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
- Field: Lawyer Clear ×
Stephen Hopkins (politician)
1707 - 1785
Henry Wheaton
1785 - 1848
Thomas E. Donilon
Born 1955
Jabez Bowen
1739 - 1815
Zachariah Allen
1795 - 1882
Emery D. Potter
1804 - 1896
Jonathan Arnold
1741 - 1793
Frank Licht
1916 - 1987
Zechariah Chafee
1885 - 1957
Lewis E. Payson
1840 - 1909
Christopher Del Sesto
1907 - 1973
Alexis Caswell Angell
1857 - 1932
John S. McKiernan
1911 - 1997
Elias Keyes
1758 - 1844
Bruce M. Selya
Born 1934
Frank Caprio (judge)
Born 1936
Caleb Baker
1762 - 1849
Brendan Sullivan
Born 1942
Bernard Jackvony
Born 1945
George B. Francis
1883 - 1967
William Donnison Ford
1779 - 1833
John Lynch (Pennsylvania)
1843 - 1910
Paul J. Barbadoro
Born 1955
Albert Gorton Greene
1802 - 1868
Arlene Violet
Born 1943
Patrick Lynch (Rhode Island attorney general)
Born 1965
Ann Aldrich
1927 - 2010
John J. McConnell Jr.
Born 1958
John Pitman (judge)
1785 - 1864
Joseph R. Paolino Jr.
Born 1955
Joe Cavanagh
Born 1948
William P. Robinson III
-
Herbert F. DeSimone
1929 - 2013
Mary M. Lisi
Born 1950
Edward McEntee
1906 - 1981
Gilbert V. Indeglia
Born 1941
Francis Flaherty (judge)
Born 1947
John Power Knowles
1808 - 1887
Edward P. Gallogly
1919 - 1995
Horatio Rogers Jr.
1836 - 1904
Mary S. McElroy
Born 1965
Vincent Ragosta
1924 - 2017
Joseph R. Weisberger
1920 - 2012
John Patrick Hartigan
1887 - 1968
Louis W. Cappelli
1894 - 1966
Robert Alexander Inch
1873 - 1961
John F. Collins (mayor of Providence)
1872 - 1962
Arthur Lewis Brown
1854 - 1928
David Jagolinzer
-
Leonard Decof
1924 - 2010
Stanford Newel
1839 - 1907
Raymond James Pettine
1912 - 2003
Francis Joseph Boyle
1927 - 2006
Samuel Ames (jurist)
1806 - 1865