Mihajlo Pupin (1858–1935) was a Serbian-American physicist and inventor best known for the Pupin coil, which greatly extended the range of telephone communication. Born in Idvor, Serbia, he emigrated to the US as a teenager, working menial jobs before earning degrees from Columbia and the University of Berlin. As a Columbia professor, he also contributed to early X-ray imaging and became a key figure in the development of modern telecommunications.

Beyond science, Pupin was a strong advocate for Serbian interests, advising U.S. leaders during World War I and promoting education and cultural ties. His Pulitzer Prize-winning autobiography, From Immigrant to Inventor, captured his remarkable journey from rural Serbia to scientific fame. Pupin remains a symbol of innovation, diplomacy, and the immigrant success story.

Mateja Matejić (1924–?) was a Serbian-American writer, professor, and cultural advocate who played a key role in promoting Serbian heritage in the United States. Born in Smederevo, he emigrated to the U.S. in 1956 after World War II, having completed his theological education and priestly ordination in Italy. He spent most of his career at Ohio State University as a professor of Slavic languages and literature, where he also co-founded and led the Hilandar Research Library, a major center for the study of Serbian medieval culture. As an author, he wrote poetry and prose focused on identity, diaspora, and spirituality, while also translating and editing Serbian literary works for English-speaking audiences. His legacy lies in strengthening academic and cultural links between Serbia and the United States.

Edward W. Ryan (1883–?) was an American physician and humanitarian who played a critical role in Serbia during World War I. Trained at Fordham University, he joined the American Red Cross and was sent to Belgrade in 1914 to lead a medical mission amid war and a devastating typhus epidemic. Facing overcrowded hospitals and severe shortages, Ryan organized emergency care systems, coordinated medical efforts, and helped contain the epidemic. His team performed over 8,000 surgeries and provided extensive aid to both soldiers and civilians. During the Austro-Hungarian occupation, he also used Red Cross protection to shelter civilians and informally represent local interests. For his efforts, he received multiple international honors and is remembered in Serbia as one of the key foreign doctors who assisted the country during its most difficult period.

Milan Mandarić was a Serbian-American entrepreneur and football executive who rose from modest beginnings in Lika (former Yugoslavia) to become a pioneer in Silicon Valley and a key figure in the development of professional soccer in the United States and Europe. After emigrating in the 1960s, he built a successful electronics company in California supplying the emerging computer industry, later reinvesting in high-tech ventures. In parallel, he played a major role in early American soccer through the NASL, owning the San Jose Earthquakes and working alongside global stars such as Pelé and George Best. He later led several English football clubs, including Portsmouth, Leicester City, and Sheffield Wednesday, contributing to their financial stabilization and competitive progress. Despite his international career, he maintained strong ties to Serbia and is remembered as both a business innovator and influential sports executive.

Ruth Stanley Farnam (1873–1956) was an American writer, philanthropist, and volunteer soldier, known for her exceptional service in Serbia during the Balkan Wars and World War I. Originally leading a comfortable life in the United States, her visit to Belgrade in 1913 exposed her to the human cost of war, prompting her to assist in improvised hospitals despite having no medical training. During World War I, she returned to Serbia, organizing aid and working alongside medical units while witnessing major events such as the typhus epidemic and the Serbian army’s retreat through Albania. In 1916, she formally joined the Serbian Army’s First Cavalry Regiment—becoming one of the few American women to serve as a soldier in the war—and participated in the Salonika front. After the war, she documented her experiences in A Nation at Bay (1918), advocating for Serbia and preserving testimony of its wartime suffering and resilience.

Peter Bogdanovich (1939–2022) was an American director, screenwriter, and film historian of Serbian descent, and a key figure of the “New Hollywood” movement in the 1970s. Born in New York to a Serbian father from Ruma and an Austrian-Jewish mother, he developed an early passion for cinema, working as a critic and curator at the Museum of Modern Art. He rose to prominence with The Last Picture Show (1971), which received eight Academy Award nominations, followed by successful films such as What’s Up, Doc? and Paper Moon. Despite later professional and personal setbacks, he remained an influential voice in film through acting, writing, and preserving cinematic heritage. He maintained strong ties to his Serbian roots throughout his life and passed away in 2022 at the age of 82.

Mitchell Paige (born Mihajlo Pejić, 1918–2003) was a highly decorated US Marine of Serbian descent, celebrated for his extraordinary valor during World War II.

Born in Pennsylvania near Charleroi to Serbian immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian Military Frontier, Paige was raised with deep respect for his heritage. Amid the Great Depression and limited job prospects, he walked hundreds of kilometers to enlist in the US Marines at age 18, adopting the name Mitchell Paige to assimilate more easily. After training, he was stationed near Manila in the Philippines, where he served for over a year and played baseball as a pitcher on the Marine team, even facing American All-Stars. His skill earned him a golden bat from the US High Commissioner to the Philippines.

Rose Ann Vuich (1927–2001) was a pioneering California legislator and the first woman ever elected to the California State Senate. A conservative Democrat from Dinuba in the Central Valley, she was known for her integrity, fierce independence, and unwavering advocacy for farmers and rural communities.

Born to Serbian immigrant farmers from Herzegovina, Vuich was raised in Dinuba, southeast of Fresno. She studied accounting and worked with her brother managing their family’s 180-acre citrus and fruit tree farm. Politics was not her ambition—until 1976, when she unexpectedly ran for State Senate and only later learned that no woman had ever held a seat in that chamber. Despite being the underdog, she defeated a well-funded Republican and took office in 1977.

Charles Simic (born Dušan Simić, 1938–2023) was a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet, essayist, translator, and US Poet Laureate, renowned for his minimalist style, surreal imagery, and exploration of war, memory, and human suffering. Born in Belgrade in 1938, his childhood was marked by the trauma of Nazi occupation and the post-war devastation of Yugoslavia, experiences that would deeply shape his literary voice.

His father, Đorđe Simić, an engineer, moved to Italy and later to the United States after World War II. In 1954, Charles joined him in the US with his mother and brother. Upon arrival, his father gave him the name “Charles,” signaling the beginning of his American life. Early years in America were marked by financial hardship and family strain, including his parents’ divorce. While attending evening classes at New York University, Simic worked a range of jobs—proofreader, accountant, shirt salesman, bookstore clerk—and served two years in the US military.

Hamilton Fish Armstrong (1893–1973) was a prominent American journalist, editor, diplomat, and one of the most enduring friends of the Serbian people. Born into the influential Fish family of New York, he was named after his great-uncle Hamilton Fish, a former US Secretary of State under President Ulysses S. Grant. Armstrong graduated from Princeton University in 1916, but even before that, as a student in 1912, he demonstrated his commitment to Serbia by organizing a lottery to fund the purchase of automobiles for Serbian aid during the Balkan Wars.

His connection with Serbia deepened when he served as a military attaché in Serbia during World War I, gaining firsthand insight into the region’s political complexity and resilience. This experience ignited a lifelong interest in international relations, especially in the Balkans.

Paulina Lebl-Albala (1891–1967) was one of Serbia’s most prominent early 20th-century intellectuals—a translator, literary critic, feminist, and humanist who made lasting contributions to Serbian literature and civil society.

She was born in Belgrade in 1891 into a family of Ashkenazi Jews, the daughter of a Jewish engineer. She spent part of her childhood in Niš, where her father worked on railway construction, before enrolling at the First Women's Gymnasium in Belgrade. Paulina later studied classical studies at the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Belgrade, where her professors included some of Serbia’s most influential literary critics—Jovan Skerlić and the Popović brothers, Jovan and Bogdan.

Leo Kasper (born 1893 in Minnesota) was an American engineer and humanitarian of Bavarian descent who played a vital role in post-World War I recovery efforts in Serbia, most notably overseeing the construction of the University Library in Belgrade, funded by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Kasper studied mining engineering and business administration in Minnesota. At the outbreak of World War I, he was working in Thessaloniki (Salonika) as assistant manager for the local Standard Oil office. He joined the US Army and served as a lieutenant in France. Toward the end of the war, he was assigned to southern Serbia under the American Relief Administration (ARA), a major US humanitarian mission for Europe’s recovery.

Bill Vukovich (born Vaso Vučurović, 1918–1955) was a legendary American race car driver of Serbian heritage, widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers of his era. Born in Fresno, California, to a Serbian immigrant family from Montenegro, he and his older brother Ilija (Eli) turned to midget car racing to support their large family after their father, Jovan, died by suicide.

Vukovich began racing at age 18 and quickly became known for his fearless driving style and work ethic, often racing up to seven times per week. Despite serious injuries—including broken ribs and a collarbone—he remained committed to the sport. After dominating the midget car scene post-World War II, he transitioned to the Indianapolis 500, one of the most prestigious races in the world and a precursor to modern Formula 1 racing.

Drenka Opalić Wilen (1928– ) was a Serbian-born editor, translator, and one of the most influential figures in promoting international literature to English-speaking audiences, particularly in the US publishing industry.

She was born in 1928 near Zagreb, in a Serbian family. During World War II, she lost her father and brother to the violence of the Independent State of Croatia. Drenka, her mother, and sister fled to Belgrade as refugees. Gifted in languages, she studied at the University of Birmingham in the UK and later taught English at the University of Belgrade from 1953 to 1956. She eventually married Paul Wilen, an American working for Radio Free Europe, and moved to the US, where she initially worked on an encyclopedic yearbook.

Helen Delich Bentley (1923–2016) was a prominent American politician, journalist, and trade expert of Serbian descent, best known for her service in the US House of Representatives and her advocacy for American maritime industries.

She was born on November 28, 1923, in Ruth, a small mining town in White Pine County, Nevada, to Serbian immigrant parents. Her life was shaped by early hardship—at the age of eight, her father died of silicosis, a common miners’ disease. This tragedy had a lasting impact on her worldview and career ambitions.

Veljko Šošo (1917-2002), better known by his stage name Brad Dexter, was a Serbian-American actor and producer, celebrated for his role in The Magnificent Seven and remembered as one of the first Serbs to make a name for himself in Hollywood.

Born in 1917 in Goldfield, Nevada, to Herzegovinian Serbian immigrants, Šošo’s early life was marked by hardship. After a major fire destroyed Goldfield in 1923, his family relocated to Los Angeles, where he would spend most of his life. As a young man, he dabbled in amateur boxing before pursuing acting. He earned a scholarship to the prestigious Pasadena Playhouse, a major acting school that launched the careers of stars like Dustin Hoffman and Gene Hackman.

Đorđe Šagić (1794–1873), better known as George Fisher,  was the first registered Serbian immigrant to the United States and one of the most fascinating yet forgotten Serbs who left a significant mark on both American and Mexican history in the 19th century.

He was born in 1794 in Stoni Beograd, near Budapest, and as a young man abandoned his studies at the Seminary in Sremski Karlovci to join the First Serbian Uprising against the Ottoman Empire. After the uprising was temporarily crushed, he traveled across Europe as a merchant before boarding a ship in Hamburg in 1816, penniless, bound for Philadelphia. Upon arrival in the US, he adopted the name George Fisher.

Karl Malden (born Mladen Sekulović, 1912–2009) was a celebrated American actor of Serbian and Czech heritage, renowned for his powerful performances in both film and television. Born in Chicago to a Serbian father from Bileća (Herzegovina) and a Czech mother, Malden was raised in Gary, Indiana, where he worked in a steel mill before pursuing a career in acting. Deeply connected to his Serbian roots, he grew up speaking the language and participating in Serbian Orthodox Church life in the United States.

Đorđe Zečević (1935–2012) was a Serbian-born film producer, businessman, and founder of the production company Smart Egg Pictures, who left a lasting impact on both European and American cinema.