Famous people from Panama
Here is a list of famous people from Panama. Curious if anybody from Panama made it our most famous people in the world list? Read the aformentioned article in order to find out.
Mariano Rivera
Pitcher
Mariano Rivera is a Panamanian former baseball pitcher who played 19 seasons in Major League Baseball for the New York Yankees, from 1995 to 2013. Nicknamed "Mo" and "Sandman", Rivera spent most of his career as a relief pitcher and served as the Yankees' closer for 17 seasons. A 13-time All-Star and five-time World Series champion, he is MLB's career leader in saves and games finished. Rivera won five American League Rolaids Relief Man Awards and three Delivery Man of the Year Awards, and he finished in the top three in voting for the AL Cy Young Award four times. Rivera was signed by the Yankees organization in Panama in 1990, and he debuted in the major leagues in 1995. Initially a starting pitcher, he was converted to a relief pitcher late in his rookie year. After a breakthrough season in 1996 as a setup man, he became the Yankees' closer in 1997 and established himself as one of baseball's top relievers, leading the major leagues in saves in 1999, 2001, and 2004. Rivera primarily threw a sharp-moving, mid-90s mile-per-hour cut fastball that frequently broke hitters' bats and earned a reputation as one of the league's best pitches. With his presence at the end of games, signaled by his foreboding entrance song "Enter Sandman", Rivera was a key contributor to the Yankees' success in the late 1990s and early 2000s. An accomplished postseason performer, Rivera was named the 1999 World Series Most Valuable Player and the 2003 AL Championship Series MVP, and he holds several postseason records, including lowest earned run average and most saves.
Alexis Texas
Pornographic actor
Alexis Texas is an American pornographic actress. She began her career in pornography in 2006 at the age of 21.
Miguel Bosé
Musical Artist
Luis Miguel Luchino González Bosé, usually known as Miguel Bosé, is a Latin Grammy-winning Spanish/Italian musician and actor. Bosé became an honorary Colombian citizen in 2010.
Rubén Blades
Latin pop Artist
Rubén Blades Bellido de Luna, professionally known as Rubén Blades, is a Panamanian salsa singer, songwriter, actor, Latin jazz musician, and activist, performing musically most often in the Afro-Cuban and Latin jazz genres. As songwriter, Blades brought the lyrical sophistication of Central American nueva canción and Cuban nueva trova as well as experimental tempos and politically inspired Nuyorican salsa to his music, creating thinking persons' dance music. Blades has composed dozens of musical hits, the most famous of which is "Pedro Navaja," a song about a neighborhood thug who appears to die during a robbery, inspired by "Mack the Knife." He also composed and sings what many Panamanians consider their second national anthem. The song is titled "Patria". He is an icon in Panama and is much admired throughout Latin America and Spain, and managed to attract 18% of the vote in his failed attempt to win the Panamanian presidency in 1994. In September 2004, he was appointed minister of tourism by Panamanian president Martín Torrijos for a five-year term. He holds a Licenciado en Derecho law degree from the University of Panama and an LL.M in International Law from Harvard University. He is married to singer Luba Mason.
Carlos Fuentes
Novelist
Carlos Fuentes Macías was a Mexican novelist and essayist. Among his works are The Death of Artemio Cruz, Aura, The Old Gringo and Christopher Unborn. In his obituary, the New York Times described him as "one of the most admired writers in the Spanish-speaking world" and an important influence on the Latin American Boom, the "explosion of Latin American literature in the 1960s and '70s", while The Guardian called him "Mexico's most celebrated novelist". His many literary honors include the Miguel de Cervantes Prize as well as Mexico's highest award, the Belisario Domínguez Medal of Honor. He was often named as a likely candidate for the Nobel Prize in Literature, though he never won.
Roberto Durán
Professional Boxer
Roberto Durán Samaniego is a retired Panamanian professional boxer, widely regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time. A versatile brawler in the ring, he was nicknamed "Manos de Piedra" during his career. In 2002, he was chosen by The Ring to be the 5th greatest fighter of the last 80 years. Bert Sugar rates him as the 8th greatest fighter of all-time and the Associated Press voted Duran as the #1 lightweight of the 20th century. Many even consider him the greatest lightweight of all time. He held world titles at four different weights—lightweight, welterweight, light middleweight and middleweight. He was the second boxer to have fought a span of five decades, the first being Jack Johnson. He finally retired in January 2002 at age 50 following a bad car crash in October 2001, with a professional record of 120 fights, 104 wins with 69 KOs. Up until the second Ray Leonard fight, he was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray Arcel.
Billy Cobham
Jazz fusion Artist
William Emanuel "Billy" Cobham is a Panamanian American jazz drummer, composer and bandleader, who permanently relocated to Switzerland during the late 1970s. Coming to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s with trumpeter Miles Davis and then with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Allmusic's reviewer claims Cobham is "generally acclaimed as fusion's greatest drummer with an influential style that combines explosive power and exacting precision.
Manuel Noriega
Politician
Manuel Antonio Noriega Moreno is a former Panamanian politician and soldier. He was military dictator of Panama from 1983 to 1989. In the 1989 invasion of Panama by the United States he was removed from power, captured, detained as a prisoner of war, and flown to the United States. Noriega was tried on eight counts of drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering in April 1992. Noriega's U.S. prison sentence ended in September 2007; pending the outcome of extradition requests by both Panama and France, for convictions in absentia for murder in 1995 and money laundering in 1999. France was granted its extradition request in April 2010. He arrived in Paris on April 27, 2010, and after a re-trial as a condition of the extradition, he was found guilty and sentenced to seven years in jail in July 2010. A conditional release was granted on September 23, 2011, for Noriega to be extradited to serve 20 years in Panama. He arrived in Panama on December 11, 2011.
Blas Pérez
Soccer
Blas Antonio Miguel Pérez Ortega is a professional footballer who currently plays for FC Dallas. He is nicknamed Super Ratón. He is a distant cousin to midfielder Miguel Guante.
Laffit Pincay, Jr.
Jockey
Laffit Alejandro Pincay, Jr. was flat racing's all-time winningest jockey, still holding second place many years after his retirement. He competed primarily in the United States.
Ricardo Martinelli
Politician
Ricardo Alberto Martinelli Berrocal is a Panamanian businessman serving as 49th President of Panama since 2009.
Richard Prince
Visual Artist
Richard Prince is an American painter and photographer. Prince began appropriating photographs in 1975. His image, Untitled, a "rephotograph" of a photograph taken originally by Sam Abell and appropriated from a cigarette advertisement, was the first "rephotograph" to raise more than $1 million at auction when it was sold at Christie's New York in 2005. Starting in 1977, Prince photographed four photographs which previously appeared in the New York Times. This process of re-photographing continued into 1983, when his work Spiritual America featured Garry Gross's photo of Brooke Shields at the age of ten, standing in a bathtub, as an allusion to precocious sexuality and to the Alfred Stieglitz photograph by the same name. His Jokes series concerns the sexual fantasies and sexual frustrations of middle-class America, using stand-up comedy and burlesque humor. After living in New York City for 25 years, Prince moved to upstate New York. His mini-museum, Second House, purchased by the Guggenheim Museum, was struck by lightning and burned down shortly after the museum purchased the House, having only stood for six years, from 2001 to 2007. In 2008 the painting 'Overseas Nurse' from 2002 fetched a record breaking $8,452,000 at Sotheby's in London. Prince now lives and works in New York City.
Omar Torrijos
Politician
Omar Efraín Torrijos Herrera was the Commander of the Panamanian and National Guard and the de facto dictator of Panama from 1968 to 1981. Torrijos was never officially the president of Panama, but instead held titles including "Maximum Leader of the Panamanian Revolution" and "Supreme Chief of Government." Although he was considered a leftist autocrat, he simultaneously had the support of the United States as he opposed communism. His regime was based instead on progressivism. Torrijos is best known for negotiating the 1977 Torrijos–Carter Treaties that eventually gave Panama full sovereignty over the Panama Canal, at noon on December 31, 1999. His son Martín Torrijos was elected president and served from 2004 to 2009.
Clinton Kelly
TV Personality
Clinton Kelly is an American fashion consultant and media personality best known for his role as co-host on What Not to Wear, a reality program that features fashion makeovers. He shares on-air duties with Stacy London. Kelly started his career as a freelance writer for several fashion magazines. Although he still continues to write, he has since expanded into fashion consulting and designing. In 2011 Kelly joined the cast of ABC's daytime cooking show The Chew.
Bruce Chen
Pitcher
Bruce Kastulo Chen is a Panamanian professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent.
Juan Williams
Commentator
Juan Williams is a Panamanian-born American journalist and political analyst for Fox News Channel. He also writes for several newspapers including The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal and has been published in magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly and Time. He was a senior news analyst for National Public Radio from 1999 until October 2010. At The Washington Post for 23 years, Williams has worked as an editorial writer, op-ed columnist, White House correspondent and national correspondent. Williams is the author of Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years, 1954-1965, a companion to the documentary series of the same name about the African-American Civil Rights Movement;Thurgood Marshall: American Revolutionary, a biography of Thurgood Marshall, the first black American to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States; and Enough, which was inspired by Bill Cosby's speech at the NAACP gala, and deals with Williams' critique of black leaders in America, and as he puts it, the "culture of failure." Williams has received an Emmy Award and critical praise for his television documentary work and he has won several awards for investigative journalism and his opinion columns.
Gabriel Enrique Gómez
Soccer Midfielder
Gabriel Enrique Gómez Giron is a Panamanian footballer who plays for Junior de Barranquilla in Colombia, as a defensive midfielder.
Guillermo Jones
Professional Boxer
Guillermo Jones is the former World Boxing Association's WBA Cruiserweight Boxing Champion of the world.
Julio Dely Valdés
Soccer
Julio César Dely Valdés is a Panamanian former footballer. He is a twin brother of Jorge Dely Valdés and younger brother of Armando Dely Valdés.
Luis Tejada
Soccer
Luis "Matador" Tejada is a Panamanian professional association football striker. He currently plays for Veracruz of the Liga MX and the Panamanian national team.
Felipe Baloy
Soccer
Felipe Abdiel Baloy Ramírez is a football defender who currently plays in Mexico for Mexican Primera División team Santos Laguna and is the current captain of the Panama national football team.
El General
Reggaeton Artist
El General is a Panamanian Reggae artist considered by some to be one of the Fathers of Reggaeton. During the early 1990s, he initiated the Spanish spoken dancehall that would later become reggaeton. Early examples of this were the international and somewhat mainstream songs, “Te Ves Buena” and “Tu Pum Pum.” Both songs, performed in Spanish rap, were very successful in North America. After getting his foot in the door of the commercial market, many other Spanish rappers became famous in the mainstream as well, such as Vico C and DJ Negro. He has a unique, easy to listen to style of dance music and has produced many well known songs all over Latin America. His musical works have become popular in Latin America over the last few years. This style is called Reggae en Español which would later form Reggaeton, because he makes reggae music with Spanish lyrics.
Gabriel Torres
Soccer Forward
Gabriel Arturo Torres Tejada is a Panamanian footballer who currently plays as a forward for Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer. His nicknames are Gaby and fantasmita.
Carlos Lee
Baseball First baseman
Carlos Noriel Lee is a retired professional baseball first baseman and left fielder who played in Major League Baseball from 1999-2012 with the Chicago White Sox, Milwaukee Brewers, Texas Rangers, Houston Astros and Miami Marlins. He had 17 career grand slams, ranking him seventh in MLB history.
Whitney Stevens
Pornographic actor
Whitney Stevens is an American pornographic actress. Originally from Panama, she was raised in Palm Springs, California, USA and has been active since September, 2006, to the present day. She has thus far appeared in over 200 pornographic movies. Stevens made her debut in an inter-racial scene with her sister Britney Stevens and Sledge in 2006's I Was Tight Yesterday 5. She claims she entered porn at her sister's prompting, saying "It was her idea. She met this guy and he introduced us to our agent". She claims not to date, mostly due to her career. She says if she was going to date it would be with someone "in the industry", as it would be easier. Stevens has two tattoos: a star on the back of her left hand, and a rose on her rear right shoulder. Stevens is currently retired, though she still does webcam performances.
Roberto Chen
Soccer Defender
Roberto Leandro Chen Rodríguez is a Panamanian footballer with Chinese heritage who plays as a central defender for Málaga in La Liga. He is also capable of playing on the right side and is good with the ball at his feet.
Rachel Smith
Actor
Rachel Renee Smith is an American beauty queen and television personality from Clarksville, Tennessee, who won the Miss USA pageant in 2007 and who previously had competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant.
Irving Saladino
Olympic athlete
Irving Jahir Saladino Aranda is a Panamanian long jumper. He is a former Olympic champion, and Panama's first and only Olympic gold medalist.
Jaime Penedo
Soccer
Jaime Penedo is a Panamanian football goalkeeper who is currently playing for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer. Penedo holds a Spanish passport.
Carlos Ruiz
Baseball Player
Carlos Joaquín Ruiz is a Panamanian professional baseball catcher. He played for the Philadelphia Phillies of Major League Baseball from 2006-2013. His nickname is Chooch.
Gary Forbes
Basketball Small forward
Gary Orlando Forbes is a Panamanian professional basketball player. The 6 ft 7 in, 220 lb small forward played college basketball initially at the University of Virginia, then transferred to the University of Massachusetts following his sophomore season at Virginia.
Danilo Pérez
Jazz Artist
Danilo Pérez is a Panamanian pianist and composer.
Román Torres
Soccer Defender
Román Torres is a Panamanian football defender who plays for Millonarios.
Julio Mario Santo Domingo
Businessperson
Julio Mario Santo Domingo Pumarejo was a Colombian businessman and patriarch of the wealthy Santo Domingo family. He was the son of Mario Santo Domingo and Beatriz Pumarejo. He controlled more than 100 companies in the diversified portfolio of the "Santo Domingo Group." He was listed by Forbes magazine as one of the wealthiest men in the world, and the second wealthiest in Colombia, with a fortune of $6 billion US dollars. He is an alumnus of the University of Virginia. He was the founder of a philanthropic foundation, named to honor his father, that benefits Colombia's social development.
Sage Steele
Woman
Sage Steele is an American television anchor who hosts the weekend morning editions of SportsCenter with David Lloyd. She also fills in as host for the 9:00 a.m. ET and 12:00 p.m. ET SportsCenter shows during the week.
Alex Blake
Bassist
Alex Blake is a post-bop jazz double-bassist and electric bass guitarist who was born in Panama and moved to the United States at the age of 7, growing up in Brooklyn, NY. He began his career with Sun Ra in his band Arkestra. He became one of the major proponents of the fusion movement in the late 1970s with his writing and performances with Lenny White and Billy Cobham. A live performance compilation was released by Bubble Core Records in 2000 titled Now Is the Time: Live at the Knitting Factory. The album featured Blake's own quintet, which included Pharoah Sanders, Victor Jones, John Hicks and Neil Clarke. In addition to leading his own group, Blake also performs and records with Randy Weston, as well as other musicians.
Randall Delgado
Pitcher
Randall Enrique Delgado is a Panamanian professional baseball pitcher for the Arizona Diamondbacks of Major League Baseball. Delgado previously played for the Atlanta Braves.
Alberto Quintero Medina
Soccer Midfielder
Alberto Abdiel Quintero Medina is a Panamanian footballer who plays for Lobos de la BUAP in Mexico, as an attacking midfielder.
Martín Torrijos
Politician
Martín Erasto Torrijos Espino is a Panamanian politician and a former President of the Republic of Panama. The illegitimate son of Panamanian military ruler Omar Torrijos, Martín Torrijos was educated in economics and political science in the US. He then returned to Panama, becoming active in the Democratic Revolutionary Party. He was the party's presidential candidate in the 1999 general election, losing to Arnulfista Party candidate Mireya Moscoso. In the 2004 presidential election, he ran again as the PRD candidate. This time, his primary rival was Solidarity Party candidate Guillermo Endara, whom Torrijos defeated 47% to 31%. Torrijos reformed social security and pensions during his term in office, as well as proposing and passing a $5 billion expansion of the Panama Canal. Torrijos was succeeded by supermarket magnate Ricardo Martinelli in 2009.
Lorna
Musical Artist
Lorna Zarina Aponte born 11 May 1983 in Panama, better known simply as Lorna, is a female rapper and reggaeton artist best known for her song "Papi chulo...". At the age of 13, Aponte decided that she wanted to become a singer and solo artist and so she went to searching for - and found - a music producer and DJ who was willing to record a song with her on vocals. With help from this producer she entered a talent competition for new singers organised in Panama City which she won. This gave Aponte the opportunity to record a single. Soon after she was working with El Chombo, a renowned producer in Panama. In 2005 Aponte was scheduled to appear at a festival in Bilbao called Zorrozaurre, but instead of her the record company sent one of her backing singers claiming that Lorna had decided to take a sabbatical due to health related issues. The backing singer also gave interviews under the impression of being Aponte.
Alonso Edward
Olympic Track and field Athlete
Alonso Edward is a Panamanian sprinter who specialises in the 100 and 200 metres. He set a South American junior record in the 100 m in 2007 and he attended his first World Junior Championships in 2008, finishing in sixth place. He made significant improvements in the 2009 season, setting national records in the 100 m and 200 m in May, and winning both events at the 2009 South American Championships in Athletics. Prior to the 2009 World Championships he again beat the 200 m national record, becoming the fourth fastest runner of the season. At his first ever World Championships he set a South American record to win the silver medal in the 200 metres final, becoming the youngest ever medallist in that event.
Rolando Blackman
Basketball Shooting guard
Rolando Antonio Blackman is a retired professional basketball player. He was an All-Star who spent most of his career with the Dallas Mavericks. He is now an assistant coach with the Turkey national basketball team.
Arnulfo Arias
Politician
Dr. Arnulfo Arias Madrid was a Panamanian politician, doctor, writer and president of Panama on three occasions: 1940–41, 1949–51, and for 10 days in October 1968. He is known as the president who never ended his terms of office, because of the military coups against him.
Casey Parker
Pornographic actor
Casey Parker is the stage name of a pornographic / mainstream actress, webcam girl and adult model.
Mireya Moscoso
Politician
Mireya Elisa Moscoso Rodríguez de Arias was Panama's first female president, serving from 1999 to 2004. Born into a poor family, Moscoso became active in the 1968 presidential campaign of three-time president Arnulfo Arias, following and marrying him when he went into exile after a military coup. After his death in 1984, she assumed control of his coffee business and later his political party, the Arnulfista Party. During the 1994 general elections for the presidency, she narrowly lost to the Democratic Revolutionary Party candidate Ernesto Pérez Balladares by 4% of the vote. In the 1999 general election, she defeated the PRD candidate Martín Torrijos by 8% to become Panama's first female president. During her tenure in office, she presided over the handover of the Panama Canal from the US to Panama and the economic downturn that resulted from the loss of US personnel. Hobbled by new spending restrictions passed by the opposition-controlled Legislative Assembly, and her administration's corruption scandals, she had difficulty passing her legislative initiatives. Her popularity declined, and her party's candidate José Miguel Alemán lost to the PRD's Torrijos in the subsequent general elections to succeed her.
Rubén Tejada
Baseball Player
Rubén Darío Tejada is a Panamanian professional baseball shortstop for the New York Mets of Major League Baseball.
Mercedes Molto
Actor
Mercedes Molto, and work in Mexico as a telenovela actress. At the age of sixteen, she arrived in Mexico, where she began her career.
Manny Sanguillén
Baseball Player
Manuel De Jesus Sanguillén Magan, better known as Manny Sanguillén or "Sangy", is a former professional baseball player who was a catcher in the Major Leagues. He was named to the All-Star team three times, in 1971, 1972, and 1975. He played primarily for the Pittsburgh Pirates, but also for the Oakland Athletics in 1977. Sanguillen's lifetime batting average of .296 is the fourth highest by a catcher since World War II, and tenth highest for catchers in Major League Baseball history.
Lori Heuring
Actor
Lori Ann Heuring is an American film and television actress, perhaps most known for her starring role in 8mm 2, as Alice Richards in The Locket, and as Mrs. Kesher in David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.
George Headley
Cricket Player
George Alphonso Headley OD was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before the Second World War. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in England. West Indies had a weak cricket team through most of Headley's playing career; as their one world-class player, he carried a heavy responsibility and the side depended on his batting. He batted at number three, scoring 2,190 runs in Tests at an average of 60.83, and 9,921 runs in all first-class matches at an average of 69.86. He was chosen as one of the Wisden Cricketers of the Year in 1933. Headley was born in Panama but raised in Jamaica where he quickly established a cricketing reputation as a batsman. He soon gained his place in the Jamaican cricket team, and narrowly missed selection for the West Indies tour of England in 1928. He made his Test debut in 1930, against England in Barbados, and was instantly successful. Further successes followed in series against Australia and in three more against England, as Headley dominated the West Indian batting of the period. Following his tour of England in 1933, Headley signed as a professional at Haslingden in the Lancashire League, where he played until the outbreak of war in 1939.
Luis Moreno
Soccer Defender
Luis Moreno is a football defender who plays for Tauro. He gained notoriety after violently kicking an injured owl that had landed on the pitch during a league match between Junior de Barranquilla and Deportivo Pereira. The owl died due to the kick.
Anselmo Moreno
Professional Boxer
Anselmo Moreno is a professional boxer from El Martillo San Miguelito, Republic of Panama. He is the current WBA Bantamweight Super Champion. In August 2011, Moreno signed a four fight promotional deal with Golden Boy Promotions.
Eddy Lover
Reggaeton Artist
Eduardo Mosquera better known by his stage name Eddy Lover is a Panamanian reggaeton and reggae en Español singer-songwriter. Eddy Lover rose to international fame with his guest appearance on La Factoría's 2006 smash hit "Perdóname".
Guillermo Endara
Politician
Guillermo David Endara Galimany was President of Panama from 1989 to 1994. Raised in a family allied to Panameñista Party founder Arnulfo Arias, Endara attended school in exile in the United States and Argentina following Arias's removal from power. Endara later received a law degree in Panama. He subsequently served as a member of Panama's National Assembly, and briefly as a government minister before heading into exile again following Arias' third overthrow. After Arias' death in 1988, Endara became a leading opponent of the Manuel Noriega military dictatorship, heading the opposition coalition in the 1989 presidential election. Though his coalition was judged by international observers as having defeated pro-Noriega candidate Carlos Duque, the results were annulled by the government, and Endara and his running mates were attacked in the streets by the paramilitary Dignity Battalions. The assaults received widespread coverage in international media, helping to build support within the U.S. for military action against Noriega. Seven months later, the United States invaded Panama, and swore in Endara as the new president on the first night of the invasion on a U.S. military base.
Roberto Kelly
Baseball Player
Roberto Conrado Kelly is a Panamanian former professional baseball player and current coach. An outfielder during his playing career in Major League Baseball, Kelly is currently the first base coach for the San Francisco Giants. He previously managed the Giants' single-A team, the Augusta GreenJackets. Kelly played for several major league clubs. He was signed by the New York Yankees as an amateur free agent in 1982 and went on to play for the New York Yankees, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners and Texas Rangers. During his playing days in Panama, he was known as La Sombra, Spanish for Shadow.
Roberto Blades
Singer
Roberto Blades is a Panamanian Salsa singer. His most popular songs are "Lagrimas" "Poquita Fe" "Detalles" and "Si Estuvieras Conmigo" among many more. He is the younger brother of singer Ruben Blades. In 2002, Roberto Blades won the Grammy Award for Best Salsa Album. He has not released a new album since preferring to work as a songwriter and producer. In June 2010, Blades appeared on Dateline NBC to discuss Joran van der Sloot. According to Blades, he witnessed van der Sloot's behavior on the night of the death of Stephany Tatiana Flores Ramírez.
Nelson Barahona
Soccer Midfielder
Nelson Alberto Barahona Collins is a Panamanian football attacking midfielder. He currently plays for the Categoría Primera A side Itagüí S.A. in Colombia.
Nichole Galicia
Actor
Nichole Galicia, also known as Nichole Robinson or Nichole Mercedes Robinson, is a Panamanian-American actress and model. She has a featured role as Sheba, the love interest of Leonardo DiCaprio's character, in the 2012 film Django Unchained. Previously, she had a recurring role on the Showtime television series Huff, and appeared in the films Love Don't Cost a Thing and Dirty. She has been rumoured to have an I.Q. of 183, and has written a book about the Spanish art collective Equipo Crónica.
Veneno
Professional Wrestler
Rafael Ernesto Medina Baeza, better known under the ring name Veneno, is a Panamanian luchador, or professional wrestler, living in Mexico and currently working for the Mexican professional wrestling promotion International Wrestling Revolution Group portraying a tecnico wrestling character. He is related through marriage to the Casas family of wrestlers as his sister is married to Negro Casas and is a wrestler herself under the ring name Dalys La Caribeña.
Manny Corpas
Pitcher
Manuel "Manny" Corpas is a professional baseball pitcher who is currently a free agent.
Latin Fresh
Singer
Latin Fresh, real name Roberto de los Rios Reyes, is a Panamanian reggaeton and Reggae en Español artist. He scored national hits in 1995, and toured central and South America in 1997. He completed a three-record contract for Sony Music, later signing to Machete Records, a subsidiary of Universal Music Group, with whom he released Plan Calle in 2006, an attempt to break into the U.S. market.
Ricardo Maduro
Politician
Ricardo Rodolfo Maduro Joest is a former President of Honduras and Bank of Honduras chairman. Maduro graduated from The Lawrenceville School and later Stanford University. He was President between 27 January 2002, and 27 January 2006, representing the National Party of Honduras.
Sheldry Sáez
Woman
Sheldry Nazareth Sáez Bustavino, is a Panamanian model and beauty pageant contestant, winner of the Miss Panamá 2011 contest on May 26, 2011.
Celestino Caballero
Professional Boxer
Celestino "Pelenchin" Caballero is a professional boxer from Panama. He is the former unified junior featherweight champion holding the IBF and WBA "Super" titles. On October 14, 2011, Caballero defeated Jonathan Victor Barros by unanimous decision to become the reigning WBA featherweight champion. Besides being a boxer, Caballero is also a Reggae singer and a devout Muslim. He is trained by Jeff Mayweather uncle of Floyd Mayweather Jr and brother to Roger and Floyd Sr.'
Rolando Blackburn
Footballer
Rolando Manrique Blackburn Ortega is a Panamanian football player, currently playing for Chorrillo F.C..
Marta DuBois
Actor
Marta DuBois is a Panamanian-American actress. She has appeared in various film and television roles, most recently on the Hallmark Channel series McBride.
Jorge Velásquez
Jockey
Jorge Velásquez is a thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. Jorge Velasquez career in thoroughbred racing began in his native Panama but as a teenager moved to the United States. In 1967 he won more races than any other American jockey and in 1969 was tops in money-winning. In 1978 he became nationally famous for being one of the jockeys involved in probably the greatest rivalry in racing history. He finished second aboard Alydar to Affirmed in all three of the 1978 American Triple Crown races, losing by a combined total of less than two lengths. Velasquez and Alydar later achieved a small measure of satisfaction when they beat Affirmed in the 1978 Travers Stakes. In 1981 he rode Pleasant Colony to victory in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes but missed winning the Triple Crown when they finished third to Summing in the Belmont Stakes. Velasquez won the 1985 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and the Breeders' Cup Classic. In 1986, he was voted the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award by his peers and in 1990 was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He retired as a jockey in 1997 having won 6,795 races. He worked as an official in racing and eventually became an agent for other jockeys.
Edward A. Murphy, Jr.
Military Person
Edward Aloysius Murphy, Jr. was an American aerospace engineer who worked on safety-critical systems. He is best known for Murphy's law, which is said to state, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." Born in the Panama Canal Zone in 1918, Murphy was the eldest of five children. After attending high school in New Jersey, he went to the United States Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1940. The same year he accepted a commission into the United States Army, and undertook pilot training with the United States Army Air Corps in 1941. During World War II he served in the Pacific Theatre in India, China and Burma, achieving the rank of major. Following the end of hostilities, in 1947 Murphy attended the United States Air Force Institute of Technology, becoming R&D Officer at the Wright Air Development Center of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. It was while here that he became involved in the high-speed rocket sled experiments which led to the coining of Murphy's law. Murphy himself was reportedly unhappy with the commonplace interpretation of his law, which is seen as capturing the essential "cussedness" of inanimate objects. Murphy regarded the law as crystallizing a key principle of defensive design, in which one should always assume worst-case scenarios. Murphy was said by his son to have regarded the many jocular versions of the law as "ridiculous, trivial and erroneous." His attempts to have the law taken more seriously were unsuccessful.
Carlos Carrasco
Actor
Carlos Carrasco is an actor who has appeared in film, television and video games.
Héctor López
Baseball Player
Héctor Headley López Swainson is a former left fielder and third baseman in Major League Baseball who played for the Kansas City Athletics and New York Yankees from 1955 to 1966. He is notable as the first black manager at the AAA baseball level, as the third outfielder on the Maris/Mantle Yankees, and as the Kansas City Athletics franchise hitting streak record holder. López was on World Series Championship teams for the Yankees in 1961 and 1962. In various seasons, he finished among the top 10 American League hitters in hits, runs batted in, runs scored, doubles, triples, slugging percentage, sacrifice flies, sacrifice hits, games played, times hit by pitch and at bats. He was also known for his hustle, his clutch hitting and poor fielding. López was the second Panamanian-born major league baseball player and continues to be one of the country's most revered world champion athletes. Although Humberto Robinson debuted in the major leagues 22 days earlier than López, López was the first of the 49 major leaguers born in Panama to have an extensive career. He was the first Panamanian-born major leaguer to finish in the top 10 in any official statistical category; first to lead his league in any official statistic; first to play in the World Series; and the first to win a World Championship.
Luis Henríquez
Soccer
Luis Henríquez is a football defender. He currently plays in Poland for Lech Poznań.
Armando Cooper
Soccer Midfielder
Armando Cooper is a Panamanian football midfielder who plays for Otelul Galati a Romanian football club based in Galați.
Rubén Rivera
Baseball Player
Rubén Rivera Moreno is a Panamanian professional baseball player, who is currently an outfielder for the Delfines de Ciudad del Carmen of the Mexican League. He played Major League Baseball for five different teams, from 1995 to 2003. His cousin, Mariano Rivera, is the long-time closer of the New York Yankees.
Yairo Yau
Soccer Midfielder
Yairo Armando Glaize Yau is a Panamanian footballer who currently plays as a winger for Australian club Sydney FC on loan from Sporting San Miguelito.
Belisario Porras Barahona
Politician
Belisario Porras Barahona. Panamanian journalist and politician. He served three terms as President of Panama soon after its independence from Colombia. Porras was born on the thirty-fifth anniversary of Panama's declaration of independence from Spain. Raised by his grandmother, his early education was paid for by his father in Bogotá, the capital of Colombia, which Panama was a province of at the time. He joined his father when he went to secondary school, went on to study law at the National University in 1874, and won a scholarship from the Colombian government to study in Belgium from where he later returned to the Panamanian Working as a reporter, he aligned himself with the local Colombian Liberal Party, and was soon the target of persecution by the reigning Conservative government in Bogotá. Exiled to Nicaragua and El Salvador, he took jobs as a professor and a reporter. As the Thousand Days War began in Colombia, the Liberals in Panama sent for Porras to lead the invasion of the Isthmus in 1900. Working with General Victoriano Lorenzo and others, he began his struggle from Costa Rica in the West. He organized a volunteer army and reached the capital where he was defeated in the Battle of Calidonia Bridge. Porras returned to exile until 1904, after his homeland had acquired its independence, and became a diplomat until becoming president in 1912. The Panama Canal was finished during his first term in office.
Enrique Grau
Painting Artist
Enrique Grau was a Colombian artist, renowned for his depictions of Amerindian and Afro Colombian figures. He was a member of the triumvirate of key Colombian artists of the 20th century which included Fernando Botero and Alejandro Obregón. Grau was born in Panama City, Panama, just like many of the children of his time with Colombian parents, and raised in Cartagena, Colombia. He was the son of Enrique Grau Velez and Carmen Araujo Jimenez. A self-made artist he was influenced by the Colombian Masters Ignacio Gomez Jaramillo, Santiago Martinez Delgado and Pedro Nel Gómez, he studied at the Art Students League in New York, USA, in the early 1940s. He later toured Italy, where he learned etching and fresco techniques before moving to the city of Cartagena. He won the Salón de Artistas Colombianos in 1957 launching a well noted career in the arts. His associations of white, black and indigenous figures and objects such as masks, eggs, fruit or cages brought him international fame, with exhibitions at the Guggenheim Museum in New York City and the Paris Museum of Modern Art. Grau donated 1,300 works of art to the city of Cartagena; these will be used to establish a museum, due to open in late 2004.
Diego de Almagro II
Deceased Person
Diego de Almagro II, called El Mozo, was the assassin of Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro. El Mozo, named Diego de Almagro after his father, was the son of the famous Diego de Almagro and a native Panama Indian.
Ra Un Nefer Amen
Organization founder
Ra Un Nefer Amen is the founder of the Ausar Auset Society, a Pan-African religious organization dedicated to providing Afrocentric based spiritual training to people of African descent.
Ramiro Mendoza
Pitcher
Ramiro Mendoza, nicknamed "El Brujo", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. Mendoza played with the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox. He batted and threw right-handed. Although Mendoza made 62 starts in his major league career, he was primarily known as a middle relief pitcher. He threw a sinker along with a slider, a four-seam fastball and a changeup. In Mendoza's ten seasons in the Major Leagues he was a part of five World Series champion teams.
Fito Blanko
Reggaeton Artist
Fito Blanko is a Panamanian Tropical Urban singer/songwriter from Toronto, Canada.
Braulio Baeza
Jockey
Braulio Baeza is an American Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame jockey. He began racing in 1955 and in 1960, at the urging of agent Camilo Marin, moved to compete in the United States where at the Keeneland Race Course he won the very first race he competed in. Braulio Baeza's success in America was instantaneous. He was the leading money winner in American racing from 1965 to 1969, the 1968 winner of the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, and the 1972 and 1975 winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey. During his career, he rode a number of Thoroughbred greats including Buckpasser, Graustark, Dr. Fager, and Ack Ack. In 1961 he won his first Belmont Stakes. Two years later he rode to his first Kentucky Derby victory on Chateaugay as well as for his second Belmont Stakes win. In 1969 he won the Belmont for the third time onboard future Hall of Famer, Arts and Letters. In 1972 Baeza travelled to York Racecourse in England where he rode Roberto to victory over the previously unbeaten Brigadier Gerard in the inaugural Benson & Hedges Gold Cup. That same year he went to Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Canada where he won the prestigious Canadian International Stakes. Baeza was the jockey aboard Foolish Pleasure in the tragic 1975 match race against the great 3-year-old filly Ruffian, who had to be euthanized after she pulled up during the race with a broken front ankle.
Ernesto Pérez Balladares
Politician
Ernesto Pérez Balladares González-Revilla, nicknamed El Toro, was the President of Panama between 1994 and 1999. Educated in the United States, Pérez Balladares worked as a banker before becoming part of the government of military ruler Omar Torrijos; in 1989, he also served as campaign manager for the pro-Manuel Noriega presidential candidate Carlos Duque. He was elected president in 1994 as the candidate of the Democratic Revolutionary Party, in a close three-way race with Arnulfista Party candidate Mireya Moscoso and salsa singer Ruben Blades. Pérez Balladares' term was notable for free-market reforms and the privatization of government services. He also rehabilitated a number of officials from the Noriega years and sought a closer alliance with the United States than the previous administration of Guillermo Endara. Following a failed constitutional referendum to allow him a second term in office, Pérez Balladares was succeeded by Moscoso in 1999. In 2009, prosecutors opened an investigation into charges of corruption dating to Pérez Balladares' time in office. He was placed under house arrest the following year, making him the first former Panamanian president to be arrested, and in October 2010 was charged with money laundering. A judge dismissed the charge against him in April 2011. In February 2012, Pérez Balladares was convicted of slandering comptroller Alvin Weeden by calling him a narcocriminal, and sentenced to a $3,000 fine or a year in prison.
Josenid
Children's Artist
Josenid is a child-genre singer from Panama. Josenid started singing when she was 9, while she was participating in a contest called Canta Conmigo in Panama. Josenid placed 3rd. After the festival Josenid collaborated with Makano and she recorded the song "Su Nombre en mi Cuaderno", and her first single "Amor de colegio" in 2010. Josenid after her song I love college 4 more songs and Josen said to be ready to create some more songs.
Patricia de Leon
Woman
Patricia Michelle De León is an actress, model and television host. She started working as a model at a very early age. After being crowned Miss Panama, her career started blossoming, getting major breaks hosting Corte del Juez Franco on TV Azteca, and the Billboard Latino. From her work on Univision, de Leon obtained roles on American TV, including Lincoln Heights, Cold Case, and Crossing Jordan. Her movie role comes in The Pool Boys, where she plays the sexy Latina Julia.
José Antonio Remón Cantera
Politician
Colonel José Antonio Remón Cantera, was president of Panama from October 1, 1952, until his death in 1955. He belonged to the National Patriotic Coalition. He joined the National Police in 1931, becoming its chief in 1947. In this position, he was responsible for the coup against acting president Daniel Chanis Pinzón. Beginning in 1953, his administration began to negotiate amendments to the Panama Canal treaty with the U.S. administration of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. These negotiations led to an agreement, ratified in 1955, that substantially raised the annual annuity paid to Panama and resulted in the handover of approximately $20 million in property from the Panama Canal Company to Panama. General José Remón was the man behind the scenes of several coups that ousted Dr. Arnulfo Arias from power, and arguably the true founder of the social reforming militarism that was later dubbed "Torrijismo" after General Omar Torrijos. "Neither millions nor alms – we want justice" was Remón's most memorable statement of principles. Remón went on to be elected President of Panama in 1952. On January 2, 1955, Remón was ambushed at a race track and fired upon by an unknown number of assailants with sub-machineguns. The incident took place at 7:30 pm; Remón died in hospital two hours later. Two other men were killed in the attack, including one of Remón's bodyguards.
Edwin Aguilar
Footballer
Edwin Aguilar is a Panamanian professional footballer, who plays as a striker for Deportivo Anzoátegui.
Jairo Jiménez
Soccer Midfielder
Jairo Joseth Jiménez Robles is a Panamanian international footballer who currently plays for Elche CF Ilicitano.
José Quintero
Theatre Director
José Benjamín Quintero was a Panamanian theatre director, producer and pedagogue best known for his interpretations of the works of Eugene O'Neill.
Sharon Aguilar
Songwriter
Sharon Aguilar is an American instrumentalist, singer, and songwriter. She played lead guitar and violin with Scarlet Fever, the all-female backing band that toured with Cee Lo Green during 2010 and 2011. She toured with 2NE1 in 2012, and has both founded and performed with several other groups, such as Pretty Little Problem. She and varying members of Scarlet Fever have performed with other front women as In 4D, No Salt, and Miss President.
Ben Oglivie
Baseball Outfielder
Benjamin Ambrosio Oglivie Palmer is a former Major League Baseball left fielder for the Boston Red Sox, Detroit Tigers, and the Milwaukee Brewers. He also played two seasons in Japan for the Kintetsu Buffaloes. He batted and threw left-handed. Oglivie debuted on September 4, 1971 for the Red Sox and played his final game on October 5, 1986 for the Brewers. Oglivie hit for power fairly well, breaking the 40-home run mark in 1980 with 41, which was good for a tie for the league lead. Oglivie hit 3 home runs in a game, three times. In the process, Oglivie became the first non-U.S. born player to lead the American League in home runs. In a 16-year career, he posted a .273 batting average with 235 home runs and 901 RBIs in 1754 games. He had 87 career stolen bases and 784 runs scored. Oglivie picked up 1615 hits in 5913 at bats. Oglivie played for the Kintetsu Buffaloes in Japan after retiring from MLB and hit 46 home runs in two seasons. He then returned to attempt a comeback in the minors, but never made it back to the majors again. Oglivie begins his third year in the Tampa Bay Rays system as a coach. He will act as the hitting coach for the Gulf Coast Rays. In 2008 he was hitting coach for the Montgomery Biscuits. Oglivie has since been named hitting coach for the West Michigan Whitecaps for the 2011 season.
Justo Arosemena
Politician
Justo Arosemena Quesada was a statesman, writer, lawyer and politician from Panama who lived during the period of union with Colombia. He dedicated his life to the cause of the autonomy of the Isthmus of Panama in and as a part of Colombia, and is regarded as "the most illustrious of the Panamanian and father of Panamanian nationality."