List of Famous people born in Cuba
Ana de Armas
Ana Celia de Armas Caso is a Cuban-Spanish actress. She began her career as a teenager in her home country of Cuba and most notably had a leading role in the romantic drama Una rosa de Francia (2006). At the age of 18, she moved to Madrid, Spain and starred in the popular teen drama El Internado for six seasons from 2007 to 2010.
Camila Cabello
Karla Camila Cabello Estrabao is a Cuban-American singer and songwriter. She rose to prominence as a member of the girl group Fifth Harmony, formed on The X Factor USA in 2012, signing a joint record deal with Syco Music and Epic Records. While in Fifth Harmony, Cabello began to establish herself as a solo artist with the release of the collaborations "I Know What You Did Last Summer" with Shawn Mendes, and "Bad Things" with Machine Gun Kelly, the latter reaching number four on the US Billboard Hot 100. After leaving the group in late 2016, Cabello released several other collaborations, including "Hey Ma" by Pitbull and J Balvin for The Fate of the Furious soundtrack, and her debut solo single "Crying in the Club".
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz was a Cuban revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and president from 1976 to 2008. Ideologically a Marxist–Leninist and Cuban nationalist, he also served as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba from 1961 until 2011. Under his administration the Republic of Cuba became a one-party communist state; industry and business were nationalized, and state socialist reforms were implemented throughout society.
Jorge Soler
Jorge Carlos Soler Castillo is a Cuban-born professional baseball outfielder for the Kansas City Royals of Major League Baseball (MLB). Soler played for the Cuban national baseball team in international competition. He defected from Cuba in 2011, seeking a career in MLB. After establishing his residency in Haiti, Soler signed a nine-year contract with the Chicago Cubs. He made his MLB debut in 2014. The Cubs traded Soler to the Royals after the 2016 season.
Desi Arnaz
Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III, better known as Desi Arnaz, was a Cuban-American actor, musician, bandleader, comedian and film and television producer, revolutionary in the creation of modern television. He is best known for his role as the witty Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom I Love Lucy, in which he co-starred with his then wife Lucille Ball. Arnaz and Ball are generally credited as the innovators of the syndicated rerun, which they pioneered with the I Love Lucy series.
Luis Ortiz
Luis Ortiz is a Cuban professional boxer. He held the WBA interim heavyweight title from 2015 to 2016, and has challenged twice for the WBC heavyweight title in 2018 and 2019. As an amateur, he won a silver medal at the 2005 Boxing World Cup. Nicknamed "King Kong", Ortiz is known for his formidable punching power and counterpunching skills. As of August 2020, he is ranked as the world's sixth best active heavyweight by The Ring magazine and Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, and tenth by BoxRec. He was ranked by BoxRec as the world's top 10 heavyweight from 2014 to 2018.
Yordan Álvarez
Yordan Ruben Álvarez is a Cuban-born professional baseball designated hitter and outfielder for the Houston Astros of Major League Baseball (MLB). He defected from Cuba, then established residence in Haiti in 2016, and signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers as an international free agent in 2016. He made his major league debut on June 9, 2019.
Carlos Acosta
Carlos Yunior Acosta Quesada CBE is a Cuban-British ballet director and retired dancer who is director of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. He danced with many companies including the English National Ballet, National Ballet of Cuba, Houston Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. He was a permanent member of The Royal Ballet from 1998 to 2015. In 2003, he was promoted to principal guest artist, a rank which reduced his commitment, enabling him to concentrate on a growing schedule of international guest appearances and tours. He celebrated his farewell after 17 years at The Royal Ballet, dancing his last performance in November 2015 in Carmen, which he both choreographed and starred in.
Randy Arozarena
Randy Arozarena González is a Cuban professional baseball outfielder for the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the St. Louis Cardinals. In 2020, Arozarena set the MLB record for home runs in a single postseason with 10. Four of those came against the Houston Astros in the 2020 American League Championship Series netting him series MVP honors.
Minnie Miñoso
Orestes "Minnie" Miñoso, nicknamed "The Cuban Comet" and "Mr. White Sox", was a Cuban professional baseball player. He began his baseball career in the Negro leagues in 1946 and became an All-Star third baseman with the New York Cubans. He was signed by the Cleveland Indians of Major League Baseball (MLB) after the 1948 season as baseball's color line fell. Miñoso went on to become an All-Star left fielder with the Indians and Chicago White Sox. The first Black Cuban in the major leagues and the first black player in White Sox history, as a 1951 rookie he was the one of the first Latin Americans to play in an MLB All-Star Game.
Frank Sánchez
Frank Sánchez Faure is a Cuban professional boxer who has held the NABO heavyweight title since 2019 and the WBC Continental Americas heavyweight title since 2020.
Raúl Castro
Raúl Modesto Castro Ruz is a Cuban politician who is currently serving as the First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba, the most senior position in the one-party communist state, succeeding his brother, Fidel Castro, in April 2011.
Tony Oliva
Tony Pedro Oliva is a Cuban former professional baseball right fielder, designated hitter, and coach, who played his entire 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career for the Minnesota Twins, from 1962 to 1976.
Aroldis Chapman
Albertín Aroldis Chapman de la Cruz is a Cuban-American professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago Cubs and in the Cuban National Series for Holguín. Chapman bats and throws left-handed, and is nicknamed the "Cuban Missile" or the "Cuban Flame Thrower". Chapman pitched for Holguín domestically and internationally for the Cuban national baseball team. He defected from Cuba in 2009 and signed a contract with the Reds in 2010. Chapman made his MLB debut that season. He won the MLB Delivery Man of the Month Award as the best relief pitcher for July 2012, and has been named to four straight National League All-Star teams from 2012 to 2015. The Reds traded Chapman to the Yankees after the 2015 season, and the Yankees traded Chapman to the Cubs during the 2016 season. With the Cubs, Chapman won Game 7 of the 2016 World Series. He signed with the Yankees after the 2016 season.
William Levy
William Gutiérrez-Levy, is a Cuban-American actor and former model.
Celia Cruz
Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, known as Celia Cruz, was a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Cruz rose to fame in Cuba during the 1950s as a singer of guarachas, earning the nickname "La Guarachera de Cuba". In the following decades, she became known internationally as the "Queen of Salsa" or "The Queen of Latin Music" due to her contributions to Latin music in the United States.
Andy Garcia
Andrés Arturo García Menéndez is an American actor and director. He first rose to prominence acting in Brian De Palma's The Untouchables (1987) alongside Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, and Robert De Niro. He continued to act in film such as Stand and Deliver (1988), and Internal Affairs (1990). He then starred in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather Part III (1990) as Vincent Mancini alongside Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, and Eli Wallach. He received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his performance. He continued to act in Hollywood movies such as Stephen Frears' Hero (1992), the romantic drama When a Man Loves a Woman (1994), and the action thriller Desperate Measures (1998).
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-American singer, songwriter, actress and businesswoman. A contralto, she started her career as the lead singer in the group Miami Latin Boys, which later became known as Miami Sound Machine. She experienced worldwide success with "Conga" in 1985; this became Estefan's signature song and led to the Miami Sound Machine winning the grand prix in the 15th annual Tokyo Music Festival in 1986. In the middle of 1988, she and the band got their first number-one hit with the song "Anything for You".
Ana Maria Polo
Ana María Polo is a Cuban-American Hispanic television arbitrator on Caso Cerrado and Ana Polo Rules
Alejandro Mayorkas
Alejandro Nicholas Mayorkas is an American lawyer and government official serving as the seventh United States Secretary of Homeland Security. During the Obama administration, he served in the Department of Homeland Security, first as Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (2009–2013) and then as Deputy Secretary (2013–2016).