List of Turkish Americans

This is a list of notable Turkish Americans, are people who have Turkish ancestry (or have or had Turkish citizenship for those of non-Turkish ethnic descent) and are citizens of the United States.

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

• Daron Acemoğlu
• Taner Akçam, University of Minnesota professor, historian specializing in the Armenian Genocide^[1]
• İlhan Aksay, professor, Princeton University^[2]
• Yasemin Aksoy, 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, 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]
• Özlem Kahyaoğlu Equils, doctor, researcher^[6]
• Faruk Gül, Professor of Economics, Princeton University^[7]
• Dr. Murat Günel, Associate Professor of Neurosurgery^[8]
• Feza Gürsey, mathematician and physicist
• M. Şükrü Hanioğlu, Professor of Near Eastern Studies, Princeton University
• Alp Ikizler, nephrologist, holder of the Catherine McLaughlin Hakim chair in Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine
• Merve Kavakçı, 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]
• Cagan Hakki Sekercioglu, Assistant Professor at the Department of Biology, University of Utah, one of the most cited 1% of scientists in the past decade in ecology and environmental science, named 2011 Scientist of the Year by a Turkish media consortium, one of National Geographic's 14 uniquely gifted "Emerging Explorers"^[11]
• Mehmet Toner, cryobiologist, professor of surgery at the Harvard Medical School, and professor of biomedical engineering at the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology^[12]
• Turgay Üzer, Georgia Institute of Technology Physicist^[13]
• Vamık Volkan,^[14] Princeton University Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry
• Nur Yalman,^[15] octolingual Harvard University Professor of Social Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies
• Osman Yaşar, professor and chair of the computational science department at State University of New York College at Brockport^[16]
• K. Aslıhan Yener,^[17] University of Chicago archaeologist who uncovered a new source of Bronze Age Anatolian tin mines

Artists

• Mustafa Kemal Abadan, partner of one of the world’s largest architect firms Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM)^[11][18]
• Haluk Akakçe
• Metin Bereketli, painter ^[19]
• 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^[20]
• Tümay Günaydin, Interior Designer and artist

Astronomers

• Janet Akyüz Mattei, astronomer and director of the AAVSO
• Feryal Özel, astrophysicist

Authors

• Bülent Atalay, physicist and author
• Yalman Onaran, financial journalist and author

Business people

• Melih Abdulhayoğlu, founder, CEO, and president of Comodo Group^[21]
• Harry Ablak, Varol Ablak, and Seçkin Ablak, founders of Vocelli Pizza^[22]
• Sait Akarlılar, founder of Mavi Jeans^[23]
• Ahmet Ertegün, founder and president of Atlantic Records
• Nesuhi Ertegün, executive at Atlantic Records, brother of Ahmet
• James Ben Ali Haggin, investor and founder of the Ben Ali Stakes
• Muhtar Kent, CEO and chairman of The Coca-Cola Company
• Murat Köprülü, investment professional and chairman of the American Turkish Society, and founder and chairman of the American Immigrant Society
• Tarkan Maner, CEO of Nexenta Systems
• Erol Onaran, founder of Erol's
• Hamdi Ulukaya, founder and owner of Chobani

Cinema

• Turgut Türk Adıgüzel, director^[24]
• Hayati Akbaş, actor ^[25]
• Can Ansay, actor ^[26]
• Resmine Atış, actress ^[27]
• Jack Bannon
• Aclan Bates, director ^[28]
• Bea Benaderet
• 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
• Tülin Daloğlu, Washington correspondent for Turkey’s Star TV^[29]
• Alex Demir, actor ^[30]
• Traci Dinwiddie, actress
• Bilge Ebiri, journalist and filmmaker
• Gökhan Ekremoğlu, director^[31]
• Ayda Field, actress, married to British singer-songwriter Robbie Williams^[32]
• Sinan Germirli, producer^[33]
• Isabella Damla Güvenilir, child actress best known for her work on Elif
• Nicholas Kadi
• Serdar Kalsın^[34]
• Francesca O'Keefe, actress, singer, writer and producer ^[35]
• Erol Onaran, founder of Erol's TV, Erol's Video and Erol's Internet
• Eren Özker, puppeteer on The Muppet Show
• Paul Shenar
• Ertuğ Tüfekçioğlu, movie director^[36]

Composer

• Emir Işılay, composer and pianist

Doctors

• Ibrahim Ben Ali, doctor, casualty in a Baltimore yellow fever epidemic
• Doruk Erkan, assistant attending rheumatologist and clinical researcher at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Weill Medical College of Cornell University
• Zeynel A. Karcıoğlu, M.D., ophthalmic oncology and orbital diseases specialist, surgeon
• Behram Kurşunoğlu, physicist, co-founder of the Center for Theoretical Studies, University of Miami
• Mehmet Öz, cardiothoracic surgeon and award-winning author who has made frequent appearances on The Oprah Winfrey Show, NBC, ABC, CBS, and CNN
• 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^[37]
• Yusuf Yazici, Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine in the New York University School of Medicine

Economics

• Kamer Daron Acemoğlu - Turkish economist of Armenian descent
• Nouriel Roubini

Historians

• Arif Dirlik

House of Osman

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

Judges

• Halil Süleyman Özerden, United States District Judge for the Southern District of Mississippi
• Ali B. Paksoy, Jr., District Court Judge for North Carolina District 27B

Music

• Bülent Arel, composer of contemporary classical music and electronic music
• 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, pop-rock singer
• Deniz Tek
• Özlem Tekin, singer
• Pınar Toprak, composer

NASA

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

Painters

• Sevgi Çağal

Philosophers

• Nathan Salmon

Politics

• Zeyno Baran, scholar on issues on US-Turkey relations
• Osman "Oz" Bengür, Maryland Democratic Party Congressional candidate
• Fetullah Gülen, leader of the Gülen Movement
• Kollin Rice, Attorney and political activist, leader of the Oregon Democratic Club

Producers

• Leslie Bates-Büyüktürkoğlu

Sports

• Chris Başak, Major League Baseball infielder
• Dave Coskunian, soccer player of Armenian descent
• Bobby Dixon, basketball player for the Turkish national team, known in Turkey as Ali Muhammed
• Erwin Dudley, basketball player with Turkish passport, known in Turkey as Ersin Dağli
• Korel Engin, basketball player
• Erden Eruç, completed first solo human-powered circumnavigation of the Earth by rowboat, sea kayak, bicycle and foot
• Tunç İlkin, former Pittsburgh Steelers player and sports commentator
• Ersan İlyasova, Milwaukee Bucks player
• Enes Kanter, basketball player
• Şebnem Kimyacıoğlu, basketball player
• Yasemin Kimyacıoğlu, basketball player
• Mehmet Okur, Utah Jazz player and 2007 NBA All-Star
• Nevin Nevlin, basketball player
• Lisa Marie Varon, former professional wrestler known as Tara in TNA and Victoria in WWE
• Hidayet Türkoğlu, Orlando Magic player
• Nevriye Yılmaz, basketball player

Talk show hosts

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

Other

• Ibrahim Ben Ali
• Asım Orhan Barut, theoretical physicist
• Orkut Büyükkökten, software engineer
• Tantek Çelik, computer scientist
• Furkan Doğan student, known for being killed in the Gaza flotilla raid
• Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine film critic
• Sibel Deniz Edmonds, former FBI translator
• James Ben Ali Haggin, namesake of the Ben Ali Stakes
• Kenan Şahin, establishing partner in Lucent Technologies
• Lisa Marie Varon, wrestling star known as Victoria
• Ahmet Yıldız 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