We present our theoretical study of the single-particle spectral function in two-dimensional cuprates by using numerically exact diagonalization method on small clusters of the extendedt-Jmodel containing long-range hopping matrix elements. For a set of the parameter values, the calculated spectral function systematically explains the angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) data forBi2Sr2CaCu2O8+&dgr;.ForLa2−xSrxCuO4(LSCO), it is found that slightly smaller values of long-range hoppings are necessary for understanding an observed change of the Fermi surface topology withx. In addition, the dramatic suppression of spectral weight along (0,0)-(&pgr;,&pgr;) direction observed in under-doped LSCO is found to be explained by introducing an additional potential for holes which stabilizes vertical charge stripes. ©1999 American Institute of Physics.