List of Puerto Ricans of African descent

This is a list of notable Puerto Ricans of significant African ancestry, which represents a significant portion of the Puerto Rican population. It includes people born in or living in the mainland United States. This list contains the names of persons who meet the Notability criteria, even if the person does not have an article yet. Additions to the list must be listed in alphabetical order by surname.

Each addition to the list must also provide a reliable verifiable source which cites the person's notability and/or the person's link to Puerto Rico, otherwise the name will be removed.


 * Randy Ariel Ortiz Acevedo - reggaeton artist, member of the duo 'Jowell y Randy'
 * David Luciano Acosta - reggaeton artist, known as 'Baby Ranks'
 * Angel Aguilar - rapper
 * Tite Curet Alonso - composer, composer of over 2,000 salsa songs
 * Alani "La La" Anthony - entertainer and actress, MTV VJ
 * Carmelo Anthony - professional basketball player, currently playing for the New York Knicks
 * Rick Aviles - actor and comedian
 * Lloyd Banks - rapper
 * Dr. Jose Celso Barbosa - medical physician, sociologist, and political leader of Puerto Rico, statehood advocate, first Puerto Rican with a US medical degree
 * Dr. Pilar Barbosa - educator, historian and political activist
 * Pura Belpré - first Puerto Rican librarian in New York City
 * Dr. Yosef Alfredo Antonio Ben-Jochannan - also known as Dr. Ben, writer and historian
 * Wilfred Benítez - boxer; won world championships in three separate weight divisions; youngest world champion in boxing history
 * Ramon Emeterio Betances - leader of the Puerto Rican Independence movement
 * Angela Bofill - jazz and R&B singer
 * Juan Boria - poet, writer of the Afro-Caribbean genre of poetry
 * Víctor Cabrera - reggaeton artist and producer, member of duo 'Luny Tunes'
 * Iván M. Calderón - boxer
 * Iván P. Calderón - Major League Baseball player
 * Tego Calderón - reggaeton artist
 * Jose Campeche - Puerto Rican rococo artists
 * Juan Morel Campos - composer of danza
 * Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos - lawyer; advocate of Puerto Rican independence from the United States; president of the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party from 1930 until his death
 * Dr. José Ferrer Canales - educator, writer, pro-independence political activist
 * Maidel Amador Canales - Spanish reggae artist, known as 'La Sista'
 * Bobby Capó - internationally known singer and songwriter
 * Irene Cara - singer and actress
 * Orlando "Peruchin" Cepeda - baseball player, inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee
 * Pedro Cepeda - baseball player, father of Orlando, considered one of the greatest players of his generation
 * Rafael Cepeda - folk musician and composer; patriarch of the Cepeda family; Puerto Rican-African folk music, especially bomba
 * Nero Chen - professional boxer
 * Roberto Clemente - baseball player, first Latin American to be selected and the only current Hall of Famer for whom the mandatory five-year waiting period was waived
 * Roberto Clemente, Jr. - baseball broadcaster and former baseball player. He is the son of Puerto Rican baseball legend Roberto Clemente.
 * Carlitos Colón - former WWE wrestler
 * Carly Colón - WWE wrestler; son of Carlitos Colon
 * Jesús Colón - writer and politician, known as the "father of the Nuyorican Movement"
 * Celestina Cordero - educator, established the first school for girls in San Juan
 * Rafael Cordero - known as the "father of public education in Puerto Rico"; self-educated man who provided free schooling to children regardless of race
 * Ismael Cruz Córdova - actor, played Mando on Sesame Street
 * Maritza Correia - first Afro-Puerto Rican to be on the USA Olympic swimming team; first black US swimmer to set an American and world swimming record
 * Rafael Cortijo - percussionist, plena artist, composer
 * Eva Cruz - volleyball player
 * Victor Cruz - NFL wide receiver for New York Giants
 * Wilson Cruz - actor and advocate for gay youth of color
 * Javier Culson - track and field runner, Olympic bronze medalist who specializes in the 400 metre hurdles
 * Eddie Dee - reggaeton artist
 * Carlos Delgado - baseball player, Major League Baseball first baseman
 * Rubén Díaz, Jr. - politician, current NYC borough president for the Bronx
 * Rubén Díaz, Sr. - politician
 * Carmen Delia Dipini - singer
 * Thomas Dulorme - professional boxer
 * Miguel Enríquez - 18th-century privateer
 * Nino Escalera - baseball player, first Hispanic in the Reds franchise
 * Ángel Espada - boxer; the WBA's world Welterweight champion in 1975-76
 * Jaime Espinal - professional wrestler
 * Lucy Fabery - jazz singer, known as "La Muñeca de Chocolate"
 * Antonio Fargas - actor, known for his roles in 1970s blaxploitation movie
 * Jose "Cheo" Feliciano - New York-based composer and singer of salsa and bolero music
 * Ruth Fernández - singer and actress; first Latina singer of romantic music to sing in the Scandinavian countries; first Latina to record with a North American band
 * Pedro Flores - composer of ballads and boleros
 * Kevin Gates - rapper
 * Rubén Gómez - Major League Baseball right-handed starting pitcher; first Puerto Rican to pitch in a World Series game
 * Reagan Gomez-Preston - actress
 * Herbert Lewis Hardwick, aka "Cocoa Kid" - boxer; won the world colored welterweight and world colored middleweight championships; inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2012
 * Yvonne Harrison - track and field runner
 * Juano Hernandez - actor; first Afro-Puerto Rican to become a major star in the US and among the "new style" black screen actors, who played straight dramatic roles
 * Aideliz Hidalgo - first black woman to compete in Miss International beauty pageant as Miss Puerto Rico
 * Homicide - professional wrestler formerly for TNA.
 * Rafael Ithier - salsa musician and the founder of the highly successful orchestra El Gran Combo
 * Reggie Jackson - Hall of Fame baseball player, known as "Mr. October"
 * Esteban De Jesús - boxer, first to defeat Roberto Durán
 * Rafael José - actor, singer, television host
 * Erick Kolthoff - Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Puerto Rico
 * Isabel la Negra - known as "la Negra"; madame of a brothel
 * Benjamin LaGuer - US soldier and convicted criminal
 * Tato Laviera - poet
 * Alfred Lee - basketball player, first Puerto Rican to play in NBA and to win an NBA championship as a member of the 79-80 Los Angeles Lakers
 * Evelyn Lozada - actress, Basketball Wives
 * Felipe Luciano - poet and activist
 * Young M.A - american hip hop artist
 * Eddie Manso - politician, current mayor of Loíza and member of the New Progressive Party of Puerto Rico
 * Sonia Manzano - actress
 * Rafael Hernández Marín - musician and composer; wrote Lamento Borincano
 * Alpo Martinez - convicted criminal, previously known as "Mayor of Harlem"
 * Luis Palés Matos - poet
 * Syesha Mercado - singer
 * Rogelio Mills - television host
 * Jerome Mincy - basketball player
 * Pedro Rosa Nales - journalist, news anchor/ reporter; has received over 200 awards
 * Emilio "Millito" Navarro - baseball player; first Puerto Rican to play baseball in the Negro Leagues
 * Don Omar - reggaeton artist
 * Fres Oquendo - professional heavyweight boxer
 * Claudette Ortiz - model and R&B singer
 * Victor Pellot - baseball player; second black Puerto Rican to play in Major League Baseball; first Puerto Rican to play in the American League
 * Rosie Perez - actress, activist, and choreographer
 * Pedro Pietri - Nuyorican movement poet
 * Gabriel "Lennox" Pizarro - reggaeton artist, member of the duo 'Zion y Lennox'
 * Adolfo Quiñones - actor, dancer, and choreographer
 * Ivy Queen - reggaeton artist
 * Adolfo "OG Black" Ramírez - reggaeton artist, member of the duo 'Master Joe & OG Black'
 * Ernesto Ramos Antonini - President of the House of Representatives of Puerto Rico and co-founder of the "Partido Popular Democrático de Puerto Rico" (Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico)
 * Gina Ravera - actress
 * Carmen Belen Richardson - actress and comedian; pioneer of Puerto Rican television
 * Vanessa del Rio - adult film actress
 * Efraín "Mon" Rivera - salsa and plena musician; credited for a fast humorous style and for introducing the sound of an all-trombone brass section to Afro-Rican orchestra music
 * Ismael Rivera - salsa artist and singer
 * Naya Rivera - Singer and actress
 * Zuleyka Rivera - Miss Universe 2006; actress
 * Gina Rodriguez - Actress
 * Jason Rosario - film director, music producer, writer and entrepreneur
 * Zoe Saldana - actress
 * O. J. Santiago - NFL football player, tight end
 * Victor Santiago, Jr. - rapper, known by the stage name N.O.R.E.
 * Ruben Santiago-Hudson - actor and playwright, born and residing in the US
 * Mayra Santos-Febres - writer, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and college professor
 * Arturo Alfonso Schomburg - historian, writer and activist in New York City; researched and raised awareness of Afro-Latin American and African American history and contributions
 * Rafael "Lito" Sierra - reggaeton artist, member of duo 'Lito y Polaco'
 * Jeremy Suarez - actor and comedian
 * Pedro Telemaco - first black male leading man to star in a Puerto Rican telenovela
 * Piri Thomas - writer, author of Down These Mean Streets
 * Georgie Torres - basketball player, played for the BSN league of Puerto Rico; holds scoring record
 * José Torres - boxer in the Boxing Hall of Fame
 * Félix Trinidad - professional boxer, world boxing champion
 * Marcelo Trujillo - politician, current mayor of Humacao and member of the Popular Democratic Party of Puerto Rico
 * Daniel "Divino" Velazquez - reggaeton artist
 * Joseph Vásquez - independent filmmaker
 * Lauren Vélez - actress
 * Loraine Vélez - actress
 * Juan Evangelista Venegas - boxer; first Puerto Rican to win an Olympic medal
 * Christina Vidal - actress
 * Lisa Vidal - actress
 * Tanya Vidal - actress
 * Sylvia del Villard - actress, dancer, choreographer and political activist
 * Otilio "Bizcocho" Warrington - comedian and actor, best known for roles of "Bizcocho" and "Cuca Gomez"
 * Bernie Williams - former Major League Baseball outfielder; professional jazz musician
 * Marcos Xiorro - slave; in 1821, planned and conspired to lead a slave revolt against the sugar plantation owners and the Spanish Colonial government in Puerto Rico
 * Pedro Zayas - rapper and former member of State Property, known as "Peedi Crakk"
 * Gina Rodriguez - actress
 * Anita Ortega - former athlete; UCLA, LAPD, Western States Police and Fire Games and Los Angeles City Section Halls of Fame