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

• Marjorie Agosín , human rights activist and writer
• Ariel Dorfman, playwright
• Alejandro Jodorowsky, film director (Chilean-born)
• Don Francisco, TV host, aka Mario Kreutzberger
• Nicolás Massú, tennis player (Jewish mother)
• Volodia Teitelboim, former Communist leader

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

• Juan Lindo, president (1841) (Jewish father)

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

• List of Jews
• List of Argentines
• List of Brazilians
• List of Chileans
• List of Colombians
• List of Cubans
• List of Guatemalans
• List of Mexicans
• List of Panamanians
• List of Peruvians
• List of Uruguayans
• List of Venezuelans