List of Chinese Americans

This is a list of notable Chinese Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants who have made exceptional contributions to various facets of American society.

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

Art and design

Architecture

Poy Gum Lee (李錦沛) – Art Deco architect in New York City

Roger Lee – Modernist architect in California and Hawaii

Maya Lin (林瓔) – Minimalist architect (Vietnam Veterans Memorial)

Liu Jipiao (刘既漂) – Art Deco architect and painter in China and later in U.S.

I. M. Pei (貝聿銘) – Modernist architect based in New York City

Dance

Goh Choo San (吴诸珊) – ballet dancer and choreographer

Shen Wei (沈伟) – dancer, choreographer and visual artist; MacArthur fellow

Fang-Yi Sheu (許芳宜) – principal dancer of the Martha Graham Dance Company

Fashion design

Malan Breton (马兰·布莱顿) – fashion designer

Luly Yang – fashion designer

Angel Chang – fashion designer

Monika Chiang – fashion designer

Wenlan Chia (賈雯蘭) – fashion designer

Doug Chiang (江道格) – movie designer and artist

David Chu (朱欽騏) – co-founder of clothing company Nautica

Diana Eng – fashion designer

Joe Allen Hong – fashion designer for Neiman Marcus

Jen Kao – fashion designer

Jonathan Koon – fashion designer, business entrepreneur

Derek Lam – fashion designer

Phillip Lim – fashion designer

Peter Mui – fashion designer, actor, and musician

Mary Ping – fashion designer

Peter Som – fashion designer

Anna Sui (蕭志美) – fashion designer

Vivienne Tam (谭燕玉) – fashion designer

Yeohlee Teng – fashion designer

Alexander Wang (王大仁) – fashion designer

Kaisik Wong – fashion designer

Vera Wang (王薇薇) – fashion designer

Jason Wu (吳季剛) – fashion designer

Joe Zee – creative director of Elle magazine; host of fashion TV series All on the Line

Literature

Bette Bao Lord (包柏漪) – writer, novelist

Eileen Chang (张爱玲, a.k.a. 张煐) – writer

Kang-i Sun Chang (孫康宜) – writer and literary scholar

Lan Samantha Chang – writer; director of the Iowa Writer's Workshop

Victoria Chang – poet, children's writer, and essayist

Ted Chiang (姜峯楠) – speculative fiction writer

Frank Chin (趙健秀) – novelist, playwright, and essayist

Marilyn Chin (陈美玲) – poet

Ben Fee (张恨棠/木云) – writer and labor organizer

David Henry Hwang (黃哲倫) – playwright

Gish Jen (任璧蓮) – writer, novelist

Ha Jin (哈金) – novelist, winner of the National Book Award for Waiting

Maxine Hong Kingston – novelist, The Woman Warrior

R. F. Kuang (匡灵秀) – fantasy novelist, The Poppy War

Jean Kwok – writer, novelist

Edward Michael Law-Yone – writer, journalist; father of Wendy Law-Yone

Wendy Law-Yone – writer

Chin Yang Lee - writer

Gus Lee (李健孫) – writer

Carolyn Lei-Lanilau – writer

Yiyun Li (李翊雲) – winner of the 2006 PEN/Hemingway Award

Ed Lin (林景南) – writer, first author to win three Asian American Literary Awards

Tao Lin (林韜) – writer

Eric Liu (劉柏川) – author and speechwriter for former US President Bill Clinton

Malinda Lo – writer, young adult novels, Ash

David Wong Louie (雷祖威) – writer

Marie Lu (陸希未) – writer

Ling Ma – writer, Severance

Adeline Yen Mah (馬嚴君玲) – author and physician

William Marr (馬為義,非馬) – engineer, poet, translator, and artist

Chanel Miller – artist and author of Know My Name

Anchee Min (閔安琪) – author, Red Azalea

Celeste Ng (伍綺詩) – writer, novelist

Lisa See – writer

Sui Sin Far (水仙花) – late 19th/early 20th century Chinese-English American author and journalist

Arthur Sze - poet

Mai-mai Sze - writer and artist

Amy Tan (譚恩美) – best-selling author, The Joy Luck Club

Jade Snow Wong (黃玉雪) – writer

Shawn Wong – novelist, Homebase, American Knees; writer; professor

Timothy C. Wong (黃宗泰) – sinologist, translator, and literary theorist

Xu Xi (許素細) – English language novelist based in Hong Kong

Geling Yan (严歌苓) – novelist and screenwriter

Gene Luen Yang (楊謹倫) – graphic novelist, whose book American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel to be nominated for a National Book Award

Laurence Yep (叶祥添) – two-time winner of the Newbery Honor

Connie Young Yu – writer, historian, lecturer, and 2016 "Woman of the Year" California Senate District 13

Judy Yung – writer

Kat Zhang – author of young adult and middle grade novels

Jenny Zhang – essayist, poet, novelist

Jenny Tinghui Zhang – novelist

Theater

Ping Chong (張家平) – contemporary theater director

Dan Kwong – playwright

BD Wong – Tony Award-winning actor, M Butterfly, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit

Visual arts

Bernice Bing – painter

Cai Guo-Qiang (蔡國強) – artist and gunpowder works designer

Ernie Chan – comic book artist/inker for Marvel Comics and DC Comics.

Ching Ho Cheng – Cuban–born contemporary artist

Alan Chin – multidisciplinary artist

Mel Chin – artist

Lenore Chinn – realist painter

Han Hsiang-ning (韓湘寧) – painter

Hon Chew Hee – Chinese–Hawaiian painter

Tessa Hulls - artist

Haven Lin-Kirk – artist and designer, Dean of the USC Gayle Garner Roski School of Art and Design

Hung Liu (劉虹) – painter

Reagan Louie – American photographer

Seong Moy – painter and printmaker

Mimi So – jewelry designer

May Sun – artist, public art

Fan Tchunpi – painter, ceramicist

Frank Wong – dioramist

James Wong Howe (黃宗霑) – nominated for ten Academy Awards for cinematography, won twice (1955, 1963)

Marjorie Wong Hee – Chinese–Hawaiian painter, teacher

Martin Wong – painter

Tyrus Wong (黃齊耀) – artist

Frank Wu – science-fiction illustrator

Xu Bing – artist

Zhao Suikang - artist

Business

Financial

Gerald Chan (陳樂宗) – son of T.H. Chan, property investments

Ida Liu (劉宏敏) – Global Head of Citi Private Bank

Tim Chen – co-founder and CEO of NerdWallet

Yan Huo (霍焱) – co-founder of Capula Investment Management, 8th largest hedge fund in Europe by assets

Alfred Lin (林君叡) – venture capitalist at Sequoia Capital

Ken Lin – founder and CEO of Credit Karma

Norman Liu (柳澈漯) – CEO and president of GECAS (2008–2015)

Look Tin Eli (陸潤卿) – co-founder of the Canton Bank of San Francisco (1907-1926) and one of the prime movers in the rebuilding of Chinatown after the 1906 quake

Li Lu (李录) – hedge fund manager and founder and chairman of Himalaya Capital

Dominic Ng (吴建民) – CEO and president of East West Bank (1992– )

Lou Pai (白露龍) – CEO of Enron Xcelerator, a venture capital division of Enron

Donald Tang – former vice-chairman of Bear Stearns

Oscar Tang (唐騮千) – financier and philanthropist

Gerald Tsai (蔡至勇) – financier, former chairman and CEO of Primerica

Gary Wang – co-founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX

Mun Charn Wong (黃門贊) – former executive of Transamerica Corporation

Peng Zhao (赵鹏) – CEO of Citadel Securities

Food

Roger H. Chen (陳河源) – founder of Tawa Supermarket Inc., also known as 99 Ranch Market

Andrew Cherng (程正昌) – co-founder of Panda Express, billionaire

Bob Chinn – owner of Bob Chinn's Crab House, highest grossing restaurant in America

Johnny Kan – founder of Kan's Restaurant

Ping Tom (譚繼平) – Chicago-based food industry businessman; uncle of Lauren Tom

Industrial

Ting Tsung Chao – founder of The Chao Group and Westlake Chemical

Albert Chao – co-founder of Westlake Chemical, son of Ting Tsung Chao

James Yuan Chao – chair of the Westlake Chemical Corporation, son of Ting Tsung Chao

Allen Chao – founder of Allergan, plc pharmaceutical and medical device co.

David T. Hon – founder and CEO of Dahon bicycle co.

Noel Lee – founder and CEO of Monster Cable

Cyrus Tang – scrap metal and furniture magnate

Internet

Fred Chang – founder of Newegg, billionaire

Pehong Chen – founder of Gain Technology and Broadvision

Perry Chen – co-founder of Kickstarter

Steve Chen – co-founder of YouTube

Ben Chiu – founder of KillerApp.com

Tracy Chou – Project Include, former Pinterest and Quora engineer

Daniel Ha – co-founder of Disqus

Tony Hsieh (謝家華) – co-founder of LinkExchange, later CEO of Zappos online shoe store

Chris Hulls - co-founder of Life360

Jameson Hsu – co-founder and CEO of Mochi Media

Justin Kan – co-founder Twitch

Kai-Fu Lee – founding president of Google China

Ellen Pao – Reddit's CEO from 2014 to 2015, filed gender and race discrimination lawsuit against Perkins and lost

Ben Silbermann – co-founder and CEO of Pinterest, billionaire

Greg Tseng – co-founder and CEO of Tagged

Yishan Wong – CEO of Reddit (2012–2014); director of engineering of Facebook (2005–2010)

Jerry Yang – co-founder of NASDAQ-100 component Yahoo!, billionaire

David Yu – high tech investor and CEO of Betfair (2006–2011)

Technology

John S. Chen (程守宗) – CEO of BlackBerry; former CEO of Sybase

Steve Chen (陳世卿) – founder and CEO of Galactic Computing

James Chu – founder, CEO and chairman of ViewSonic, one of the largest computer monitor brands

Alfred Chuang (庄思浩) – co-founder BEA Systems (acquired by Oracle in 2008)

Weili Dai (戴伟立) – co-founder of Marvell Technology Group

Ping Fu (傅苹) – co-founder of Geomagic

Ming Hsieh (謝明) – co-founder Cogent Systems (sold to 3M in 2009)

Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) – co-founder and CEO of NASDAQ-100 component NVIDIA

Kai Huang – co-founder of Guitar Hero franchise

Robert T. Huang – founder of Fortune 500 company Synnex

David Ji – founded Apex Digital

Min Kao (高民環) – co-founder of Garmin

David Lam (林杰屏) – founder of Lam Research

Deb Liu – CEO of Ancestry.com

Patrick Soon-Shiong (黄馨祥) – founder of Abraxis BioScience and NantHealth

Lisa Su (蘇姿豐) – CEO and president of NASDAQ-100 component Advanced Micro Devices

David Sun (孫大衛) – co-founder and COO of Kingston Technologies

Sehat Sutardja (周秀文) – co-founder of Marvell Technology Group

Lip-Bu Tan (陈立武) – president and CEO of Cadence Design Systems

Victor Tsao (曹英偉) – co-founder of Linksys (sold to Cisco Systems)

John Tu (杜紀川) – co-founder of Kingston Technologies

Alexandr Wang – founder and CEO of Scale AI

An Wang (王安) – co-founder of Wang Laboratories

Charles Wang (王嘉廉) – founder of CA Technologies, owner of the New York Islanders

William Wang (王蔚) – founder and CEO of Vizio

Ken Xie (谢青) – founder of Fortinet and NetScreen (acquired by Juniper Networks in 2004)

Bing Yeh (葉炳輝) – founder of Silicon Storage Technology and Greenliant Systems

Eric Yuan (袁征) – founder and CEO of Zoom

Min Zhu (朱敏) – co-founder of WebEx (sold to Cisco Systems)

Other

Sam Chang – New York real estate and hotel developer

James S.C. Chao – New York shipping magnate and father of Elaine Chao

John Chuang – co-founder and CEO of staffing consultancy Aquent

Andy Fang – co-founder of DoorDash

Lew Hing – shipping, hotel, and canning tycoon

Andrea Jung (鍾彬嫻) – Chair of Avon

Christine Poon – business executive at Bristol Myers Squib and Johnson & Johnson, former dean of Ohio State University Fisher College of Business

Stanley Tang – co-founder of DoorDash

Tony Xu (徐迅) – co-founder of DoorDash

Entertainment

Stephen Chao – media executive

Dan Lin – Hollywood film producer and former SVP at Warner Bros.

Mynette Louie – producer and co-founder of Gamechanger Films

John J. Sie – founder of Starz Inc.

Andrea Wong – president of International Production for Sony Pictures Television and president of International for Sony Pictures Entertainment

Actors

Awkwafina (林家珍) – actress and rapper

Tyson Beckford – model and actor

Ross Butler - actor

Chloe Bennet (汪可盈) – actress and singer

T. V. Carpio – actress and singer

Tina Huang — stage, television actress

Tia Carrere – actress, singer

Flora Chan (陳慧珊) – actress

JuJu Chan – actress

Michael Paul Chan - actor

Emily Chang - actress

Louis Ozawa Changchien – actor

Rosalind Chao – actress

Zoë Chao – actress and writer

Fala Chen – actress

Hank Chen – actor and comedian

Joan Chen (陳冲) – actress, The Last Emperor, director

Lynn Chen – actress, Saving Face

Kevin Cheng (鄭嘉穎) – actor and singer

Cheng Pei-pei (鄭佩佩) – actress, known for films Come Drink with Me and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Karin Anna Cheung – actress, Angela, in Quentin Lee's feature film The People I've Slept With (2009)

Feodor Chin – actor, writer, director

Lori Tan Chinn – actress

Annabel Chong – adult film actress

Peter Chong – film and stage actor

Tommy Chong, Canadian-American comedian, actor, writer, director, activist, and musician, part of comedy duo Cheech & Chong

China Chow – actress, model

Kelsey Chow – actress

Michaela Conlin – actress

Auliʻi Cravalho – actress and singer

Darren Criss – Broadway and television actor, singer and songwriter

Tiffany Espensen - actress

Roger Fan – actor

James Hong – actor and director

George Hu (胡宇威) – actor

Kelly Hu – actress

Madison Hu – actress, Bizaardvark

Celina Jade – actress, singer and martial artist

Malese Jow – actress and singer on Unfabulous and The Vampire Diaries

Archie Kao – actor and model

Lawrence Kao - actor

Matthew Yang King - actor

Michelle Krusiec – actress

Nancy Kwan – first Chinese-born star in Western cinema

Brandon Lee (李國豪) – actor, son of Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee (李小龍) – kung fu actor, son of Lee Hoi-chuen

Jason Scott Lee – actor

Michelle Lee – actress, martial artist and stuntwoman

Peyton Elizabeth Lee - actress

Shannon Lee (李香凝) – actress, and daughter of Bruce Lee

Kaylani Lei – pornographic actress

Al Leong - actor and stuntman

Ken Leung – actor, Lost, X-Men: The Last Stand

Telly Leung - actor and singer

James Hiroyuki Liao – actor

David Lim — actor

Julia Ling (林小微) – actress, Chuck

Dyana Liu – actress

Lucy Liu (刘玉玲) – actress, Charlie's Angels, Kill Bill

Liu Yifei – actress and singer

John Lone – actor, most notable for his role as Puyi in The Last Emperor

Jodi Long – actress

Keye Luke – actor

Tzi Ma (馬泰) – actor

Byron Mann – actor, notable for playing the role of Ryu in Street Fighter

Marie Matiko – actress

Meiling Melançon – actress

Matthew Moy – actor, 2 Broke Girls, most notable for the voice of Lars Barriga (Steven Universe)

Olivia Munn – actress, model and television personality

Irene Ng – actress, played the title character in Nickelodeon's The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo

Melissa Ng – actress

Haing S. Ngor – actor; won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in The Killing Fields

Julia Nickson-Soul – actress, most notable for playing the role of Co-Bao in Rambo: First Blood Part II

Jimmy Ouyang (歐陽萬成) – actor, writer and comedian

Will Pan (潘瑋柏) – singer and songwriter

Janel Parrish – actress and singer

Ke Huy Quan – actor and stunt choreographer; played Short Round in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

Chester See – YouTube personality, musician, and Broadway actor.

Ivan Shaw – actor

Freda Foh Shen - actress

Parry Shen – actor

Robin Shou (仇雲波) – actor, stuntman, martial artist

Harry Shum, Jr.