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
Ebenezer Hazard
1744 - 1817
Merrill Cook
Born 1946
John Exley
1867 - 1938
Elizabeth Russell (actress)
1916 - 2002
Michael Leib
1760 - 1822
Paul Murray Kendall
1911 - 1973
Walt Dickerson
1931 - 2008
Robert W. Edgar
1943 - 2013
Gunboat Smith
1887 - 1974
Alfred Irving Hallowell
1892 - 1974
Lewis Redner
1831 - 1908
Ethel Portnoy
1927 - 2004
Harold Lawson
1937 - 2019
Lorraine Ellison
1931 - 1983
Melvyn B. Nathanson
Born 1944
Duke Worne
1888 - 1933
Philip Loeb
1891 - 1955
Kevin Cossom
Born 1984
David Reid (boxer)
Born 1973
Carmen Mathews
1911 - 1995
John Church Hamilton
1792 - 1882
Christopher Ferguson
Born 1961
T. Hayes Hunter
1884 - 1944
Tommy Bryant
1930 - 1982
Dorothy Lavinia Brown
1919 - 2004
Edith Jones
Born 1949
Jeff Chandler (boxer)
Born 1956
David Bushnell (historian)
1923 - 2010
Walter B. Miller
1920 - 2004
Steven Balbus
Born 1953
Reuven Amitai
Born 1955
Joni Sledge
1956 - 2017
Henry Roberts (architect)
1803 - 1876
William H. Meyer
1914 - 1983
Dorothy Short
1915 - 1963
Sydney Walker
1921 - 1994
William Duane (physicist)
1872 - 1935
Wali Jones
Born 1942
John McDermott (golfer)
1891 - 1971
Edwin Sydney Stuart
1853 - 1937
Raymond Louis Kennedy
1946 - 2014
Omar Thomas
Born 1982
Vivian Rich
1893 - 1957
Betty Holberton
1917 - 2001
Ingrid Croce
Born 1947
Tim Story (composer)
Born 1957
Jodi Magness
Born 1956
A. W. Tillinghast
1874 - 1942
Kara Vallow
Born 1967
William P. C. Barton
1786 - 1856
Ronald Moore (basketball)
Born 1988
Samuel Nicholas
1744 - 1790
Carson Parks
1936 - 2005
F. O. C. Darley
1822 - 1888
Bill Gunn (writer)
1934 - 1989
Eddie Chambers
Born 1982
Chuck Sheetz
Born 1960
Tony DiLeo
Born 1955
Carl Kaysen
1920 - 2010
Joshua Wurman
Born 1960
Charles Ferguson Smith
1807 - 1862
Joe Verdeur
1926 - 1991
Jason Lawson
Born 1974
Ida Craddock
1857 - 1902
Charlie O'Donnell
1932 - 2010
John Renshaw Thomson
1800 - 1862
Lisa Bloom
Born 1961
John Geiger
1877 - 1956
Benjamin Stoloff
1895 - 1960
James Juvenal
1874 - 1942
Michael Nutter
Born 1957
Bucky Walters
1909 - 1991
David Berenbaum
-
George Henry Horn
1840 - 1897
Nancy Kilpatrick
Born 1946
Peggy Shippen
1760 - 1804
John C. Allen
1907 - 1979
Warder Cresson
1798 - 1860
Doug Overton
Born 1969
Barbara Crossette
Born 1939
Benjamin Chew Tilghman
1821 - 1901
Anna Alcott Pratt
1831 - 1893
Harry Elfont
Born 1968
Elizabeth Wharton Drexel
1868 - 1944
Mark Matkevich
Born 1978
John Ernest
1922 - 1994
Patrick Gass
1771 - 1870
William Welsh (actor)
1870 - 1946
Horace Howard Furness
1833 - 1912
Amos E. Joel Jr.
1918 - 2008
Iggie Wolfington
1920 - 2004
Michael Barr (mathematician)
Born 1937
Eric Gravatt
Born 1947
Mark Rosenthal
Born 1950
Morris E. Leeds
1869 - 1952
John Hennigan (poker player)
Born 1970
James Frederick Wood
1813 - 1883
Shaun Phillips
Born 1981
Gideon Glick
Born 1988
Joseph Barnes
1817 - 1883
John Macionis
1916 - 2012
Raffy Lopez
Born 1987
Martin Agronsky
1915 - 1999
Eve Merriam
1916 - 1992
Rodney Kendrick
Born 1960
Elinor Burkett
Born 1946
Steve Berlin
Born 1955
Richard Stone (composer)
1953 - 2001
Cynthia DeFelice
Born 1951
Joey Crawford
Born 1951
Steady B
Born 1969
Randy Woods
Born 1970
Matt Guokas Sr.
1915 - 1993
Ervin Hall
Born 1947
Jahri Evans
Born 1983
Charles Epstein (geneticist)
1933 - 2011
Steve Sansweet
Born 1945
Franklin Davenport
1755 - 1832
Dorothy Kelly
1894 - 1966
Chubby Cox
Born 1955
Alex Zamm
-
Marcus Tracy
Born 1986
Eric Owens (bass-baritone)
Born 1970
Judy Landers
Born 1958
John Nolen
1869 - 1937
Joseph Auslander
1897 - 1965
Ernie Beck
Born 1931
Judith Klinman
Born 1941
Randi Ingerman
Born 1967
Edward Biddle
1738 - 1779
Nathan S. Kline
1916 - 1983
Michael Gleason
1876 - 1923
Jade Cole
Born 1979
Joe Hoeffel
Born 1950
Karen Kilimnik
Born 1955
Eleanor Sayre
1916 - 2001
Mark Tyndale
Born 1986
Lari Ketner
1977 - 2014
Todd Komarnicki
Born 1965
William P. Biddle
1853 - 1923
Edna Campbell
Born 1968
Kristie Lu Stout
Born 1974
Frank Geyer
1853 - 1918
Mary Ann McCall
1919 - 1994
Rick Jackson
Born 1989
Ted Harris (mathematician)
1919 - 2005
Edward Marsh (rower)
1874 - 1932
Alexis Fawx
Born 1975
Derrick Hodge
Born 1979
Jack Whitaker
1924 - 2019
Clifford Thornton
1939 - 1989
Carol Goodman
Born 1959
Edward Clark (architect)
1822 - 1902
Langdon Elwyn Mitchell
1862 - 1935
Demetra Hampton
Born 1968
Ellen Forney
Born 1968
James C. Greenwood
Born 1951
Edmund Burns
1892 - 1980
Nick Travis
1925 - 1964
Lesley Ashburner
1883 - 1950
Dorothy Burr Thompson
1900 - 2001
Richie Barrett
1933 - 2006
Ellen Bass
Born 1947
Donya Feuer
1934 - 2011
Walter Elmer Schofield
1867 - 1944
Lewis Lloyd
1959 - 2019
Arthur Fields
1888 - 1953
Sarai Sherman
1922 - 2013
Tana Hoban
1917 - 2006
James M. Beck
1861 - 1936
George Kauffman
1930 - 2020
Edwin De Haven
1816 - 1865
LaMont Smith
Born 1972
Mary Berenson
1864 - 1945
Warren Covington
1921 - 1999
Warren Zimmermann
1934 - 2004
Stevie Williams
Born 1979
Paul DiMaggio
Born 1951
Edward Joseph Adams
Born 1944
Richard Theodore Greener
1844 - 1922
William M. Bunn
1842 - 1923
Daniel Kevles
Born 1939
Archer Taylor
1890 - 1973
Gail Kane
1887 - 1966
Jack Bernhard
1914 - 1997
Jay Mehler
Born 1981
Charles Armstrong (rower)
1881 - 1952
Henny Backus
1911 - 2004
Jarvis Tyner
Born 1941
Barbara J. Grosz
Born 1948
Donald Kohn
Born 1942
E. Haldeman-Julius
1889 - 1951
Richard T. Schulze
Born 1929
Calvin Jackson
1919 - 1985
Jeanne Birdsall
Born 1951
Virginia Ramey Mollenkott
1932 - 2020
John Cadwalader (jurist)
1805 - 1879
Max Goberman
1911 - 1962
Gregory Herbert
1947 - 1978
Thomas Morris (New York politician)
1771 - 1849
Carolyn Goodman (politician)
Born 1938
Gerald Early
Born 1952
Lee Felsenstein
Born 1945
David M. O'Connell
Born 1955
Berl Senofsky
1926 - 2002
Howard Schmidt
1949 - 2017
John Howard Van Amringe
1835 - 1915
James Green (bishop)
Born 1950
James Nelson Barker
1784 - 1858
Bob McNeill
Born 1938
Herman Strecker
1836 - 1901
Joseph Dempsey
1875 - 1942
William A. Brock
Born 1941
Samuel Zygmuntowicz
Born 1956
Brandon McManus
Born 1991
Nancy F. Cott
Born 1945
Kirk Simon
1954 - 2018
George Cadwalader
1806 - 1879
J. C. Spink
1972 - 2017
Bob Morse
Born 1951
Robert Leslie Bellem
1902 - 1968
Wayne Hightower
1940 - 2002
Joseph de Pasquale
1919 - 2015
Bob Marcucci
1930 - 2011
Joseph Hopkinson
1770 - 1842
Murray Waas
Born 1961
Arthur Beecher Carles
1882 - 1952
Elliott Cresson
1796 - 1854
Herman Lukoff
1923 - 1979
William Gardner Smith
1927 - 1974
Vivienne Segal
1897 - 1992
Lindsay Pagano
Born 1986
Nathan Fine
1916 - 1994
Maggie Lucas
Born 1991
Rob Hardy
Born 1971
Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Sr.
1874 - 1948
Francis Johnson (composer)
1792 - 1844
Angelo Musi
1918 - 2009
Charles W. Sandman Jr.
1921 - 1985
Ellen Biddle Shipman
1869 - 1950
Francis Ryan
1908 - 1977
William Lashner
Born 1956
Kenneth Frazier
Born 1954
Barry Jenner
1941 - 2016
Catherine Feeny
Born 1976
Julian Williams (boxer)
Born 1990
Joseph Addison Alexander
1809 - 1860
John W. Wells
1907 - 1994
John Grieb
1879 - 1939
Alan Needleman
Born 1944
Hamilton Disston
1844 - 1896
Stephen Goldin
Born 1947
Milton Work
1864 - 1934
Emanual Davis
Born 1968
Frank Shakespeare (rower)
Born 1930
James Kinsey
1731 - 1803
Harry Lott
1880 - 1949
Albert Innaurato
1947 - 2017
Lambert Orkis
Born 1946
George Washington Bush
1779 - 1863
Judi Silvano
Born 1951
Robert Gover
1929 - 2015
Johnny Hotbody
Born 1963
Jackie Moore (basketball)
Born 1932
Herbert Muschamp
1947 - 2007
Eugene Galanter
1924 - 2016
Willie Dennis
1926 - 1965
Nicholas Biddle (naval officer)
1750 - 1778
Arthur Knight (film critic)
1916 - 1991
Thomas Forrest
1747 - 1825
George Rex Graham
1813 - 1894
Dwayne Burno
1970 - 2013
Ramone Moore
Born 1989
Terquin Mott
Born 1974
Earle K. Bergey
1901 - 1952
Lawrence Zazzo
Born 1970
John Adriano Acea
1917 - 1963
Cristin O'Keefe Aptowicz
Born 1978
Dennis DeTurck
Born 1954
Steven Feld
Born 1949
Jonathan Bayard Smith
1742 - 1812
Samuel G. Armistead
1927 - 2013
Joe Burke (composer)
1884 - 1950
Matthew Pratt
1734 - 1805
Bobak Ferdowsi
Born 1979
Karen Abbott
Born 1973
Wesley Morris
Born 1975
Bill Barron (musician)
1927 - 1989
Charles Crumb
1942 - 1992
Kate Braverman
1950 - 2019
Hershy Kay
1919 - 1981
Grace Drayton
1877 - 1936
Michael Francis Burbidge
Born 1957
John Sylvester White
1919 - 1988
Laura Harper (basketball)
Born 1986
Steven Plaut
1951 - 2017
Walter Seltzer
1914 - 2011
Sidney Blatt
1928 - 2014
Henry Shoemaker Conard
1874 - 1971
Rasheim Wright
Born 1981