# Well-known women who became naturalized US citizens **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 10, 2012, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698 "2012-06-10T08:36:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/1 "2012-06-10T08:36:59Z")
I can think of a number well-known men who have become US citizens: Albert Einstein, Rupert Murdoch, Wernher von Braun, a few others. But I can’t think of any well-known naturalized women. Have there been any? ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/2 "2012-06-10T08:43:46Z")
[Ayn Rand.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayn_Rand) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 8:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/3 "2012-06-10T08:51:05Z")
Marlene Dietrich. ---
**Author:** ![Indian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@Indian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indian)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/4 "2012-06-10T08:57:44Z")
Madeleine Albright Arianna Huffington Jennifer Granholm Elaine Chao Madeleine May Kunin ---
**Author:** ![Tangent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tangent/32/3098_2.png) [@Tangent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tangent)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/5 "2012-06-10T09:05:24Z")
Martina Navratilova Arianna Huffington ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/6 "2012-06-10T09:38:03Z")
Ann Marget Olivia de Havilland Elizabeth Arden Sheen Easton Gloria Estefan Zsa Zsa Gabor Selma Hayek Heidi Klum Angela Landsbury Yo Yo Ma Alanis Morrisette Oily Titz Tracey Ulman ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/7 "2012-06-10T09:58:39Z")
Monica Seles. I wonder if Steffi Graf has become a citizen since marrying Agassi. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/8 "2012-06-10T10:46:37Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Yo Yo Ma I must be missing something here. Or maybe he is. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/9 "2012-06-10T10:57:41Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I must be missing something here. Or maybe he is. We Asians all look the same to some people. ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/10 "2012-06-10T13:25:14Z")
Catherine Bell Pamela Anderson ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/11 "2012-06-10T13:31:35Z")
Anna Kournikova (2010) Mila Kunis (?) Helen Reddy (1974) ---
**Author:** ![CatherineZeta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@CatherineZeta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CatherineZeta)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/12 "2012-06-10T14:13:27Z")
Jessica Mitford ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/13 "2012-06-10T15:15:10Z")
> [@Donnerwetter](#): > > Pamela Anderson I think “naturalized” has a different meaning for her. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/14 "2012-06-10T16:03:55Z")
Ayn Rand ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/15 "2012-06-10T16:09:42Z")
[Charlize Theron](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000234/bio) ---
**Author:** ![China\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/779978/32.png) [@China\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/China_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/16 "2012-06-11T03:59:37Z")
Joan Chen actress The Last Emperor, Twin Peaks, etc Nien Cheng, author of Life and Death in Shanghai Le Ly Hayslip, author of When Heaven and Hell Changed Places ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/17 "2012-06-11T05:42:35Z")
Thanks for all the answers everyone. That’s a lot more than I expected. But I also realized I was interested in just a subset of these women. What I really want are women who became well-known before they were naturalized. That is, they went through the naturalization process as celebrities. So Madeleine Albright (naturalized 1957) achieved fame in the 90s when appointed UN Ambassador and then Sec of State, so doesn’t qualify. Alanis Morrisette (naturalized 2005) was already a famous rocker and thus qualifies. So how many of the above qualify? ---
**Author:** ![etv78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d78d45/32.png) [@etv78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/etv78)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 7:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/18 "2012-06-11T07:15:53Z")
Pam Anderson-_Baywatch_ babe ---
**Author:** ![Donnerwetter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Donnerwetter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Donnerwetter)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/19 "2012-06-11T10:13:34Z")
The majority of these women seem to be from the field of entertainment and sports. No scientists, no writers, no engineers. But that’s probably just a reflection of the overall situation. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 10:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698/20 "2012-06-11T10:16:34Z")
Golda Meir, born in Kiev, emigrated to Milwaukee, then to Israel. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/well-known-women-who-became-naturalized-us-citizens/624698.md?page=2)