Emigrants from West Germany to the United States

Walter Bruce Willis is a retired American actor. Widely recognised as a Hollywood icon of the action genre, he first achieved fame with a leading role on the comedy-drama series Moonlighting (1985–1989) and has appeared in over one hundred films, gaining widespread recognition as an action hero for his portrayal of John McClane in the Die Hard franchise (1988–2013).

German-American physics (1928–2024)

German biochemist

American co-founder of YouTube (born 1979)

Peter Andreas Thiel is a German and American entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and conservative political activist. A co-founder of PayPal (1998), Palantir Technologies (2003), and Founders Fund (2005), he was also the first outside investor in Facebook (2004). According to The New York Times, as of December 2025, Thiel's estimated net worth stood at US$27.5 billion, placing him among the 100 richest individuals in the world.

German-born American biophysicist and Nobel laureate

Austrian school economist and libertarian anarcho-capitalist philosopher

German-American pornographic actress and model

German actor

German basketball player

German-American actress, producer, and director (born 1973)

German actress

German architect (1940-2021)

German countertenor (1944–1983)

German rocket scientist (1900–1980)

wife of American football player O. J. Simpson (1959–1994)

American journalist

American political scientist

American actor

German-American astronomer

German football manager (1953-2018)

American mathematician

German beauty pageant contestant

Olympic medalists in equestrian

German writer and scholar (1911–2010)

German topologist (1928–2022)

American soccer player

American actress (born 1982)

German composer (1930-2016)

Vietnam War prisoner of war (1938-2001)

German activist

Austrian School economist (1922-2007)

German-born actor

German actress (1924-2010)

German-born U.S. paleontologist

Ukrainian literary scholar (1894–1977)

Olympic medalist in equestrian

German Army officer during WWII, and writer (1917–2008)

American theatre director and puppeteer

artist

German cinematographer (1943–1997)

German-American mathematician (1926-1996)

American soccer player (born 1957)

German circus actor

German-American biologist

German actress

American-German mathematician

American film writer, film producer and cookbook author

German physicist

American mathematician

German-American socialite

German mathematician (1938–2008)

German actress (1918-2017)

German-American aerospace engineer; senior NASA manager (1933-2012)

German designer (1930-2008)

actor

American geneticist (1935–2023)

German architect (1957–2006)

German-American composer (born 1961)

American soccer coach