When the name Carlos Alman appears online, it is usually followed by another name: Cardi B.
Carlos Alman is best known as the father of rapper and entertainer Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar. But unlike his daughter, Carlos has spent most of his life away from entertainment headlines. His story is less about celebrity and more about immigration, work, family, and the Dominican roots that became an important part of his daughter’s identity.
Public information about Carlos is limited, partly because he has maintained a relatively private life. Still, comments from Cardi B and reporting about her family provide a picture of a Dominican immigrant who built a life in New York, worked as a taxi driver, raised children in the Bronx, and continued supporting his family even after his daughter became internationally famous.
Who Is Carlos Alman?
Carlos Alman is the Dominican-born father of Cardi B. His name is also commonly written as Carlos Almánzar or Carlos Almanzar, while Cardi has publicly referred to him by the fuller name Carlos Julio Almanzar.
According to Legit.ng’s profile of Carlos Alman, he moved from the Dominican Republic to the United States in 1990 and settled in New York. The publication identifies him as a former taxi driver who has generally stayed out of the public eye.
That description is consistent with a 2024 profile from People, which reports that Carlos immigrated to America from the Dominican Republic in 1990 and worked as a New York City cab driver for nine years.
His connection to fame came through his children rather than through a career in entertainment. His daughter Cardi B eventually became one of the most recognizable names in hip-hop, while his younger daughter, Hennessy Carolina, also developed a public profile.
Carlos Alman’s Dominican Roots
Carlos Alman was born in the Dominican Republic, and his Dominican background became one of the cultural influences surrounding Cardi B’s upbringing.
Cardi B was born in New York in 1992 to a Dominican father and a Trinidadian mother, Clara Almánzar. People’s account of Cardi B’s parents explains that Carlos’s Dominican background and Clara’s Trinidadian heritage gave the family a distinctly Caribbean cultural environment.
That heritage has remained important to Cardi B throughout her career. She has frequently discussed her Dominican and Trinidadian roots and the way her upbringing influenced her identity.
The family’s connection to Dominican culture was not simply a detail on a family tree. Cardi spent time at her paternal grandmother’s home in Washington Heights, while the family also lived in the South Bronx. These New York communities became an important part of the environment in which she grew up.
As Yahoo’s report based on People notes, Cardi’s parents raised her and her sister between the Bronx and Washington Heights.
Carlos Alman Age: When Was He Born?
One of the most frequently searched questions about Carlos Alman concerns his age.
Several celebrity-biography websites list March 19, 1958, as his date of birth. Both Legit.ng and Tuko have published that date.
However, the date is not supported by a clearly identified primary public record in the sources available for this profile. Because of that, it is better to describe March 19, 1958, as a reported birth date rather than an independently verified fact.
If the reported date is accurate, Carlos Alman would be 68 years old in 2026.
This distinction matters because many online celebrity biographies repeat the same information without explaining where it originated. A repeated claim is not automatically a verified one.
From the Dominican Republic to New York
Carlos’s move to the United States in 1990 marked a major change in his life.
He eventually established his family in New York, where he worked and raised his children. According to People, Carlos spent approximately nine years working as a cab driver before retiring around the time Cardi B’s music career began to gain momentum.
The occupation might seem ordinary compared with the world Cardi eventually entered, but it is an important part of her family story.
Before stadium performances, chart records, major fashion events, and award shows, Cardi grew up with parents who worked regular jobs. Her father’s work behind the wheel of a New York cab was part of the working-class environment that shaped her childhood.
Cardi has also spoken publicly about the difficult realities faced by New York taxi drivers. In 2019, she commented on a segment from The New York Times’ The Weekly that examined working conditions for cab drivers and pointed out that her father continued to advocate for drivers.
That detail offers a different glimpse of Carlos: not simply as “Cardi B’s father,” but as someone who remained connected to the occupation he had spent years doing.
Carlos Alman and Clara Almánzar
Carlos Alman and Clara Almánzar, who is Trinidadian, were the parents of Cardi B and her younger sister, Hennessy Carolina.
The couple’s relationship eventually ended in divorce.
According to People’s profile of Cardi B’s parents, Cardi has said that her parents divorced when she was 13. She later reflected publicly on how their separation affected her childhood, explaining that she experienced a greater sense of freedom after they separated.
Earlier reporting from Tuko gives 1991 as the year Carlos and Clara married and identifies their two daughters together as Cardi B and Hennessy Carolina.
The exact details of Carlos’s earlier relationships and the larger family structure are less consistently documented. Some secondary biography websites claim that he has additional children from an earlier relationship or marriage, but those claims are not documented with the same strength as the information about Cardi and Hennessy. For that reason, they should be treated as reported rather than definitive.
Carlos Alman’s Children
Carlos and Clara’s two publicly well-documented children are:
Cardi B, born Belcalis Marlenis Almánzar on October 11, 1992 and Hennessy Carolina, born in 1995
Cardi became the family’s most internationally recognized figure after building a career in music and entertainment.
Her younger sister Hennessy Carolina has also appeared publicly alongside Cardi and developed her own presence in fashion and social media.
Some biography websites list additional children for Carlos. Tuko, for example, reports that he has six other children from a previous marriage. However, because these details are not consistently established across stronger mainstream sources, they should not be treated as a complete verified family record.
This is one area where online biographies of Carlos Alman frequently diverge.
His Relationship With Cardi B
Despite his low public profile, Carlos has remained an important figure in Cardi B’s life.
Cardi has repeatedly spoken warmly about both of her parents. In a Father’s Day message in 2018, she described herself and her father as being alike in personality and highlighted their shared sense of humor.
People also reports that Cardi has credited her parents with supporting her after she became a mother. Following the birth of her daughter Kulture in 2018, Cardi publicly expressed gratitude for the help she received from both her mother and father.
Her father, in particular, continued helping with practical matters in New York.
The relationship also appears to have survived the transition from ordinary family life to international fame. Carlos did not become a celebrity simply because his daughter did. Instead, he largely remained in the background while Cardi built her own public career.
That contrast is one of the more interesting aspects of his story.
Carlos Alman and Cardi B’s Cultural Identity
Carlos’s influence can also be seen in Cardi B’s relationship with Dominican culture.
Cardi has spoken openly about having a Dominican father and Trinidadian mother. Her upbringing exposed her to both cultures, while growing up in New York added another layer to her identity.
Her father’s Dominican background has remained visible in the way she talks about food, family, language, and her connection to the Dominican Republic.
In 2019, Cardi traveled to the Dominican Republic with members of her family, including her father. Although Carlos himself rarely appears in the entertainment press, moments like these show that his connection to his daughter’s life did not disappear as her fame grew.
Carlos Alman’s Career as a Taxi Driver
Before his daughter’s rise to fame, Carlos Alman had a very different working life.
He spent years as a New York City taxi driver.
People reports that he worked as a cab driver for nine years and retired around the period when Cardi’s music career began taking off.
His experience also gave Cardi firsthand exposure to the pressures facing working people in New York. When she discussed taxi-driver working conditions publicly, she specifically connected the issue to her father’s experience.
It is a small but revealing part of Carlos’s biography. While his daughter became known for songs, performances, fashion and television appearances, her father’s professional life was rooted in one of New York’s most recognizable working-class occupations.
Why Carlos Alman Has Stayed Out of the Spotlight
There is a natural temptation to look at the parent of a major celebrity and assume there must be a dramatic story hidden behind the famous surname.
Carlos Alman’s public record suggests something much quieter.
He did not become famous through music, television, business or social media. His public identity developed largely because his daughter became famous.
That distinction explains why information about him is relatively scarce and why so many biography websites contain details that are difficult to verify independently.
Legit.ng describes him as someone who maintains a private lifestyle, while Tuko’s profile similarly notes that little is publicly known about his career beyond his work as a taxi driver.
That privacy is worth respecting rather than filling with speculation.
Carlos Alman’s Life Today
Carlos Alman remains primarily known to the public as Cardi B’s father.
There is no substantial public record of him pursuing an entertainment career or attempting to build a celebrity brand of his own. Much of the recent interest in his life comes from people searching for information about Cardi B’s family background.
The most consistently reported facts are straightforward: Carlos is Dominican, he moved to the United States in 1990, worked as a New York cab driver, raised Cardi B and Hennessy Carolina with Clara Almánzar, and has continued to have a relationship with his daughters and grandchildren.
Beyond those facts, information about his present-day private life is limited.
The Story Behind the Famous Name
Carlos Alman’s story is easy to overlook because his daughter’s life is so much larger than his own public profile.
Yet there is something revealing in the contrast.
Cardi B’s journey from a New York upbringing to international fame has been documented countless times. Behind that story was a family shaped by two Caribbean backgrounds: her father’s Dominican heritage and her mother’s Trinidadian roots.
Carlos’s own journey followed a quieter path—from the Dominican Republic to New York, from working as a cab driver to becoming the father of one of the world’s most recognizable rappers.
He did not need a music career of his own to become part of music history.
For millions of people, Carlos Alman will always be known first as Cardi B’s father. But the available record tells a more grounded story: that of an immigrant father, a New York worker, and a private family man whose influence can be seen indirectly through the daughter who turned the Almánzar name into a global one.
