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
Don Cooney
Born 1937
Carol Diehl
-
Jay Samit
Born 1961
Mary Cadwalader Rawle Jones
1850 - 1935
Gordon Avil
1899 - 1970
Samuel Bryan
1759 - 1821
William F. Keller
Born 1951
Merrill Reese
Born 1942
Marvin Mudrick
1921 - 1986
Barbara Schwartz (artist)
1949 - 2006
R. Heber Newton
1840 - 1914
Garrett Miller
Born 1977
William Henry Gilder
1838 - 1900
Rebecca Welles
1928 - 2017
Jacob Green
1790 - 1841
James Lavino
Born 1973
Bob File
Born 1977
William Kinderman
Born 1952
Ellen Urbani
Born 1969
Sam Dalrymple
1901 - 1981
Andy Strenk
Born 1949
Julia Keleher
Born 1974
Henry Carvill Lewis
1853 - 1888
Carol Lynn Maillard
Born 1951
Tony Stetson
Born 1959
Carol H. Beck
1859 - 1908
George W. Sarbacher Jr.
1919 - 1973
Rosetta Hightower
1944 - 2014
John Trautwine
1810 - 1883
Joan Hutchinson
Born 1945
Eugene Taylor (psychologist)
1946 - 2013
John Papit
1928 - 2015
Scootie Randall
Born 1990
Amy Williams (tennis)
1872 - 1969
Thomas Messinger Drown
1842 - 1904
Adam Aron
Born 1954
George Frederick Bensell
1837 - 1879
George Bethune Adams
1845 - 1911
Daniel B. Smith
1792 - 1883
Mike Dennis
Born 1944
Sandra Knight
Born 1940
Andrea Lee (author)
Born 1953
Yolanda Wisher
Born 1976
Bill Lewis (American football coach)
Born 1941
Rookie Brown
1925 - 1971
Robert Curtis Ogden
1836 - 1913
Joe Conwell
Born 1961
Alexander C. McClurg
1832 - 1901
Hector Tyndale
1821 - 1880
Sheinelle Jones
Born 1978
Vanessa L. Brown
-
Simon Sterne
1839 - 1901
Mark R. Kravitz
1950 - 2012
Jay Bezel
Born 1983
Persis Foster Eames Albee
1836 - 1914
Stephen Freind
Born 1944
Stefon Jackson
Born 1985
John Randolph Clay
1808 - 1885
Daniel Dougherty
1826 - 1892
Samuel Rosenberg (artist)
1896 - 1972
Benton Murdoch Spruance
1904 - 1967
Tim Settle
Born 1997
Hampton L. Carson (lawyer)
1852 - 1929
Wrath James White
Born 1970
Bascove
Born 1946
George Bechtel
1848 - 1921
Henry Wikoff
1813 - 1884
Mike Darnell
Born 1962
Kevin Dougherty
-
Alfred H. Love
1830 - 1913
Harry Kramer (American artist)
Born 1939
Robert H. Cox
-
Eddie Morton
1870 - 1938
Laura Barney Harding
1902 - 1994
Jacqueline Osherow
Born 1956
Harriet Forten Purvis
1810 - 1875
William Warren (actor)
1812 - 1888
John Carlin
1813 - 1891
Leah Shore
-
Al Spangler
Born 1933
Frank Eliason
Born 1972
Tom Filer
Born 1956
Jesse Benton
Born 1977
Dave Lieberman
Born 1980
Avi Katz
Born 1949
Robert Parris
1924 - 1999
Henry C. Mustin (1874–1923)
1854 - 1923
Robin Arzon
Born 1981
Susan Wheeler Duff
Born 1958
Kidder Breese
1831 - 1881
Paul Bechly
Born 1958
Don Donaghy
1936 - 2008
Robert Martin (singer)
Born 1948
Catherine Ann Janvier
1841 - 1922
Justin Renfrow
Born 1989
Rutherford Boyd
1882 - 1951
Vincent Hughes
Born 1956
David Barr Kirtley
Born 1977
Ralph Young (baseball)
1888 - 1965
James S. Green (attorney)
1792 - 1862
Amy Eilberg
Born 1954
Walter C. Righter
1923 - 2011
John Syng Dorsey
1783 - 1818
Washington Carroll Tevis
1828 - 1900
Adena Halpern
Born 1968
William Henry Odenheimer
1817 - 1879
Anna Sofaer
Born 1940
Ralph Jarvis
Born 1965
Pete DeCoursey
1961 - 2014
Malcolm Hoenlein
-
William McCandless
1834 - 1884
Jack Meyer
1932 - 1967
Louis Glackens
1866 - 1933
James O'Neill (actor, born 1863)
1863 - 1938
Bob Dobkin
Born 1944
Arlene Zallman
1934 - 2006
Vince Fumo
Born 1943
Annie Traquair Lang
1885 - 1918
William J. Castagna
Born 1924
Angelo Coia
1938 - 2013
Tommy Cairo
Born 1958
Marc Lafia
Born 1955
Moose McCormick
1881 - 1962
Diane B. Snelling
Born 1952
Thomas Bigelow Craig
1849 - 1924
William H. Scheide
1914 - 2014
John H. Brinton
1832 - 1907
William Coleman (judge)
1704 - 1769
George Tunnell
1912 - 1975
Joe Sugden (baseball)
1870 - 1959
Cora Sternberg
Born 1951
John Kennedy (rowing)
1900 - 1971
Andre Fluellen
Born 1985
John Gray (athlete)
1894 - 1942
Horace Stern
1878 - 1969
Christopher Davis
Born 1928
Alfred Wilkinson Johnson
1876 - 1963
Mel Davis (musician)
1955 - 2004
Martha Zweig
Born 1942
Loretta Perfectus Walsh
1896 - 1925
Zaire Franklin
Born 1996
Jamar Nicholas
Born 1973
Frances Marie Burke
1922 - 2017
Tito Nanni
Born 1959
Bill Brill
1931 - 2011
Tyler Lepley
Born 1987
Wallis Annenberg
Born 1939
Frederick Grinnell (biologist)
Born 1945
James Claypoole
1720 - 1784
Frances Cox Henderson
1820 - 1897
Cub Stricker
1859 - 1937
Sydney George Fisher
1856 - 1927
Thomas Harrison Montgomery
1830 - 1905
Zaire Anderson
Born 1992
Tim McCreight
Born 1951
Ken Fox
Born 1970
Bill Gray (baseball)
1871 - 1932
Andrea Heinemann Simon
1909 - 1994
Joe Cascarella
1907 - 2002
Joseph V. Noble
1920 - 2007
Fredric Hobbs
1931 - 2018
Joseph P. Remington
1847 - 1918
Charles Lewis Fussell
1840 - 1909
Frank Card
Born 1944
Stewart Cheifet
Born 1938
Stephen Kinsey
Born 1958
Martha Rhoads Bell
1941 - 1991
Kevin J. Boyle
Born 1980
Steve Veltman
Born 1969
Steve Hopkins
1929 - 1971
Naz Edwards
Born 1952
Charles M. Wetherill
1825 - 1871
John Schmitt (rower)
1901 - 1991
Samuel Gibson Dixon
1851 - 1918
Chuck Kress
1921 - 2014
Richard Maury
1882 - 1950
Mark Goodman
Born 1952
Albert T. Morgan
1842 - 1922
James Earle Ash
1884 - 1986
Johnathan Blake
Born 1976
Lon Knight
1853 - 1932
John Watkinson Douglass
1827 - 1909
Dorothy Hahn
1876 - 1950
Elizabeth Marshall (pharmacist)
1768 - 1836
Oliver Perry-Smith
1884 - 1969
George Meade Easby
1918 - 2005
David Fine (acteur)
Born 1955
Thomas Welsh (rower)
Born 1977
Shag Crawford
1916 - 2007
Rasheed Bailey
Born 1993
Henry Farrell (footballer)
1902 - 1980
Nina Harmer
Born 1945
Curtis Thomas
Born 1948
Paul Laffitte (1864-1949)
1864 - 1949
Elliot Abrams (meteorologist)
Born 1947
Margaretta Morris
1797 - 1867
Beth Lipman
Born 1971
Carol Gould (writer)
Born 1953
May Lillie
1869 - 1936
Scott Stankavage
Born 1962
Andy Kravitz
Born 1966
Mary L. Washington
Born 1962
Clark Polak
1937 - 1980
Allan Murnane
1882 - 1950
Peter York Solmssen
Born 1955
Florence Melton
1911 - 2007
John A. Shaw
1939 - 2020
Eileen McDonough
1962 - 2012
Lardner Vanuxem
1792 - 1848
Karl Dargan
Born 1985
Henry Phipps Jr.
1839 - 1930
Buster Hoover
1863 - 1924
E. Keith Eddington
1923 - 2007
Wayne Marshall (basketball)
Born 1986
Jeanne Silverthorne
Born 1950
Catherine Littlefield
1905 - 1951
Jesse Levis
Born 1968
Michael Barbieri
Born 1949
Barclay White
1821 - 1906
Thomas Pennant Barton
1803 - 1869
Al-Hajj Shabazz
Born 1992
Edgar Viguers Seeler
1867 - 1929
Alfred E. Aarons
1865 - 1936
Richard Bloom
Born 1953
Lorenzo Bundy
Born 1959
Bob Brinker
Born 1941
Anthony Morrison
Born 1984
Milne Ramsey
1847 - 1915
Lori Fullington
Born 1967
Bill Dietrich
1910 - 1978
Angel Cruz
-
Charles Hanford Henderson
1861 - 1941
R. W. Schambach
1926 - 2012
Sue Ball
Born 1967
Joey B. Ellis
-
Fursaxa
Born 1969
Audrey Chapman
1899 - 1993
Maxon Crumb
Born 1945
Vivian Burey Marshall
1911 - 1955
Eric Lugosch
-
Gerald Austin McHugh Jr.
Born 1954
Susan R. Bolton
Born 1951
Margo L. Davidson
Born 1962
Tom Gill (writer)
1891 - 1972
Robert Burns Beath
1839 - 1914
Maggie Lettvin
Born 1927
LeAnna Washington
Born 1945
Dinavon Bythwood
Born 1967
J. R. Mitchell
1937 - 2004
Isaac L. Auerbach
1921 - 1992
Bob Wian
1914 - 1992
Paul McNally (astronomer)
1890 - 1955
David Williams (running back)
Born 1994
Philip Freelon
1952 - 2019
Frank Coleman
1912 - 2008
Andrew von Eschenbach
Born 1941
Bill Magarity
Born 1952
Susan E. Dickinson
1832 - 1915
Tony Voce
Born 1980
Jocko Milligan
1861 - 1923
Gustav von Bohlen und Halbach
1831 - 1890
Jack Crimian
1926 - 2019
Gilly Lane
Born 1985
Saul Andrew Blinkoff
-
Marion Stokes
1929 - 2012
Alan Richman
Born 1944
Lewis Jacobs
1904 - 1997
James Blythe Rogers
1802 - 1852
Jason Van Hollander
Born 1949
Rensselaer W. Lee
1898 - 1984
Ron Villanueva
Born 1970
Fred W. Allendorf
Born 1947
Monte Cross
1869 - 1934
Freddie Bell
1931 - 2008
Robb Armstrong
Born 1962
Joseph Green (producer)
1934 - 2017
Jess Richardson
1930 - 1975
Peter Schwartzkopf
Born 1955
Dwight M. Bullard
Born 1977
Washington Harrison Donaldson
1840 - 1875
Hank Laventhol
1927 - 2001
Tiffany Joh
Born 1986
Albert F. Sabo
1920 - 2002
John Joseph McCort
1860 - 1936
Gwen Margolis
1934 - 2020
David Hahn
Born 1956
Russell Thompkins Jr.
Born 1951
Anna Robeson Brown
1873 - 1941
Sabrina Jones
Born 1960
Brooke Makler
1951 - 2010
Diana Reiss
Born 1948
Francis Elliott Drouet
1907 - 1982
Raymond Hornberger
1898 - 1976
Nathaniel J. McFadden
Born 1946
Joan Carroll (soprano)
Born 1932
Warner Fite
1867 - 1955
Anne Moen Bullitt
1924 - 2007
Howard Baker (poet)
1905 - 1990
Darryl Reynolds
Born 1993
John Coleman (pitcher)
1860 - 1915