The following is a list of notable Swedish Americans, including both original immigrants who obtained American citizenship and their American descendants.
List
Entertainment
Actors Maud Adams, Swedish-born, Bond girl Malin Åkerman, Swedish-born actress and singer Ann-Margret, Swedish-born, actress and singer Candice Bergen, actress and fashion model, father of Swedish descent Edgar Bergen, actor and radio performer Ingrid Bergman, Swedish-born Nadia Bjorlin, soap opera actress, Swedish father Rowan Blanchard, American actress Veda Ann Borg, American film actress James Coburn, film actor Arthur Donaldson (1869–1955), Swedish-American actor Joseph J. Dowling, American actor; his mother was Swedish Stan Freberg, animation voice actor, author, recording artist, comedian, radio personality, puppeteer and advertising creative director Greta Garbo, Swedish-born, film actress Jake Gyllenhaal, actor; father was of Swedish descent Maggie Gyllenhaal, actress; father was of Swedish descent Mark Hamill, actor/voice actor Genevieve Hannelius, actress Signe Hasso, film actress Martha Hedman, Swedish-born, American stage actress Tippi Hedren, film actress, paternal grandparents were immigrants from Sweden Liza Huber, soap opera, television and stage actress Gunilla Hutton, film actress Scarlett Johansson, actress and singer, father of part Swedish descent Tor Johnson, actor and wrestler, Swedish-born Van Johnson, film and television actor, of part Swedish descent Val Kilmer, actor, mother was of Swedish descent Joel Kinnaman, actor, Swedish-born, American father and Swedish-Jewish mother Melinda Kinnaman, actress; half-sister of Joel; a Swedish and American citizen Kris Kristofferson, country music songwriter, singer and actor, father was of Swedish descent Jack Larson, actor Viveca Lindfors, stage and film actress Helen Lindroth, Swedish-born; screen and stage actress"Helen Lindroth". New York Times. 1956-10-12. pp. 29 Susan Lucci, mother of part Swedish descent; soap opera actress
Dolph Lundgren, actor, filmmaker, and martial artist. Jennette McCurdy, actress of Swedish descent Carlotta Nillson, Swedish-born, Broadway actressCarlotta Nillson, Veteran Actress-The New York Times; January 1, 1952 Obituary Anna Q. Nilsson, Swedish-born, silent film actress Warner Oland, actor. Nancy Olson, actress. Olivia Olson, actress and voice actress. Mary-Louise Parker, film actress, star in TV series Weeds, of 1/4 Swedish descent Dorothy Peterson, actress Ryan Potter, actor, mother of part Swedish descent Jeremy Renner, actor, of part Swedish descent Izabella Scorupco, actress Inger Stevens, Swedish-born, film and television actress Emma Stone, actress whose paternal grandfather is Swedish Erik Per Sullivan, Malcolm in the Middle actor. Gloria Swanson Bo Svenson, Swedish-born American actor, known for his roles in American genre films of the 1970s and 1980s Karl Swenson, film and television actor, radio personality, of Swedish parentage Burr Tillstrom, puppeteer and the creator of Kukla, Fran and Ollie Kari Wahlgren, voiceover actress"Portrait of a Voiceover Actress" [interview] by Ray Sidman, Comic Buyers Guide, #1631 (August 2007), pp. 36-38 Maiara Walsh, actress Irene Ware, actress in Hollywood; was in 40 movies, 1932-1940 Richard Widmark, father was of Swedish descent Steve Zahn, of part Swedish descent
Music
Leroy Anderson, Swedish immigrant parents, composer Theresa Andersson, singer-songwriter Gustav Åhr (Lil Peep) rapper, singer and songwriter Herbert Blomstedt, orchestral conductor David Carlson, composer Olive Fremstad, Swedish-born, mezzo-soprano and soprano opera singerThe Rainbow Bridge (a biography of Olive Fremstad) (Mary Watkins Cushing, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1954. Library of Congress Catalog card number 54:10494) Jerry Garcia, singer and guitarist of the Grateful Dead Emilie Hammarskjöld, composer Chris Fehn, Percussionist and vocals of the band Slipknot Howard Hanson, composer, conductor, educator and music theorist Ragnar Hasselgren, Swedish-born singer and recording artist, who was active on the American West Coast from the 1920s through the 1970s Catherine Christer Hennix, composer Joe Hill, Swedish-born, songwriter, labor activist and member of the Industrial Workers of the World Scarlett Johansson, actress and singer, father of part Swedish descent Quincy Jones III, Swedish-born mother, composer, music producer, film producer and author Ben Jorgensen, writer and singer for Armor For Sleep Kris Kristofferson, influential country music singer-songwriter and actor MC Lars, rapper Peggy Lee, Swedish/Norwegian grandparents, jazz singer and songwriter Neil LeVang, musician Jim Lindberg, singer-songwriter for the American punk rock band Pennywise Kerry Livgren, musician-songwriter for the American band Kansas Nils Lofgren, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band Mike Love, lead singer for The Beach Boys, mother was of half Swedish ancestry. Marjorie Lynn, singer who gained fame from WLS-AM radio in Chicago and the National Barn Dance, the precursor to the Grand Ole Opry Freddy Moore, singer-songwriter Ricky Nelson, singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, singer-songwriter Jack Noren, jazz drummer and vocalist Ted Nugent, singer-songwriter, guitarist and political activist Carl E. Olivebring, Swedish singer whose career took place largely in America Birgit Ridderstedt, folk singer and producer Todd Rundgren, singer-songwriter Ilya Salmanzadeh, singer-songwriter and producer Grace Slick, singer-songwriter Amanda Swenson, soprano singer Hughie Thomasson, singer and guitarist Cal Tjader, Swedish parents, jazz musician Theodor Uppman, Swedish parents, opera singer Elle Varner, singer-songwriter, guitarist (Father is half-Swedish) Astrid Varnay, Swedish-born, opera singer Henry Vestine, guitarist, son of Ernest Harry Vestine Donnie Wahlberg, singer of pop group New Kids On The Block, actor and film producer. Brian Wilson, founding member of The Beach Boys, father was of partial Swedish ancestry. Carl Wilson, lead guitarist for the Beach Boys, brother of Brian and Dennis, father was half Swedish. Carnie Wilson, daughter of Brian Wilson. Her great-grandmother was Swedish. Dennis Wilson, drummer of the Beach Boys, father was half Swedish. Murry Wilson, record producer, songwriter, and father of Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys. Mother was Swedish. Wendy Wilson, sister of Carnie Wilson and daughter of Brian Wilson. Great-grandmother was Swedish.
Other Ludwig Ahgren, won the award for "Streamer of the Year" in 2022 and is one of the biggest gaming streamers on Twitch and YouTube. Mary Katherine Campbell, two-time Miss America winner in 1922 and 1923; mother was half Swedish Gretchen Carlson, journalist, co-host of Fox & Friends on Fox News Channel, former Miss America Leticia Cline, model Steve Dahl, longtime Chicago radio disc jockey and talk personality, influential early "shock jock" Cary Fukunaga, director, writer, film producer and cinematographer Stephen Gyllenhaal, director Mitch Hedberg, comedian Verne Lundquist, sportscaster, currently employed by CBS Sports television Ozzie Nelson, Swedish immigrant father, entertainer, radio and television actor Hjalmar Peterson, vaudeville artist Nena von Schlebrügge, fashion model in the 1950s and 1960s; born in Mexico but of German and Swedish descent; mother of actress Uma Thurman Steven Soderbergh, film producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, editor and Oscar-winning director, of part Swedish descent
Artists John Alvin Anderson, Swedish-American photographer who is known for photographing Sioux Indians at the Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota from 1885 until 1930 Carl Oscar Borg, Swedish-born, painter, known for themes of the Southwestern United States Edward William Carlson, Swedish-American miniature portrait painter Peter David Edstrom, Swedish-born, sculptor Arnold Friberg, American illustrator and painter noted for his religious and patriotic works. He is perhaps best known for his 1975 painting The Prayer at Valley Forge, a depiction of George Washington praying at Valley Forge. Bud Grace, cartoonist Paul Granlund, sculptor Albinus Hasselgren, painter and sculptor Knute Heldner, Swedish-born, American artist Gustavus Hesselius, Swedish-born, painterRichard H. Saunders and Ellen G. Miles, American Colonial Portraits, 1700-1776, Washington, D.C.: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 1987 John Hesselius, portraitistDoud, Richard K., John Hesselius: His Life and Work (Masters Thesis to the University of Delaware, 1963) Magnus Colcord "Rusty" Heurlin (1895–1986), Swedish-born, Swedish-American artist and painter best known for his depictions of Alaskan landscapes John Philip Hultberg, American expressionist and realist painter with parents of Swedish descent Paul Eric Hultberg, American multidisciplinary artist of Swedish descent pioneering large scale enamel murals on copper and steel Oscar Jacobson, Swedish-born American painter and museum curator. From 1915 to 1945, he was the director of the University of Oklahoma's School of Art Emil Janel, artist Lester Johnson, painter Olof Krans, Swedish-born, artist and painter Michael Kors, fashion designer Hope Larson, illustrator and cartoonist Karl Larsson, Swedish-born, painter, engraver and sculptor Evan Lindquist, artist, printmaker, first artist laureate of Arkansas Carl Lotave, painter of portraits, illustrator, and sculptor Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt, Swedish-born, artist Claes Oldenburg, Swedish-born, sculptor, best known for his public art David Oscarson, Swedish American pen designer Paul Kuniholm Pauper, Swedish mother, Norwegian father; sculptor Susan Mohl Powers, sculptor Henry Reuterdahl, Swedish-American painter highly acclaimed for his nautical artwork. He had a long relationship with the United States Navy Christopher Ross, sculptor with father of Swedish descent Birger Sandzén, Swedish-born, painter Art Spiegelman, Jewish American cartoonist, born and spent his early life in Stockholm Haddon Sundblom, creator of Santa Claus images for the Coca-Cola Company John August Swanson, Swedish father, visual artist, painter Gustaf Tenggren, Swedish-born, illustrator Carl E. Wallin, Swedish-born, artist and painter Gunnar Widforss, Swedish-born, artist specializing in landscapes
Engineers
Ernst Alexanderson, Swedish-born, electrical engineer Ragnar Benson, Chicago building contractor Ernst Julius Berg, Swedish-born, American electrical engineer. A pioneer of radio, he produced the first two-way radio voice program in the United States Stig Bergström, Swedish-American paleontologist who described the conodont family Paracordylodontidae and in 1974, he described the multielement conodont genus Appalachignathus from the Middle Ordovician of North America Chester Carlson, physicist, inventor, and patent attorney John Ericsson, Swedish-born, inventor and mechanical engineer Carl Friden, Swedish-born, American mechanical engineer and businessman who founded the Friden Calculating Machine Company Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, Swedish-born parents, aircraft engineer and aeronautical innovator, considered one of the most talented and prolific aircraft design-engineers John B. Johnson, Swedish-born, electrical engineer and physicist Clarence Hugo Linder, of Swedish descent, electrical engineer, founding member of the National Academy of Engineering Harry Nyquist, Swedish-born, engineer, important contributor to information theory John W. Nystrom, engineer Swedish born, American civil engineer, inventor, and author. He served as an assistant Secretary and Chief Engineer of the United States Navy during the American Civil War. Arvid Reuterdahl, Swedish-American engineer, scientist and educator
Entrepreneurs and businesspeople