List of Turkish Americans

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This is a list of notable Turkish Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.

To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Turkish American or must have references showing they are Turkish American and are notable.

Academics

• Kamer Daron Acemoğlu, Charles P. Kindleberger Professor of Applied Economics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and winner of the 2005 John Bates Clark Medal.
• Taner Akçam, University of Minnesota professor, historian specializing in the Armenian Genocide^[1]
• Ilhan Aksay, Professor, Princeton University^[2]
• Yasemin Aksoy, an associate professor of operations management at the A. B. Freeman School of Business at Tulane University in New Orleans and the founding director of the Tulane Consortium for Supply Chain Management^[3]
• Özalp Babaoğlu, a professor of computer science at University of Bologna.
• Ciğdem Balım
• Asım Orhan Barut, University of Colorado-Boulder physicist^[4]
• Aydin Y. Durgunoglu, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Minnesota Duluth.^[5]
• Ozlem Kahyaoglu Equils, Dr., researcher^[6]
• Faruk Gül, Professor of Economics, Princeton University^[7]
• Dr. Murat Gunel, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery^[8]
• Feza Gürsey, mathematician and physicist
• M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
• Alp Ikizler, nephrologist, currently holding the Catherine McLaughlin Hakim chair in Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• Cem Kaner
• Merve Kavakçı, current George Washington University Professor and former Fazilet Party Parliamentarian exiled from Turkey for violating the Public Head Scarf Ban
• Comert Kural, Scientist^[9]
• Hasan Özbekhan
• Hasan Pirkul, Dean of the School of Management at the University of Texas at Dallas^[10]
• Dani Rodrik
• Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics at New York Universityand chairman of Roubini Global Economics.
• Mehmet Toner, world renowned cryobiologist, professor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School, and professor of biomedical engineering at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology^[11]
• Turgay Üzer, Georgia Institute of Technology Physicist^[12]
• Vamık Volkan,^[13] Princeton University Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry
• Nur Yalman,^[14] octolingual Harvard University Professor of Social Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies
• Osman Yasar, a professor and chair of the computational science (CPS) department at State University of New York (SUNY) College at Brockport.^[15]
• K. Aslıhan Yener,^[16] University of Chicago Archaeologist who uncovered a new source of Bronze Age Anatolian tin mines
• Turgay Uzer

Archaeologist

• K. Aslihan Yener

Architects

• John Gidding, architect and former actor and fashion model
• Mihran Mesrobian, architect

Artists

• Mustafa Kemal Abadan, a partner of one of the world’s largest architect firms Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)^[17]
• Haluk Akakçe
• Metin Bereketli, painter ^[18]
• Burhan Doğançay, painter, photographer, and former soccer player
• Sururi Gümen, Illustrator and ghost artist behind Alfred Andriola's comic strip Kerry Drake
• Jeff Treves, animator^[19]

Astronomers

• Janet Akyüz Mattei, astronomer and director of the AAVSO

Authors

• Bülent Atalay, physicist and author

Business people

• Harry Ablak, Varol Ablak & Seckin Ablak, founders of Vocelli Pizza^[20][21]
• Sait Akarlilar, businessman, founder of Mavi Jeans^[22]
• Abdullah Akyuz, President of TUSIAD-US Inc^[23]
• Muhtar Kent, Chief Executive of Coca-Cola Company
• Mehmet Mustafaoğlu, Businessman, Honorary Consul of the Republic of North Cyprus
• Erol Onaran
• Huseyin Ozyurtcu is founder of Picasso Travel with his late wife Esin.^[24]
• Melek Portillo, founder of one of three largest wholesale Spanish-language music distributors in USA^[25]
• Emel Singer, businesswoman^[26]
• Sel Erder Yackley, author, businesswoman, journalist^[27]
• Ahmet Sandikci is owner of the first banknote collection showroom, Arcade Currency Palace, in the U.S. ^[28]
• Nevin Sanli, the founder and principal owner of Sanli Pastore & Hill, the largest business appraisal firm in California and one of the five largest firms in the US in this industry. ^[29]

Cinema

• Turgut Turk Adiguzel, director^[30]
• Hayati Akbas, actor ^[31]
• Can Ansay, actor ^[32]
• Resmine Atis, actress ^[33]
• Aclan Bates, director ^[34]
• Jack Bannon
• Ossie Beck
• Bea Benaderet
• Richard Bey, TV and Radio personality, former host of The Richard Bey Show, has also hosted radio shows with WABC, Sirius Satellite Radio, and The Wall Street Journal's This Morning
• Turhan Bey, 1940s and 1950s film star
• Süleyman "Sully" Geldzvek Boyar, actor best known for his work on Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, Car Wash, and The Sopranos
• Charles Bronson, action movie star, best known for his Death Wish movies
• Kevin Totti Corchiani
• Tülin Daloğlu, Washington Correspondent for Turkey’s Star TV ^[35]
• Alex Demir, actor ^[36]
• Traci Dinwiddie, actress
• Bilge Ebiri,journalist and filmmaker
• Gokhan Ekremoglu, director ^[37]
• Sinan Germirli, director ^[38]
• Ayda Field, actress
• Nicholas Kadi
• Serdar Kalsin, ^[39]
• Francesca O'Keefe, Actress, singer, writer and producer ^[40]
• Erol Onaran, founder of Erol's TV, Erol's Video and Erol's Internet
• Eren Ozker, puppeteer on The Muppet Show
• Paul Shenar
• Tiffani Amber-Thiessen, actress best known for her work on Saved by the Bell and Beverly Hills 90210
• Ertuğ Tüfekçioğlu, movie director ^[41]

Composer

• Emir Isilay, composer and pianoist

Doctors

• Ibrahim Ben Ali, Doctor, casualty in a Baltimore yellow fever epidemic
• Doruk Erkan, is an Assistant Attending Rheumatologist and Clinical Researcher at Hospital for Special Surgery and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
• Behram Kurşunoğlu, physicist and one of the founders of the University of Miami Center for Theoretical Studies.
• Mehmet Öz, cardiothoracic surgeon and award-winning author who has made frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN
• Zeynel A. Karcioglu, M.D., ophthalmic oncology and orbital diseases specialist, surgeon
• Dr. Hasan Özbekhan, Professor Emeritus at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, founding member and first director of the think tank The Club of Rome, systems scientist, cyberneticist, philosopher, and planner^[42]
• Yusuf Yazici, is Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine in the New York University School of Medicine

Economics

• Daron Acemoglu
• Nouriel Roubini

Historians

• Arif Dirlik

House of Osman

• Ertuğrul Osman, the 43rd Head of the Imperial House of Osman

Judges

• Halil Suleyman Ozerden, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi [1]
• Ali B. Paksoy, Jr., District Court Judge for North Carolina District 27B [2]

Music

• Bülent Arel, composer of contemporary classical music and electronic music
• Ilhan Ersahin, saxophonist and composer
• Ahmet Ertegün, founder of Atlantic Records, chairman of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, and co-founder of the New York Cosmos soccer team of the North American Soccer League
• Nesuhi Ertegün, record producer and executive of Atlantic Records
• Eydie Gormé
• Isaac Guillory
• Kamran İnce, composer
• Tolga Katas, singer, songwriter, and record producer
• Arif Mardin, music producer
• Neil Sedaka, pop singer, pianist, and songwriter
• Pamela Spence, Turkish Pop-rock singer
• Özlem Tekin, Turkish singer
• Deniz Tek
• Pınar Toprak, composer

NASA

• Ismail Akbay, served in various managerial capacities during NASA’s Apollo,Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz projects.[3]

Painters

• Sevgi Çağal

Philosophers

• Nathan Salmon

Poets

• Talat S. Halman

Politics

• Zeyno Baran, scholar on issues on US-Turkey relations
• Osman "Oz" Bengür, Maryland Democratic Party Congressional Candidate

Producers

• Leslie Bates-Buyukturkoglu

Sports

• Chris Başak, Major League Baseball infielder
• Sami Berik, mixed martial artist
• Dave Coskunian, soccer player
• Korel Engin, basketball player
• Tunç İlkin, former Pittsburgh Steelers player and Sports Commentator
• Ersan İlyasova, Milwaukee Bucks player
• Şebnem Kimyacıoğlu, basketball player
• Yasemin Kimyacıoğlu, basketball player
• Mehmet Okur, Utah Jazz player and 2007 NBA All-Star
• Nevin Nevlin, basketball player
• Hidayet Türkoğlu, Orlando Magic player
• Nevriye Yılmaz, basketball player

Talk show hosts

• Diane Rehm, public radio talk show host/; The Diane Rehm Show
• Cenk Uygur, host of the liberal talk radio show The Young Turks on Air America Radio, and a regular blogger on The Huffington Post

Writers

• Anastasia M. Ashman, essayist
• Jennifer Eaton Gokmen

Other

• Ibrahim Ben Ali
• Marc D. Angel
• Asım Orhan Barut, theoretical physicist.
• Orkut Büyükkökten, software engineer
• Tantek Çelik, computer scientist
• Bilge Ebiri, a New York Magazine film critic
• Sibel Deniz Edmonds, former FBI translator
• James Ben Ali Haggin, namesake of the Ben Ali Stakes
• Rabiye Kadir, Uygur Human Rights Activist fighting for a peaceful solution to end the Chinese suppression of Eastern Turkistan who earned the Rafto Prize and was nominated for the 2006 Nobel Peace Prize
• Chris Kanik
• Pirtul Minturi
• Kenan Şahin, Establishing Partner in Lucent Technologies
• Lisa Marie Varon, Wrestling Star known as Victoria
• Ahmet Yildiz biophysicist, GE/Science Young Scientist Award winner

See also

• List of Turkish people
• List of British Turks
• List of Turkish Germans
• Turkish-Cypriot

References

External links

• Turks in Entertainment