List of South-East European Jews
Many of the Jews expelled from the Iberian Peninsula during the Spanish Inquisition settled in the Ottoman Empire, leaving behind, at the wake of Empire, large Sephardic communities in South-East Europe: mainly in Bulgaria, Turkey, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Kalmi Baruh, writer and philosopher
- Emerik Blum, businessman, founder of Energoinvest, former Mayor of Sarajevo
- Ivan Ceresnjes, architect-researcher, former president of the Jewish community in Bosnia and Herzegovina and vice-chairman of the Yugoslav Federation of Jewish Communities, 1992-1996
- Oskar Danon, composer and conductor
- David Elazar, Israeli general and Chief of Staff of Israel Defense Forces
- Jakob Finci, politician, ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina to Switzerland
- Daniel Kabiljo, painter
- Daniel Ozmo, painter
- Isaac Pardo, rabbi of Sarajevo
- Robert Rothbart, basketball player
- Isak Samokovlija, writer
Bulgaria
- Albert Aftalion, Bulgarian-born French economist
- Binyamin Arditi
- Aron Aronov, tenor
- Mira Aroyo, member of the band Ladytron
- Gabi Ashkenazi
- Michael Bar-Zohar
- Maxim Behar, president of M3 Communications Group
- Haim Bejarano, Torah scholar and chief rabbi
- Shimon Bejarano
- Alexander Bozhkov, vice-premier
- Elias Canetti, author and Nobel Prize winner
- Sabetay Djaen, rabbi and teacher
- Carl Djerassi
- Itzhak Fintzi, dramatist
- Pini Gershon
- Moshe Gueron
- Shlomo Kalo
- Nikolay Kaufman, musicologist and composer
- Yehezkel Lazarov
- Moshe Leon
- Milcho Leviev, jazz composer
- Raphael Mechoulam
- Moni Moshonov
- Ya'akov Nehushtan
- Ya'akov Nitzani
- Jules Pascin, artist
- Isaac Passy, philosopher
- Solomon Passy, foreign minister, son of Isaac Passy
- Valeri Petrov
- Georgi Pirinski, Jr.
- David Primo
- Sarah-Theodora
- Victor Shem-Tov
- Maxim Staviski
- Angel Wagenstein, author & screenwriter
- Alexis Weissenberg, pianist
- Jaime Yankelevich
- Emanuel Zisman
Croatia
- Viktor Axmann, architect
- Slavko Brill, sculptor and ceramics artist
- Julio Deutsch, architect
- Hugo Ehrlich, architect
- Ignjat Fischer, architect
- Josip Frank, Croatian politician
- Stjepan Gomboš, architect
- Branko Grünbaum, mathematician
- Leo Hönigsberg, architect
- Rikard Lang, prominent Croatian university professor, lawyer and economist, UN's expert
- Slobodan Lang, physician, politician, humanitarian
- Slavko Löwy, architect
- Rudolf Lubinski, architect
- Branko Lustig, film producer and winner of two Academy Awards
- Blessed Ivan Merz, beatified in 2003
- Oscar Nemon, sculptor
- Vladimir Šterk, architect
- Ivo Stern, founder of the "Zagreb Radiostation"
- Karlo Weissmann, physician and founder of the first sanatorium in Osijek
- Dragutin Wolf, industrialist, founder of the food company Koestlin in Bjelovar
Cyprus
- Aristobulus of Britannia
- Barnabas
- Mike Brant, French-based singer
- Epiphanius of Salamis
- * John the Merciful
- Arie Zeev Raskin, rabbi
- Georgios Savva, footballer
Greece
- Albert Bourla, Pfizer CEO
- Hank Azaria, actor and producer
- Sid Ganis, film producer
- Anna Rezan, actress and singer
- Moses Elisaf, physician and academic
- Alberto Israel Errera, officer
- Leon Cohen, Holocaust survivor
- Marcel Nadjari, Holocaust survivor
- Salamo Arouch, boxer and Holocaust survivor
- Avraam Benaroya, socialist
- Ioanna Tsatsou, writer
Montenegro
- Jelena Đurović, writer, politician and journalist
North Macedonia
- Estreya Haim Ovadya, Yugoslav partisan
- Rafael Moshe Kamhi
- Žamila Kolonomos, Sephardi Jewish partisan, writer, academic, and political activist
Serbia
- David Albahari, writer
- David Albala, military officer, physician, diplomat, and Jewish community leader
- Oskar Danon, composer
- Oskar Davičo, poet
- Filip David, playwright and columnist
- Predrag Ejdus, actor
- Vanja Ejdus, actress
- Rahela Ferari, actress
- Ivan Ivanji, writer
- Enriko Josif, composer
- Danilo Kiš, writer
- Marko Kon, pop singer
- Shaul Ladany, Holocaust survivor, racewalker and two-time Olympian
- Tommy Lapid, former Israeli politician of Hungarian descent, born in Novi Sad
- Paulina Lebl-Albala, feminist, translator, literary critic, literature theoretician, and professor of literature in Belgrade
- Sonja Licht, political activist
- Izidor Papo, cardiac surgeon, general-colonel of the Yugoslav Army medical unit
- Moša Pijade, politician, painter, art critic and publicist
- Eva Ras, actress
- Seka Sablić, actress
- Erich Šlomović, art collector
- Aleksandar Tišma, writer
Slovenia
- Katja Boh, politician
- Berta Bojetu, author
- Israel Isserlin, Medieval rabbi
- Lev Kreft, sociologist and politician
- Dušan Šarotar, author and editor
Turkey
Academia
- Maír José Benardete, Ottoman-born American scholar of Sephardic studies; professor at Brooklyn College
- Ruth Behar, Cuban-American anthropologist; professor at the University of Michigan
- José Benardete, American philosopher; professor of philosophy at Syracuse University
- Seth Benardete, American classicist; professor New York University and The New School
- Doron Ben-Atar, American historian and playwright; professor of history at Fordham University
- Seyla Benhabib, Turkish-born American political theorist; professor at Columbia Law School
- Edit Doron, Israeli linguist; professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem
- Lois Ellen Frank, American food historian; professor at the Institute of American Indian Arts
- Yomtov Garti, Turkish mathematician and a teacher of mathematics, physics and cosmography
- John Gerassi, French-American professor, journalist and political activist
- Joseph Halévy, French orientalist and traveller; professor of Ethiopic in the École pratique des hautes études; librarian of the Société Asiatique
- Israel Hanukoglu, Turkish-born Israeli biochemist; professor at Ariel University; former science and technology adviser to the prime minister of Israel
- Yossef H. Hatzor, Israeli professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev
- Jaklin Kornfilt, Turkish theoretical linguist and professor at Syracuse University; known for her contributions to the fields of Turkish language and grammar, and Turkic language typology
- Miriam Lichtheim, Turkish-born American-Israeli Egyptologist, academic, librarian and translator
- Jacob L. Moreno, Romanian-American psychiatrist; the founder of psychodrama; pioneer of group psychotherapy
- Jonathan D. Moreno, American philosopher and historian; professor at the University of Pennsylvania
- Aron Rodrigue, Turkish-born American professor in Jewish Culture and History at Stanford University
- Dani Rodrik, Turkish economist and professor at Harvard University
- Nathan Salmon, American philosopher; professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara
- Ishak Saporta, Israeli professor of business ethics at Tel Aviv University
- Simon Schama, English historian and television presenter; professor at Columbia University
Arts and entertainment
- Maurice Abravanel, Ottoman-born American classical music conductor
- Anjelika Akbar, Turkish composer, pianist and writer
- Philip Arditti, Turkish theatre and television actor
- Adi Ashkenazi, Israeli actress, screenwriter and stand-up comedian
- Lior Ashkenazi, Israeli actor, voice actor, comedian and television presenter
- Mili Avital, Israeli actress
- Aki Avni, Israeli actor, entertainer and television host
- Jeff Baena, American screenwriter and film director
- Kathy Barr, American vocalist
- Albert Beger, Istanbul-born Israeli saxophonist and flutist
- Bea Benaderet, American actress
- Ceki Benşuşe, Turkish guitar player of the Turkish band Sefarad
- Albert Bitran, French painter and sculptor
- Can Bonomo, Turkish singer who represented Turkey in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012
- Assi Cohen, Israeli comedian and actor
- Sacha Distel, French musician
- Bob Dylan, American singer and songwriter; 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature winner
- Jesse Dylan, American film director and production executive
- Roza Eskenazi, Istanbul-born Greek dancer and singer of rebetiko
- Savi Gabizon, Israeli filmmaker, screenwriter and producer
- Yehoram Gaon, Israeli singer, actor, director, comedian, producer, television and radio host
- Miki Gavrielov, Israeli composer
- Fernando Gerassi, Turkish-born American artist
- Eydie Gormé, American singer
- Isaac Guillory, American folk guitarist
- Sienna Guillory, English actress and former model
- Emma Kingston, British stage actress
- Lainie Kazan, American actress and singer
- Alberto Hemsi, Turkish-born French composer
- Victoria Kamhi, Turkish pianist
- Tchéky Karyo, French actor and musician
- Victor Laredo, American documentary photographer
- Shaily Lipa, Israeli cookbook author, content creator and TV cookery show host
- Sami Levi, Turkish soloist of the Turkish band Sefarad
- Kohava Levy, Israeli singer, songwriter, composer and poet in Ladino
- Yasmin Levy, Israeli Ladino singer and songwriter
- Yitzhak Levy, Israeli singer, songwriter, musicologist and composer in Ladino
- Linet, Turkish-Israeli singer
- Art Metrano, American actor
- Paul Misraki, French composer
- Darío Moreno, Turkish polyglot singer
- Eliad Nachum, Israeli singer, songwriter and television actor
- Germaine Poliakov, French music teacher and Holocaust survivor
- Jacques Rémy, French screenwriter
- Berry Sakharof, Israeli rock guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer
- Rudolph Schildkraut, Austrian film and theatre actor
- Altina Schinasi, American sculptor, filmmaker, actress and inventor
- Neil Sedaka, American singer, songwriter and pianist
- Rotem Sela, Israeli actress best known for starring in the Israeli television series Beauty and the Baker
- Shlomi Shabat, Israeli vocalist and musician
- Cem Stamati, bass guitar player of the Turkish band Sefarad
- Alona Tal, Israeli actress and singer
- Roy Gokay Wol, Turkish-Israeli film producer and director
- Ed Wynn, American actor and comedian
- Keenan Wynn, American character actor
- Ned Wynn, American actor and screenwriter
Business
- Ishak Alaton, Turkish businessman and co-founder of Alarko Holding
- Leyla Alaton, Turkish businesswoman and art collector, board member of Alarko and Alvimedica
- Isak Andic, Turkish-Spanish businessman and co-founder of clothing retailer Mango
- Howard Behar, American businessman; president of Starbucks Coffee Company International
- Abraham Salomon Camondo, Ottoman financier and philanthropist; patriarch of the House of Camondo
- Isaac de Camondo, Ottoman-born French businessman and art collector
- Moïse de Camondo, Ottoman-born French banker and art collector
- Isaac Carasso, Ottoman-born Spanish businessman; founder of Groupe Danone; member of Carasso family
- Giuseppe Eskenazi, Turkish businessman and Chinese art dealer; founder of Eskenazi
- Üzeyir Garih, Turkish businessman and co-founder of Alarko Holding
- Cem Hakko, Turkish businessman and president of Vakko
- Vitali Hakko, Turkish businessman, founder of the Vakko
- Jeffi Medina, Turkish businessman and co-founder of Medina Turgul DDB; former president of Advertising Association of Turkey
- Gracia Mendes Nasi, Ottoman-Portuguese philanthropist, businesswoman, and member of the Mendes Benveniste family; one of the wealthiest and most influential women of Renaissance Europe; known for securing a long-term lease of Tiberias in the Safed sanjak from Suleiman the Magnificent
- Silvio Santos, Brazilian media mogul and television host
- Morris Schinasi, Ottoman-born American businessman in the tobacco industry
- Izak Senbahar, American real estate developer
Politics, military and government
- Avichay Adraee, Israeli military officer; head of the Arab media division of the IDF Spokesperson's Unit
- Mordechai Alkahi, Petah Tikva-born Turkish member of the Irgun
- Albert Antébi, Ottoman public activist and community leader born in Ottoman Syria, who worked for the old and new Jewish settlement in Palestine
- Solomon Ashkenazi, Ottoman-Venetian physician and businessman active in Ottoman, Venetian and Polish–Lithuanian politics
- Ruhama Avraham, Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset
- Esther Benbassa, French historian and politician; member of the French Senate
- Avraham Ben-Shoshan, Israeli military officer; Commander of the Israeli Navy
- Eliezer Cohen, Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset
- Geulah Cohen, Israeli politician and activist
- Nechemya Cohen, Israeli soldier; the most decorated soldier in the history of the IDF
- Steve Cohen, American attorney and politician; member of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Dalia Dorner, Israeli-Turkish judge; justice of the Supreme Court of Israel
- Shlomo Gazit, Israeli military officer and academic; major general in the Israel Defense Forces, head of the Military Intelligence Directorate
- Mordechai Gazit, Israeli diplomat; adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir; ambassador to France; and Director-General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry
- Françoise Giroud, French journalist, screenwriter, writer, and politician; Minister of Culture
- Emanuel Karasu, Ottoman lawyer and politician; member of the Ottoman Chamber of Deputies, member of the Young Turks
- Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, American politician, member of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Alejandro Mayorkas, American attorney and government official, 7th United States Secretary of Homeland Security
- Yitzhak Navon, Israeli politician, diplomat, playwright, and author; 5th President of Israel; first Israeli president born in Jerusalem and the first Sephardi Jew to serve in that office
- Tamir Pardo, Israeli intelligence officer; 11th Director of Mossad
- Emin Pasha, Ottoman physician, naturalist, and governor of the Egyptian province of Equatoria on the upper Nile
- Luisa Porritt, British politician
- Issy Smith, British-Australian military officer and recipient of the Victoria Cross
- Moshe Bar Siman Tov, Israeli economist and the Director-General of the Ministry of Health
- David Tzur, Israeli politician and former policeman; member of the Knesset
Religion
- Aaron Alfandari, Turkish Talmudic writer
- Marc D. Angel, American rabbi and author
- Hayyim Isaac Algazi, Turkish Chief Rabbi of Smyrna
- Yom Tov Algazi, Ottoman Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem
- Hayyim ben Jacob Alfandari, Turkish Talmudic educator and writer
- Solomon Eliezer Alfandari, Ottoman rabbi, kabbalist and rosh yeshiva of Istanbul
- Albert Jean Amateau, Turkish rabbi, lawyer and social activist
- David Asseo, Turkish rabbi; Hakham Bashi of the Republic of Turkey
- Asenath Barzani, Ottoman-Kurdish female rabbinical scholar and poet
- Joshua ben Israel Benveniste, Ottoman rabbi at Constantinople and physician
- Elijah Capsali, Ottoman rabbi and historian
- Moses Capsali, Ottoman rabbi; first Hakham Bashi of the Ottoman Empire
- Abraham Danon, Turkish rabbi, Hebraist, writer and poet
- Haim Moussa Douek, Turkish rabbi; last Chief Rabbi of Egypt
- Menahem Egozi, Turkish Talmudist
- Ishak Haleva, Turkish rabbi; Hakham Bashi of Turkey
- Aaron ben Solomon ben Hasun, Turkish rabbi and Talmudic scholar
- Barzillai ben Baruch Jabez, Turkish Talmudist
- Elijah Mizrachi, Ottoman Talmudist and posek; authority on Halakha and mathematician
- Chaim Nahum, Turkish rabbi; Grand Rabbi of the Ottoman Empire; jurist, and linguist; member of the Turkish delegation for the Lausanne Treaty
- Abraham Palacci, Turkish rabbi; Chief Rabbi and author of Smyrna; member of the Pallache family
- Haim Palachi, Turkish rabbi; Chief Rabbi of Smyrna and Gaon
- Joseph Palacci, Turkish rabbi and author in Ladino and Hebrew in Smyrna
- Rahamim Nissim Palacci, Turkish rabbi; Chief Rabbi of Smyrna and author
- Mosè Piccio, Ottoman lexicographer; compiled Zikhron Torat Moshe
- Benjamin Pontremoli, Turkish rabbi and poet, member of the Pontremoli dynasty
- Yitzhak Sarfati, French-Ottoman rabbi; Chief Rabbi of Edirne
- Joseph Taitazak, Ottoman Talmudic authority and Kabbalist; member of the Taitazak family
- Sabbatai Zevi, Ottoman former Jewish mystic and rabbi from Smyrna; founder of the Sabbatean movement
- Aaron Zorogon, Turkish Torah scholar
Sports
- Eli Abarbanel, Israeli football player
- Barak Bakhar, Israeli former player and the current manager of Maccabi Haifa
- Pini Balili, Israeli former football manager and former football player
- Avram Barokas, Turkish basketball player and coach
- Arik Benado, Israeli football manager and former player
- Joe Bonomo, American weightlifter, strongman and actor
- Rober Eryol, Turkish football player for Galatasaray and manager for Hapoel Be'er-Sheva
- Umut Güzelses, Turkish-Israeli football player
- Alfred König, Turkish Olympic sprinter and 1935 Maccabiah Games competitor
- Jack Molinas, American professional basketball player; NBA All-Star
- Adi Soffer, Israeli footballer
- Avi Soffer, Israeli football player
- Garrett Wittels, American baseball player
Literature and journalism
- Alexander Aciman, American writer and journalist
- André Aciman, American writer
- Stella Aciman, Turkish novelist, columnist for Yeni Düzen
- Beki Luiza Bahar, Turkish writer and playwright
- Asa Benveniste, American poet, typographer and publisher
- Elias Canetti, German-language writer, novelist, memoirist; 1981 Nobel Prize in Literature winner
- Elia Carmona, Ottoman author and journalist; founder of El Jugueton
- Vitalis Danon, Ottoman-Tunisian writer and educator at Alliance Israélite Universelle
- Moris Farhi, Turkish author, vice president of International PEN
- Erol Güney, Turkish-Israeli journalist, translator and author
- Albert Karasu, Turkish journalist
- Sami Kohen, Turkish journalist and columnist for Milliyet
- Mario Levi, Turkish novelist, journalist and scholar with a focus on modern Turkish literature
- Peter Levi, English poet, archaeologist, Jesuit priest, travel writer, biographer, academic and critic; Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford
- Saadia ben Abraham Longo, Turkish Hebrew poet
- Roni Margulies, Turkish poet, author, translator and political activist
- Leandra Medine, American author and blogger
- Édouard Roditi, American poet, short-story writer, critic and translator of Turkish
- Moshe Shaul, Israeli journalist, writer and researcher of the culture of Sephardi Jews
- Diana Souhami, English writer
- Benny Ziffer, Israeli author and journalist
Miscellaneous
- Tobias Cohn, Polish-Ottoman physician to Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV, Suleiman II, Ahmed II, Mustafa II and Ahmed III
- Jacque Fresco, American futurist
- Bohor Hallegua, Ottoman chess player
- Moses Hamon, Ottoman physician and patron Jewish learning
- Yolande Harmer, Israeli intelligence officer who operated in Egypt
- Hila Klein, Israeli-American YouTuber
- Liran Kohener, Israeli model; Miss Israel 2007
- Rodrigo Lehtinen, American LGBTQ rights advocate
- Joseph Nasi, Ottoman diplomat and administrator; influential figure in the Ottoman Empire during the rules of both Sultan Suleiman I and Selim II
- Joseph Niego, Turkish-born Jewish activist
- Lenore Skenazy, American speaker, blogger, syndicated columnist, author, and reality show host
- Rona Ramon, Israeli public activist and STEM influencer
- Sinan Reis, Ottoman corsair; second in command of the Ottoman admiral Hayreddin Barbarossa
- Solomon ibn Verga, historian, physician, and author of the ''Shevet Yehudah''