39.9292° N, 75.2300° W
PHILADELPHIA
Most Famous People Born in Philadelphia, United States
- Notable people
- 5,575
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- Median birth year
- 1928
- Most distinctive
- Baseball 6.0×
The original American capital, then the capital of nothing in particular, then a sports town. Philadelphia's notables run thick through the 18th century — lawyers, philanthropists, financiers — and then settle into a long, steady output of baseball players, basketball players, jazz bandleaders, and character actors. The city has one of the highest shares of notables in organized labor of the early 20th century and one of the deepest benches of soul singers of the late 20th.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Philadelphia during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 556 notable births.
What Philadelphia Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Philadelphia's biggest profession — 9% of all notables (482).
Philadelphia over-indexes on baseball — 6.0× the global rate.
Philadelphia under-produces football — only 0.4× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Philadelphia's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Sports
- Politics & Law
- Film & TV
- Music
- Science
- Writing
- Other
Uncle Elmer
1937 - 1992
Steve Andriole
Born 1949
Jeff Stein (author)
Born 1944
Sacha Jenkins
Born 1972
Stephen Parrish
1846 - 1938
Joel Fein
1944 - 2007
Angelo DiGeorge
1921 - 2009
Robert A. Rescorla
1940 - 2020
Francis Anthony Drexel
1824 - 1885
Leonard Burman
Born 1953
John Sandusky
1925 - 2006
Norwood Penrose Hallowell
1839 - 1914
Frederick Moosbrugger
1900 - 1974
Francis Richter
1854 - 1926
John F. Francis
1808 - 1886
William Wall (U.S. politician)
1800 - 1872
Kathleen McGahey
Born 1960
Diana Perez
Born 1981
Francis Edward Hyland
1901 - 1968
Susan Miller (playwright)
Born 1944
John McClintock (theologian)
1814 - 1870
Gary Goldschneider
1939 - 2019
Skip Alexander
1918 - 1997
Deborah Holland
Born 1954
William Morgan (architect)
1930 - 2016
Thornel Schwartz
1927 - 1977
Joseph George Rosengarten
1835 - 1921
Michael M. Baylson
Born 1939
Egypt Sherrod
Born 1976
Josselyn Van Tyne
1902 - 1957
Jessica Helfand
Born 1960
Elizabeth Hirsh Fleisher
1892 - 1975
Clarence Bloomfield Moore
1852 - 1936
Malcolm H. Stern
1915 - 1994
Carson Van Osten
1946 - 2015
Samuel Messick
1931 - 1998
Joseph Fitzmartin
Born 1943
W. S. Di Piero
Born 1945
Ethelind Terry
1899 - 1984
Fred Lieb
1888 - 1980
Paul Lazarus
Born 1954
William S. Reyburn
1882 - 1946
Frank Bender
1941 - 2011
Dave Appell
1922 - 2014
J.T. Smith (wrestler)
Born 1967
Daniel Udree
1751 - 1828
John McLure Hamilton
1853 - 1936
Joseph M. Corrigan
1879 - 1942
Mark Gerban
Born 1979
Owen Thomas Edgar
1831 - 1929
Randal Pinkett
Born 1971
Andrea Garner
Born 1979
Henry D. Phillips
1882 - 1955
Sidney George Fisher
1809 - 1871
Willard Sterne Randall
Born 1942
Lee Kalcheim
Born 1938
Lorenzo Tucker
1907 - 1986
John Wallowitch
1926 - 2007
James Hall (writer)
1793 - 1868
Mortimer Sellers
Born 1959
Ruth Marcus (journalist)
Born 1958
Paul Neill
1882 - 1968
Frank Tinney
1878 - 1940
Ivy Pochoda
Born 1977
Samuel Crowther (journalist)
1880 - 1947
Donald Dorfman
1933 - 2001
Little Joe Cook
1922 - 2014
Samuel Bookatz
1910 - 2009
Katie Reinprecht
Born 1989
Kerry Simon
1955 - 2015
Alys Pearsall Smith
1867 - 1951
Phil Roy
Born 1959
Larry Chance
Born 1940
Stanley Sporkin
1932 - 2020
Larry Winters
1960 - 2015
George Krause
Born 1937
Leon Bates (pianist)
Born 1949
Sabian (wrestler)
Born 1979
William Savery
1750 - 1804
Thomas Sergeant
1782 - 1860
Edith Corse Evans
1875 - 1912
Clarence B. Jones
Born 1931
Frank Gasparro
1909 - 2001
R. Foster Winans
Born 1948
Richie Rome
-
Brian L. Roberts
Born 1959
Zane Massey
Born 1957
Augustine Schulte
1856 - 1937
Bruiser Flint
Born 1965
Martín Perna
Born 1975
Roger Gregory
Born 1953
Jake Berthot
1939 - 2014
Scott Rosenbaum
-
Jerome Toobin
1919 - 1984
Ray Lucia
Born 1950
David Smyrl
1935 - 2016
George Azar
Born 1959
James Hyde (artist)
Born 1958
Nathan Gershman
1917 - 2008
Susan Swain
Born 1954
James J. Connolly
1881 - 1952
Douglas Brunt
Born 1971
Margaret Katherine Majer
1898 - 1990
Eugene Nicholas Myers
Born 1933
David Nalle
1924 - 2013
Carmelo Marrero
Born 1981
John Balaban
Born 1943
John Bernadou
1858 - 1908
Susan Starr
Born 1942
Lüpüs Thünder
Born 1972
Roberts Vaux
1786 - 1836
David Claypoole Johnston
1798 - 1865
Georgia Lee
Born 1976
Jerry Segal (musician)
1931 - 1974
Ruth Faden
Born 1949
Robert T. Conrad
1810 - 1858
Bill Conlin
1934 - 2014
Al Atkinson
Born 1943
Lloyd M. Mustin
1911 - 1999
Sherwin Raiken
1928 - 2009
Editta Sherman
1912 - 2013
Charles Harper Webb
-
E. B. Lewis (illustrator)
Born 1956
Ethel V. Ashton
1896 - 1975
Dennis M. O'Brien
Born 1952
Scott Wesley Brown
Born 1952
Tom Daly (infielder)
1866 - 1938
Anthony Thompson (boxer)
Born 1981
Will Parks
Born 1994
Jane M. Oppenheimer
1911 - 1996
Fran Ross
1935 - 1985
Dennis Sandole
1913 - 2000
Brendon Walsh
Born 1973
Cyrus Levinthal
1922 - 1990
Isaac J. Wistar
1827 - 1905
Jonathan Elliott
Born 1962
Matthew J. Ryan
1932 - 2003
Barney Berlinger
1908 - 2002
DJ Bonics
Born 1980
Herbert Langfeld
1879 - 1958
Arthur "Bugs" Baer
1886 - 1969
Pamela Williams
-
Robert H. Adleman
1919 - 1995
George Middleton (American politician)
1809 - 1888
Frank J. G. Dorsey
1891 - 1949
Steven Snyder
Born 1954
Raymond Pitcairn
1885 - 1966
Margaret Gibson (poet)
Born 1944
James St. Clair Morton
1829 - 1864
Paul Redmond Michel
Born 1941
Robin Becker
Born 1951
Henry Clarence Pitz
1895 - 1976
George Creamer
1855 - 1886
Frank A. Mathews Jr.
1890 - 1964
Lance Clemons
1947 - 2008
Debra Chasnoff
1957 - 2017
Richard Howell Gleaves
1819 - 1907
Hy Hirsh
1911 - 1961
Charles Guillou
1813 - 1899
Rosellen Brown
Born 1939
Carl Reindel
1935 - 2009
Charles R. Jennison
1834 - 1884
Robert Hines (boxer)
Born 1961
Morton Ira Greenberg
Born 1933
Alexandra Pierce
Born 1934
James Lloyd Breck
1818 - 1876
John F. Carr
Born 1944
Hart Wood
1880 - 1957
Will Keenan
Born 1974
Stephen William White
1840 - 1914
Margaret Bucknell Pecorini
1879 - 1963
Joe Belmont
1934 - 2019
Raúl Hellmer
1913 - 1971
Dan Walsh
Born 1960
Fred McAfee
Born 1968
Mike Richmond
Born 1964
Romeo Cascarino
1922 - 2002
George Hugh Smith
1834 - 1915
William Schimmel
Born 1946
Steve Javie
Born 1955
Frank Reagan
1919 - 1972
Jef Lee Johnson
1958 - 2013
Bennett Lorber
Born 1943
Luke Chueh
Born 1973
Ralph Pallen Coleman
1892 - 1968
John Rogers (baseball)
1844 - 1910
Glenn A. Fine
Born 1950
Brian Anthony Wilson
Born 1960
C. Yarnall Abbott
1870 - 1938
George Eiferman
1925 - 2002
Fred C. Gartner
1896 - 1972
Charles Stockton
1845 - 1924
Browning Nagle
Born 1968
James Kelly (abstract expressionist artist)
1913 - 2003
James Abercrombie (Episcopal priest)
1758 - 1841
Samuel Leeds Allen
1841 - 1918
Lavinia Williams
1916 - 1989
William Ashbrook
1922 - 2009
Bill Mackrides
1925 - 2019
Earl Young (drummer)
Born 1940
Greg Fillmore
Born 1947
William W. Park
Born 1947
Joey Merlino
Born 1962
Bonnie Scott
Born 1941
Coleman Dupont Donaldson
1922 - 2009
Lawrence W. Pierce
1924 - 2020
Gerald M. Feierstein
Born 1951
Jack A. Apsche
1947 - 2014
Valerie Worth
1933 - 1994
Dick Stockton
Born 1942
Amos Deacon
1904 - 1982
Dorothea Wolbert
1874 - 1958
J. Delano Ellis
1944 - 2020
Eleanor Elkins Widener
1861 - 1937
James Washington Logue
1863 - 1925
Jim Brown (basketball)
1912 - 1991
Amy Wynn Pastor
Born 1976
Edward Cutbush
1772 - 1843
Thomas C. McGrath Jr.
1927 - 1994
Lionel Pincus
1931 - 2009
Caridad Svich
Born 1963
Clement Biddle
1740 - 1814
Tony Devon
Born 1951
Joseph R. Conlin
Born 1940
Dave Heath
1931 - 2016
Elliot Ruiz
Born 1985
Judy Toll
1958 - 2002
David Newman (singer)
Born 1963
Townsend Whelen
1877 - 1961
J. David Stern
1886 - 1971
Samuel Jay Keyser
Born 1935
Dean Kramer
Born 1952
Rebecca Cole
1846 - 1922
Omar Tyree
Born 1969
James Otto Lewis
1799 - 1858
Michael Joseph Muldowney
1889 - 1947
Robert Magaw
1738 - 1790
Johnny Lange
1905 - 2006
Mae Virginia Cowdery
1909 - 1953
Michael Seidman
Born 1959
Albert Cardozo
1828 - 1885
William Siri
1919 - 2004
Dean Davidson
-
Ange Mlinko
Born 1969
Alfred M. Waldron
1865 - 1952
Justin Mortelliti
Born 1980
Taylor Hardwick
1925 - 2014
Thacher Longstreth
1920 - 2003
David Ricketts
Born 1954
Sharon Tyndale
1816 - 1871
Ed Mitchell (rower)
1901 - 1970
Herbert J. McGlinchey
1904 - 1992
John R. Paul
1893 - 1971
Randy Griffin
Born 1976
Alexander Donski
Born 1998
Alison Nathan
Born 1972
Sarah Tyson Hallowell
1846 - 1924
Franklin J. Maloney
1899 - 1958
Bruce Kuklick
Born 1941
Aiden James
Born 1982
Fran McCaffery
Born 1959
Barbara Nissman
Born 1944
Helen Marot
1865 - 1940
LaVaughn Robinson
1927 - 2008
Adam Eckfeldt
1769 - 1852
Ed. Weinberger
Born 1945
Philip Syng
1703 - 1789
Reuben Greene
Born 1938
Cyrus Woods
1861 - 1938
Gerald Nobles
Born 1971
Richard H. Collin
1932 - 2010
Ray King (artist)
Born 1950
Regine Nehy
Born 1987
Peter C. Mancall
Born 1959
Raymond A. Thomas
Born 1958
Aaron Ward (sailor)
1851 - 1918
Richard Trexler
1932 - 2007
Walter Lowrie (author)
1868 - 1959
John W. Riddle
1864 - 1941
Conrad Hyers
1933 - 2013
David R. Soll
Born 1942
Lillian Harmer
1883 - 1946
Tony Luke Jr.
Born 1962
Jack Pleis
1917 - 1990
Natalie Nevins
1925 - 2010
Dick Whittington (DJ)
Born 1934
Edward Needles Hallowell
1836 - 1871
Oscar Zimmerman
1910 - 1987
Bill Roper (American football)
1880 - 1933
Dave Black (drummer)
1928 - 2006
Joseph Berg Esenwein
1867 - 1946
Tim Seibles
Born 1955
Emily Grosholz
Born 1950
Jack Kraft
1921 - 2014
Levi Fontaine
Born 1948
Hiram Corson
1828 - 1911
Thomas Marshal Bibighaus
1817 - 1853
Sarah Ewing Hall
1761 - 1830
Charles F. Warwick
1852 - 1913
Al Brancato
1919 - 2012