Romanian

Nadia Comaneci is a Romanian former gymnast. One of the best-known gymnasts in the world, Comaneci has five Olympic gold medals under her belt. Credited with popularizing gymnastics around the world, Nadia Comaneci was honored by the Laureus World Sports Academy by including her in their Athletes of the 20th Century list in 2000.

Saint Patrick was a Romano-British bishop and Christian missionary in Ireland. Widely regarded as the main patron saint of Ireland, Patrick is often referred to as the Apostle of Ireland. According to early medieval tradition, Patrick is credited with popularizing Christianity in Ireland. His life and work inspired the 2000 TV historical drama film, St. Patrick: The Irish Legend.

Kwame Nkrumah was a Ghanaian revolutionary and politician. He played an important role in the independence of the Gold Coast in 1957, after which he served as the first prime minister of Ghana from 1957 to 1960 and then as the first president of Ghana from 1960 to 1966. He also played an influential role as an advocate of Pan-Africanism.

Sebastian Stan serves as an inspiration to many youngsters as he overcame his difficult beginnings to become a popular actor in the American film industry. A self-made man, he learned the art of acting at the prestigious Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London and went on to star in hit films like Captain America: Civil War and Avengers: Endgame.

Often considered a national hero of Romania, Vlad the Impaler was an important ruler in Wallachian history. Also known as Vlad Dracula, his reputation for cruelty inspired the name of the famous fictitious vampire Count Dracula. Books describing his cruelty were among the first-known bestsellers in the German-speaking territories.

Simona Halep is a Romanian tennis player. With 22 WTA singles titles and two Grand Slam singles titles under her belt, Simona Halep is one of the most successful Romanian female tennis players of all time. She is also widely considered one of the WTA Tour's best returners of the current generation.

Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist Elie Wiesel is best remembered for his book Night, which relates his traumatic experience as a Jewish prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps. After surviving the Holocaust, he became a journalist and a human rights activist, and also helped in establishing the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Nicolae Ceaușescu was a Romanian politician who served as the first president of the country. Ceaușescu's communist government was totalitarian and was responsible for human rights abuses and severe repression. An anti-government protest (the Romanian Revolution) broke out in 1989 and his government was overthrown subsequently. Ceaușescu and his wife were convicted of genocide and executed by firing squad.

Roman poet Publius Ovidius Naso, better known as Ovid, lived during the rule of Augustus. He is held at par with Latin legends Virgil and Horace. Remembered for his mythological masterpiece the Metamorphoses, a 15-book Latin poem, he spent his final years exiled in a city on the Black Sea.

Inna is a Romanian songwriter and singer who achieved popularity after releasing her debut studio album Hot, which was certified Platinum and Gold. Over the years, she has received several awards, such as MTV Europe Music Awards, Romanian Music Awards, and Balkan Music Awards. Also a human rights activist, Inna supports LGBT and children's rights. 

Constantin Brâncuși was a Romanian sculptor, painter, and photographer. A pioneer of modernism, he is considered one of the most influential sculptors of the 20th-century. The son of poor parents, he worked hard to fund his training at the Bucharest School of Fine Arts and became a skilled sculptor. He left behind 1200 photographs and 215 sculptures at his death. 

Alaric I reigned as the first king of the Visigoths. Alaric, who operated against the Western Roman regimes, is best remembered for playing a crucial role in the sack of Rome in 410, which was one of the major events leading up to the fall of the Western Roman Empire. After Rome's sack, Alaric fell ill and died in Bruttium.

Carol II of Romania reigned as king of Romania from 1930 to 1940. He played a major role in establishing a royal dictatorship in Romania by abolishing the political parties and removing the 1923 constitution. He replaced the political parties with the National Renaissance Front, a single monopoly party of government. 

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.

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.

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.

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.

Former president of Romania Ion Iliescu was in the news when in 2018, he was charged with crimes against humanity for being involved in the revolts following the toppling of the communist rule in 1989. He denied the charges, though over 800 people were killed after he assumed power.

Márta Károlyi is a Hungarian-born Romanian-American gymnastics coach. She was the former national team coordinator for USA Gymnastics. Her husband, Bela, is also a prominent gymnastics coach, and between them, the couple has trained nine Olympic champions, fifteen world champions, sixteen European medalists, and many US national champions. She retired from coaching in 2016.