René Auberjonois, 1940-, actor. Born in New York, spent part of his childhood in Paris. Back in New York the family moved into an artists' colony. He studied theater at Carnegie-Mellon University. He won a Tony for his first Broadway appearance, in "Coco" (1969) with Katherine Hepburn. He has acted with numerous theater companies, and in film and television, most notably in "Star Trek", where he played Odo. His grandfather of the same name was a well-known post-impressionist painter from Lausanne. His Swiss-born father, Fernand, arrived in the US in 1933 and later became a US citizen. He was a highly respected foreign correspondent,.who worked for the Toledo Blade, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, NBC and the Voice of America among other outlets. Rene's mother was French: Princess Laure of Murat, a descendant of Napoleon's sister Caroline Bonaparte and her husband Joachim Murat, King of Naples.

Daniel Bernhardt, 1966-, action film star. Born in Worblaufen, near Bern. Began martial arts training in 1983. Studied architectural design in Bern, while simultaneously running a martial arts school. After completing his degree he moved to Paris where he worked as a model for a number of top designers. He moved to New York to appear in a TV commercial for Gianni Versace with Jean-Claude Van Damme. He was then cast to appear in “Bloodsport II” (1995). His best known film is "The Matrix: Reloaded" (2003) in which he played Agent Johnson.

Margrit Biever Mondavi, 1925-, arts promoter. Born in Walzenhausen, Canton Appenzell Ausserrhoden, but grew up in Canton Ticino, attending art school in Minusio. She joined the Robert Mondavi Winery in the Napa Valley in 1967, the year after it was established, and married its founder, Robert Mondavi, in 1980. She is vice-president of cultural affairs at the winery. The Mondavi couple founded the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, and support a number of institutions promoting arts and culture, including arts education.

Ernest Bloch, 1880-1957,  musician. Born in Geneva, studie in the Brussels Conservatory and with various teachers in Germany. Went to the US on tour in 1916, and subsequently took up teaching positions in New York, Cleveland and San Francisco. Became a US citizen in 1924, but returned to Switzerland in 1930. Rising anti-semitism in Europe led him to return to the US definitively in 1939. In 1840 he was appointed Music Professor at the University of Berkeley. Some of his best known works were strongly influenced by Jewish tradition. His music is notable for its wide range of styles.

Yul Brynner, 1920 - 1985

Jim Caviezel, 1968-, actor. Born and grew up in Mount Vernon, Washington. He has Swiss, Irish,and Slovak roots; his  surname is Rumantsch, from Canton Graubünden. His film appearances include "The Thin Red Line" (1998) and "The Passion of the Christ" (2004).  

Eliane Cat Tuong Chappuis, 1978-, actress and model. Born in Hollywood to a Swiss father and Vietmamese mother, but grew up in Bern. She has dual US/Swiss nationality. She appeared at the City Theater in Bern at the age of 12 in the musical “Oliver Twist.” She returned to Hollywood at the age of 18, and has acted in several films, including “Gangs of New York” (200   ) She is also dancer and violinist, and has modeled for Christian Lacroix in Paris and Vivienne Westwood in London.  

Arthur Cohn, 1929-

Sylvie Courvoisier, 1968-, musician. Born and grew up in Lausanne. Studied jazz at the Montreux Conservatory, and Classical Music at the Lausanne Conservatory. Since 1998 she has been based in Brooklyn, where she is active as both a pianist and a composer. She has been commissioned to write music for concerts, radio, dance and theater, and has performed both solo and playing with numerous other artists. In 1996 she won the Swiss Young Creators Prize and in 2000 the Zonta club Creation Award. 

Al Dubin, 1891 - 1945

Claudio Fäh, 1975-, movie director. Born in canton Uri, began making films at the age of 14. Went to film school in Los Angeles. His first major feature was the low-budget independent action film Coronado (2003), for which many of the background scenes were shot in Switzerland, although the actors themselves never crossed the Atlantic. 

Marc Forster, 1969- 

Rudolph Ganz, 1877-1972, musician and composer. Born in Zurich, he made his first concert appearance as a cellist at the age of 10. He studied at a number of conservatories in Europe, and in 1901 was appointed head ot the piano department at the Chicago Musical College. From 1921 to 1927 he was conductor of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, but his love of contemporary music – by such composers as Stravinsky, Mahler and Schoenberg - led to calls for his dismissal. He then returned to Chicago where he became director of the Musical College. It is said that Ganz could trace his ancestry back to Charlemagne.

Sandra Hess, 1968-, model and actress. Born in Zurich, began modeling at the age of 15. Started a law course at the University of Zurich, but broke off her studies and moved to Los Angeles in 1988, where she started making TV commercials before being offered guest parts in TV shows, including “Lois and Clark” (1995), “SeaQuest SSV” (1995), "Highlander" (1998). She has also appeared in several films, including “Mortal Kombat: Annihilation” (1997).

Jewel (full name: Jewel Kilcher), 1974-

Q'Orianka Kilcher, 1990-

Cyndi Lauper (born Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper), 1953-

Ernst Levy, 1895-1981, pianist. Born in Basel. Moved to Paris in 1920, where he promoted choral music and founded the Choeur Philharmoniquenin 1928. Moved to the US in 1941 as a result of the worsening situation for Jews in Europe, and held professorships at a number prestigious institutions including the New England Conservatory, Bennington College, the University of Chicago,  Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Brooklyn College. He taught piano and composition, as well as conducting, performing and composing. On retirement in 1966 he returned to Switzerland where he remained for the rest of his life.

George Lucas, 1944-
 
Victor Mature, 1916-1999, movie actor. Born in Louisville, Kentucky. His mother, Clara, was a Swiss American, while his father came from the Trentino area of what is now Italy but was then Austria. He studied acting in California. His career took off after the war. In particular he became associated with biblical-style epics, and he also made several westerns. Among his films were “My Darling Clementine” (1946), “Kiss of Death” (1947) and “The Robe” (1953). During the 1960s he took fewer roles, preferring golf to acting.

Adolf Rickenbacker (Adolph Rickenbacher), 1886-1939, father of the electric guitar. Born in Canton Schwyz, he immigrated to the US as a child, and moved to  Los Angeles in 1928. His Rickenbacker Manufacturing Company made components for guitar makers. Together with two partners he formed a new company in 1931, which made the first mass-produced electric guitar. The guitar owed its success to its effective electromagnetic pickup. Rickenbacker sold the company and the name in 1953. He was a distant relative of Eddie Rickenbacker. 

Carl Schenkel, 1948-2003, movie director. Born in Bern, moved to Frankfurt, Germany and became a journalist while studying for a degree in sociology. While in Frankfurt he also gained film experience by shooting commercials. Some of his early movies were made under the name Carlo Ombra. His work includes “The Mighty Quinn” (1989) and “Tarzan and the Lost City” (1990). He also made a number of films for television, including “Murder on the Orient Express” (2001). He died in Los Angeles of heart failure.

Daniel Schnyder, 1961-, musician. Born in Zurich, studied flute at the conservatory in Winterthur, and saxophone and jazz composition at Boston's Berklee College of Music. His work combines classical music with jazz, and he has also worked with Arab, Latin American and African musicians. In 1996 he won the first prize at the International Trumpet Guild Composition Contest, for his “music for brass instruments.” He is not only a composer, but also plays as a soloist with orchestras and jazz bands. His opera “Casanova” was premiered at the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, Switzerland, in 2005. He is "composer in residence" of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He lives in New York City.

Louis Soutter, 1871-1942, musician and painter. Born in Morges, Canton Vaud. He broke off his studies first in engineering and then in architecture to study the violin in Brussels. He also failed to complete this course, and returned to Switzerland in 1894 to study drawing and painting. He moved to the US in 1897, and settled in Colorado Springs with his American wife, where he was appointed head of the new Art Department in Colorado College. In 1903 his marriage ended, and he returned to Switzerland, where he joined the orchestras of Lausanne, then of Geneva. His behavior became ever more eccentric. In 1923 his family sent him to a home in the village of Ballaigues in Canton Vaud. Despite finding no encouragement for his work, he continued painting until his death.

Ueli Steiger, ca. 1960-, cameraman. Grew up in Uerikon near Lake Zurich, studied at the University of Zurich, and at the London International Film School. His first job in Hollywood was on “Promised Land” (1987) with Dennis Hopper; his movies include "Godzilla" (1998), “Austin Powers” (1999), “The Day After Tomorrow”.

William (Willy) Wyler, 1902-1981

Catherine (Cathy) Wyler, 1939 - , movie producder. Born Los Angeles, daughter of Willy Wyler. Her output includes a documentary on her father "Directed by William Wyler" (1986). As a child she had uncredited roles in two of her father's movies, "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946) and "Roman Holiday" (1953), and has also appeared in several documentaries about movie making.

Eugenio Zanetti, 1949-, film production designer. Born and grew up in Cordoba (Argentina); father from Poschiavo, Canton Graubunden. Self-taught, he began designing for the theater when he was only 16, working in Argentina and Europe before arriving in the US. The movies he has worked on include "Flatliners" (1990), "Last Action Hero" (1993) and “Restoration” (1995), for which he won an Academy Award. He is also a theater and opera director.

Renee Zellweger, 1969-