamparelli – Los Angeles-based concert promoter, daughter of Maureen Hingert

Military John K. Beling – Rear Admiral of the United States Navy

Musicians Dilan Jay – rapper and record producer; first Sri Lankan-American to appear on the Billboard chartsTop Music Charts - Hot 100 - Billboard 200 - Music Genre Sales Clarence Jey – US Billboard and Grammy-credited record producer and songwriter Ranidu Lankage – rapper Ruwanga Samath – record producer and the president of The Bird Call Productions

Politicians Basil Rajapaksa – former Member of the Sri Lankan Parliament, former Sri Lankan Minister of Finance Gotabaya Rajapaksa – 8th President of Sri Lanka; US citizen from 2003 to 2019

Rebels Visvanathan Rudrakumaran – chairman of the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam, a pro-LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam) organization (the LTTE has been described as a terrorist organization by the US, the European Union and many other countries)

Religion Bawa Muhaiyaddeen – teacher and Sufi mystic Witiyala Seewalie Thera – founder/president and abbot of the Minnesota Buddhist Vihara, Deputy Chief Sangha Nayaka of North America

Singers Tharanga Goonetilleke – opera singer Danielle de Niese – opera singer Sean Panikkar – opera singer Lara Raj – singer and member of Katseye

Sports Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam – Olympian for 1952 and 1956 Olympic Games Barney Henricus – 1938 British Empire Games boxing gold medallist Christine Sonali Merrill – Olympian for 2012 Olympic Games, engineer Roy Silva – cricketer who has represented the US in Twenty20 International Upeshka De Silva – professional poker player Tiana Sumanasekera – member of the U.S. national gymnastics team Sunil Weeramantry – chess trainer, author

Writers Indran Amirthanayagam – author V. V. Ganeshananthan – fiction writer, essayist, and journalist Patrick Mendis – educator, diplomat, author, and executive in US government service Mary Anne Mohanraj – speculative fiction writer and editor who helped found Strange HorizonsHarper Collins "She was concerned that as one of the first Sri Lankan-Americans writing in English, her depiction of Sri Lankan culture might be taken as overly authentic and authoritative." Nayomi Munaweera – author Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha – poet, writer, educator, social activist Romesh Ratnesar – journalist, author Rosemary Rogers – best-selling author of romance novels in the US; has been on the New York Times best-sellers list Sunil Yapa – fiction writer, author of Your Heart Is a Muscle The Size of a Fist (2016), which he promoted as a guest on Late Night with Seth Meyers

Others Natalie and Nadiya Anderson – twin sisters who competed in The Amazing Race and Survivor Rifqa Bary – author, subject of the Rifqa Bary controversy

See also List of Sri Lankans

References