Famous People Born In Bucharest

Edward G. Robinson was an American actor who achieved popularity during the Hollywood's Golden Age. The quintessential tough guy of classical Hollywood cinema, Robinson has been featured in AFI's 25 greatest male stars of Hollywood list. Edward G. Robinson was posthumously awarded an Academy Honorary Award for his contribution to the film industry.

Once number 1 in singles, Romanian tennis player Ilie Năstase created became the first European to cross $1 million in career prize money. A 3-time Davis Cup finalist, he won major titles such as the French Open, the US Open, and Wimbledon. He has also penned 2 French novels and a memoir.

Romanian-born US actor and producer John Houseman is remembered for his Academy Award- and Golden Globe-winning role in The Paper Chase. Primarily a character actor, he also gained fame as a theater director and producer and collaborated with director Orson Welles on many projects.

Ana Ularu is a Romanian actress best known for playing the role of Matilda in the action film Outbound. She began her acting career in the mid-1990s and appeared in a handful of minor roles in TV shows. As her career progressed, she started acting in films as well. She has received a Locarno International Film Festival Award.

Mircea Eliade was a Romanian fiction writer, historian of religion, professor at the University of Chicago, and philosopher. His stories and novels have been adapted into films, such as The Bengali Night, which was directed by Nicolas Klotz. His works have also influenced writers all over the world.

Dan Petrescu is a Romanian former football player best known for winning the 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup for Chelsea. He also earned 95 caps for his national team between 1989 and 2000. Since his retirement, Dan Petrescu has worked as a manager and is currently managing CFR Cluj. Petrescu is the second-most successful Romanian manager.

Aurelia Dobre is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who won three gold medals at the 24th Artistic Gymnastics World Championships in 1987. In the same World Championships, she won two bronze medals. In 1988, she helped her team win the silver medal at the Summer Olympics. In 2016, she was made an inductee of the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

Romanian former footballer Mircea Lucescu is known for his successful stint in the Romanian First League, having won 6 titles. He also led the Romanian team in the 1970 FIFA World Cup. Post-retirement, he had a successful stint as a manager, especially with the Ukrainian club Dynamo Kyiv.

Romanian actor Maia Morgenstern is best known to fans as the Virgin Mary from the 2004 biblical drama The Passion of the Christ. She has also appeared in series such as Aniela and Las Fierbinți. She has also won multiple awards for her role in Balanța, or The Oak.

Cristina Neagu is a Romanian handball player who plays for the Romanian women's national team. She was part of the team that won the bronze medal at the 2010 European Championship and the 2015 World Championship. Considered the greatest player of all time, Cristina Neagu is the only female handball player to win four World Player of the Year awards.

Romanian actor Ingrid Bisu is best known for playing Anca in the Palme d'Or-nominated comedy-drama Toni Erdmann. She made her debut with one of Romania’s first sitcoms, Casatorie de proba. She has also appeared in the horror films The Nun and The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It and has co-written Malignant.

Alec Secareanu is a Romanian actor who achieved international fame in 2017, when he played Gheorghe Ionescu in the British romantic drama film God's Own Country. In the same year, he received a nomination for Best Actor at the British Independent Film Awards for his performance in the film.

One doesn’t come across an actor who manages her own red-carpet look, but Romanian-German actor Alexandra Maria Lara claims she does just that. Married to actor Sam Riley, she has appeared with him in several films, too. She is the star of the upcoming spy thriller The King's Man.

Sandra Izbașa is a Romanian former artistic gymnast who won a gold medal at the 2008 and 2012 Olympic Games. She also won seven gold medals at the European Championships during her illustrious career. Sandra Izbașa's best result at the World Championships came at the 2006 Championships where she won the silver medal in the Balance Beam event.

Răzvan Lucescu is a Romanian former football player who played as a goalkeeper. Although he did not achieve much popularity as a player, Lucescu is renowned for his coaching career. In 2018 and 2020, Răzvan Lucescu was named Romania Coach of the Year by Gazeta Sporturilor.             

Delia Matache is a Romanian singer-songwriter. Over the years, she has released several hit singles, establishing herself as one of the most popular and successful Romanian singers. Delia Matache has also won several prestigious awards, such as Media Music Awards and Radio România Actualități Awards.

Alexandra Dinu is a Romanian actress and television presenter. She came into prominence as an actress in 2005, when she portrayed Andreea in the Dan Pița-directed Romanian film Second Hand. Since then, Alexandra Dinu has played important roles in films like Final Score, Bullet Head, and 211.

Sorana Cirstea is a Romanian tennis player who reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 French Open, which remains her best Grand Slam singles result so far. An aggressive baseliner, Cirstea has also represented her country at important tournaments like the Olympics and the Fed Cup.

Romanian tennis player Mihaela Buzarnescu has had a career-high ranking of 20 in singles. In 2022, she was affected by Wimbledon's strict dress-code when she had to change her black bra due to the code allowing only white attire and lingerie. The tennis star also boasts of a PhD in sports science.

Irina-Camelia Begu is a Romanian tennis player who has represented her country at important tournaments like the Fed Cup and Olympic Games. She also competes in Grand Slam events, reaching the semifinals of the 2018 Australian Open and the 2021 French Open in women's doubles events.

Retired Romanian artistic gymnast Larisa Iordache was touted as The New Nadia when she was just 12. The 2-time Olympian has an Olympic bronze in her kitty, apart from 7 European Championship and 12 World Cup gold medals, and numerous other awards. She excelled in beam and floor exercises.

Romanian footballer Ștefan Radu, best known as a left-back or centre-back for the Italian club Lazio, with whom he has won the Coppa Italia and the Supercoppa Italiana thrice each. His achievements earned him many honors, such as the Meritul Sportiv from the president of Romania.

Known for his pathbreaking research on the hormone insulin, Romanian physiologist Nicolae Paulescu was also a professor of medicine. He had a tiff with the Nobel Prize committee on their decision to award two other scientists for the discovery of insulin. His anti-Semitic writings influenced the Iron Guard movement.

Romanian physicist and communist-politician Nicu Ceaușescu, youngest son of 1st President of Romania Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, also a noted communist-politician, was considered and prepared as the President's heir. Nicu remained closely associated with political-regime of Nicolae and served as Member of the Great National Assembly and First Secretary of the Sibiu Regional Committee of the Communist Party.   

The daughter of Romanian Communist dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu, Zoia Ceaușescu was a renowned mathematician who had won the Simion Stoilow Prize. She was also known for her reckless lifestyle, her frequent travels, and her multiple relationships. Following her parents’ execution, she lost all her wealth and lived with her friends.

Initially a bodyguard to the Romanian president, Daniel Ghiță later established himself as a talented kickboxer. Known to fans as The Savage Samurai, he popularized his signature low kicks. Once the world number one heavyweight and a World Championship bronze medalist, he later joined politics and also worked for UNICEF.

Initially a stenographer, Romanian-born American opera singer Reba Fiersohn, better known as Alma Gluck, started her music career after her marriage and soon found success with her performances at the Metropolitan Opera. She scripted history by scoring the first million-selling phonograph record and also co-founded the American Woman's Association.

Serge Klarsfeld is a Romanian-born French Nazi hunter and activist. He is best known for recording the Holocaust in order to enable the trial and prosecution of war criminals. Klarsfeld is also renowned for his efforts to commemorate the victims of German-occupied France.

Andrei Alexandrescu is a Romanian-American computer programmer. He is best known for his groundbreaking work on policy-based design implemented through template metaprogramming. Andrei Alexandrescu is also known for authoring the book, Modern C++ Design.

Jurist and politician Victor Ponta held office as Prime Minister of Romania between May 2012 and November 2015 before resigning in the wake of Colectiv nightclub fire. He served as President of Social Democratic Party and was its candidate for 2014 Romanian presidential election. He later left the party and founded Pro Romania party and presently serves as its President.

Romanian-American psychiatrist Jacob L. Moreno is best remembered for introducing the concept of psychodrama, consisting of role-play exercises and dramatizations by patients, as a therapeutic method to cure mental ailments. He also pioneered group psychotherapy, introduced the study of social networks, and coined the terms sociometry and sociatry.