First Gen In The Media

TV & Film

100

The actor was born in Mexico and started  telenovelas there. In 1991, they moved to Los Angeles to study acting and straddled the Hollywood and Mexican acting worlds. They acquired US citizenship in 2013. Her most famous role was playing Frida Kahlo

Salma Hayek

200

Born in Sudbury, Canada,, this FIRST GEN became the host of the Canadian game show "Reach for the Top" in the mid-1960s. In 1973, they decided to try their luck in Hollywood and moved to the United States. They went on to host a famous American game show for a few decades

Alex Trebek

300

born in Chicago to an Irish-Canadian father and a mother from German and English descent. Although he died in 1966 from lung cancer, his legacy lives on in countless resorts and our imaginations.

Walt Disney

400

Uzo Aduba was born in Boston to Nigerian parents, of the Igbo tribe. What was her most famous character on Orange is the New Black

Suzanne "Crazy Eyes"

500

The "That 70's Show" star was born in the Ukrainian city of Chernivtsi on August 14, 1983, to her parents Mark and Elvira. They later moved to the United States with their parents and their older brother, Michael.

Mila Kunis

Creatives

100

 A  Haitian-American author of young adult fiction. They are best known for their young adult novel American Street, which was a finalist for the National Book Award for Young Adult's Literature in 2017.

 Born  Pascale Philantrope, they immigrated from Port-au-Prince with their mother at age four and grew up in Bushwick, Brooklyn, in the 1980s.

Ibi Zoboi

200

an New Orleans celebrity chef, restaurateur, television personality, cookbook author. Their are of Portuguese descent on their mother's side, while being of French heritage through their father. They have a famous catchphrase "Bam"

Emeril John Lagasse III

300

was an American artist who rose to success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement and working with the likes of Andy Warhol.  Their parents are Haitian and Puerto Rican. Jay-Z and other musicians have mentioned them in their songs. 

Jean-Michel Basquiat

400

Having settled first in New York City, they headed west when the gold rush heated up in San Francisco. They partnered with Jacob Davis, a tailor from Reno, Nevada, to patent and produce the long-lasting, reliable workwear that lived well beyond the gold rush: blue jeans.

Levi Strauss

500

was an American businesswoman. She co-founded her cosmetics company with her husband, Joseph Lauter. She was the only woman on Time magazine's 1998 list of the 20 most influential business geniuses of the 20th century. 

In 1953, She introduced her first fragrance, Youth-Dew, a bath oil that doubled as a perfume.

Estee Lauder

Sports

100

is a Venezuelan professional baseball outfielder for the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball (MLB). After signing with the Braves as an international free agent in 2014, they made their MLB debut in 2018, and won the National League Rookie of the Year Award.

 Ronald Acuña Jr.

200

 is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a forward for and captains both Major League Soccer club Inter Miami and the Argentina national team. Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, They set numerous records for individual accolades won throughout their professional footballing career such as eight Ballon d'Or awards, six European Golden Shoes wins, and eight times being named the world's best player by FIFA.

Lionel "Leo" Messi

300

Born in Torrance, California,  this former Olympian is the third child  of immigrants from Hong Kong. She is a 2-time olympic medalist, a 5-time world champion and 9-time US Champion figure skater.

Michelle Kwan

400

 a Congolese-American professional basketball player. They played 18 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Mount Mutombo" for their defensive prowess, they is commonly regarded as one of the greatest shot-blockers and defensive players of all time. Outside of basketball, they are known for their humanitarian work.

Dikembe Mutombo

500

Jeffrey Louis was in the 2024 Paris Olympics after graduating from University of Houston with a degree in kinesiology, they are of Haitian American heritage and have been competing since the age of 12. What sport did he compete in?

 Break Dancing

Music

100

known as the Queen of Salsa, they were an internationally acclaimed singer and dynamic stage performer from the 1940s to the start of the 21st century.

They were also instrumental to the creation and popularization of “salsa,” a new genre of pan-Hispanic music that emerged in the 1960s.

Celia Cruz

200

Born in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago to a gospel singer mother, Carol Maraj, and a financial executive father,  Eventually, their family moved to Queens, New York – the Young Money star excelled academically and was admitted to the prestigious LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts.

Nicki Minaj

300

Born Abel Makkonen Tesfaye, the only child of Ethiopian Amhara immigrants. They dropped out of high school and started releasing music on YouTube. He would go on to contribute to Drake's "Take Care" album, most notably "Crew Love"

The Weeknd 

400

Born as Chaim Witz on August 25, 1949, at Rambam Hospital in Haifa, Israel, to Jewish refugees from Hungary. At eight years old, they moved to the USA, where they would later become the lead singer of one of the most famous heavy metal bands in history. He is the lead singer of KISS

Gene Simmons

500

Appearing on The All-New Mickey Mouse Club (1993–1994) as a child, they would go on recorded the theme song, "Reflection", for the animated film Mulan (1998) and signed a record deal with RCA Records. She rose to fame in 1999 with her self-titled debut album which gained three number one singles "Genie in a Bottle", "What a Girl Wants" and "Come On Over Baby (All I Want Is You)". 

Christina Aguilera 

STEM

100

A First Gen Syrian-American, they were a businessman, inventor, and investor best known for co-founding the technology company Apple Inc. and the founder of NeXT and chairman and majority shareholder of Pixar.

Steve Jobs

200

Perhaps the most famous scientist of all time, was also a refugee. Born in Germany in 1879, they was fortunate enough to be abroad when Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933, and the United States was fortunate they eventually chose to settle here. They were famous for "E-mc2

Albert Einstein

300

perhaps the most famous archetypical “mad scientist” figure in modern society. They had emigrated from Serbia at the end of the 19th century, where they studied advanced physics and mathematics.  His name is currently used for popular electrical vehicle. 

Nikola Tesla

400

Born in South Africa in 1971. They dropped out to pursue what would become PayPal. They made their first fortune when PayPal was bought by Ebay, and used that money to start two more companies. They created SpaceX. One of MCM biggest customers. 

Elon Musk 

500

Born to an immigrant family in Pennsylvania in 1929. Their father was a Bengali Hindu and Indian freedom revolutionary who had fled from persecution by the British police to the U.S. shortly before they born. They went on to get a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from MIT. Their research into acoustics and speaker technology would lead to the famous speakers, which carry their name.

Amar Bose