The following list contains the names of first generation immigrants who left their homelands to reside in the United States. The contributions of these and other immigrants have enriched our culture, advanced our sciences, and inspired us throughout the years.

Madeleine Albright, Former U.S. Secretary of State (Czechoslovakia) • Isabel Allende, author (Chile) • Mario Andretti, race car driver (Italy) • Julie Andrews, actress (Great Britain) • Dan Aykroyd, actor (Canada) • Alexander Graham Bell, inventor (Scotland) • Hans Bethe, Nobel Prize-winning physicist (Germany) • David Bowie, singer (Great Britain) • Yul Brynner, actor (Russia) • Michael Caine, actor (Great Britain) • Frank Capra, director, It's a Wonderful Life, (Italy) • Elaine Chao, Secretary of Labor (Taiwan) • Liz Claiborne, fashion designer (Belgium) • Joan Collins, actress (Great Britain) • Nadia Comaneci, gymnast (Romania) • Edwidge Danticat, author Breath, Eyes, Memory (Haiti) • Oscar de la Renta, fashion designer (Dominican Republic) • Albert Einstein, physicist, Nobel Prize Winner (Germany) • Jaime Escalante, teacher, Stand and Deliver (Bolivia) • Gloria Estefan, singer/songwriter (Cuba) • Patrick Ewing, basketball player, New York Knicks (Jamaica) • Father Edward Flanagan, founder of Boys Town (Ireland) • Michael J. Fox, actor (Canada) • Max Frankel, former Executive Editor, New York Times (Germany) • Felix Frankfurter, Supreme Court Justice (Austria) • John Kenneth Galbraith, economist/presidential advisor (Canada) • Greta Garbo, actress (Sweden) • Andy Garcia, actor, (Cuba) • Alexander Godunov, dancer/actor (Russia) • Samuel Goldwyn, founder, MGM Studios (Poland) • Cary Grant, actor (Great Britain) • Wayne Gretzky, hockey player, New York Rangers (Canada) • Andrew Grove, founder, Intel Corporation (Hungary) Le Ly Hayslip, author, When Heaven and Earth Change Places (Vietnam) • Audrey Hepburn, actress (Belgium) • Dr. David Ho, Time Magazine's 1996 Man of the Year, scientist/AIDS researcher (Taiwan) • Bob Hope, comedian (Great Britain) • Vladimir Horowitz, pianist (Russia) • Peter Jennings, network television anchor (Canada) • Bela Karolyi, Olympic gymnastic coach (Romania) • Elia Kazan, director, On the Waterfront (Turkey) • Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State (Germany) • Ted Koppel, network television anchor, Nightline (England) • Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, physician/author, On Death and Dying (Switzerland) • Madeline Kunin, former Governor of Vermont (Switzerland) • Angela Lansbury, actress Murder She Wrote (England) • Bette Bao Lord, author (China) • Yo Yo Ma, concert cellist (France) • Robert MacNeil, former network television anchor, MacNeil-Lehrer News Hour (Canada) • Ann Margaret, actress/singer (Sweden) • Mel Martinez, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (Cuba) •Peter Max, artist (Germany) • Zubin Mehta, conductor (India) • Gian Carlo Menotti, composer (Italy) • Midori, classical violinist (Japan) • Ricardo Montalban, actor, Fantasy Island (Mexico) • Dudley Moore, actor (Great Britain) • Edmund Morris, author, Pulitzer Prize recipient (Kenya) • Josie Natori, fashion designer (Philippines) • Martina Navratilova, tennis player (Czechoslovakia) • Louise Nevelson, sculptor (Russia) • Mike Nichols, Academy Award-winning director, The Graduate (Germany) •Rudolf Nureyev, dancer (Russia) • Hakeem Olajuwon, basketball player, Houston Rockets (Nigeria) • Claus Oldenberg, artist (Sweden) • Yoko Ono, vocalist/songwriter (Japan) • Seiji Ozawa, conductor (Japan) • Frank Oz, puppeteer/film director, Little Shop of Horrors (Great Britain) • Rafael Palmiero, baseball player, Baltimore Orioles (Cuba) • I.M. Pei, architect (China) • Cesar Pelli, architect/educator, (Argentina) • Itzhak Perlman, violinist (Israel) • Sidney Poitier, Academy Award-winning actor, Lillies of the Field (Bahamas) • Andre Previn, pianist/ composer (Germany) • Juliet Prowse, dancer (India) • Anthony Quinn, Academy Award-winning actor (Mexico) • Helen Reddy, actress (Russia) • Jhoon Goo Rhee, Tae Kwon Do expert (Korea) • Hyman Rickover, U.S. Naval Admiral (Poland) • Knute Rockne, Notre Dame University football coach (Norway) • Isabella Rossellini, actress (Italy) • Rena Rowan, fashion designer (Russia) • Morley Safer, network television co-host, 60 Minutes (Canada) • Carlos Santana, Grammy Award winning rock/jazz guitarist (Mexico) • Arnold Schwarzenegger, politician and actor, Terminator (Austria) • John Secada, singer (Cuba) • Andres Segovia, classical guitarist (Spain) • John Shalikashvili, former Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (Poland) • William Shatner, actor Star Trek (Canada) • Gene Simmons, rock musician, Kiss (Israel) • Isaac Bashevis Singer, author, Nobel Prize recipient (Poland) • Yakov Smirnoff, comedian (Russia) • George Soros, investor, philanthropist (Hungary) • Sammy Sosa, baseball player, Chicago Cubs (Dominican Republic) • Saul Steinberg, artist (Romania) • Isaac Stern, concert violinist (Russia) • Bjarne Stroustrup, inventor, C++ computer language (Denmark) • David Sun, co-founder, Kingston Technology (Taiwan) • Jessica Tandy, Academy and Tony Award-winning actress (Great Britain) • Elizabeth Taylor, Academy Award-winning actress (Great Britain) • Chang-Lin Tien, Chancellor, U.C. Berkeley (China) • Tobias Taurel, President and CEO, Eli Lilly and Co. (Morocco) • Danny Thomas, actor (Lebanon) • Alex Trebek, game show host Jeopardy (Canada) •Lee Trevino, professional golfer (Mexico) • John Tu, co-founder, Kingston Technologies, (China) • Eddie Van Halen, rock guitarist/musician (Netherlands) • Maria von Trapp, musician/author (Austria) • Derek Walcott, Nobel Prize-winning poet (St. Lucia) • An Wang, founder, Wang Laboratories (Korea) • Charles B. Wang, CEO, Computer Associates, International (China) • Wayne Wang, film director, The Joy Luck Club (China) • Lowell Weicker, U.S. Senator (France) • Dr. Ruth Westheimer, psychologist/television personality (Germany) • Elie Wiesel, author/Nobel Prize winner for Peace/Holocaust survivor (Romania) • Billy Wilder, Academy Award-winning director, The Apartment (Austria) • Jerry (Chih-Yuah) Yang, co-founder, Yahoo!, Inc. (Taiwan)• Neil Young, musician/ songwriter (Canada) • Pinchas Zukerman, concert violinist (Israel).

Source: The National Immigration Forum, 2004