40.6979° N, 73.9995° W
NEW YORK CITY
Most Famous People Born in New York City, USA
- Notable people
- 22,064
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- Median birth year
- 1935
- Most distinctive
- Screenwriter 5.4×
If the 20th century held a casting call, it was in New York. Almost all of the city's notable births fall after 1900, fueled by an entertainment economy — Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, the studio system, late-night TV, hip-hop in the Bronx — that has minted more actors, comedians, and musicians than any other American city. Even its 19th-century names skew literary: poets, editors, journalists, not generals or industrialists.
Standouts
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 2,711 notable births.
What New York City Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Actor is New York City's biggest profession — 14% of all notables (3,012).
New York City over-indexes on screenwriter — 5.4× the global rate.
New York City under-produces football — only 0.1× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of New York City's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Music
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Science
- Other
- Filtered to 1880s Clear ×
Eleanor Roosevelt
1884 - 1962
Eugene O'Neill
1888 - 1953
Éamon de Valera
1882 - 1975
Harpo Marx
1888 - 1964
Ruth Benedict
1887 - 1948
Walter Lippmann
1889 - 1974
Fiorello H. La Guardia
1882 - 1947
Jerome Kern
1885 - 1945
Irving Langmuir
1881 - 1957
Raoul Walsh
1887 - 1980
Chico Marx
1887 - 1961
Jacob Epstein
1880 - 1959
Monty Woolley
1888 - 1963
Edward Everett Horton
1886 - 1970
Margaret Dumont
1882 - 1965
Alice Roosevelt Longworth
1884 - 1980
James Gleason
1882 - 1959
Arnold Rothstein
1882 - 1928
Jack Holt (actor)
1888 - 1951
Maxwell Perkins
1884 - 1947
John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever
1886 - 1971
Jimmy Walker
1881 - 1946
Louis Wolheim
1880 - 1931
Irving Cummings
1888 - 1959
Alan Seeger
1888 - 1916
Ralph Morgan
1883 - 1956
Clarence Birdseye
1886 - 1956
Deems Taylor
1885 - 1966
Florence La Badie
1888 - 1917
Ernest Gruening
1887 - 1974
Burrill Bernard Crohn
1884 - 1983
Hank Mann
1887 - 1971
Howard Lindsay
1889 - 1968
George Siegmann
1882 - 1928
Laurette Taylor
1884 - 1946
Karl Struss
1886 - 1981
Robert Barrat
1889 - 1970
Florence Turner
1885 - 1946
Roy Webb
1888 - 1982
Mary Alden
1883 - 1946
Nathaniel Shilkret
1889 - 1982
Alfred Lee Loomis
1887 - 1975
John Halliday (actor)
1880 - 1947
Karl Behr
1885 - 1949
William Van Alen
1883 - 1954
Johnny Hayes
1886 - 1965
Jerome Frank
1889 - 1957
C. Henry Gordon
1883 - 1940
Inez Milholland
1886 - 1916
Sam M. Lewis
1885 - 1959
Pedro de Cordoba
1881 - 1950
Malvina Hoffman
1885 - 1966
Elsie Ferguson
1883 - 1961
William Rose Benét
1886 - 1950
B. Reeves Eason
1886 - 1956
Godfrey Tearle
1884 - 1953
Harry Hillman
1881 - 1945
Ray Cummings
1887 - 1957
Maxwell Maltz
1889 - 1975
Michael Heidelberger
1888 - 1991
John Gilbert Winant
1889 - 1947
Charles Previn
1888 - 1973
Louis Silvers
1889 - 1954
Louis Untermeyer
1885 - 1977
Donald MacBride
1889 - 1957
William Axt
1888 - 1959
Alfred Cheney Johnston
1885 - 1971
James Francis McIntyre
1886 - 1979
Bert Lytell
1885 - 1954
Adolf Erbslöh
1881 - 1947
Felix Arndt
1889 - 1918
Raymond Walburn
1887 - 1969
Emanuel Celler
1888 - 1981
Arthur Housman
1889 - 1942
Richard Tucker (actor)
1884 - 1942
Heywood Broun
1888 - 1939
James Chapin
1889 - 1964
Bert Kalmar
1884 - 1947
Ted Wilde
1889 - 1929
Agnes E. Meyer
1887 - 1970
John Francis Dillon (director)
1884 - 1934
Robert Cushman Murphy
1887 - 1973
Albert Parker (director)
1885 - 1974
John G. Adolfi
1888 - 1933
Frank Chodorov
1887 - 1966
George Walsh
1889 - 1981
Tom Kennedy (actor)
1885 - 1965
Celia Adler
1889 - 1979
Tyler Brooke
1886 - 1943
Morgan Russell
1886 - 1953
Mabel Taliaferro
1887 - 1979
Nat Fleischer
1887 - 1972
Doris Ulmann
1882 - 1934
Walter Pach
1883 - 1958
John Davidson (actor)
1886 - 1968
Guy Pène du Bois
1884 - 1958
Jack Richardson (actor)
1883 - 1957
Frank O'Connor (actor)
1881 - 1959
Mabel Paige
1880 - 1954
Ruth Draper
1884 - 1956
Ely Jacques Kahn
1884 - 1972
Frederick Lorz
1884 - 1914
Jo Davidson
1883 - 1952
William Rappard
1883 - 1958
Harry Gribbon
1885 - 1961
Martha Wentworth
1889 - 1974
Herbert Yates
1880 - 1966
Harry Rapf
1882 - 1949
Tod Robbins
1888 - 1949
Herbert Pell
1884 - 1961
James Burke (actor)
1886 - 1968
Frank Mayo (actor)
1886 - 1963
Adrienne Morrison
1883 - 1940
Mae Costello
1882 - 1929
Forrest Stanley
1889 - 1969
Fred Alexander
1880 - 1969
James Oppenheim
1882 - 1932
Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt
1880 - 1925
Tim Mara
1887 - 1959
Alice Howell
1888 - 1961
Jess McMahon
1882 - 1954
Raymond Thayer Birge
1887 - 1980
Elisabeth Sanxay Holding
1889 - 1955
Martin Branner
1888 - 1970
Baldwin Cooke
1888 - 1953
Josephine Hopper
1883 - 1967
Howard Alexander Smith
1880 - 1966
Aline Bernstein
1880 - 1955
Walter McGrail
1888 - 1970
Charles King (musical actor)
1886 - 1944
Roger Lapham
1883 - 1966
Chester Gillette
1883 - 1908
Clara Tice
1888 - 1973
Percival Wilde
1887 - 1953
Edgar Allan Woolf
1881 - 1948
Hughie Mack
1884 - 1927
Maurice Wertheim
1886 - 1950
Nelson Doubleday
1889 - 1949
Witter Bynner
1881 - 1968
Allan Forrest
1885 - 1941
William B. Kouwenhoven
1886 - 1975
Alvah Meyer
1888 - 1939
Hetty Goldman
1881 - 1972
John Joseph Mitty
1884 - 1961
Frank Speck
1881 - 1950
Joe Young (lyricist)
1889 - 1939
Jay Gould II
1888 - 1935
Thomas Hardie Chalmers
1884 - 1966
Godfrey Dewey
1887 - 1977
George H. Plympton
1889 - 1972
Nathan Levinson
1888 - 1952
Gerard Carbonara
1886 - 1959
Robert Thornby
1888 - 1953
Paul Pilgrim
1883 - 1958
John Arnold (cinematographer)
1889 - 1964
Herbert Trube
1886 - 1959
Leo Goodwin (swimmer)
1883 - 1957
Joseph Mauborgne
1881 - 1971
Jacques Jaccard
1886 - 1960
Lillian West
1886 - 1970
Theodore Douglas Robinson
1883 - 1934
Brian Oswald Donn-Byrne
1889 - 1928
Electra Havemeyer Webb
1888 - 1960
Preston Dickinson
1889 - 1930
Harry Pilcer
1885 - 1961
Oscar Goerke
1883 - 1934
Howard Valentine
1881 - 1932
George Terwilliger
1882 - 1970
James L. McConaughy
1887 - 1948
Jerome Travers
1887 - 1951
George Larkin
1887 - 1946
James Duncan (athlete)
1887 - 1955
William Varley
1880 - 1968
Gilbert Miller
1884 - 1969
Alfred Norton Goldsmith
1888 - 1974
Elisabeth Irwin
1880 - 1942
Alfred Kreymborg
1883 - 1966
Robert Curry
1882 - 1944
James Donahue
1885 - 1966
Frederick J. Horne
1880 - 1959
Dorothy Donnelly
1880 - 1928
Waxey Gordon
1888 - 1952
Herbert J. Krapp
1887 - 1973
Alberto Colombo (composer)
1888 - 1954
Charles Bacon
1885 - 1968
Richard Remer
1883 - 1973
Jay O'Brien
1883 - 1940
Douglas Wood (actor)
1880 - 1966
Emily Stevens (actress)
1882 - 1928
Edward Larocque Tinker
1881 - 1968
Rudolph Tesing
1881 - 1926
Paul Burlin
1886 - 1969
Abbie Mitchell
1884 - 1960
Dudley Field Malone
1882 - 1950
Robert LeRoy
1885 - 1946
Guy C. Wiggins
1883 - 1962
Charles Edward Wilson (businessman)
1886 - 1972
Robert Stangland
1881 - 1953
Mabel Garrison
1886 - 1963
Doris Rankin
1888 - 1946
David Bruce-Brown
1887 - 1912
Pat Hartigan (actor)
1881 - 1951
Julius Tannen
1880 - 1965
Ralph Mulford
1884 - 1973
Leon Kroll
1884 - 1974
Marguerite Bertsch
1889 - 1967
John Stone (producer)
1888 - 1961
Leo Friedlander
1888 - 1966
George Miller Dyott
1883 - 1972
Arthur Purdy Stout
1885 - 1967
Ray Barker
1889 - 1974
Homer Scott
1880 - 1956
Heinie Zimmerman
1887 - 1969
Raymond D. Little
1880 - 1932
Anita de Braganza
1886 - 1977
Harry Lewis (boxer)
1886 - 1956
Arthur D. Howden Smith
1887 - 1945
Harry A. Fisher
1882 - 1967
Hermann Hagedorn
1882 - 1964
Jack Zelig
1888 - 1912
Theodore E. Steinway
1883 - 1957
James C. Auchincloss
1885 - 1976
John Hein (wrestler)
1886 - 1963
Ethel Myers
1881 - 1960
John O'Brien (basketball, born 1888)
1888 - 1967
W. Kingsland Macy
1889 - 1961
Gene Byrnes
1889 - 1974
Harold Chapin
1886 - 1915
Edwin Borchard
1884 - 1951
Nathan D. Perlman
1887 - 1952
John Kilpatrick
1889 - 1960
Joseph James Ettor
1885 - 1948
William Beckman
1881 - 1933
Sir James Horlick, 4th Baronet
1886 - 1972
Eric Fisher Wood
1889 - 1962
Meyer Jacobstein
1880 - 1963
Elisabeth Achelis
1880 - 1973
Bessie McCoy
1888 - 1931
Rube Oldring
1884 - 1961
Arthur Rosenkampff
1884 - 1952
Dave MacMillan
1886 - 1963
Charles Evans Hughes Jr.
1889 - 1950
Harry Horowitz
1889 - 1914
Adelaide Lawson
1889 - 1986
Lillian Walker
1887 - 1975
Wallace McCutcheon Jr.
1880 - 1928
Lyman Hine
1888 - 1930
Irma Lindheim
1886 - 1978
William J. Clench
1887 - 1984
Herbert Dargue
1886 - 1941
George Willard Martin
1886 - 1971
Harvey Bartlett Gaul
1881 - 1945
Reuben Ottenberg
1882 - 1959
Elsie Naumburg
1880 - 1953
Isaac Siegel
1880 - 1947
William "Stage" Boyd
1889 - 1935
Harvey Cohn
1884 - 1965
Daniel J. Griffin
1880 - 1926
Lathrop Brown
1883 - 1959
Harry Semels
1887 - 1946
Mary Harriman Rumsey
1881 - 1934
Mike Bernard (musician)
1881 - 1936
Billy Ruge
1885 - 1955
Paul Martin (illustrator)
1883 - 1932
George DeLuca
1889 - 1983
Walter Abraham Jacobs
1883 - 1967
Helen Morgenthau Fox
1884 - 1974
George Anderson (actor)
1886 - 1948
Elliott Buckmaster
1889 - 1976
Grenville Clark
1882 - 1967
Odo Deodatus I. Tauern
1885 - 1926
Marty Friedman (basketball)
1889 - 1986
Leland B. Harrison
1883 - 1951
Grace Mott Johnson
1882 - 1967
Geraldine Rockefeller Dodge
1882 - 1973
Leo F. Rayfiel
1888 - 1978
Abem Finkel
1889 - 1948
William P. S. Earle
1882 - 1972
Edward Keane (actor)
1884 - 1959
Frank A. Oliver
1883 - 1968
Talbot Hamlin
1889 - 1956
Malvina Longfellow
1889 - 1962
Royal Hurlburt Weller
1881 - 1929
Melville Gideon
1884 - 1933
Edward Nolan (actor)
1888 - 1943
Harold E. B. Pardee
1886 - 1973
James J. Heffernan
1888 - 1967
Dorothy Kenyon
1888 - 1972
Thomas E. Jackson
1886 - 1967
Lester D. Volk
1884 - 1962
Grover Whalen
1886 - 1962
W. L. G. Joerg
1885 - 1952
Harold Vermilyea
1889 - 1958
Harrison Tweed
1885 - 1969
Alfred Herman
1889 - 1973
Blackie Whiteford
1889 - 1962
Sam Taub
1886 - 1979
Millicent Hearst
1882 - 1974
Bud Duncan
1883 - 1960
Harold Medina
1888 - 1990