41.7866° N, 71.5578° W
PROVIDENCE
Most Famous People Born in Providence, United States
- Notable people
- 736
- Peak decade
- 1940s
- Median birth year
- 1927
- Most distinctive
- Bank 5.8×
Providence's Bank bench is what's left of the old Rhode Island mercantile and textile fortunes that built Federal Hill and the Brown family empire, with a Lawyer class drawn from the same patrician pipeline. The Baseball count reaches back to the Providence Grays of the 1880s, while a modern RISD-and-Brown creative vein runs through the Music and Screenwriter lines — Damien Chazelle and a thick seam of film composers.
One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Providence during each.
Notable Births by Decade
Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 86 notable births.
What Providence Is Known For
Click any row to filter the list of people below.
Politician is Providence's biggest profession — 16% of all notables (116).
Providence over-indexes on bank — 5.8× the global rate.
Providence under-produces football — only 0.3× the global rate.
Profession Mix Over Time
Each band shows a profession family's share of Providence's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.
- Politics & Law
- Sports
- Film & TV
- Writing
- Music
- Science
- Other
- Filtered to 1890s Clear ×
H. P. Lovecraft
1890 - 1937
George Schuyler
1895 - 1977
Clara Thompson
1893 - 1958
Gilbert Pratt
1892 - 1954
George Boas
1891 - 1980
Eugene Forde
1898 - 1986
Norman Taber
1891 - 1952
Marian Chace
1896 - 1970
William C. Chase
1895 - 1986
R. H. Ives Gammell
1893 - 1981
C. M. Eddy Jr.
1896 - 1967
Alvin Loftes
1891 - 1971
Sammy White (actor)
1894 - 1960
Walter Irving Scott
1895 - 1995
Mildred Barker
1897 - 1990
Pard Pearce
1896 - 1974
Frederic Whitaker
1891 - 1980
George R. Batcheller
1892 - 1938
Ruth Shepley
1892 - 1951
Everett M. "Busy" Arnold
1899 - 1974
Edward A. Gisburne
1892 - 1955
Dinty Gearin
1897 - 1959
Louis W. Cappelli
1894 - 1966
Bill Connor (American football)
1899 - 1980
Francis E. Ormsbee Jr.
1892 - 1936
Courtland Pollard
1899 - 1977