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
Allan C. Durborow Jr.
1857 - 1908
Duane Clark
Born 1965
Howard Lassoff
1955 - 2013
Henry Boyle (baseball)
1860 - 1932
Brian T. Delaney
-
Charles Horter
Born 1947
Edward Jennings (rowing)
1898 - 1975
Tyreek Duren
Born 1991
Ralph Tamm
Born 1966
Bill McCahan
1921 - 1986
Hank Lundy
Born 1984
Michael Cuffee
Born 1983
Condy Raguet
1784 - 1842
Héctor Feliciano
Born 1952
Richard Wurtman
Born 1936
Edward H. Amet
1860 - 1948
Eliza Leslie
1787 - 1858
Amos Strunk
1889 - 1979
Martina White
Born 1988
Jackie Verdell
1937 - 2002
William Henry Lippincott
1849 - 1920
Craig Biddle
1879 - 1947
Maurice Francis Egan
1852 - 1924
John Brewer Brown
1836 - 1898
Edwin Pearce Christy
1815 - 1862
Harry H. Seldomridge
1864 - 1927
Bill Boggs
Born 1941
Charles Biddle
1745 - 1821
Sumi Tonooka
Born 1956
Richard Seminack
1942 - 2016
Georgia Tann
1891 - 1950
Raymond Pace Alexander
1898 - 1974
Gilbert Lewis (actor)
1941 - 2015
Arno Karlen
1937 - 2010
Bob Delegall
1945 - 2006
Jay Rosen (drummer)
Born 1961
Eleanor C. Donnelly
1838 - 1917
Elizabeth Topham Kennan
Born 1938
Ray Staszak
Born 1962
Bootsie Barnes
Died 2020
Ellendea Proffer
Born 1944
Ralph Morgan (basketball)
1884 - 1965
William Wright (author)
1930 - 2016
Francis Wilson (actor)
1854 - 1935
Pete Welding
1935 - 1995
David Leebron
Born 1956
Jim Bailey (entertainer)
1949 - 2015
AR-Ab
Born 1982
Ann Carr
Born 1958
Job Roberts Tyson
1803 - 1858
Walter Weyl
1873 - 1919
Daylin Leach
Born 1961
George Washington Toland
1796 - 1869
William Eckart Lehman
1821 - 1895
James Cutbush
1788 - 1823
Bob Brooks
1927 - 2012
P. Jackson Darlington, Jr.
1904 - 1983
Norman Clyde
1885 - 1972
George W. Cheyney
1853 - 1903
Matthew Drutt
Born 1962
Frank Meeink
Born 1975
Margaret Lesley Bush-Brown
1857 - 1944
George Brunner (composer)
Born 1951
Philip Tinari
Born 1979
José Antonio Rivera
Born 1973
John J. Taylor (Pennsylvania politician)
Born 1955
Dave Patten
Born 1988
F. M. Howarth
1864 - 1908
Nancy Hendrickson
Born 1950
Jacob Needleman
Born 1934
Mike Jones (boxer)
Born 1983
Ralph Harris (comedian)
-
Rosanne Somerson
Born 1954
Clare G. Fenerty
1895 - 1952
Paul Chernoff
1942 - 2017
Jeff Segal
Born 1985
William Millward
1822 - 1871
Charles Ross (artist)
Born 1937
Samuel Bard (physician)
1742 - 1821
Arlin M. Adams
1921 - 2015
Robert Woodson
Born 1937
Lynne Abraham
Born 1941
Frederick Newmeyer
Born 1944
Mike Jarmoluk
1922 - 2004
Charles Pettigrew
1963 - 2001
Jamilia Craft
Born 1991
Tom Killion
Born 1957
Frank Stefanko
Born 1946
Jane Richards Roth
Born 1935
John Penn ("the American")
1700 - 1746
Mark Yudof
Born 1944
Henry Singlewood Bisbing
1849 - 1919
Graham Salisbury
Born 1944
Patrick Quinn
1950 - 2006
Adele Ritchie
1874 - 1930
William Dodge (bobsleigh)
1925 - 1987
Justin Herman
1907 - 1983
Michael A. Harrison
-
George Yancy
Born 1961
Cornelia Adair
1837 - 1921
Robert Geddes (architect)
Born 1923
Buster West
1901 - 1966
Richard Maynard (television producer)
1942 - 2007
Henry Lorenz Viereck
1881 - 1931
Frank Wycheck
Born 1971
Howard Lanin
1897 - 1991
Charles F. Dougherty
Born 1937
Dorothy Green (tennis)
1897 - 1964
Oscar Fraley
1914 - 1994
Malerie Marder
Born 1971
Anna Whelan Betts
1875 - 1952
Joseph F. Smith (Pennsylvania politician)
1920 - 1999
Howard Schachman
1918 - 2016
Jimmie Baker (basketball)
Born 1953
Virginia Knauer
1915 - 2011
John Wood (congressman)
1816 - 1898
John Marzano
1963 - 2008
Cory Wade Hindorff
Born 1990
Roger D. Abrahams
1933 - 2017
Edwin Byrne
1891 - 1963
Michael Iaconelli
Born 1972
Chris Heinrich
Born 1977
Harry Fritz
1890 - 1974
Josh Boyd
Born 1989
George Howard Earle Jr.
1856 - 1928
Robert N. McGarvey
1888 - 1952
Judith Orloff
Born 1951
Henry Brown Floyd MacFarland
1861 - 1921
Gustavus Town Kirby
1874 - 1956
Sally Wister
1761 - 1804
Ayoka Chenzira
Born 1953
Alice Gale
1858 - 1941
Jeff Jones (activist)
Born 1947
Henry Louis Stephens
1824 - 1883
Dick Harlow
1889 - 1962
Sam Kimber
1854 - 1925
Philip Jamison
Born 1925
Raheem Brock
Born 1978
Bill Whitaker (journalist)
Born 1951
Frank Chirkinian
1926 - 2011
Fayette Pinkney
1948 - 2009
George Winokur
1925 - 1996
John J. McIntyre (bishop)
Born 1963
Xanthus Russell Smith
1839 - 1929
Kenneth Sokoloff
1952 - 2007
Mary Meigs
1917 - 2002
Chapman Freeman
1832 - 1904
Charles Mitchell Thomas
1846 - 1908
A. Edward Newton
1863 - 1940
William Draper Lewis
1867 - 1949
Melissa Bulanhagui
Born 1990
Jacob Swoope
1770 - 1832
Freaky Flow
Born 1977
James Hugh Joseph Tate
1910 - 1983
James Landy
1813 - 1875
William Ward (Pennsylvania)
1837 - 1895
Alexander H. Leighton
1908 - 2007
Major Jackson
Born 1968
Marion Boulton Stroud
1939 - 2015
Dolores Donlon
1920 - 2012
Mark K. Updegrove
Born 1961
Jeff Barnes
Born 1955
John V. Creely
1839 - 1900
Willie L. Williams
1943 - 2016
William Sitgreaves Cox
1790 - 1874
Susanne Mentzer
Born 1957
Virginia Kidd
1921 - 2003
Sarah Mapps Douglass
1806 - 1882
Eric Gregg
1951 - 2006
Lloyd Quarterman
1918 - 1982
Charlie Brown (boxer)
Born 1958
Sharon Louden
Born 1964
James Hankins
Born 1955
Cherokee Fisher
1844 - 1912
George P. Scriven
1854 - 1940
Azalia Snail
-
Daniel H. Miller
Died 1846
Jowharah Jones
Born 1982
Kermit Lipez
Born 1941
Bonnie Sherr Klein
Born 1941
Charles Alan Wright
1927 - 2000
William Bradford Reed
1806 - 1876
Jacob Landau (artist)
1917 - 2001
Tyler Fullington
Born 1989
Lewis Packard
1836 - 1884
Cary Nelson
Born 1946
Deborah Batts
1947 - 2020
Marc Brickman
Born 1953
Justin Levens
1980 - 2008
Orator Shafer
1851 - 1922
Minnie Palmer
1860 - 1936
R. H. Robertson
1849 - 1919
Lorene Cary
Born 1957
Sally Engle Merry
1944 - 2020
Hasaan Ibn Ali
1931 - 1980
Bob Gibson (1980s pitcher)
Born 1957
Tom Hamilton Jr.
Born 1978
Joseph Parrish Thompson
1819 - 1879
Robert Donatucci
1952 - 2010
Jimmy Rowser
1926 - 2004
Chuck Clark
Born 1995
Barry Schwartz (sociologist)
Born 1938
Ray Fulmer
Born 1933
Cadwalader Morris
1741 - 1795
Leonard Silk
1918 - 1995
Thomas Allibone Janvier
1849 - 1913
George Avery (professor)
1927 - 2004
Howard Shelanski
Born 1964
Gerald M. Levin
Born 1939
Edward L. Stokes
1880 - 1964
Joe Battin
1852 - 1937
Earl Chudoff
1907 - 1993
Ray Didinger
Born 1946
Carolyn Haywood
1898 - 1990
John Fox (basket-ball)
Born 1965
Malik B.
1972 - 2020
Harry Swayne
Born 1965
Mary Norris Dickinson
1740 - 1803
Michael J. Bradley
1897 - 1979
Joe Maneely
1926 - 1958
Chris McKendry
Born 1968
Leo Braudy
Born 1941
Bernard Waber
1924 - 2013
Roger David Nussbaum
Born 1944
William Herrmann (gymnast)
1912 - 2003
Clayton Barney Vogel
1882 - 1964
Warren Teitelman
1941 - 2013
Ethel Franklin Betts
1877 - 1959
May Howard Jackson
1877 - 1931
Steve Bisciotti
Born 1960
Henry Darwin Rogers
1808 - 1866
Linda Lee Alter
Born 1939
Howard Hendricks
1924 - 2013
James Lee Stanley
Born 1946
Chicita F. Culberson
Born 1931
Anna Rosemond
1886 - 1966
E. W. Etchells
1911 - 1998
Raj Bhakta
Born 1975
George Tyne
1917 - 2008
Randy Cain
1945 - 2009
Dolores Sloviter
Born 1932
James Bryson
Born 1971
William H. Milliken Jr.
1897 - 1969
Emerson Treacy
1900 - 1967
Mildred Walker
1905 - 1998
Da'Shawn Hand
Born 1995
Amit Schejter
Born 1961
Adele Griffin
Born 1970
Michael Corbett (actor)
Born 1956
Craig Wadsworth
1872 - 1960
Dave Miller (producer)
1925 - 1985
Thomas Biddle
1790 - 1831
Randy Brock
Born 1943
Judith Shea
Born 1948
Felice Pazner Malkin
Born 1929
Jerry Blavat
Born 1940
Edward Biberman
1904 - 1986
Katie McGinty
Born 1963
Dewey Johnson
1939 - 2018
Dick Spalding
1893 - 1950
Owen Biddle Sr.
1737 - 1799
Lauren Willig
Born 1977
Andy Stapp
1944 - 2014
Andrew Sherman
Born 1961
Gary H. Gibbons
-
Henry Benbridge
1743 - 1812
Starletta DuPois
Born 1941
Daniel Carmick
1772 - 1816
Jack H. Harris
1918 - 2017
George Landenberger
1879 - 1936
Isaiah Wilson
Born 1948
Peter Courtney
Born 1943
Leon Sacks
1902 - 1972
Olaf Storaasli
Born 1943
Michael Schoettle
Born 1936
John Guier Scott
1819 - 1892
Sidney Glazier
1916 - 2002
Al Jones (drummer)
1930 - 1976
Jonathan H. Adler
Born 1969
Kelly Cassidy
-
Jake Fogelnest
Born 1979
Marvin Kaye
Born 1938
Tanya Berezin
Born 1941
William Anastasi
Born 1933
Steve Tobin
Born 1957
Paul Joseph Nussbaum
1870 - 1935
Crawford Ker
Born 1962
Roscoe Drummond
1902 - 1983
Ernest Hilbert
Born 1970
William H. Wilson
1877 - 1937
James A. Gallagher
1869 - 1957
Victoria Carroll
Born 1940
Joe Bonsall
Born 1948
Lucky Oceans
Born 1951
Lud Wray
1894 - 1967
Francis R. Smith
1911 - 1982
Emlen Etting
1905 - 1993
Joe Stefanelli (painter)
1921 - 2017
Chuck Brodsky
Born 1960
Charles Bingham Penrose
1862 - 1925