This is a partial list of notable Polish-Americans with immediate Polish ancestry, born in Poland or the United States . As it is done on Wikipedia lists, people of mixed heritage will have their complete ancestries credited. This is an attempt to list those people that are identified as being Polish-Americans.
For people who are yet unconfirmed as Polish-American, see .
- Nick Adams {Link without Title} "In his letter, Nick said that like Slovik, he was Polish and originally from Detroit, and would be perfect for the role."
- Christine Baranski {Link without Title} "Narrated by Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress and Buffalo native Christine Baranski, POLONIA: WESTERN NEW YORK’S POLISH-AMERICAN LEGACY... Christine... told me what an emotional experience it had been just reading through the script... She talked about her family, especially her grandparents and the stories they told her about growing up in Western New York’s Polonia. She shared how their involvement with Polish theatre groups and singing societies had inspired her own career. When we parted, Christine asked for several copies of the program; she mentioned wanting to share them with her daughters."
- Kristen Bell {Link without Title} "Ellen: So your family's Polish, I heard? Kristen: Hmm mm... Ellen: And are there Polish words you grew up with? Kristen: That's the funny thing about Polish people, is a lot of the Polish people I've met use Polish words when they're growing up and specifically, when I was growing up, I didn't know the American words for some things."
- Maria Bello {Link without Title} "Do you think that came from your family? MARIA BELLO: I do. You know the whole Italian-Polish Bello clan from Philly, and they're all very passionate."
- Elzbieta Czyzewska {Link without Title} "Finally, there hasn't been an evening of Polish poetry in New York and several other American cities at which Czyzewska hasn't been a mesmerizing interpreter for both Polish and American audiences of Czeslaw Milosz, Wislawa Szymborska, and Adam Zagajewski."
- Dagmara Dominczyk {Link without Title} "Born: in Poland... Father: Marek Dominczyk. leader in the Polish Solidarity movement."
- Marika Dominczyk , sister of Dagmara Dominczyk
- George Dzundza {Link without Title} "Mother: Polish; lived in displaced persons camp after WWII; divorced from Dzundza's father after moving to USA. Father: Ukranian; lived in displaced persons camp after WWII; divorced from Dzundza's mother after moving to USA."
- Arlene Golonka She is best known for playing Millie Swanson in The Andy Griffith Show and Mayberry R.F.D.
- Zofia Goszczynska {Link without Title} "Polish - American actress, Zofia Goszczynska plays Olly in Olly's Prison directed by Robert Woodruff in American Reparatory Theatre in Cambridge"
- Gilda Gray {Link without Title} "Gilda wasn't a native Oceansider. This was her house during the roaring Twenties. Her real name was Marianna, and she was born to Max and Wanda Winchalska in 1901 in Krakow, Poland. When Marianna was eight, the family fled to the United States to escape the Russians. They lived first in Bayonne, New Jersey, before eventually settling in a suburb of Milwaukee named Cudahy. There her father got work in a packing plant, and they lived in a Polish ghetto. Marianna attended parochial grammar school learning the do's, don'ts, and 3 R's from the nuns."
- Marilu Henner ''Polish-American father, Greek-American mother''
- Jane Kaczmarek {Link without Title} "Raised in a middle-class Polish American family in the Midwest, Kaczmarek still abhors waste, counts her blessings..."
- Nina Kaczorowski "But the Polish transplant (she has dual citizenship), model and dancer has landed most of her screen time due to her dashing, daring stunts..." [http://www.woe.edu.pl/modules.php?sid=&mm=2&module=Articles&mode=show_article&art_id=278§ion_id=33&topic_id=11
- Diane Klimaszewski {Link without Title} "Born of Polish immigrant factory workers, The Twins have forged a career out of beauty, authenticity, wholesomeness and dedication."
- Elaine Klimaszewski , sister of Diane Klimaszewski
- Ted Knight "a tough childhood as the son of Polish immigrants in Terryville. Conn., a factory town 20 miles west of Hartford..." [http://www.billjerome.com/tedknight/varietyshow/bp_761129_mo.html "For those who don't know it, or may not have guessed, Ted is Polish. And being proud of his Polish ancestry, he couldn't let the special run for an hour without capitalizing on the fact somehow."
- Miliza Korjus {Link without Title} "Born in Warsaw in 1907 of Swedish and Polish/Russian parents, Miliza Korjus enjoyed a meteoric career in Germany in the 1930's."
- Linda Kozlowski (TV Guide, 1987)
- Jane Krakowski {Link without Title}
- Carole Landis {Link without Title} "Her father was a Norwegian railroad mechanic, Alfred Ridste, and her mother, Clara Stentek Ridste, was Polish."
- Eric Mabius {Link without Title} "Of Irish and Polish descent, Eric Mabius grew up moving almost constantly."
- Rose Marie {Link without Title} "I was raised by a mother who was a naïve, Polish lady who believed everything she was told."
- Izabella Miko hot! She’s sexy! And - - she’s Polish!" [http://www.izabellamiko.com/flash/index2.html
- Helena Modjeska {Link without Title} "Poland's greatest actress of all time was Helena Modjeska (1840-1909) who came to Southern California in 1876 with her husband, Charles Bozenta Chlapowski (known in America as Count Bozenta,) and a small group of friends including the future novelist and Nobel laureate, Henryk Sienkiewicz. Their Polish agricultural colony in the little pioneer town of Anaheim was a financial failure in the drought and depression of 1877."
- Pola Negri {Link without Title} "Pola Negri was born Barbara Appolonia Chalupek in Janowa, Poland on December 31st, 1894. She was born into the middle class..."
- Jerry Orbach {Link without Title} "The actor was born in the Bronx to a Polish Catholic mother from Pennsylvania and a German Jewish father whose ancestry was Spanish Sephardic. The family moved frequently when he was a boy, living for a time in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., where his grandfather was a coal miner..."
- Joanna Pacula {Link without Title} "Born Tamaszow Lubelski (Poland) Nationality Polish ... Partial Biography This dark-haired beauty honed her craft on stage in her native Poland..."
- Stefanie Powers {Link without Title} "she's Polish way back and a practising Catholic"
- Beata Pozniak , actress, {Link without Title} "born in Gdansk, Poland"
- Maggie Q {Link without Title} "BORN Margaret Denise Quigley in Honolulu, Hawaii, she is the youngest in a family of four girls and a boy. Her New York-born, Irish-Polish father met her Vietnamese mother while serving as a G.I. in the Vietnam War."
- Chloë Sevigny {Link without Title} "My mother’s family is Polish and Catherine was Polish."
- Casey Siemaszko {Link without Title} "Kazimierz Siemaszko in Chicago to a Polish concentration camp survivor and an English dancer, Siemaszko started performing at age five with his father's dance troupe, the Kosciuszko Dancers..."
- Nina Siemaszko , sister of Casey Siemaszko
- Leelee Sobieski "Leelee Sobieski, 20, who plays Max’s glamorous artist-mistress Liselore, also felt a connection to the project because of her family history. Her French-born father, Jean, a painter, shares bloodlines with the 17th century Polish King Jan Sobieski, for whom, legend has it, the bagel was invented. Her beloved maternal grandfather, the late Navy captain Robert Salomon, was Jewish and attended synagogue near his New Jersey home, sometimes with Sobieski." [http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/mndwebpages/leelee%20sobieski.%20future%20queen%20of%20poland "DEEP IMPACT star LEELEE SOBIESKI has a lot to celebrate if Poland ever restores its monarchy - because she'll be in line to become queen of the European nation. The 21-year-old actress, whose family originally hails from Poland, has been getting streams of letters from Polish citizens who have heard about her regal connections. She explains, "I am the great-great granddaughter of KING JAN SOBIESKI of Poland. He was actually a very lazy, passive king but he's still celebrated throughout Poland for his great victory against the invading Turks... "There are still gigantic Sobieski royal palaces that are maintained all over Poland waiting for the return of the monarchy. If it is restored, I would be in line for the throne.""
- Loretta Swit {Link without Title} "Born to Polish immigrants on November 4th, 1937, in Passaic, NJ, Loretta Swit was destined for stardom at an early age..."
- Keith Szarabajka , actor/writer, {Link without Title} "My last name means 'dark fairytale' in Polish. 'Bajka' is a fairytale and 'Szara' means dark or gray: obscure."
- Franchot Tone {Link without Title} "He was born Stanilas Pascal Franchot Tone on February 27, 1905 in Niagara Falls, New York of French-Polish ancestry."
- Tracey Ullman "Ullman was born in London, England, to a Polish emigre father and British mother..." [http://www.comedy-zone.net/standup/comedian/u/ullman-tracey.htm "She became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2003."
- Michael Vartan {Link without Title} "The funny thing is I'm actually a Polish Jew who happens to be born in France. My mom is Polish and my dad is Bulgarian. I don't have an ounce of French blood. But I work it."
- Jean Wallace , actress, {Link without Title} "Born to Polish Immigrants as Janina Walasek"
- Pat Benatar {Link without Title} "she is of Polish-Irish descent..."
- Peter Cetera {Link without Title} "I guess because I was half Polish, and we played a lot of polkas."
- Dick Dale {Link without Title} "My father's father was born in Beirut, Lebanon. My father was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and Dick Dale was born in Boston, Massachusetts. My mother's father was born in Poland. Actually, they're White Russian, which we just found out. So I'm Polish/White Russian, whatever you want to call it, descent, just like I'd be Lebanese descent."
- Ann Danielewski {Link without Title} "My father was originally from Poland and a survivor of the war. He was in the Warsaw insurrection and survived a camp..."
- Urszula Dudziak {Link without Title} "Born on October 22, 1943, Straconka, Poland..."
- Lawrence Gwozdz {Link without Title} "Born to Polish-American parents in Niagara Falls, N.Y..."
- Jan A.P. Kaczmarek {Link without Title}
- Greg Kihn "I'm 100% Polish" (stated on KFUX Radio Station 98.5FM)
- Pee Wee King {Link without Title} "was born to a working-class Polish family in Milwaukee..."
- Miliza Korjus {Link without Title} "Born in Warsaw in 1907 of Swedish and Polish/Russian parents..."
- Edward Kowalczyk {Link without Title} "My body is American, a mut-amalgamation of Polish, German, English and God knows what else..."
- Gene Krupa {Link without Title} "Krupa was Polish..."
- Adam Makowicz {Link without Title}
- Ray Manzarek {Link without Title} "He was one of three sons born into a liberal, hardworking second generation Polish immigrant family."
- Marilyn Mazur {Link without Title} "born in 1955 as the daughter of a black American professor and a Polish woman..."
- Robert Muczynski {Link without Title} "born in 1929 in Chicago of Polish-Slovak parents.."
- Karen O {Link without Title} "grew up in New Jersey, daughter of a Polish dad and a Korean mom..."
- Bogdan Raczynski {Link without Title} "He was born in Poland, but his family moved to the USA while he was a child..."
- Johnny Rzeznik {Link without Title} "I was brought up in an ethnic working-class neighborhood where all good 10-year-old Polish boys played the accordion..."
- Frederic Rzewski {Link without Title}
- Richie Sambora {Link without Title} "Born: Perth Amboy, NJ, July 11, 1959 (but got polish and italian background)"
- Marcella Sembrich {Link without Title}
- Michał Urbaniak {Link without Title}
- Bobby Vinton {Link without Title} "Bobby’s Pennsylvania Polish roots set him apart from the many Italian crooners of the early Sixties..."
- Henryk Wars {Link without Title}
- Mika Brzezinski - CBS News anchor ''daughter of Polish-American Zbigniew Brzezinski ''
- Anna Chudoba - model/reality TV atar {Link without Title} "She was born in the Polish village of Radlow and emigrated with her parents when she was 5. “They had a choice of South America or Las Vegas, Nev.,” she says. They chose Vegas. Her dad is a truck driver on the road with his semi; Anna assimilated."
- Janice Dickinson , model (Polish mother)
- Elisabeth Hasselbeck , TV Co-host/reality show contestant
- Peter Jankowski , TV Producer - "Law & Order"
- Jenny Jones , presenter
- Joanna Krupa , model
- Liberace , entertainer (Polish mother)
- Susan Lisovicz , CNN News Reporter/Host {Link without Title} , "So too, does CNN's Susan Lisovicz. She is of Polish origin and upon the death of the pope, she returned to a place that is special."
- Jim Miklaszewski , NBC News Reporter
- Josie Maran {Link without Title} , Super Model (Father, Polish/Russian)
- Pat Sajak , current host of the Wheel Of Fortune game show
- Edyta Sliwinska , Pro Ballroom Dancer/TV Personality {Link without Title} Born In Poland.
- Martha Stewart , Television and Magazine personality
- J. Michael Straczynski , SciFi writer/producer & Comic book writer
- Leon Czolgosz , Assassin of U.S. President William McKinley (Russian-Polish)
- Joseph Filkowski , Mobster
- Paul Jarwarski , Mobster
- Theodore Kaczynski , the Unabomber
- Joseph Kuklinski , Murderer , younger brother of Richard Kuklinski
- Richard Kuklinski , Mobster
- Philip Carl Jablonski , Serial Killer
- Eddie Leonski , the ''Brownout Strangler''
- George "Bugs" Moran , Mobster (Polish mother)
- Joseph Saltis , mobster
- Joseph Stazek , Mobster
- Hymie Weiss , (1898 - October 10, 1926), (born ), mobster
- Charles Bukowski , poet, writer (Polish-American father)
- Marek Jan Chodakiewicz , Historian
- Mark Z. Danielewski , Novelist
- Alexander Dolgun , author
- Laurence Janifer , science fiction author
- Michael Alfred Peszke , Historian
- Suzanne Strempek Shea , novelist {Link without Title}
- Leo Yankevich (Irish-Polish), Poet (Polish father)
- Adam Zamoyski , Historian
- Roger Zelazny , fantasy and science fiction Writer (Polish father)
- Aleksandra Ziolkowska-Boehm , creative non-fiction
- Jackie Biskupski , politician Democrat
- Zbigniew Brzezinski , political scientist, former US National Security Advisor
- John Dingell , politician Democrat
- Thaddeus Dulski , US House of Respresentatives, NY
- John Gronouski , Postmaster General & Ambassador
- Leon Jaworski , Special Prosecutor during the Watergate Scandal
- Marcy Kaptur , politician Democrat
- Jerry Kleczka , politician Democrat
- Paul E. Kanjorski , Pennsylvania Congressman (Democrat)
- Chester Kowal , Mayor of Buffalo, NY
- Ted Kulongoski , Governor of Oregon Democrat
- Raymond Lesniak
- Bill Lipinski , politician Democrat
- Dan Lipinski , politician Democrat
- George Maziarz , NY State Senate
- Stanley M Makowski , Mayor of Buffalo, NY
- Barbara Mikulski , Senator Democrat
- Joseph Mruk , Mayor of Buffalo, NY and US House of Representatives was the only member of Congress to voice opposition to the Yalta Agreement
- Frank Murkowski , Alaskan Governor Republican
- Lisa Murkowski , US Senator from Alaska (Republican)
- Edmund Muskie (a.k.a, Edmund Marciszewski) United States Senator & Secretary of State
- Marian P. Opala , Oklahoma Supreme Court Justice
- Joseph Pankow , Mayor of Buffalo, NY
- Tim Pawlenty , politician Republican
- Ed Pawlowski , Mayor of Allentown, Pennsylvania
- Gene Pelowski , politician
- Roman Pucinski , House of Representatives, IL
- Dan Rostenkowski , politician Democrat
- Richard Trumka , American Labor movement leader
- Marion Zioncheck , US House of Representatives
- Karol J. Bobko , NASA astronaut
- Martin Dudziak , physicist
- Elonka Dunin , writer/cryptographer/game devloper, {Link without Title} , (daughter of Stanley Dunin/Croatian mother)
- Stanley Dunin , aerospace engineer {Link without Title}
- Kazimierz Funk , discovered vitamins
- James Gimzewski , physicist
- Walter Golaski , engineer
- Emil Konopinski , designer of first atomic bomb with Edward Teller
- Hilary Koprowski , virologist and Immunologist
- Robert Kowalski , mathematician
- Charlie Kowal , astronomer
- Stephanie Kwolek , inventor Nylon
- Isabella Lugoski , chemist, physicist, Manhattan Project participant
- Ralph Modjeski , engineer
- Michael Alfred Peszke , historian
- Scott E. Parazynski , NASA astronaut
- James A. Pawelczyk , NASA astronaut
- Felix Pawlowski , early pioneer of aviation, one of the first American aeronautical engineers
- Frank Wilczek , physicist (Polish father)
- Steve Wozniak , computer pioneer
- Marie Zakrzewska , physician
- Peter Zika , Botanist, {Link without Title} (Polish/Czech)
- Benjamin Adamowicz And Joseph Adamowicz , amateur aviators who flew across the Atlantic
- George Adamski , one of the first people to publicly claim to have seen and photographed UFO s.
- Gene Jankowski - former President of CBS
- John Koza , Inventor: invented scratch-off lottery ticket
- David Miscavige , Scientology leader (Polish mother)
- Ed Piszek , founder of Mrs Paul's Foods
- Adam Przeworski , Political Scientist
- Joseph Sarnoski , Congressional Medal of Honor winner
- Tadeusz Sendzimir , Inventor
- Curtis Sliwa , Guardian Angels founder
- Mary Stachowicz , anti-Catholic hate crime victim
- Wilfrid Michael Voynich , bibliophile
- Warren Winiarski , Winemaker, Stag Leap Winery {Link without Title}
- John Wojnowski , Protester
- Alexis Arquette , actor
- David Arquette , actor
- Patricia Arquette , actor
- Rosanna Arquette , actress
- Paul Baran , internet pioneer
- Gertrude Blanch , mathematician
- Adrien Brody , actor
- Jennifer Connelly , actress
- Abraham Hirschfeld , real estate developer
- Robert Hofstadter , scientist & Nobel Prize winner
- Byron Janis , pianist
- Scarlett Johansson , actress
- Rita Karin , actress
- Stanley Kubrick film director
- Adam Lamberg , Actor
- Meyer Lansky , Mobster
- Geddy Lee , musician - Rush
- Jonathan Lipnicki , actor
- Victor Markowicz , founder of Gtech Corporation
- William Markowitz , astronomer
- Ross Martin , actor
- Epic Mazur , singer
- Monet Mazur , actress/musician
- Alan Pakula , Film Director
- Sidney Pollack , Film Director
- Hyman G. Rickover , U.S. Navy Admiral , Father Of The Nuclear Navy
- Arthur Rubinstein , composer
- Albert Sabin , medical researcher
- Sarah Silverman , actress/comedian
- Zypora Spaisman , actress
- Jack Tramiel , computer pioneer
- Eli Wallach , Actor
- Harry Warner , Warner Bros. founder
- Paul Wolfowitz , president of World Bank
- Jacob Wolfowitz , statistician and information theorist.
- Jack Yellen , Lyricist
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