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
Fred Raskin
Born 1973
Joseph Pennell
1857 - 1926
Willie Alexander
Born 1943
Mark Adamo
Born 1962
William Thaddeus Coleman Jr.
1920 - 2017
Marion Martin
1909 - 1985
Dee Dee Sharp
Born 1945
Michael Kaplan (costume designer)
-
Susan Macdowell Eakins
1851 - 1938
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr.
1897 - 1961
Bobby Convey
Born 1983
John Gregory Bourke
1843 - 1896
Gunning Bedford Jr.
1747 - 1812
Maalik Wayns
Born 1991
Craig Shoemaker
Born 1958
N. Richard Nash
1913 - 2000
Joseph Sweeney (actor)
1884 - 1963
Silvan Tomkins
1911 - 1991
Jane Winton
1905 - 1959
Constance M. Burge
Born 1957
Robert G. Gallager
Born 1931
Jerome Allen (basketball)
Born 1973
Edith Windsor
1929 - 2017
Bill Scott (voice actor)
1920 - 1985
Bill Doggett
1916 - 1996
Leonard Hayflick
Born 1928
Ronald Murray
Born 1979
Nathan Morris
Born 1971
Donna Butterworth
1956 - 2018
Henry Bean
Born 1945
John B. Thayer
1862 - 1912
Gregory Michael
Born 1981
Andrea McArdle
Born 1963
J. C. Quinn
1940 - 2004
James P. McGranery
1895 - 1962
Richie Kamuca
1930 - 1977
Barry Trost
Born 1941
Nicole Kassell
Born 1972
Romulus Linney (playwright)
1930 - 2011
James Huneker
1857 - 1921
Edith Grossman
Born 1936
Morris Stoloff
1898 - 1980
Tony Chimel
Born 1961
Leda Cosmides
Born 1957
Samuel Byck
1930 - 1974
Franklin Delano Roosevelt III
Born 1938
Caspar René Gregory
1846 - 1917
Robin Eubanks
Born 1955
John F. Peto
1854 - 1907
Michael McDowell (author)
1950 - 1999
Adam Gopnik
Born 1956
Paul Pope
Born 1970
Sol Kaplan
1919 - 1990
Simon Guggenheim
1867 - 1941
Thomas Willing
1731 - 1821
Hari Nef
Born 1992
Charles M. Lieber
Born 1959
Marilyn Crispell
Born 1947
James Forten
1766 - 1842
Thomas Ustick Walter
1804 - 1887
Herb Adderley
1939 - 2020
Maria V. Snyder
Born 1969
Richard Harlan
1796 - 1843
Tommy Loughran
1902 - 1982
Thomas Dunn English
1819 - 1902
Anita DeFrantz
Born 1952
Nathaniel Kahn
Born 1962
Leon Eisenberg
1922 - 2009
Joseph S. Clark Jr.
1901 - 1990
Henry Grimes
1935 - 2020
Barbara Mason
Born 1947
Alan Poul
Born 1954
Kelly McGonigal
Born 1977
Joe Matt
Born 1963
Richard Saul Wurman
Born 1935
Robert Trebor
Born 1953
Steven Smith (basketball)
Born 1983
William Francis Gibbs
1886 - 1967
Julius LeBlanc Stewart
1855 - 1919
Judith Rodin
Born 1944
Charles Earland
1941 - 1999
John B. Kelly Jr.
1927 - 1985
Lucy Lee Flippin
Born 1943
Roxy Reynolds
Born 1983
Uriah P. Levy
1792 - 1862
Legs Diamond
1897 - 1931
Edgar Ray Killen
1925 - 2018
Mohini Bhardwaj
Born 1978
Joseph Anderson
1757 - 1837
Ray Benson
Born 1951
Andrew Gelman
Born 1965
Oscar Shumsky
1917 - 2000
Georgiana Drew
1856 - 1893
Ari Hoenig
Born 1973
Betty Garde
1905 - 1989
Edmund Bacon (architect)
1910 - 2005
James A. Bayard (elder)
1767 - 1815
Thomas Carr (director)
1907 - 1997
John Kirk Townsend
1809 - 1851
Sarah Yorke Jackson
1803 - 1887
Carey Wilson (writer)
1889 - 1962
Ziggy Elman
1914 - 1968
Benny Boom
Born 1971
Eric Lobron
Born 1960
Charlie Ventura
1916 - 1992
Reggie Redding
Born 1988
Werner Erhard
Born 1935
Joel Polis
Born 1951
Drew Gulak
Born 1987
James N. Rosenau
1924 - 2011
Dwight Evans (politician)
Born 1954
Joe Renzetti
Born 1941
Anna Elizabeth Dickinson
1842 - 1932
Lenny Platt
Born 1984
Hal Willner
1957 - 2020
T. Alexander Harrison
1853 - 1930
Charles Fambrough
1950 - 2011
Mark Schultz (comics)
Born 1955
Amanda Blank
Born 1982
Martin Nodell
1915 - 2006
Rubens Peale
1784 - 1865
Mark Clifton
1906 - 1963
Robert Hare (chemist)
1781 - 1858
John McWhorter
Born 1965
Roswell P. Flower
1835 - 1899
Lisa Lassek
-
Sidney Kimmel
Born 1928
Michael Peskin
Born 1951
Thomas L. Kane
1822 - 1883
Hortense Powdermaker
1900 - 1970
Barbara Chase-Riboud
Born 1939
Dionte Christmas
Born 1986
Rodney White
Born 1980
Tony Campolo
Born 1935
Morton DaCosta
1914 - 1989
King Britt
Born 1968
Jack Kehler
Born 1946
Eddie Griffin (basketball)
1982 - 2007
Taija Rae
Born 1962
Clinton Rossiter
1917 - 1970
Murray Lerner
1927 - 2017
Boies Penrose
1860 - 1921
Septimus Winner
1827 - 1902
Richard P. Powell
1908 - 1999
Richard Neustadt
1919 - 2003
Elizabeth Shippen Green
1871 - 1954
James Rolfe
Born 1980
Edward Norris
1911 - 2002
Frances Dade
1910 - 1968
Robert F. Colesberry
1946 - 2004
Martha Schwartz
Born 1950
C. Delores Tucker
1927 - 2005
Eric Tangradi
Born 1989
Henry Weed Fowler
1878 - 1965
Joe Masteroff
1919 - 2018
Louis Faurer
1916 - 2001
Andrew Kosove
Born 1970
Robert Baker Aitken
1917 - 2010
Jim Kenney
Born 1958
John Salmons
Born 1979
Donald Bailey (musician)
1934 - 2013
April Hunter
Born 1973
Richard A. Cohen
Born 1952
Luis Alberto Moreno
Born 1953
Sam Fogarino
Born 1968
Elaine Hammerstein
1897 - 1948
Phoebe Gloeckner
Born 1960
Duane Swierczynski
Born 1972
Gus Arnheim
1897 - 1955
Lisa Peluso
Born 1964
Marvin Albert
1924 - 1996
Charles Goren
1901 - 1991
John D. Caputo
Born 1940
Leon Abbett
1836 - 1894
Marge (cartoonist)
1904 - 1993
Luckey Roberts
1887 - 1968
Ellen Lupton
Born 1963
Johanna Drucker
Born 1952
John Morgan (mathematician)
Born 1946
Sarah Miriam Peale
1800 - 1885
Dylan Gelula
Born 1994
Charles Fuller
Born 1939
Michael Brooks (basketball)
1958 - 2016
Mike Bantom
Born 1951
Dave Hause
Born 1978
Stan Levey
1926 - 2005
Anthony Eisley
1925 - 2003
Gabrielle Lazure
Born 1957
Paul Westhead
Born 1939
Barton Gellman
Born 1960
Eddie Gustafsson
Born 1977
Leonard Carmichael
1898 - 1973
Bobby Burns
1878 - 1966
Karen Malina White
Born 1965
Paul Hipp
Born 1963
Marc Jackson
Born 1975
Witmer Stone
1866 - 1939
George Logan
1753 - 1821
William Jones (statesman)
1760 - 1831
Sophie de Marbois-Lebrun, Duchess of Plaisance
1785 - 1854
Stan Greenberg
Born 1945
Billy Cannon
1937 - 2018
Aaron McKie
Born 1972
Elizabeth Robins Pennell
1855 - 1936
Jon Fishman
Born 1965
Scott L. Schwartz
Born 1959
Judith Jamison
Born 1943
William Pepper
1843 - 1898
Richard Shusterman
Born 1949
John R. Brooke
1838 - 1926
Battling Levinsky
1891 - 1949
Mirah
Born 1974
Phil Baker (comedian)
1896 - 1963
William Louis Abbott
1860 - 1936
Florence Reed
1883 - 1967
Andrew B. Newberg
Born 1966
Frances Spence
1922 - 2012
James Galanos
1924 - 2016
Sheldon Lewis
1868 - 1958
Agnes Repplier
1855 - 1950
Michael-Hakim Jordan
Born 1977
Meta Vaux Warrick Fuller
1877 - 1968
Mat Johnson
Born 1970
Fred Mace
1878 - 1917
Theophilus Van Kannel
1841 - 1919
George W. Pepper
1867 - 1961
Sam Wooding
1895 - 1985
Frank Orth
1880 - 1962
Benjamin Guggenheim
1865 - 1912
Henry Cadbury
1883 - 1974
Alan Soble
Born 1947
Bobby Durham (jazz musician)
1937 - 2008
Herbert Callen
1919 - 1993
George H. Heilmeier
1936 - 2014
George Howard (jazz)
1956 - 1998
Thomas Jaggar
1871 - 1953
William T. Cahill
1912 - 1996
Danny García
Born 1988
Howardena Pindell
Born 1943
Harry McCoy
1889 - 1937
Dallas Comegys
Born 1964
Anne Stuart
Born 1948
Albert Hay Malotte
1895 - 1964
Robert Foulk
1908 - 1989
Jimmy Bond (musician)
1933 - 2012
Jared Hasselhoff
Born 1971
Roscoe (rapper)
Born 1983
John Rauch
1927 - 2008
Laraaji
Born 1943
Jaguar Wright
Born 1977
Amile Jefferson
Born 1993
Albert Woolson
1847 - 1956
George Dunton Widener
1861 - 1912
Linda Preiss Rothschild
Born 1945
Tench Coxe
1755 - 1824
Matt Guokas
Born 1944
Lee Breuer
Born 1937
Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton
1799 - 1864
Alfred Sully
1821 - 1879
Pooh Richardson
Born 1966
Tav Falco
Born 1945
Alice Middleton Boring
1883 - 1955
Arnold Schulman
Born 1925
Kerry Mills
1869 - 1948
Daniel Spielman
Born 1970
Chris Kluwe
Born 1981
Jay Ashley
Born 1971
Lonnie Gordon
Born 1965
William D. Kelley
1814 - 1890
Morton Livingston Schamberg
1881 - 1918
W. Allen Wallis
1912 - 1998
Caspar Wistar (physician)
1761 - 1818
Stan Lathan
Born 1945
Gene Ween
Born 1970
Jack Norworth
1879 - 1959
Mr. Warburton
Born 1968
Richard Suckle
Born 1969
Ronny Graham
1919 - 1999
Billy Kyle
1914 - 1966
Rod Rosenstein
Born 1965
Michael Harris (mathematician)
Born 1954
Robert Lowry (hymn writer)
1826 - 1899
Nathan Sivin
Born 1931
Rich Gannon
Born 1965
Charlotte Forten Grimké
1837 - 1914
Joseph Felsenstein
Born 1942
Samuel Washington Woodhouse
1821 - 1904
Jim O'Brien (basketball, born 1952)
Born 1952
Richard Stankiewicz
1922 - 1983
Antonio Guiteras
1906 - 1935
Hugh Panaro
Born 1964
Red Klotz
1921 - 2014
Lionel Simmons
Born 1968
Cuttino Mobley
Born 1975
Steve Cunningham
Born 1976
Emily Sartain
1841 - 1927
Franklin Peale
1795 - 1870
Gerald Veasley
Born 1955
Tim Witherspoon
Born 1957
Chuck Workman
Born 1967