List of Famous people born in Havana Province, Cuba
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".
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.
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.
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).
Steve Pieczenik
Steve R. Pieczenik is Cuban-born American writer, publisher, psychiatrist, and former United States Department of State official.
Yotuel Romero
Yotuel Omar Manzanarez Romero, mononymously known as Yotuel, is a Cuban singer, actor, and current lead singer and co-writer of the 2003 Latin Grammy Award-winning Platinum album-selling rap group Orishas. Among other recordings, Emigrante won the 2003 Latin Grammy Award for Best Rap/Hip-Hop Album. This same album was also nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Latin Rock/Alternative Album.
Mario Cimarro
Mario Antonio Cimarro Paz is a Cuban actor. He made his big screen debut in Romeo + Juliet (1996). He appeared in the telenovelas Pasión de Gavilanes, which ran from 2003 to 2004, and El Cuerpo del Deseo (2005–2006). He had a recurring role on the USA Network's Necessary Roughness (2011–2013).. and Jesus Cristo de Nazaret (2020)
Mayra Gómez Kemp
Mayra Cristina Gómez Martínez better known as Mayra Gómez Kemp is a Cuban-Spanish television host, actress and singer. She was the host of Un, dos, tres... responda otra vez from 1982 to 1988.
Yasmani Grandal
Yasmani Grandal is a Cuban-American professional baseball catcher for the Chicago White Sox of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played in MLB for the San Diego Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Milwaukee Brewers.
Art Acevedo
Hubert Arturo Acevedo is an American police officer and the incumbent chief of police of the Houston Police Department. He previously held the same position at the Austin Police Department following a career with the California Highway Patrol.
Joey Diaz
José Antonio Díaz, known professionally as Joey "CoCo" Diaz, is a Cuban-American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. After pursuing stand-up comedy full time in 1991 in the Colorado and Seattle areas, Diaz relocated to Los Angeles in 1995 where he became began acting, securing various film and television roles, including My Name Is Earl, The Longest Yard, Spider-Man 2, and Taxi.
Daisy Fuentes
Daisy Fuentes is a Cuban-American television host, model, actress and comedian. Fuentes broke barriers as MTV's first Latina VJ and as Revlon's first Latina spokesperson to be signed to a worldwide contract.
José Martí
José Julián Martí Pérez was a Cuban poet, philosopher, essayist, journalist, translator, professor, and publisher, who is considered a Cuban national hero because of his role in the liberation of his country, and he was an important figure in Latin American literature. He was very politically active, and is considered an important revolutionary philosopher and political theorist. Through his writings and political activity, he became a symbol of Cuba's bid for independence from the Spanish Empire in the 19th century, and is referred to as the "Apostle of Cuban Independence". From adolescence, he dedicated his life to the promotion of liberty, political independence for Cuba, and intellectual independence for all Spanish Americans; his death was used as a cry for Cuban independence from Spain by both the Cuban revolutionaries and those Cubans previously reluctant to start a revolt.