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.

Through the Decades

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 bank5.8× the global rate.

Providence under-produces football — only 0.3× the global rate.

  1. Politician116
  2. Lawyer54
  3. Actor50
  4. Baseball39
  5. Football22
  6. Music20
  7. Writer17
  8. Painter17
  1. Bank75.8×
  2. Baseball394.7×
  3. Lawyer544.2×
  4. Boxer82.7×
  5. Officer112.3×
  6. Screenwriter72.2×
  7. Diplomat92.1×
  8. Music201.9×
  1. Football220.3×

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.

1700175018001850190019502000
  • Politics & Law
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Writing
  • Music
  • Science
  • Other
Politician116
Sort By

Showing 116 of 736 notable people

0008 POLITICIAN

Pat Toomey

Born 1961

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0023 POLITICIAN

Jack Reed (Rhode Island politician)

Born 1949

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0025 POLITICIAN

John Chafee

1922 - 1999

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0030 POLITICIAN

David Cicilline

Born 1961

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0033 POLITICIAN

James Langevin

Born 1964

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0059 POLITICIAN

Theodore F. Green

1867 - 1966

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0083 POLITICIAN

John Pastore

1907 - 2000

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0089 POLITICIAN

Bruce Sundlun

1920 - 2011

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0107 POLITICIAN

Dwight Foster (1757–1823)

1757 - 1823

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0113 POLITICIAN

John Brown (Rhode Island)

1736 - 1803

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0120 POLITICIAN

John H. Clifford

1809 - 1876

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0121 POLITICIAN

Nicholas Cooke

1717 - 1782

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0123 POLITICIAN

Philip Allen (politician)

1785 - 1865

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0124 POLITICIAN

Henry Lippitt

1818 - 1891

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0125 POLITICIAN

James Fenner

1771 - 1846

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0129 POLITICIAN

Samuel G. Arnold

1821 - 1880

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0135 POLITICIAN

Jesse H. Metcalf

1860 - 1942

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0141 POLITICIAN

Charles W. Lippitt

1846 - 1924

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0145 POLITICIAN

Arthur Fenner

1745 - 1805

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0147 POLITICIAN

Elisha Dyer

1811 - 1890

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0148 POLITICIAN

John E. Fogarty

1913 - 1967

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0159 POLITICIAN

James Burrill Jr.

1772 - 1820

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0164 POLITICIAN

Henry F. Lippitt

1856 - 1933

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0165 POLITICIAN

Robert J. Healey

1957 - 2016

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0167 POLITICIAN

Norman S. Case

1888 - 1967

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0181 POLITICIAN

J. Joseph Garrahy

1930 - 2012

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0182 POLITICIAN

Augustus O. Bourn

1834 - 1925

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0191 POLITICIAN

Robert Tiernan

1929 - 2014

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0193 POLITICIAN

Allan Fung

Born 1970

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0194 POLITICIAN

Dennis J. Roberts

1903 - 1994

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0199 POLITICIAN

Charles D. Kimball

1859 - 1930

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0212 POLITICIAN

Elisha Dyer Jr.

1839 - 1906

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0213 POLITICIAN

Jeremiah B. Howell

1771 - 1822

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0215 POLITICIAN

Jorge Elorza

Born 1976

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0216 POLITICIAN

Gordon Fox

Born 1961

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0224 POLITICIAN

Daniel L. D. Granger

1852 - 1909

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0227 POLITICIAN

Christopher C. Bowen

1832 - 1880

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0246 POLITICIAN

Edward Beard

Born 1940

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0250 POLITICIAN

William Sprague (Michigan)

1809 - 1868

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0255 POLITICIAN

Grattan H. Wheeler

1783 - 1852

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0259 POLITICIAN

Henry J. Spooner

1839 - 1918

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0261 POLITICIAN

Thomas Wilson Dorr

1805 - 1854

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0263 POLITICIAN

Henry Smith (Rhode Island)

1766 - 1818

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0264 POLITICIAN

Thomas B. Dunn

1853 - 1924

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0273 POLITICIAN

John A. Notte Jr.

1909 - 1983

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0276 POLITICIAN

Harry Sandager

1887 - 1955

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0281 POLITICIAN

Elisha Jenkins

1772 - 1849

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0299 POLITICIAN

William Cahoon

1774 - 1833

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0300 POLITICIAN

Nehemiah Knight

1746 - 1808

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0301 POLITICIAN

Charles J. Fogarty

Born 1955

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0302 POLITICIAN

Elijah Babbitt

1795 - 1887

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0311 POLITICIAN

William S. Flynn

1885 - 1966

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0320 POLITICIAN

Deedee Corradini

1944 - 2015

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0321 POLITICIAN

Richard Jackson Jr.

1764 - 1838

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0338 POLITICIAN

William Walaska

1946 - 2017

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0340 POLITICIAN

Arthur W. Dennis

1846 - 1920

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0344 POLITICIAN

Clarence G. Burton

1886 - 1982

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0346 POLITICIAN

Richard A. Licht

Born 1948

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0347 POLITICIAN

Thomas R. DiLuglio

Born 1931

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0364 POLITICIAN

Frank T. Caprio

Born 1966

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0370 POLITICIAN

Thomas A. Doyle (mayor)

1827 - 1886

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0373 POLITICIAN

Giovanni Folcarelli

1926 - 1982

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0381 POLITICIAN

Joseph McNamara (Rhode Island politician)

Born 1950

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0391 POLITICIAN

Nicholas Mattiello

Born 1963

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0404 POLITICIAN

Peter Palumbo (politician)

Born 1961

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0415 POLITICIAN

Raymond Gallison

Born 1952

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0421 POLITICIAN

Joshua Miller (politician)

Born 1954

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0427 POLITICIAN

Michael McCaffrey

Born 1963

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0432 POLITICIAN

Michael Chippendale

Born 1969

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0436 POLITICIAN

Daniel Owen (Rhode Island)

1732 - 1812

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0452 POLITICIAN

John DeSimone

Born 1960

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0458 POLITICIAN

Frank Ciccone

Born 1947

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0459 POLITICIAN

Robert Jacquard

Born 1958

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0464 POLITICIAN

Michael Marcello

Born 1968

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0477 POLITICIAN

Maryellen Goodwin

Born 1964

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0478 POLITICIAN

Dominick J. Ruggerio

Born 1948

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0482 POLITICIAN

Mary Pat Clarke

Born 1941

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0488 POLITICIAN

Daniel Da Ponte

Born 1978

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0490 POLITICIAN

Paul Fogarty

Born 1957

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0493 POLITICIAN

Aldo Tatangelo

1913 - 2008

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0494 POLITICIAN

Paul Jabour

Born 1956

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0501 POLITICIAN

Gary Lambert (politician)

Born 1959

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0504 POLITICIAN

Thomas C. Slater

1945 - 2009

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0505 POLITICIAN

Walter R. Danforth

1787 - 1861

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0507 POLITICIAN

Thomas M. Burgess

1806 - 1856

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0508 POLITICIAN

Frank Lombardi

-

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0512 POLITICIAN

Thomas Winfield

Born 1963

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0518 POLITICIAN

Elaine Coderre

Born 1947

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0525 POLITICIAN

Thomas Palangio

Born 1962

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0543 POLITICIAN

Robert Q. Crane

1926 - 2018

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0549 POLITICIAN

Joe Polisena

Born 1954

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0553 POLITICIAN

Eileen S. Naughton

Born 1945

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0555 POLITICIAN

Deb Ruggiero

Born 1958

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0569 POLITICIAN

Joe Trillo

Born 1943

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0573 POLITICIAN

Sherry Appleton

Born 1942

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0575 POLITICIAN

Leanna Brown

1935 - 2016

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0577 POLITICIAN

Ryan W. Pearson

Born 1988

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0593 POLITICIAN

Steven M. Costantino

Born 1957

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0604 POLITICIAN

Joanne Giannini

Born 1953

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0607 POLITICIAN

Amos C. Barstow

1813 - 1894

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0617 POLITICIAN

Edwin D. McGuinness

1856 - 1901

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0627 POLITICIAN

George E. Barstow

1849 - 1924

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0635 POLITICIAN

Moira Walsh

Born 1990

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0647 POLITICIAN

Ralph Metcalf (Washington politician)

1861 - 1939

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0652 POLITICIAN

Edward P. Knowles

1805 - 1881

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0658 POLITICIAN

Melvin T. Mason

-

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0667 POLITICIAN

Kevin Poirier

Born 1940

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0679 POLITICIAN

Nathaniel W. Smith

1873 - 1957

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0692 POLITICIAN

John Bucklin

1773 - 1844

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0702 POLITICIAN

John C. Revens Jr.

Born 1947

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0712 POLITICIAN

Judith Spang

Born 1946

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0714 POLITICIAN

Ray Fogarty

1957 - 2018

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0716 POLITICIAN

William O. Head

1859 - 1931

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0731 POLITICIAN

Cynthia Chase

Born 1943

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0732 POLITICIAN

Oliver B. Munroe

Born 1856

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0736 POLITICIAN

J. Clement Cicilline

Born 1940

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