List of Chileans

This is a list of Chileans who are famous or notable.

Economists

• Ricardo J. Caballero – MIT professor, Department of Economics
• Sebastián Edwards – UCLA professor, former World Bank officer (1993–1996), prolific author and media personality
• Alejandro Foxley – Chile's first Finance Minister after the return of democracy in 1990 and an engineer of the country's economic miracle during democracy; former Foreign Affairs minister, and former Chilean Senator for East kakarackoj
• Manfred Max Neef – Right Livelihood Award winner, presidential candidate, member of the Club of Rome, former president of the Universidad Austral
• José Piñera – implemented the privatization of the Chilean pension system under Pinochet
• Andrés Velasco – Sumitomo Professor of International Finance and Development in the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; Finance Minister during Bachelet's administration
• Karen Soto – Lab Technician, Department of Histology, Currently in Australia

Military

• Manuel Baquedano – general of the Chilean forces during the War of the Pacific
• Philip Bazaar – recipient of the US Navy Medal of Honour
• José Miguel Carrera – first Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army and Independence leader of the Patria Vieja
• Luis Carrera – Chilean military officer in the War of Independence
• Ignacio Carrera Pinto – captain in charge of the Chilean patrol who died in Battle of La Concepción
• Carlos Condell – captain of the Covadonga ship at the Iquique Naval Combat
• Manuel Contreras – head of Augusto Pinochet's National Intelligence Directorate (DINA)
• Manuel Hipólito Orella – sailor who was one of the first midshipman of the Chilean Navy
• Patricio Lynch – governor of Lima during the Chilean occupation of Lima, Perú, during the War of the Pacific
• Juan MacKenna – Irish-born organizer of O'Higgins's Army
• Bernardo O'Higgins – founder of modern Chile
• Arturo Prat – captain of the Esmeralda ship at the Iquique Naval Combat; regarded as a national hero
• Luis Pardo – also known as Piloto Pardo, Chilean Navy captain who rescued the survivors of the Shackleton expedition
• Sofanor Parra – officer of the cavalry branch of the Chilean Army who fought in almost all the military actions of the War of the Pacific
• Juan de Quiroga y Apablaza – military figure
• Manuel Rodríguez – Independence leader and guerrilla leader during the Reconquista
• Eleuterio Ramírez – officer, hero of the War of the Pacific
• José Ignacio Zenteno – lieutenant Colonel of the Army of the Andes, Minister of War and Marine in the O'Higgins government

Musicians

• Los Abandoned – alternative rock band
• Altazores – rock band founded in 2004 by Mauricio Herrera
• Américo – cumbia chilena singer
• Tom Araya – singer/bassist for thrash metal band Slayer
• Daniela Aleuy - singer and songwriter
• Claudio Arrau – classical piano player
• FloyyMenor – reggaeton singer
• Cris MJ – reggaeton singer
• Paloma Mami – reggaeton singer
• Germán Casas – 1960s singer
• Beto Cuevas – lead singer from rock group La Ley
• Alvaro Estrella – pop singer
• Luis 'Lucho' Gatica – bolero singer
• Eduardo Gatti – a leading composer of modern Chilean music
• Jorge González – controversial lead singer and songwriter of historic Chilean rock band Los Prisioneros
• Luis "Checho" González – folklore composer, born in Iquique
• Rodrigo González – bassist and singer of the German band die Ärzte
• Alberto Guerrero – Chilean–Canadian composer, pianist, and teacher
• Myriam Hernández – popular music singer
• Alicia Ika – native Rapa Nui actress, musician, songwriter, surf instructor and tourist agent. Star in (2010).
• Pascuala Ilabaca – singer-songwriter
• Inti-Illimani – pioneers of the nueva canción chilena movement; known communists and "pro-democracy" activists in exile during Pinochet dictatorship
• Isleña Antumalen – Huilliche singer, rapper, and activist
• Víctor Jara – Chilean folk singer and theatrical director; political activist; communist
• Alain Johannes – Chilean-born musician, songwriter, sound engineer; best known as founding member of Alternative Rock American band Eleven
• Oscar Lopez – senior latin guitarists musician, born in Santiago
• Rafael Manríquez – nueva canción musician
• Javiera Mena – Indie electropop musician
• DJ Méndez – urban music producer
• Mon Laferte – singer-songwriter
• El Monteaguilino – Cueca composer, born in Monte Águila
• La Noche – cumbia chilena band
• Chañaral Ortega-Miranda – contemporary composer
• Ángel Parra – folk musician (nueva canción); son of Violeta Parra
• Isabel Parra – folk musician; daughter of Violeta Parra
• Javiera Parra – lead singer from group Javiera y los Imposibles
• Violeta Parra – Chilean folk singer
• Antonio Prieto – singer and actor known in English for "The Bride" or "The Wedding" song
• Quilapayún – nueva canción ensemble, supporters of Popular Unity (UP) coalition during presidency of Salvador Allende
• Leo Rey – cumbia chilena singer
• Alejandro Silva – heavy metal guitar player
• Saiko – pop rock band
• Clara Solovera (1909–1992) – songwriter, born in Santiago
• Esther Soré (1915–1996) – 1940s singer, born in Santiago
• Fernando Ubiergo – folk singer-songwriter (Chilean folk), born in Valparaíso
• Francisca Valenzuela – singer-songwriter
• Ricardo Villalobos – minimal techno artist
• Verónica Villarroel – soprano
• Ramón Vinay – tenor

Artists

• Claudio Bravo (1936–2011) – hyper-realist painter
• Carlos Catasse – painter
• Marta Colvin – sculptor
• Alfredo Jaar – installation artist, filmmaker and architect
• Olga Lehmann – painter
• Roberto Matta – painter, sculptor
• Camilo Mori – painter
• Dora Puelma – artist
• Carlos Sotomayor – cubist painter
• Miguel Venegas – painter, called "El Maestro" (the Master)

Politicians

• Juana Rosa Aguirre – former first lady, wife of Pedro Aguirre Cerda
• Arturo Alessandri – served twice as president of Chile
• Jorge Alessandri – 27th President of Chile; President of Council of State under Pinochet Regime
• Salvador Allende – former senator and president of Chile; ousted in a military coup
• Clodomiro Almeyda – socialist politician
• Soledad Alvear – former Justice minister and Foreign minister; current PDC senator
• Celinda Arregui – feminist politician, writer, teacher, suffrage activist
• Gabriel Boric – first youth leader politician of Chile
• Michelle Bachelet – first woman president of Chile
• Juan Chandía – governor of for 1946–1952
• Carlos Dávila – former Secretary General of the Organization of American States
• Florencio Durán – former president of the senate
• Héctor Faúndez – diplomat
• Fernando Flores – businessman and former senator
• Gabriel González Videla – 25th President of Chile (1946-1952)
• Jaime Guzmán – right wing politician during the Pinochet regime; murdered by Manuel Rodríguez Patriotic Front on April 1, 1991; former UDI Senator
• Tomás Hirsch – former president of the Humanist Party of Chile; 2005 candidate for president
• Antonia Illanes – lawyer and politician
• José Miguel Insulza – former Interior minister; current Secretary General of the Organization of American States
• José Antonio Kast — president of the Republican Party, former deputy and councilman, presidential candidate in 2017 and in 2021.
• Carlos Keller – former Leader of the National Socialist Movement of Chile, responsible for the organization of the Seguro Obrero Massacre
• Joaquín Lavín – Independent Democratic Union candidate for presidency in 2005 election; former mayor of Las Condes and Santiago
• Orlando Letelier – Foreign Minister during Salvador Allende's government murdered during the Pinochet regime in Washington, D.C.
• Gladys Marín – communist leader, feminist activist, lived in exile, opposed conservatism and liberal economy, admirer of Lenin and Marx
• Raúl Morales Beltramí – politician and physician
• Herman Chadwick Piñera – Chilean lawyer, businessman, trade union leader and politician
• Sebastián Piñera – Chilean billionaire, businessman and politician; former President of Chile
• Aníbal Pinto – 9th President of Chile (1876-1881)
• Augusto Pinochet – Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Chile, President of the Government Junta of Chile, dictator from 1973 until 1990 and President from 1981 onwards.
• Diego Portales – Minister, major designer of the Chilean State during the first half of the 19th century
• Juan Antonio Ríos (1888–1946) – Chilean lawyer, political figure and 24th President of Chile
• Laura Rodríguez – first Humanist Party deputy in the world
• Jennifer Rojas – social worker and politician
• Camila Vallejo – Member of Parliament, led 2011 student protests in Chile
• Adolfo Zaldívar – PRI senator, former leader of the PDC
• Andrés Zaldívar – former PDC senator
• Herminia Colihueque, Mapuche first woman to run in an election for a political office

Religious figures

• Rodolfo Acevedo – Mormon bishop
• Saint Teresa de los Andes – first Chilean saint
• Carlos Camus – Chilean bishop
• Francisco Javier Errázuriz – fourth Chilean cardinal
• Juan Francisco Fresno – third Chilean cardinal
• Raúl Silva Henríquez – second Chilean cardinal born in Talca; human rights advocate
• Alberto Hurtado – saint
• Jorge Medina – fifth Chilean cardinal; conservative figure
• Fr. Juan Ignacio Molina – Chilean priest, naturalist, historian, botanist, ornithologist, geographer
• José María Caro Rodríguez – first Chilean cardinal
• Francisco Javier Quintanilla – theologian
• Juan Subercaseaux Errázuriz – Chilean Roman Catholic Archbishop
• José María Vélaz – Chilean priest
• Blessed Laura Vicuña

Sports

• Omar Aguilar – long-distance runner
• Marlene Ahrens – javelin thrower; Olympic silver medalist
• Fernando Alvarez – jockey
• David Arellano – football player; namesake of Colo-Colo's stadium
• Luis Ayala – tennis player; twice French Open finalist
• Gonzalo Barrios – eSports player
• Claudio Bravo – football player, FC Barcelona
• Ben Brereton – football player
• Nick Carle – football player, Sydney FC
• Patricio Castañeda – football player
• Carlos Caszely – football player
• Patricio Cornejo – tennis player, 1976 Davis Cup finalist
• Cristian Garín – tennis player, winner of 4 ATP titles
• Carlo de Gavardo – KTM rally motorcyclist
• Elías Figueroa – football player; three times elected as Best Football Player of America
• Jaime Fillol – tennis player, 1976 Davis Cup finalist
• Arturo Godoy – boxer, fought Joe Louis twice for the World Heavyweight title
• Fernando González – tennis player; only Chilean to win gold, silver and bronze medals at the Summer Olympics
• Tomás González – gymnast, Olympic finalist
• Juan Halty – former professional footballer
• Kai Horwitz (born 1998) – Olympic alpine skier
• Luis Jiménez (born 1987) – footballer
• Benjamín Kuscevic – football player
• Alberto Larraguibel – horse rider, record for puissance (high jump) on horseback
• Sergio Sapo Livingstone – Chilean football goalkeeper
• Anita Lizana – tennis player; 1937 US Open champion; first Latin American, and first Hispanic person, to be ranked World Number 1 in tennis
• Nicolás Massú (born 1979) – tennis player; highest world ranking #9, Olympic 2-time champion (singles and doubles)
• Carlos Moreno – track and field sprinter
• Iván Morovic – chess International Grandmaster
• Isidora Niemeyer – rower
• Érika Olivera – marathon runner; gold medal winner in women's marathon at the 1999 Pan American Games
• Andrés Parada - footballer
• Manuel Pellegrini – former footballer for Universidad de Chile, former manager of Real Madrid
• Alejandra Ramos – middle-distance runner
• Monica Regonesi – long-distance runner
• Sammis Reyes – basketball and American football player; first Chilean to play in the NFL
• Fernando Riera – Chile's most successful soccer coach; led the national team to a third-place finish in the 1962 World Cup
• Marcelo Ríos – first Latin American man to become world number-one tennis player
• Eduardo Robledo – football player, Newcastle United F.C.
• Jorge Robledo – player, Newcastle United F.C.
• Jose Romero – AFL player, Western Bulldogs
• Sebastián Rozental (born 1976) - professional soccer player
• Bayron Saavedra (born 1997) – footballer
• Marcelo Salas – football player; holds the record for most goals playing for the national team; won titles with every team he played with
• Eliseo Salazar – race car driver, competed in Formula One intermittently from 1980–1982, moved to Champ Car and the Indy Racing League
• Alexis Sánchez – football player, Sevilla
• Leonel Sánchez – football player, 1962 World Cup top scorer
• José A. Santos – jockey, winner of US Triple Crown
• Alejandro Silva – long-distance runner
• Pablo Squella – middle-distance runner
• José Sulantay – Chile's second most successful soccer coach, led the under 20 national team to a third-place finish at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Canada
• Emilio Ulloa – long-distance runner
• Dion Valle – football player, Marconi Stallions FC
• Rodrigo Vargas – football player, Melbourne Victory FC
• Stephanie Vaquer - professional wrestler; first Chilean and South American woman to win WWE Women's Championship
• Arturo Vidal – football player, Colo-Colo
• Gert Weil – shot putter
• Iván Zamorano – football player

Scientists and engineers

• Ricardo Baeza Rodríguez – mathematician
• Ricardo Baeza-Yates – computer scientist
• Isabel Behncke - primatologist
• Erik Bongcam-Rudloff – bioinformatician
• Claudio Bunster – physicist
• Marcela Contreras – immunologist
• F. J. Duarte – laser physicist
• Matias Duarte – software inventor
• Julio M. Fernandez – biologist, academic
• Eric Goles – mathematician
• Mario Hamuy – cosmologist and astronomer
• Cesar A. Hidalgo – physicist
• Cecilia Hidalgo Tapia – biochemist
• Adriana Hoffmann – botanist, Environment Minister (2000–2001)
• Paula Jofré – astronomer and astrophysicist
• Humberto Maturana – biologist, co-author of the theory of autopoiesis
• Juan Ignacio Molina – 18th and 19th-century natural scientist
• Hermann Niemeyer – paediatrician and biochemist
• Ernestina Pérez Barahona, physician
• María Teresa Ruiz – astronomer
• Elisa Torres Durney - outstanding quantum student
• Gunther Uhlmann - mathematician
• Pablo DT Valenzuela – biotechnologist, co-founder of Chiron Corporation and Fundacion Ciencias Para la Vida
• Francisco Varela – biologist, co-author of the theory of autopoiesis

Film and television personalities

• Alejandro Amenábar - film director, screenwriter and composer
• Cecilia Amenábar - actress, TV presenter and model
• Cecilia Bolocco - TV presenter, journalist and former Miss Universe
• Diana Bolocco - TV presenter and journalist
• Gabriela Bussenius - journalist, writer and filmmaker
• Santiago Cabrera - actor
• Felipe Camiroaga - TV presenter
• Charissa Chamorro - actress
• Martín Cárcamo - TV presenter
• Karen Doggenweiler - TV presenter
• Julián Elfenbein - radio and TV presenter
• Pablo Francisco - comedian, actor and writer
• Cristián de la Fuente - actor and model
• Alberto Fuguet - film director, author, journalist and film critic
• Jorge Garcia - actor and comedian
• Paulina García - actress
• Luis Gatica - actor
• Claudia di Girolamo - actress
• Luis Gnecco - actor
• Magdalena Grant - TV presenter and sports journalist
• Lisa Guerrero - journalist, TV presenter, actress and model
• Patricio Guzmán - film director
• Alejandro Jodorowsky - filmmaker
• Mario Kreutzberger (Don Francisco) – TV presenter
• Pablo Larraín - film director
• Sebastián Lelio - film director and screenwriter
• Ariel Levy - actor
• Carolina Mestrovic - TV presenter and actress
• Claudio Miranda - cinematographer
• Cristina Montt - actress
• Cote de Pablo - actress
• Pedro Pascal - actor
• Carlos Pinto - TV presenter and journalist
• Nicole Polizzi – reality TV Personality
• Antonio Prieto - actor and singer
• Francisco Puelles - actor and TV personality
• Francisco Reyes Morandé - actor
• Raúl Ruiz - film director
• Katherine Salosny - TV presenter and actress
• Horatio Sanz - actor and comedian
• Fernando Solis - radio and TV presenter
• Tonka Tomicic - TV presenter and model
• Catalina Vallejos - actress and model
• Leonor Varela - actress and model
• Daniela Vega - actress
• Gabriela Velasco – actress and television presenter
• Benjamín Vicuña - actor
• Alexander Witt - filmmaker
• Andrés Wood - film director and screenwriter

Writers

• Lorenzo Aillapán – poet
• Fernando Alegría – writer
• Isabel Allende – novelist (The House of Spirits)
• Roberto Ampuero – novelist (Cayetano Brulé series)
• Roberto Bolaño – novelist (The Savage Detectives, 2666)
• Liborio Brieba – writer
• Francisco Coloane – (Tierra del fuego)
• Angel Cruchaga Santa Maria (1893–1964) – writer, won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1948
• Ariel Florencia Richards (1981—) – writer and researcher of the visual arts
• Eugenio Cruz Vargas (1923–2014) – poet and painter, of Basque descent
• Francisco Núñez de Pineda y Bascuñán – writer of Cautiverio feliz y razón individual de las guerras dilatadas del Reino de Chile in 1673
• Pablo de Rokha – Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1965
• José Donoso – writer (Coronation, The Obscene Bird of Night)
• Ariel Dorfman – novelist, playwright (Death and the Maiden), academic, essayist, journalist and human rights activist
• Jorge Edwards – 1999 Cervantes Prize winner
• Alberto Fuguet – novelist; short story writer, Mala Onda, Las películas de mi vida; filmmaker, Se Arrienda
• Alberto Blest Gana – novelist (Martín Rivas)
• Olga Grau - philosopher
• Juan Guzman Cruchaga (1895–1979) – poet and diplomat, won the Chilean National Prize for Literature in 1962; of Basque descent
• Óscar Hahn – writer and poet
• Vicente Huidobro – father of the "Creationism" movement in Paris
• Cristián Huneeus – writer
• Enrique Lafourcade – novelist
• Hernán Rivera Letelier – novelist (Santa María de las Flores Negras, La Reina Isabel Cantaba Rancheras), poet, writer of short stories
• Enrique Lihn – poet, playwright, and novelist
• Carmen Marai – novelist El Alba de la Mandrágora (The Dawn of the Mandrake), poet, writer of short stories
• Sergio Missana – novelist
• Gabriela Mistral – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
• Nicolasa Montt – poet
• Tomás Moulian – political scientist and sociologist
• Pablo Neruda – winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
• Raquel Olea – writer, professor
• Nicanor Parra – self-proclaimed "anti-poet"
• Adolfo Quiros – (1853–1910), poet
• Gonzalo Rojas – 2004 Cervantes Prize winner
• Elvira Santa Cruz Ossa – dramatist and novelist
• Luis Sepúlveda – novelist
• Antonio Skármeta – author of Ardiente Paciencia (Burning Patience), which inspired the movie Il Postino (The Postman), about poet Pablo Neruda
• Amelia Solar de Claro – poet, playwright, and essayist
• Mercedes Valdivieso – writer
• Sergio Vodanovic – playwright

Architects

• Alejandro Aravena – 2015 Pritzker Prize winner
• Guillermo Jullian de la Fuente
• Mathias Klotz – 2001 Borromini Prize of Architecture winner for under-40 architects

Others

• Raúl Aldunate Phillips – writer, politician, and soldier
• Cecilia Magni Camino – guerilla leader and sociologist
• Vanessa Ceruti – Miss Universe Chile 2011
• Nataly Chilet – Miss World Chile 2008
• Claudio Grossman – chairman of the Human Rights Interamerican Court
• Hil Hernández – Miss Earth 2006
• Immanuel Holger – soldier and politician
• Carolina Huidobro – teacher and suffragist
• Carlos Kaiser – former National Director of the National Fund for Disabilities
• Themo Lobos – comic artist
• Andrónico Luksic – chairman of Quiñenco Holdings, which owns Banco de Chile, Antofagasta Minerals, one of the largest Chilean financial groups
• La Quintrala – Catalina de los Ríos y Lisperguer, aristocratic and sadistic landowner and witch during the Colonial Period
• Rene Ríos Boettiger (Pepo) – comic artist (Condorito)
• Juana Ross Edwards (1830–1913) – philanthropist
• Sergio Saavedra (1927–2022) – engineer and politician
• Sola Sierra – human rights activist
• Juan Somavia – Director-General of the International Labour Organization
• Joaquín Toesca – designer of the presidential house "La Moneda", in Santiago
• Maria Jose Ubiergo – Chilean DREAMer in the United States, Story Featured in the New York Times; Family member to notable Chilean Folk Singer Fernando Ubiergo Her story has been featured in El Diario, ABC, and News 12 Connecticut, among other media outlets.
• Arturo Valenzuela – former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs
• Bernardita Zúñiga – Miss World Chile 2007
• Sergio Catalán – first to discover crash survivors of Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571, and integral to rescuing all 16 remaining survivors
• Lenieflaps – Restoration druid Well-known local Chilean. Bean lover.

See also

• Chilean American
• Chilean Australian
• Chilean British
• List of people by nationality

References