List of Latin American Jews
Since immigration began in the late 19th century, the Jewish population of Latin America has risen to more than 500,000 — more than half of whom live in Argentina , with large communities also present in Brazil and Mexico . Here is a list of some prominent Latin American Jews, arranged by country of origin.
Argentina
Hector Babenco , film director (Argentinian-born)
Daniel Barenboim , conductor & pianist
Laszlo Biro , inventor of the biro
Daniel Burman , film director
Andrés Calamaro , singer/songwriter
Gregory Chaitin , mathematician (Argentinian parents)
Mario Davidovsky , composer
Ariel Dorfman , playwright (Argentinian-born)
Giora Feidman , klezmer musician
Juan Gelman , poet
Alberto Gerchunoff , writer
Osvaldo Golijov , classical composer
Mauricio Kagel , classical composer
Daniela Krukower , judo world champion
César Milstein , immunologist, Nobel prize (1984)
Miguel Najdorf , chess player
Alejandra Pizarnik , poet
Cecilia Roth , actress
Lalo Schifrin , composer
Ana María Shua , writer
Juan Pablo Sorin , football player
Alicia Steimberg , writer
Jacobo Timerman , journalist
Horacio Verbitsky , journalist
Brazil
Hector Babenco , film director
Adriana Behar , beach volleyball player
Daniel Benzali , TV actor
Otto Maria Carpeaux , literary critic
Vilém Flusser , philosopher
Ithamara Koorax , jazz singer
Jaime Lerner , Paraná governor, urban planner
Clarice Lispector , writer
Oscar Niemeyer , architect
Ivo Perelman , jazz saxophonist
Flora Purim , jazz singer
Bernard Rajzman , volleyball player
Edmond Safra , banker
Silvio Santos , TV show host
Moacyr Scliar , author
Lasar Segall , artist
Gregori Warchavchik , architect
Chile
Colombia
Jorge Isaacs , poet
Kaleil Isaza Tuzman , entrepeneur
Cuba
Ruth Behar , writer
Jamie-Lynn DiScala , actress (converted Cuban mother)
Fabio Grobart , communist party co-founder
Brett Ratner , film director (Cuban mother)
El Salvador
Guatemala
Francisco Goldman , author (Jewish father)
Honduras
Juan Lindo , president (1847) (Jewish father)
Ricardo Maduro , president (2002)
Salvador Moncada , pharmacologist (Jewish mother)
Mexico
Jacob Bekenstein , physicist
Sabina Berman , playwright
Jorge Castañeda , foreign minister (Jewish mother)
Daniel Catán , composer
Tito Fuentes , member of Molotov
Margo Glantz , writer & critic
Alejandro Jodorowsky , director
Frida Kahlo , painter (Jewish father)
Alejandro Marcovich , member of Caifanes
Marcos Moshinsky , physicist
Fernando Schwartz , sports comentator
Ilan Stavans , literary critic
Henryk Szeryng , violinist
Ari Telch , actor
Leon Trotsky , revolutionary (Mexican exile)
Pancho Villa , revolutionary (Jewish paternal grandfather)
Jacobo Zabludovsky , tv journalist
Panama
Eric Arturo Delvalle , president (1987)
Ricardo Maduro , Honduran president (Panamanian-born)
Peru
Isaac Goldemberg , poet
Meredith Monk , performance artist
David Waisman , second vice-president
Uruguay
Gisele Ben-Dor , conductor
Jorge Drexler , singer/songwriter (Jewish father, raised Jewish)
Jose Gurvich , painter
Teresa Porzecanski , writer
Venezuela
Manuel Blum , computer scientist, Turing Award (1995)
Andres Levin , keyboardist in Yerba Buena
Moisés Kaufman , founder of NY's Tectonic Theater Project
Reynaldo Hahn , composer (Jewish father)
Baruj Benacerraf , immunologist, Nobel prize (1980)
See also
