Michael Flatley - dancer [3] "The important thing to know about Michael Flatley is that he's Irish-American... His success comes from his ability to join unlikely elements together—Irish and Americans, step dancing and flamenco, pretension and frivolity."
William Harnett - painter [4] "William Harnett American, born Ireland, 1848(?)-1892"
Georgia O'Keeffe - painter [5] "Of Irish and Hungarian ancestry, Georgia O'Keeffe was born on a farm in Sun Prairie, Wis...."
Augustus Saint-Gaudens - sculptor [6] "Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born in Dublin, Ireland in 1848 to an Irish mother and a French father."
Business
Diamond Jim Brady - financier and philanthropist [7] "Born in 1856 into an Irish immigrant family who ran a saloon on the Lower East Side..."
Henry Ford - founder of Ford Motor Company[8] "Ford was born on 30 July 1863 in Dearborn, Michigan, the son of Irish immigrants who fled the potato famine in the 1840s."
Tom Monaghan - founder of Domino's Pizza[11] "On his father's side there was the Irish connection, his grandfather coming from Tipperary and his paternal grandmother from Cork..."
Bill Rancic - entrepreneur [12] "grew up in the suburb Orland Park, to a Croatian-Irish family..."
Jack Welch - Former CEO of GE [13] "The Irish-Catholic kid who learned to play golf as a 12-year-old caddy beat a champion..."
Film directors/producers
Walt Disney[14] "his father, Elias Disney, an Irish-Canadian, and his mother, Flora Call Disney, who was of German-American descent."
John Ford[15] "John Ford was born John Martin Feeney, February 1, 1894, at his father's farm in Cape Elizabeth, Maine, the child of Irish immigrants. The Irish were a ghettoised minority, then, and it was only toward the end of his life, Ford said, when Kennedy was elected president, that he felt like a first-class citizen. He grew up in Portland, where his father had a bar."
Mel Gibson[16] "Mel Gibson was born in Peeksill, NY, to Irish Catholic parents."
Alfred Hitchcock[17] "He was the youngest child of an East End family whose father ran a poulterer's and greengrocer's business and whose mother came of Irish stock. The family was Catholic." [18] "In 1955, he became an American citizen."
Ron Howard Director, Child Actor [19]"Ron Howard is of Irish descent, his ancestors having immigrated to Oklahoma for the land grab. His passion for the Irish failed him when he made “Far and Away,” but it serves him well here; it’s clear he feels a kinship with fellow Irishman Braddock."
Leo McCarey[20] "Leo McCarey was the first son of Irish-Catholic Thomas McCarey, a well-known boxing promoter, and French-born Leona [Mistrol] McCarey, for whom he is named."
Michael Moore[21] "Moore, now 49, was raised in a working-class Irish-American family."
William Brennan - United States Supreme Court Justice [22] "The second of eight children born to Irish immigrants..."
James B. Comey - former Deputy Attorney General of the United States [23] "He was born in Yonkers 42 years ago, the second of four children in a middle-class Irish-American family."
Mike Barnicle[27] "In this racial maelstrom, there was one Globe man who was trusted on the gritty streets of South Boston, a young Irish columnist named Mike Barnicle..."
Jimmy Breslin[28] "His book has been criticized for its intemperate remarks about the Irish and their American great-grandchildren, but if Jimmy Breslin is not qualified to make those judgments... who is?"
Nellie Bly[29] "Miss Bly was, in fact, the daughter of Irish immigrants."
William F. Buckley Jr.[30] "Mr. Buckley is an anomaly in American life, a man who has been made, or who made himself, systematically déclassé. "I never knew I was an Irish Catholic until I ran for mayor of New York," he once told Martin Nolan..."
Neil Cavuto[31] "Look, I'm half-Italian and half-Irish. I figure I was born with a temper..."
Phil Donahue[32] "When he and Buchanan squared off on camera to debate the recent Pledge of Allegiance court ruling, they were just another pair of wealthy, middle-aged, white Irish Catholic men pontificating."
Maureen Dowd[33] "Dowd is assumed by most people to be a Democrat... in reality she was part of this kind of Irish-Catholic mafia that included Chris Matthews and Mike Kelly..."
Morton Downey, Jr.[34] "Mort's Dad, the original Morton Downey, was an Irish tenor and a very big star in the 1930's and 40's."
Pete Hamill[35] "Born in Brooklyn in 1935, of Irish immigrant parents, Pete Hamill served in the US Navy, attended Mexico City College..."
Sean Hannity[36] "Hannity, a proclaimed devout Irish Catholic, has blamed liberals for actions taken..."
Chris Matthews[38] "But Chris Matthews, the Irish-American host of MSNBC's political talk show "Hardball,"..."
Peggy Noonan[39] "I pick Dublin because I was there most recently, and also because I'm Irish-American..."
Conan O'Brien[40] "O'Brien, the proud Irishman, clad very casually in denims and navy blue shirt..."
Soledad O'Brien[41] "O'Brien was named to Irish American Magazine's "Top 100 Irish Americans" on two occasions." [42] "Soledad O’Brien brings her unique heritage of Latino, Irish, and African-American cultures..."
Norah O'Donnell[43] "O’Donnell has also been named to Irish American Magazine’s 2000 “Top 100 Irish Americans” list."
Bill O'Reilly[44] "He was raised Irish-Catholic in Long Island, NY..."
John L. O'Sullivan[45] "He was the son of an English woman of aristocratic origins and an Irish-born..."
Regis Philbin[46] "Part of an Irish-American Catholic family, he was the eldest son of Frank and Florence..."
Andy Rooney[47] "I'm proud of my Irish heritage, but I'm not Irish. I'm not even Irish-American. I am American, period."
Ed Sullivan[48] "As you may recall, Ed Sullivan, whose heritage was Irish ..."
Elizabeth Vargas[49] "Born in New Jersey of a Puerto Rican father and Irish American mother, and a self-described army brat..."
John Walsh[50] "I don't know if it comes from being Irish or Catholic or both...."
Military
John Barry - father of the United States Navy[51] "John Barry was born in a modest thatched cottage in 1745 at Ballysampson on Our Lady's Island, which is part of Tacumshin Parish in County Wexford, Ireland..."
Michael Corcoran - United States Army general [53] "A policeman in Ireland, Michael Corcoran became a symbol of what an Irishman -- and a Fenian -- could make of himself in the New World..."
Audie Murphy - most decorated combat soldier of World War II[59] "One of the countless young Irish Americans queuing up in front of the recruitment offices was Audie Murphy from Greenville, Texas..."
Molly Pitcher - Revolutionary War heroine [64] "She survived her husband many years, known of course as Molly McCauly, and the statements so frequently made that Molly Pitcher was a young Irish woman..."
Philip Sheridan - United States Army, General of the Army, Cavalry[65] "John and Mary Minah Sheridan, Philip's parents, came to America in 1830 at the urging of John's uncle, Thomas Gainor, living in Albany, New York. John and Mary were second degree cousins from County Cavan, Ireland."
John Philip Holland - inventor of the submarine, Fenian[70] "John Philip Holland was born in Ireland in 1841. He emigrated to America where his first successful submarine design was paid for by Irish nationalists seeking Ireland's liberation from Britain."
Charles Brian Montagu McBurney - medical pioneer [72] "Charles McBurney (1845-1913) was an Irish American medical pioneer famous in his field for his early reports about appendicitis."
Eileen Collins - first female commander of a Space Shuttle[76] "The Irish American contribution to space exploration has continued in recent years with astronauts Kathryn Sullivan and Eileen Collins..."
^[1] "Irish based firm director John Huston" [2] "My father was born in 1884 in Toronto, Canada, of a Scottish mother... and an Irish father... In 1964 I became an Irish citizen."
