Most Influential Hispanic/Latinx
Celia Cruz
Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, known as Celia Cruz, was a naturalized Cuban-American singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century.
César Chávez
Cesar Chavez was a civil rights, Latino and farm labor leader; a genuinely religious and spiritual figure; a community organizer and social entrepreneur; a champion of militant nonviolent social change; and a crusader for the environment and consumer rights.
Cristina Saralegui
Cristina María Saralegui de Ávila is a Cuban-born American journalist, television personality, actress and talk show host of the Spanish-language eponymous show, El show de Cristina.
Dolores Huerta
Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta is an American labor leader and civil rights activist who, with Cesar Chavez, is a co-founder of the National Farmworkers Association, which later merged with the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee to become the United Farm Workers.
Ellen Ochoa
Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on a nine-day mission aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery.
Esteban Torres
Esteban Edward Torres was an American politician who served as member of the United States House of Representatives for California’s 34th congressional district from 1983 to 1999.
Gary Soto
Gary Anthony Soto is an American poet, novelist, and memoirist.
George Lopez
George Edward Lopez is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is most known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican American culture.
Gloria Estefan
Gloria Estefan is a Cuban-American singer, songwriter, actress, and businesswoman. Estefan is a seven-time Grammy Award winner, a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient, and has been named one of the Top 100 greatest artists of all time by both VH1 and Billboard.
Gustavo Santaolalla
Gustavo Alfredo Santaolalla is an Argentine musician, composer, and record producer.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is a politician and lobbyist from Miami, Florida, who represented Florida’s 27th congressional district from 1989 to 2019. By the end of her tenure, she was the most senior U.S. Representative from Florida.
Jennifer “JLo” Lopez
Jennifer Lynn Lopez-Affleck, also known as J.Lo, is an Puerto Rican-American actress, singer and dancer.
Sylvia Rivera
Sylvia Rivera was an American gay liberation and transgender rights activist who was also a noted community worker in New York. Rivera, who identified as a drag queen in her youth and later as a trans woman, participated in demonstrations with the Gay Liberation Front.
Ysrael Seinuk
Ysrael Abraham Seinuk was an engineer who designed the structure for many landmark skyscrapers in New York and around the world. He also taught structural engineering at New York’s Cooper Union.