Famous People From Haiti
- Age: 57Garcelle Beauvais (French pronunciation: [gaʁsɛl bovɛ]: born November 26, 1966) is a Haitian actress and former fashion model. She is best known for her roles as Francesca "Fancy" Monroe on The WB television sitcom, The Jamie Foxx Show, which ran from 1996 to 2001, and as Valerie Heywood on the ABC crime drama, NYPD Blue.More Garcelle Beauvais
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- Age: 72Jean-Claude Duvalier (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃klod dyvalje]), nicknamed "Baby Doc" (Haitian Creole: Bebe Dòk; 3 July 1951 – 4 October 2014), was a Haitian politician who was the President of Haiti from 1971 until he was overthrown by a popular uprising in 1986. He succeeded his father François "Papa Doc" Duvalier as the ruler of Haiti after his death in 1971. After assuming power, he introduced cosmetic changes to his father's regime and delegated much authority to his advisors. Thousands of Haitians were killed or tortured, and hundreds of thousands fled the country during his presidency. He maintained a notoriously lavish lifestyle (including a state-sponsored US$ 2 million wedding in 1980) while poverty among his people remained the most widespread of any country in the Western Hemisphere.Relations with the United States improved after Duvalier's ascension to the presidency, and later deteriorated under the Carter administration, only to again improve under Ronald Reagan due to the strong anti-communist stance of the Duvaliers. Rebellion against the Duvalier regime broke out in 1985 and Baby Doc fled to France in 1986 on a U.S. Air Force flight. Duvalier unexpectedly returned to Haiti on 16 January 2011, after two decades in self-imposed exile in France. The following day, he was arrested by Haitian police, facing possible charges for embezzlement. On 18 January, Duvalier was charged with corruption. On 28 February 2013, Duvalier pleaded not guilty to charges of corruption and human rights abuse. He died of a heart attack on 4 October 2014, at the age of 63.
- Age: 54Nel Ust Wyclef Jean (; born on October 17, 1969) is a Haitian rapper, musician and actor. At the age of nine, Jean immigrated to the United States with his family. He first achieved fame as a member of the New Jersey hip hop group the Fugees. Jean has won three Grammy Awards for his musical work.On August 5, 2010, Jean filed for candidacy in the 2010 Haitian presidential election. The Electoral Commission ruled him ineligible to stand for office, as he had not met the constitutional requirement to have been a resident in Haiti for five years prior to the election.Jean's efforts at earthquake relief, highly publicized in 2010 throughout Haiti and the United States, were channeled through his charitable organization, Yéle Haiti. The charity, which conducted education and welfare activities in Haiti between 2005 and 2010, effectively closed in 2012. It was investigated for failure to file tax returns and mismanagement of funds; a high proportion of its money went to travel and administrative expense. The New York Times reported that much of the money raised by the organization in the Hope for Haiti Now telethon was retained by Jean for his own benefit.In 2012, Jean published his memoir Purpose: An Immigrant's Story. Along with Carlos Santana, Avicii and Alexandre Pires, Jean was chosen to perform the closing ceremony at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil. Their single, "Dar um Jeito (We Will Find a Way)", the official World Cup anthem, was released on April 29, 2014.More Wyclef Jean
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- Dec. at 64 (1907-1971)François Duvalier (French pronunciation: [fʁɑ̃swa dyvalje]; 14 April 1907 – 21 April 1971), also known as Papa Doc (Daddy Doc), was the President of Haiti from 1957 to 1971. He was elected president in 1957 on a populist and black nationalist platform. After thwarting a military coup d'état in 1958, his regime rapidly became totalitarian and despotic. An undercover government death squad, the Tonton Macoute, killed opponents indiscriminately, and was thought to be so pervasive that Haitians became highly fearful of expressing dissent, even in private. Duvalier further sought to solidify his rule by incorporating elements of Haitian mythology into a personality cult. Prior to his rule, Duvalier was a physician by profession. His profession and expertise in the field acquired him the nickname "Papa Doc". He was unanimously "re-elected" in a 1961 election in which he was the only candidate. Afterwards, he consolidated his power step by step, culminating in 1964 when he declared himself as President for Life after another faulty election, and remained in power until he died in 1971. He was succeeded by his son, Jean‑Claude, who was nicknamed "Baby Doc".
- Age: 52Meta Golding (born November 2, 1971) is a Haitian-American actress.
Dec. at 69 (1930-2000)Jean Léopold Dominique (July 31, 1930 – April 3, 2000) was a Haitian journalist and pro-democracy activist. His station, Radio Haiti-Inter, was the first to broadcast news, investigative reporting, and political analysis in Haitian Creole, the language spoken by all Haitian people. He was assassinated on April 3, 2000, a crime for which the intellectual authors have been neither officially identified nor prosecuted.Raoul Cédras
Age: 74Joseph Raoul Cédras (born July 9, 1949) is a Haitian former military officer who was de facto ruler of Haiti from 1991 to 1994.- Age: 80Lee Elwood Holdridge (born March 3, 1944) is an American composer and orchestrator.
- Age: 66Michaëlle Jean ; born September 6, 1957) is a Canadian stateswoman and former journalist who was the third Secretary-General of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie from 2015 until 2019. She was the first woman to hold the position and held the position until the end of 2018. From 2005 to 2010, Jean was Governor General of Canada, the 27th since Canadian Confederation. Jean was a refugee from Haiti—coming to Canada in 1968—and was raised in the town of Thetford Mines, Quebec. After receiving a number of university degrees, Jean worked as a journalist and broadcaster for Radio-Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), as well as undertaking charity work, mostly in the field of assisting victims of domestic violence. In 2005, she was appointed governor general by Queen Elizabeth II, on the recommendation of Prime Minister Paul Martin, to replace Adrienne Clarkson as vicereine and she occupied the post until succeeded by David Johnston in 2010. Early in her tenure, comments of hers recorded in some of the film works by her husband, Jean-Daniel Lafond, were construed as supporting Quebec sovereignty and her holding of dual citizenship caused doubt about her loyalties. But Jean denied separatist leanings, renounced her citizenship of France (acquired through her marriage), and eventually became a respected vicereine noted for her attention to the Canadian Forces, Aboriginal Canadians, and the arts, especially youth involvement in them. In 2010, Jean was appointed to a four-year term as the Special Envoy for Haiti for the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization.Michaëlle Jean was sworn in as a member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on September 26, 2012.
- Age: 55Jimmy Jean-Louis (born August 8, 1968) is a Haitian-French actor and model best known for his role as "the Haitian" on the NBC television series Heroes. Born in Pétion-Ville, he moved to Paris at a young age to pursue a modeling career. His early roles were in French television commercials and Spanish musical theatre. Eventually settling in Los Angeles in the late 1990s, he had small roles in The Bourne Identity and Arliss before breaking into larger roles in American television and film. He now has a starring role on season two of the television show Claws.
- Age: 70Jean-Bertrand Aristide (born 15 July 1953) is a former Haitian priest and politician who became Haiti's first democratically elected president. A proponent of liberation theology, Aristide was appointed to a Roman Catholic parish in Port-au-Prince in 1982 after completing his studies to become a priest of the Salesian order. He became a focal point for the pro-democracy movement first under Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier and then under the military transition regime which followed. He won the Haitian general election between 1990 and 1991, with 67% of the vote and was briefly president of Haiti, until a September 1991 military coup. The coup regime collapsed in 1994 under U.S. pressure and threat of force (Operation Uphold Democracy). Aristide was then president again from 1994 to 1996 and from 2001 to 2004. However, Aristide was ousted in the 2004 coup d'état after right-wing ex-army paramilitaries invaded the country from across the Dominican border. Aristide has claimed the United States helped orchestrate the coup against him. Aristide was later forced into exile in the Central African Republic and South Africa. He finally returned to Haiti in 2011 after seven years in exile.
- Dec. at 72 (1806-1879)Guillaume Fabre Nicolas Geffrard (September 19, 1806 – December 31, 1878) was a mulatto general in the Haitian army and President of Haiti from 1859 until his deposition in 1867. After collaborating in a coup to remove Faustin Soulouque from power in order to return Haiti back to the social and political control of the colored elite, Geffrard was made president in 1859. To placate the peasants he renewed the practice of selling state-owned lands and ended a schism with the Roman Catholic Church which then took on an important role in improving education. After surviving several rebellions, he was overthrown by Major Sylvain Salnave in 1867.
Jeffrey Julmis
Age: 40Jeffrey Michael Julmis is a Haitian sprinter. He competed in the 110 m hurdles event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.Andre Pierre
Age: 55Andre Pierre, the current Democratic mayor of North Miami, Florida and an attorney, was born in Arcahaie, Haiti on March 23, 1969. After emigrating to the United States as a teenager, he attended high school in Long Island and obtained a college degree in Engineering from the New York Institute of Technology. A law graduate of the University of Miami, he settled in North Miami, where he began practicing law, became involved in civic activities and politics, resides with his wife, a high school teacher, and his two sons. An immigration and naturalization law adjunct professor at Barry University, in 2010, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton appointed Pierre as a member of the United States delegation to the International Conference of World Cities and Regions for Haiti held in Martinique, a department of France. He currently serves as Co-Chair of the United States Conference of Mayors Immigration Task Force Committee. He is also an advisor with Cayemite Enterprises on Petite Cayemite.Raoul Peck
Age: 71Raoul Peck (born 1953) is a Haitian filmmaker, of both documentary and feature films, and a political activist. From March 1996 to September 1997, he was Haiti's Minister of Culture. His film I Am Not Your Negro (2016), about the life of James Baldwin and race relations in the United States, was nominated for an Oscar in January 2017.- Age: 36Junior Jovais Galette (born March 27, 1988) is a Haitian-American outside linebacker who is currently a free agent. He was signed by the New Orleans Saints as an undrafted free agent in 2010, and has also played for the Washington Redskins. He played college football at Temple and Stillman.
- Age: 42Samuel Davis Dalembert (born May 10, 1981) is a former Haitian-Canadian professional basketball player who last played for the Shanxi Zhongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for Seton Hall University. He is known for his shot blocking ability.More Samuel Dalembert
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Vincent-Marie Viénot, Count of Vaublanc
Dec. at 89 (1756-1845)Vincent-Marie Viénot de Vaublanc baron of the Empire as known as "count de Vaublanc" ' (2 March 1756 – 21 August 1845) was a French royalist politician, writer and artist. He was a deputy for the Seine-et-Marne département in the French Legislative Assembly, served as President of the same body, and from 26 September 1815 to 7 May 1816, he was the French Minister of the Interior. His political career had him rubbing shoulders with Louis XVI, Napoleon Bonaparte, the Count of Artois (the future Charles X of France), and finally Louis XVIII. He was banished and recalled four times by different regimes, never arrested, succeeding each time in regaining official favour. In a long and eventful career, he was successively a monarchist deputy during the Revolution and under the Directoire, an exile during the Terror, a deputy under Napoleon, Minister of the Interior to Louis XVIII and eventually, at the end of his political career, a simple ultra-royalist deputy. He is remembered now for the fiery eloquence of his speeches, and for his controversial reorganisation of the Académie française in 1816 while Minister of the Interior. A man of order, he was a moderate supporter of the Revolution of 1789 and ended his political life under the Restoration as a radical counterrevolutionary.Daniel Fignolé
Dec. at 72 (1913-1986)Pierre-Eustache Daniel Fignolé (1913–1986) was a Haitian politician who became Haiti's provisional head of state for three weeks in 1957. He was one of the most influential leaders in the pre-Duvalier era, a liberal labor organizer in Port-au-Prince so popular among urban workers that he could call upon them at a moment's notice to hold mass protests, known as "woulo konpresè"—Haitian Creole for "steamroller."Marc Bazin
Dec. at 78 (1932-2010)Marc Louis Bazin (March 6, 1932 – June 16, 2010) was a World Bank official, former United Nations functionary and Haitian Minister of Finance and Economy under the dictatorship of Jean-Claude Duvalier. He was prime minister of Haiti appointed on June 4, 1992 by the military government that had seized power on September 30, 1991.Qwote
Qwote is a club, pop, R&B, electronic and urban artist born in Haiti and based in the United States. He is an indie artist signed in 2008 to Slip-n-Slide Records in addition to Miami-based indie Final Cut Records and a deal with Jive Records. Qwote was born in Haiti and was raised by his grandmother. He started to write music at age 12. Residing at various times in Long Island, New York City, he later on moved to Miami, where he found his niche in the Miami clubs. He had his first big break appearing on rap artist Trina's 2008 album Still da Baddest in the song "Phone Sexx." He was featured alongside Pitbull on a minor hit in Austria called "Superstar" by Jump Smokers!. His 2009 song "Don't Wanna Fight" featuring Trina became a hit in New Zealand. He recorded a rearranged version of the same song with Shaggy and a second one with Pitbull. He also recorded "Shawty It's Your Booty." He has made a version "Vem Dançar Kuduro"" / "Danza Kuduro". Qwote's version is credited to him featuring Pitbull and Lucenzo. It entered the Top 40 on the UK Singles Chart straight at #13 in its first week of release.Nissage Saget
Dec. at 70 (1810-1880)Jean-Nicolas Nissage Saget (1810–1880) succeeded Sylvain Salnave as President of Haiti in 1869. Coming into power by coup, Saget was the first Haitian president to serve out his term of office (1869–1874) and retire voluntarily, although his retirement led to a renewal of the political turmoil between blacks and the country's mulatto elites. He died in 1880.Pierre Nord Alexis
Dec. at 89 (1820-1910)Pierre Nord Alexis (2 August 1820 – 1 May 1910) was President of Haiti from 21 December 1902 to 2 December 1908.Michèle Montas
Age: 78Michèle Montas (born 1946) is a journalist from Haiti and the former Spokesperson under UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (January 1, 2007 - January 1, 2010). Prior to her appointment, Montas headed the French unit of UN Radio. From 2003 to 2004, she served as the Spokesperson for UN General Assembly President Julian Robert Hunte soon after she fled to New York from Haiti.Montas began her journalism career in Haiti in the early 1970s with her husband, Jean Dominique, also a Haitian journalist. Dominique's station, Radio Haiti-Inter, was attacked several times in the 1980s and 1990s, and the couple was forced to flee the country twice to briefly live in exile. Dominique was assassinated in April 2000 after broadcasting increasingly strident criticisms of Jean-Bertrand Aristide's party on his program. (Aristide was not in power at the time.) Montas took over the radio station, but shut it down in February 2003 and fled to New York after her bodyguard was gunned down in an attack on her home and she received several death threats. Montas returned to Haiti in her role with MINUSTAH.Patrick Dorismond
Dec. at 26 (1974-2000)Patrick Moses Dorismond (February 28, 1974 – March 16, 2000) was a security guard and father of two children who was killed by undercover New York City Police Department officers during the early morning of March 16, 2000. He was the younger brother of Bigga Haitian.- Age: 48Joachim Alcine (born March 26, 1976 in Gonaïves, Haiti) is a Haitian-Canadian professional boxer fighting out of Montreal, Quebec, where he now resides. He is a former WBA light middleweight world champion.
Louis-Joseph Janvier
Dec. at 55 (1855-1911)Louis-Joseph Janvier (May 7, 1855 - 24 March 1911) was a Haitian journalist, diplomat and novelist. Born in Port-au-Prince, Janvier attended medical school in Haiti. He then moved to France to finish his education, and received a doctorate in medicine there in 1881. He also earned a law license and degrees in administration, economics, finance, and diplomacy. While in Paris, Janvier became interested in journalism and wrote several articles, such as "La République d'Haïti et ses Visiteurs", "Haïti aux Haïtiens", and "L'Egalité des Races." He also wrote several novels about Haitian life. He served as Haitian Minister Resident in London from 1894-1903.He remained in Europe for twenty-eight years, returning to Haiti once before dying in Paris at age fifty-five.Réginal Goreux
Age: 36Réginal Goreux (born 31 December 1987) is a Haitian football player, who also holds Belgian nationality and currently plays for Standard Liège. He can play as defender or midfielder.Charlemagne Péralte
Dec. at 33 (1886-1919)Charlemagne Masséna Péralte (1886 - 1 November 1919) was a Haitian nationalist leader who opposed the US Invasion of his country in 1915. Leading guerrilla fighters called the Cacos, he posed such a challenge to the US forces in Haiti that the occupying forces had to upgrade their presence in the country. Péralte remains a highly praised hero in Haiti.Gabard Fénélon
Age: 42Gabard Fénélon (born 3 June 1981) is a Haitian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Canadian club CS Mont-Royal Outremont.
