42.3449° N, 71.0753° W
BOSTON
Most Famous People Born in Boston, United States
- Notable people
- 3,663
- Peak decade
- 1950s
- Median birth year
- 1926
- Most distinctive
- Novelist 3.5×
America's oldest civic intelligentsia. Boston's notables are unusually concentrated in the 1700s and 1800s by American standards, and the distinctive shelves still read like a Yankee almanac — novelists, lawyers, military officers, mathematicians, and diplomats, the trades of a city where Harvard, the State House, and the Old North Church share a few square miles. The modern half tilts more conventionally toward Red Sox baseball, actors, and a deep college-bred music scene.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Boston during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1950s with 348 notable births.
What Boston Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Actor is Boston's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (314).
Boston over-indexes on novelist — 3.5× the global rate.
Boston under-produces football — only 0.2× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Boston's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Politics & Law
- Sports
- Writing
- Film & TV
- Science
- Music
- Other
James George Barbadoes
1796 - 1841
Biff Liff
1919 - 2015
Sam Margolis
1923 - 1996
Christine Griffin
Born 1950
Susan Paul
1809 - 1841
Edward E. Salisbury
1814 - 1901
Michael Capuzzo
Born 1957
Curran Oi
Born 1990
Andy Carvin
Born 1971
George W. Casey Sr.
1922 - 1970
Joseph Green (poet)
1706 - 1780
Frederick Parker Gay
1874 - 1939
James Dubro
Born 1946
Jesse Dee
Born 1980
John Francis Kennedy (politician)
1905 - 1994
Thom Gimbel
Born 1959
Henry S. Dennison
1877 - 1952
Samuel P. Spear
1815 - 1875
Sasha Sloan
-
Neria Douglass
Born 1952
Rod Webber
-
Yehuda Krinsky
Born 1933
John Thayer (priest)
1755 - 1815
Samuel Edmund Sewall
1799 - 1888
Joshua Glenn
Born 1967
Dorothy Morkis
Born 1942
Henry Edward Sears
1870 - 1920
Herb Pinder (ice hockey)
Born 1946
John Temple (diplomat)
1731 - 1798
Willem Draps
Born 1952
Dave MacLennan
Born 1950
Charlotte Gilbertson
1922 - 2014
Kay Twomey
1914 - 1995
Laurence Foley
1942 - 2002
Jason Solowsky
Born 1977
Robert Williams (drummer)
Born 1955
Bailey Aldrich
1907 - 2002
Mike Addesa
Born 1945
William Ward Watkin
1886 - 1952
Frederick Bradlee
1892 - 1970
Kaz Grala
Born 1998
Tina Levitan
1922 - 2014
Peter Hayes (Historiker)
Born 1946
John Voigt
Born 1939
Charles Morris (surveyor general)
1711 - 1781
Ed Crane (baseball)
1862 - 1896
George Hill (figure skater)
1907 - 1992
James T. Austin
1784 - 1870
S. Ilan Troen
Born 1940
B.J. Raymond
Born 1987
Duncan Ball
Born 1941
Amy Greenfield
Born 1940
Anton Leader
1913 - 1988
Thomas G. Stevenson
1836 - 1864
Allison Dale Burroughs
Born 1961
Liz Glynn
Born 1981
Paul Van Doren
Born 1930
Gary Russell Libby
Born 1944
Dick Flavin (poet)
Born 1936
Gary Loveman
Born 1960
Edward P. Barry
1864 - 1936
Edward F. McLaughlin Jr.
1920 - 2005
Samuel Lancaster Gerry
1813 - 1891
Ron Kuivila
Born 1955
Mark Driscoll (screenwriter)
Born 1959
Thomas Forese
-
Asunción Ocasio
Born 1987
Ron Polk
Born 1944
John Collins Warren Jr.
1842 - 1927
Kathy Cornelius
Born 1932
B.J. Annis
Born 1947
Matthew Harkins
1845 - 1921
David E. McGiffert
1926 - 2005
Moses Wight
1827 - 1895
André Balazs
Born 1957
Mary Hazelton Blanchard Wade
1860 - 1945
Ford Pier
Born 1970
Joe Bean
1874 - 1961
Henry Oliver Hansen
1919 - 1945
Mel Kendrick
Born 1949
William Henry Baldwin Jr.
1863 - 1905
Nathaniel Hurd
1729 - 1777
Scout Tufankjian
Born 1977
Asha Mevlana
-
Charles Edward Wyzanski Jr.
1906 - 1986
Jeff Miller (California politician)
Born 1963
Ida Conquest
1876 - 1937
Vincent M. Ferrara
Born 1949
Theophilus Parsons (professor)
1797 - 1882
Anne Finucane
Born 1950
Shirley Dysart
1928 - 2016
Alicia M. Soderberg
Born 1977
Guido Giacomo Preparata
Born 1968
Lelia J. Robinson
1850 - 1891
Tikhon Mollard
Born 1966
Carl J. Shapiro
Born 1913
George Henry Sanderson
1824 - 1893
Edward W. Hooper
1839 - 1901
William E. Sheridan
1839 - 1887
Steven Silva Rodrigues
Born 1985
Frank Sumner Dodge
Born 1950
Nicholas Raymond Cerio
1936 - 1998
Octavius Frothingham
1822 - 1895
Marcie Berman Ries
Born 1950
Salvatore DiMasi
Born 1945
Charles Hewett
Born 1929
John R. P. French
1913 - 1995
John Morrill
1855 - 1932
Stephen O'Reilly (actor)
Born 1973
LeVelle Moton
Born 1974
John Yonakor
1921 - 2001
Esther Bell
-
Larry S. Miller
Born 1957
Vincent Flemmi
1935 - 1979
Florida Ruffin Ridley
1861 - 1943
Red Martin
1938 - 2017
Elly Tanaka
Born 1965
John Foster Williams
1743 - 1814
Eben Ezra Roberts
1866 - 1943
Joseph Francis
1801 - 1893
Michael DeSisto
1939 - 2003
Mason Sears
1899 - 1973
Edward French (make-up artist)
Born 1951
Claudia Gonson
Born 1968
Joe Coleman (baseball, born 1947)
Born 1947
Tom O'Rourke (boxing manager)
1856 - 1936
Jonathan S. Turner
Born 1953
Eugenio Lopez III
Born 1952
John Gorman (radio)
Born 1950
Ray Pitts
1932 - 2012
Alessandra Stanley
Born 1955
Eddie Pellagrini
1918 - 2006
Norman Foster (bass)
1925 - 2000
Angelo Mercurio
1936 - 2006
Henry Jackson (general)
1747 - 1809
Charles Robert Sanger
1860 - 1912
John O'Connor (Canadian politician)
1824 - 1887
Quincy Shaw
1869 - 1960
John Alevizos
1919 - 2005
Richard Yarde
1939 - 2011
Edward Howard House
1836 - 1901
Collette Lyons
1908 - 1986
Tison Street
Born 1943
Michael Harvey (author)
Born 1958
John Gardner Coolidge
1863 - 1936
Chuck Essegian
Born 1931
Victoria Folayan
Born 1985
Mariela Jácome
Born 1996
Christopher Tilghman
Born 1946
Stephen Salisbury Tuckerman
1830 - 1904
Rene di Rosa
1919 - 2010
Ella Lyman Cabot
1866 - 1934
Adam Ravenelle
Born 1992
Terrayne Crawford
Born 1945
Cleon Daskalakis
Born 1962
Judith Rothchild
Born 1950
Gregory Deyermenjian
Born 1949
Mark F. Miller
Born 1943
Benjamin Bussey
1757 - 1842
Kate Colby
Born 1950
Barrett Wilbert Weed
Born 1988
Paula Kelley
-
Richard Evelyn Byrd III
1920 - 1988
Nancy M. Hill
1833 - 1919
Aijalon Gomes
1979 - 2017
Julius Walker Adams
1812 - 1899
Louann Donovan
Born 1986
Aaron Michlewitz
Born 1978
Joyce Cuoco
Born 1953
Robert F. Carrozza
Born 1940
Phokion Heinrich Clias
1782 - 1854
Nathan Matthews Jr.
1854 - 1927
Hattie Tyng Griswold
1842 - 1909
Leslie Dick
Born 1954
Alberto J. Mora
Born 1951
Henry Ferrini
Born 1953
Mary Lou Clements-Mann
1946 - 1998
Catherine C. Blake
Born 1950
Daniel Rider
1938 - 2008
Florence Cushman
1860 - 1940
George W. Brown (academic)
1917 - 2005
Carl Strauss
1873 - 1957
William J. Morton
1846 - 1920
Meghna Chakrabarti
-
Elisha Collier
1788 - 1856
Samuel Eliot (banker)
1739 - 1820
Molly Birnbaum
Born 1982
Thomas Oliver Selfridge Jr.
1836 - 1924
Edward Thaddeus Lawton
1913 - 1966
Augustine Joseph Hickey Duganne
1823 - 1884
David S. Cohen (attorney)
Born 1963
James Bennet (journalist)
Born 1966
Barbara McMartin
1931 - 2005
Bill Doherty Jr.
Born 1982
Linda Barlow
Born 1948
Woolson Morse
1858 - 1897
Annisa Pohan
Born 1981
Jean de Koven
1915 - 1937
Thomas Finneran
Born 1950
Mike Matarazzo
1965 - 2014
Linda Carol
Born 1970
Hannah-Beth Jackson
Born 1950
Frank Scannell
1903 - 1989
Laurence Ball
Born 1959
Joseph H. De Castro
1844 - 1892
Caspar Crowninshield
1837 - 1897
Aaron Fink (artist)
Born 1955
Martin Bookspan
Born 1926
Edward G. Loring
1802 - 1890
John Caskey
1908 - 1981
Andrew Marcus
Born 1960
Charles Carroll Soule
1842 - 1913
Steve Cedorchuk
-
James Parker (art historian)
1924 - 2001
Caitlin Bilodeaux
Born 1965
Raymond P. Moore
Born 1953
Jim Renner
Born 1983
Robert Treat Paine (philanthropist)
1835 - 1910
Jack Lueders-Booth
Born 1935
Clement Walker Andrews
1858 - 1930
Mary Morton Kehew
1859 - 1918
Juliet Corson
1841 - 1897
Alexander Pope Jr.
1849 - 1924
William C. Hammond
Born 1947
Joseph Roby
1724 - 1803
Jimmy Macullar
1855 - 1924
Howard P. Boyd
1914 - 2011
Lev Yilmaz
Born 1969
Julie Agoos
Born 1956
Cosma Shalizi
Born 1974
Will Miller (rower)
Born 1984
Élodie Pong
Born 1966
Isabel Weld Perkins
1877 - 1949
Bill Brooks (American football)
Born 1964
Jeff Kline
-
Jimmy Fowlie
Born 1985
Al Taylor (actor)
1887 - 1951
Frank Hill Smith
1842 - 1904
Margaret Green Draper
1727 - 1804
Richard F. Syron
Born 1943
Joan Tozzer
1921 - 2012
Sharon Ellen Burtman
Born 1968
Patricia Goedicke
1931 - 2006
Louis M. Lyons
1897 - 1982
Dave DeWitt
Born 1944
Alex Karalexis
Born 1977
Patrick O'Brien (artist)
Born 1960
Lauren Elliott
Born 1946
Daniel Fowle (printer)
1715 - 1787
John F. Parker
1907 - 1992
Julian Jenkins
Born 1983
James Chaplin Beecher
1828 - 1886
Bob Sheridan
Born 1944
Mather Byles (loyalist)
1734 - 1814
Phelps Putnam
1894 - 1948
Gina Keatley
Born 1980
Irving Wright
1882 - 1953
Jennie Loitman Barron
1891 - 1969
William J. Le Moyne
1831 - 1905
Charles Wells (American politician)
1786 - 1866
Warren Cook
1878 - 1939
Mary Catherine Crowley
1856 - 1920
Paul Edward Plunkett
1935 - 2018
Don Parsons (ice hockey)
Born 1969
Elliott Liu
Born 1989
Joyelle McSweeney
Born 1976
Roy Karch
Born 1946
Ellis Gray Loring
1803 - 1858
Tony Fryklund
Born 1971
Lawrence Kupferman
1909 - 1982
Wilma Chan
Born 1949
John Gibbs Gilbert
1810 - 1889
Amanda Micheli
-
Cameron Drew
Born 1964
Leon Fraser
1889 - 1945
Percy Stickney Grant
1860 - 1927
Jim Donovan (sportscaster)
Born 1956
Nosson Zand
Born 1981
George V. Brown
1880 - 1937
Andy Kim (politician)
Born 1982
Harold Buckley Willis
1890 - 1962
Paul W. Litchfield
1875 - 1959
Charles Russell Lowell Sr.
1782 - 1861
David Norrie
Born 1963
Debra Spark
Born 1962
Rusty Stevens
Born 1948
Andrew Perlman
Born 1975
Molly Childers
1875 - 1964
Pearl Chase
1888 - 1979
George F. Hammond
1855 - 1938
Paul Franke
1917 - 2011
Shannon O'Brien
Born 1959
Jill Tasker
Born 1966
Anna Cabot Lowell Quincy Waterston
1812 - 1899
Tim Pappas
Born 1973
Augusta Joyce Crocheron
1844 - 1915
Noel Gourdin
Born 1981
William J. McCarthy
1919 - 1998
Jon Anik
Born 1978
William H. Hodgkins
1840 - 1905