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: Politician Clear ×
Pat Toomey
Born 1961
Jack Reed (Rhode Island politician)
Born 1949
John Chafee
1922 - 1999
David Cicilline
Born 1961
James Langevin
Born 1964
Theodore F. Green
1867 - 1966
John Pastore
1907 - 2000
Bruce Sundlun
1920 - 2011
Dwight Foster (1757–1823)
1757 - 1823
John Brown (Rhode Island)
1736 - 1803
John H. Clifford
1809 - 1876
Nicholas Cooke
1717 - 1782
Philip Allen (politician)
1785 - 1865
Henry Lippitt
1818 - 1891
James Fenner
1771 - 1846
Samuel G. Arnold
1821 - 1880
Jesse H. Metcalf
1860 - 1942
Charles W. Lippitt
1846 - 1924
Arthur Fenner
1745 - 1805
Elisha Dyer
1811 - 1890
John E. Fogarty
1913 - 1967
James Burrill Jr.
1772 - 1820
Henry F. Lippitt
1856 - 1933
Robert J. Healey
1957 - 2016
Norman S. Case
1888 - 1967
J. Joseph Garrahy
1930 - 2012
Augustus O. Bourn
1834 - 1925
Robert Tiernan
1929 - 2014
Allan Fung
Born 1970
Dennis J. Roberts
1903 - 1994
Charles D. Kimball
1859 - 1930
Elisha Dyer Jr.
1839 - 1906
Jeremiah B. Howell
1771 - 1822
Jorge Elorza
Born 1976
Gordon Fox
Born 1961
Daniel L. D. Granger
1852 - 1909
Christopher C. Bowen
1832 - 1880
Edward Beard
Born 1940
William Sprague (Michigan)
1809 - 1868
Grattan H. Wheeler
1783 - 1852
Henry J. Spooner
1839 - 1918
Thomas Wilson Dorr
1805 - 1854
Henry Smith (Rhode Island)
1766 - 1818
Thomas B. Dunn
1853 - 1924
John A. Notte Jr.
1909 - 1983
Harry Sandager
1887 - 1955
Elisha Jenkins
1772 - 1849
William Cahoon
1774 - 1833
Nehemiah Knight
1746 - 1808
Charles J. Fogarty
Born 1955
Elijah Babbitt
1795 - 1887
William S. Flynn
1885 - 1966
Deedee Corradini
1944 - 2015
Richard Jackson Jr.
1764 - 1838
William Walaska
1946 - 2017
Arthur W. Dennis
1846 - 1920
Clarence G. Burton
1886 - 1982
Richard A. Licht
Born 1948
Thomas R. DiLuglio
Born 1931
Frank T. Caprio
Born 1966
Thomas A. Doyle (mayor)
1827 - 1886
Giovanni Folcarelli
1926 - 1982
Joseph McNamara (Rhode Island politician)
Born 1950
Nicholas Mattiello
Born 1963
Peter Palumbo (politician)
Born 1961
Raymond Gallison
Born 1952
Joshua Miller (politician)
Born 1954
Michael McCaffrey
Born 1963
Michael Chippendale
Born 1969
Daniel Owen (Rhode Island)
1732 - 1812
John DeSimone
Born 1960
Frank Ciccone
Born 1947
Robert Jacquard
Born 1958
Michael Marcello
Born 1968
Maryellen Goodwin
Born 1964
Dominick J. Ruggerio
Born 1948
Mary Pat Clarke
Born 1941
Daniel Da Ponte
Born 1978
Paul Fogarty
Born 1957
Aldo Tatangelo
1913 - 2008
Paul Jabour
Born 1956
Gary Lambert (politician)
Born 1959
Thomas C. Slater
1945 - 2009
Walter R. Danforth
1787 - 1861
Thomas M. Burgess
1806 - 1856
Frank Lombardi
-
Thomas Winfield
Born 1963
Elaine Coderre
Born 1947
Thomas Palangio
Born 1962
Robert Q. Crane
1926 - 2018
Joe Polisena
Born 1954
Eileen S. Naughton
Born 1945
Deb Ruggiero
Born 1958
Joe Trillo
Born 1943
Sherry Appleton
Born 1942
Leanna Brown
1935 - 2016
Ryan W. Pearson
Born 1988
Steven M. Costantino
Born 1957
Joanne Giannini
Born 1953
Amos C. Barstow
1813 - 1894
Edwin D. McGuinness
1856 - 1901
George E. Barstow
1849 - 1924
Moira Walsh
Born 1990
Ralph Metcalf (Washington politician)
1861 - 1939
Edward P. Knowles
1805 - 1881
Melvin T. Mason
-
Kevin Poirier
Born 1940
Nathaniel W. Smith
1873 - 1957
John Bucklin
1773 - 1844
John C. Revens Jr.
Born 1947
Judith Spang
Born 1946
Ray Fogarty
1957 - 2018
William O. Head
1859 - 1931
Cynthia Chase
Born 1943
Oliver B. Munroe
Born 1856
J. Clement Cicilline
Born 1940