List of people from Goa

This is a list of famous and notable people from Goa, India. This list includes Goans and persons of Goan origin who are known to a large number of people, and not based on the extent of their popularity. Neither is the list viewed from the context of the present. Their fame could be brief; what matters is that they were well known during the peak of their popularity.

Activists

Fr. Bismarque Dias, Catholic priest and activist
Aires Rodriques, Activist & Advocate

Architects

Charles Correa, Architect of Goan origin

Artists

Antonio Piedade da Cruz, twentieth-century painter and sculptor
Angelo da Fonseca, noted for presenting Christian themes in an Indian style
Mario de Miranda (1926–2011), famous for his cartoons in The Illustrated Weekly of India; Padma Vibushan awardee
Vasudeo S. Gaitonde (1924–2001), regarded as India's foremost abstract artist; received Padma Shri Award in 1971; born in Nagpur of Goan parents
Kimi Katkar, film actress
Subodh Kerkar, artist
Kartika Rane, film and television actress
Francis Newton Souza (1924–2003), artist
Varsha Usgaonkar, film and television actress

Businessperons

Prabhakar Narvekar, Vice Chairman & Founding Director of Centennial Group
Peter Joseph Joaquim Pinto, former alternate executive director for India on the boards of IMF and World Bank
Manuel Menezes, former Chairman of the Indian Railway Board & Engineer
Victor Menezes, Senior Operating Advisor for New Silk Route; former Senior Vice Chairman & CFO of Citigroup & Engineer of Goan Origin
Ivan Menezes, CEO of Diageo of Goan origin

Governors

Bernardo Peres da Silva, of Neurá; appointed Prefect of Estado da Índia Portuguesa in 1835, the only Goan to hold a post equivalent to a Governor-General

Indologists & Archeologists

José Gerson da Cunha (1844–1900), historian and Orientalist; wrote the first book on history of Bombay, The Origin of Bombay (1900), published by the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society
Mahadevshastri Joshi
Damodar Dharmananda Kosambi (1907–1966), Indologist
Dharmananda Damodar Kosambi (1876–1947), studied Pali; Buddhist scholar
Prakashchandra Pandurang Shirodkar

Lawyers & Judges

Luís da Cunha Gonçalves (1875–1956), wrote as many as 14 volumes on his studies of civil law
Fitz R S de Souza, barrister-at-law and PhD from London; important figure in African politics; participated in Kenya's struggle for freedom

Military

H. Mulgaonkar, Air Chief Marshal
Loretto Pereira, Air Marshal
Terence Joseph de Sa, Air Marshal
Antonio Caetano da Silva, Major General Indian Army^[12]
Francis Dias, Lt. General Indian Army
Eric Alexander Vas, Lt. General Indian Army ^[13]
S. L. Menezes, Lt. General Indian Army^[14]
General Sunith Francis Rodrigues, former Chief of Army Staff & former Governor of Punjab
Conrad Dalton, Group Captain Indian Air Force^[15]
John C. de Silva, Vice Admiral of Indian Navy^[16]

Musicians

Jitendra Abhisheki, Indian musician
Kishori Amonkar, classical vocalist
Lorna Cordeiro, Konkani language singer
Ian D'Sa, UK-born, of Goan descent; former guitarist of Canadian band Billy Talent
António Fortunato de Figueiredo (1903–1981), conductor, violinist; founder-director of the Academia de Música (now Dept of Western Classical Music, Kala Academy); founder-director of the Orquestra Sinfónica de Goa (Goa Symphony Orchestra)
Remo Fernandes, musician and Bollywood playback singer
Anthony Gonsalves (1927–2012), violinist; taught R.D. Burman and Pyarelal Ramprasad Sharma (a member of the Laxmikant Pyarelal team) and worked with most of the legendary composers of the 1950s and 1960s
Suresh Haldonkar, classical vocalist, actor
Kesarbai Kerkar (1892–1977)
Mogubai Kurdikar, classical vocalist
Anjanibai Malpekar (1883–1974), Hindustani classical singer of Bhendibazaar gharana, Sangeet Natak Akademi Fellowship (1958)
Dinanath Mangeshkar, dramatist and classical vocalist
Datta Naik, Hindi film music director
Khaprumama Parvatkar (1879–1953), ghumot and tabla player
Chris Perry, the king of Goan music
Hema Sardesai, playback singer
Oliver Sean, singer/songwriter

Olympians

Jack Britto, field hockey, 1952, representing Pakistan
J.M. Carvalho, field hockey, 1976, representing India
Leo Pinto, field hockey, 1948, representing India

Politicians

Dayanand Bandodkar, first Chief Minister of Goa
Narana Coissoró, left his motherland of Goa to serve the Portuguese people and became a member of the Portuguese Parliament
António Costa, Portuguese Prime Minister (since 26 November 2015) and former Mayor of Lisbon (2007–2015)
Otelo Saraiva de Carvalho, formerly a Portuguese military officer, was the chief strategist of the 1974 Carnation Revolution in Lisbon; was born in Lourenço Marques (now Maputo); Mozambique of some Goan ancestry
Luís de Menezes Bragança, journalist, writer and anti-colonial activist
Erasmo de Sequeira, head of United Goans Party; former member of the Indian Parliament at New Delhi
Dr. Jack de Sequeira, prominent campaigner for the opinion poll that retained Goa as an independent state
Eduardo Faleiro, politician and former central minister
Abbé Faria, priest, key participant in the Conspiracy Of The Pintos; became a famous hypnotist and revolutionary in France
Shamrao Madkaikar
Manohar Parrikar, Chief Minister of Goa; former Defense Minister of India^[17]
Laxmikant Parsekar, former Chief Minister of Goa^[18]
Pio Gama Pinto, Kenyan freedom fighters and politician; director of the Pan African Press
Pratapsingh Raoji Rane, former Chief Minister of Goa
Pandurang Purushottam Shirodkar, first speaker of the Goa Assembly^[19]
Ahamad kadar,Rashtriya Janta Dal Goa State President

Professors & Educationists

Rui de Figueiredo, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and Mathematics, University of California, Irvine
J. Anthony Gomes, MD, FACC, FAHA, Professor of Medicine (cardiology), the Mount Sinai Medical Center and the Icahn School of Medicine, New York, US
Armando Menezes, Head of the Department of English St Xavier's College Bombay; Principal of Karnataka College Dharwad; Under-Secretary Education, Government of Maharashtra
Yasmin Modassir (expired in October 2016), Zoologist, Principal Dhempe College of Arts and Science, Goa

Religious leaders

Joseph Cordeiro, Cardinal in Pakistan (Karachi/Goa)
Matheus de Castro (c. 1594–1677), first Indian Bishop of the Catholic Church
Moreno de Souza, translated the Bible into Konkani language
Ivan Dias, Cardinal Prefect, Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, Rome (Mumbai/Goa)
Filipe Neri Ferrão, from Aldona, current Archbishop of Goa and Damao
Oswald Gracias, from Carmona, Archbishop of Mumbai
Valerian Gracias, Cardinal in Bombay (Mumbai/Goa)
Anthony Theodore Lobo, Bishop of Rawalpindi/Islamabad, Pakistan (Karachi/Goa)
Evarist Pinto, from Aldona, Archbishop of Karachi, Pakistan
Joseph Vaz, missionary in Sri Lanka (Ceylon); patron of Goan Archdiocese
Anthony de Mello, Jesuit priest, Psychotherapist & Author

Scientists

Garcia de Orta (1523–1580), physician, druggist, and botanist; wrote and published the first major book on Indian drugs and remedies; a Portuguese/Spanish Jew who lived some time in Goa
Froilano de Mello, Indo-Portuguese microbiologist, medical scientist, professor, author and independent MP in the Portuguese parliament
Raghunath Mashelkar, eminent scientist and head of the prestigious Council of Scientific and Industrial Research

Sportsmen/Sportswomen

Seraphino Antao, represented Kenya in sprinting in the Common wealth Games during the 1950s and early 60s; won two gold medals
Swapnil Asnodkar, opening batsman for Goa and Rajasthan Royals; played a key role help his team win the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League
Bruno Coutinho, Indian footballer and Arjuna award
Antao D'Souza, represented Pakistan cricket team in Tests in the 1950s and early 60s
Brahmanand Sankhwalkar, soccer player and former Goa captain; one of Goa's best goalkeepers; Arjuna award for his achievements in sports
Dilip Sardesai, former cricketer

Writers, Editors & Journalists

Maria Aurora Couto, writer, academic and literary critic with books including Graham Greene: On the Frontier, Politics and Religion in the Novels, and Goa: A Daughter's Story
Orlando da Costa (1929–2006), Communist Portuguese poet and writer of Goan descent, born in the capital of the former Portuguese colony of Mozambique, Maputo
Sebastião Rodolfo Dalgado (1855–1922), of Assagao, linguist; knew Malayalam, Sinhala, Bengali, Kannada, Marathi, and Sanskrit; in 1892, he produced a Konkani-Portuguese dictionary and later a grammar
Armand de Souza (1877–1922), founding editor of the Morning Leader in Ceylon; early freedom fighter; gaoled by the British colonial government for advocating democracy, but was released following public protests; author of Hundred days in Ceylon under martial law in 1915;^[20] father of Senator Doric de Souza (Professor of English) and the late editor of the Times of Ceylon, Tory de Souza
Manohar Rai Sardesai, Konkani and French novelist and poet
Teotonio R. de Souza, historian, founder-director of Xavier Centre of Historical Research, Goa (1979–1994); Fellow of the Portuguese Academy of History; author of Medieval Goa (1979), Goa to Me (1994), Goa outgrowing postcolonialism (2014) and several other publications on Goan history and culture
Francisco Luís Gomes (1829–1869), Indo-Portuguese physician, politician, writer, historian, and economist
Ravindra Kelekar (born 1925), freedom fighter, writer and revivalist of the Konkani language
Chandrakant Keni, retired editor of Marathi daily Rashtramat and Konkani daily Sunaparant; former freelance journalist; was associated with the development of Konkani language; won Sahitya Academy Award for his book Ashadh Pawali
Lambert Mascarenhas, author of the classic novel Sorrowing Lies My Land (1955), which was reprinted thrice and has been translated into Marathi, Telugu and Konkani; editor of the Goan Tribune; founder editor of Goa Today, former editor of The Navhind Times; won the State Cultural award
Dom Moraes (born 1938), won the American Press Club Citation for Excellence in Reporting, for some 20 articles he wrote for the New York Times Sunday Magazine; poet; died earlier this decade
Frank Moraes, editor of many prominent newspapers in post-independence India, including The Indian Express
B. D. Satoskar, author, ex-editor of Gomantak daily
Frank Simoes, passionate Goan advertising person; author of Glad Season in Goa
Ivo de Figueiredo (1966 -) is a Norwegian historian, biographer and critic of Goan origin.