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
Charles J. Fogarty
Born 1955
Elijah Babbitt
1795 - 1887
Kali Reis
Born 1986
Paul Guay
Born 1963
Sylvester Mowry
1830 - 1871
Eugene Kingman
1909 - 1975
David Kessler (writer)
Born 1959
William B. Greenough III
Born 1932
Joey Archibald
1914 - 1998
Harold G. Bowen Sr.
1883 - 1965
William S. Flynn
1885 - 1966
Tom Adams (illustrator)
1926 - 2019
Steve Furness
1950 - 2000
Paul Michael
1927 - 2011
Gerald Kilmartin
1927 - 1970
Hurd Curtis Willett
1903 - 1992
David Snow (composer)
Born 1954
Clara LaMore
Born 1926
Frank Caprio (judge)
Born 1936
Deedee Corradini
1944 - 2015
Richard Jackson Jr.
1764 - 1838
James Francis Ross
1931 - 2010
Harold Gomes
Born 1933
Eddie Zack
1922 - 2002
George Thurber
1821 - 1890
Lucien Cardin
1919 - 1988
Caleb Baker
1762 - 1849
David O. Carter
Born 1944
Brendan Sullivan
Born 1942
Bruce Gertz
Born 1952
Pat LaMarche
Born 1960
Bernard Jackvony
Born 1945
Kevin R. Stone
Born 1955
Chester Holmes Aldrich
1871 - 1940
Arlene Croce
Born 1934
Mildred Aldrich
1853 - 1928
Sammy White (actor)
1894 - 1960
William Walaska
1946 - 2017
George B. Francis
1883 - 1967
Arthur W. Dennis
1846 - 1920
William Donnison Ford
1779 - 1833
John Lynch (Pennsylvania)
1843 - 1910
Theo Martins
Born 1987
Clarence G. Burton
1886 - 1982
Matt Godfrey
Born 1981
Richard A. Licht
Born 1948
Thomas R. DiLuglio
Born 1931
Robert Ellis Smith
1940 - 2018
Rita Charon
Born 1949
Sam Daly
Born 1984
Mark Ebner
Born 1959
Paul J. Barbadoro
Born 1955
David Plante
Born 1940
Charles Ansbacher
1942 - 2010
Joe Osmanski
1917 - 1993
Gavin Russom
Born 1974
George Andrews (adjutant general)
1850 - 1928
John Nicholas Brown I
1861 - 1900
Gordon Clifford (lyricist)
1902 - 1968
William Hamlin
1772 - 1869
Stuart Sherman (artist)
1945 - 2001
Andre Soukhamthath
Born 1988
Martha Rockwell
Born 1944
Frank T. Caprio
Born 1966
Solomon Drowne
1753 - 1834
Louisa Chafee
Born 1991
William Henry Allen
1784 - 1813
William Stevens Perry
1832 - 1898
Brad Barr
Born 1975
Thomas A. Doyle (mayor)
1827 - 1886
Walter Irving Scott
1895 - 1995
Aaron Fricke
Born 1962
Giovanni Folcarelli
1926 - 1982
Leon J. LaPorte
Born 1946
David Nason
Born 1970
Albert Gorton Greene
1802 - 1868
Angelo Cataldi
Born 1951
Barbara Henry
Born 1932
Eleanor Winsor Leach
1937 - 2018
Mary Cantwell
1930 - 2000
Joseph McNamara (Rhode Island politician)
Born 1950
Tom Cotter (comedian)
Born 1963
Harvey N. Davis
1881 - 1952
Timothy Donnelly
Born 1969
Sarah Elizabeth Doyle
1830 - 1922
Alex Ottiano
Born 1976
Susan Wilson
Born 1951
Michael Langan
Born 1984
Ernest Bertrand Boland
Born 1925
Ed Daily
1862 - 1891
Nicholas Mattiello
Born 1963
James Goodby
Born 1929
John Higgins (swimmer)
1916 - 2004
Job Scott
1751 - 1793
Francis Xavier Roque
1928 - 2019
Arlene Violet
Born 1943
Mildred Barker
1897 - 1990
Patrick Lynch (Rhode Island attorney general)
Born 1965
Tim Regan (ice hockey)
Born 1949
Paul Geremia
Born 1944
Edwards Amasa Park
1808 - 1900
Israel Angell
1740 - 1832
Reuben Phillips (musician)
1920 - 1974
Peter Palumbo (politician)
Born 1961
Seth Luther
1795 - 1863
Marcus Waterman
1834 - 1914
Godfrey Chevalier
1889 - 1922
Charles De Wolf Brownell
1822 - 1909
Paul Allen (editor)
1775 - 1826
Dorothy Stowe
1920 - 2010
Edwin R. Phillips
1872 - 1915
Lucy Aldrich
1869 - 1955
Morris H. Morgan
1859 - 1910
John Dwyer (musician)
Born 1974
Raymond Gallison
Born 1952
Pard Pearce
1896 - 1974
Tad Devine
Born 1955
Mike Renzi
Born 1946
Maxwell Mays
1918 - 2009
Raymond Patriarca Jr.
Born 1945
Joshua Miller (politician)
Born 1954
Dick Meldonian
1930 - 2017
Anne Marie Schleiner
Born 1970
Ida James
1920 - 1986
Anthony Cipriano
Born 1975
Andy Coakley
1882 - 1963
Michael McCaffrey
Born 1963
Frederick Irving
1921 - 2016
Simon Ostrach
1923 - 2017
Frank Paparelli
1917 - 1973
Peter Pezzelli
Born 1959
Michael Chippendale
Born 1969
Lyman W.V. Kennon
1858 - 1918
John Edward Costigan
1888 - 1972
Ann Aldrich
1927 - 2010
Daniel Owen (Rhode Island)
1732 - 1812
Anders Weiss
Born 1992
Merrill Chase
1905 - 2004
Ira Rakatansky
1919 - 2014
Irving Stowe
1915 - 1974
Bill Godbout
1939 - 2018
Eric Paul
Born 1974
Edwin Monroe Bacon
1844 - 1916
Charles K. Gifford
Born 1942
Brad Adamonis
Born 1973
Samuel N. Mitchell
1846 - 1905
Bruce MacCombie
1943 - 2012
Jane Boit Patten
1869 - 1964
Les Damon
1908 - 1962
Gary Balletto
Born 1975
Dorothy Lovett
1915 - 1998
John DeSimone
Born 1960
Barbara P. McCarthy
1904 - 1988
Frederic Poole Gorham
1871 - 1933
Katelyn Bouyssou
Born 1994
Goold Brown
1791 - 1857
Ryan Maduro
Born 1986
Frank Ciccone
Born 1947
Robert Jacquard
Born 1958
Frederic Whitaker
1891 - 1980
Matt McCarthy (comedian)
Born 1979
Allen W. Phillips
1922 - 2011
Harold Brown (Rhode Island)
1863 - 1900
Michael Marcello
Born 1968
Augustus Hoppin
1828 - 1896
Al Del Greco
Born 1962
Robert Hale Ives Goddard
1837 - 1916
Knuckles Nelson
Born 1963
Peter McCullough
Born 1964
Nico Colaluca
Born 1986
Maggie Siner
-
George Burgess (bishop)
1809 - 1866
Howard Fine
Born 1958
Bob Eastwood
Born 1946
Frederick William Thomas (writer)
1806 - 1866
Gavin Rayna Russom
Born 1974
Maryellen Goodwin
Born 1964
Dominick J. Ruggerio
Born 1948
Keith Champagne
Born 1970
George R. Batcheller
1892 - 1938
D Prosper
-
Mary Pat Clarke
Born 1941
Soenghyang
Born 1948
Sean Soriano
Born 1989
Charles E. Bennett (scholar)
1858 - 1921
Leila Feinstein
Born 1972
Herbert Fink
1921 - 2006
Daniel Da Ponte
Born 1978
Richard Gingras
Born 1952
Paul Fogarty
Born 1957
Frank E. Winsor
1870 - 1939
Jean McGarry
Born 1948
Aldo Tatangelo
1913 - 2008
Paul Jabour
Born 1956
John J. McConnell Jr.
Born 1958
John Pitman (judge)
1785 - 1864
Steve Trotter
Born 1962
Tom Lovett
1863 - 1928
Daniel Farrands
Born 1969
James Mason Hoppin
1820 - 1906
Gary Lambert (politician)
Born 1959
Ray Jarvis (baseball)
1946 - 2020
Annette Nazareth
Born 1956
Thomas C. Slater
1945 - 2009
Walter R. Danforth
1787 - 1861
Bill Sandeman
Born 1942
Thomas M. Burgess
1806 - 1856
Frank Lombardi
-
Joseph Whipple Jr.
1687 - 1750
Scott Stratton
1869 - 1939
Harry Cicma
Born 1982
Thomas Winfield
Born 1963
John Osborne Austin
1849 - 1918
Joseph A. Bevilacqua Sr.
1918 - 1989
Elizabeth Pepper
1923 - 2005
Richard Holcomb
Born 1976
Harry Clark (actor)
1910 - 1956
Elaine Coderre
Born 1947
Pat Duff
1875 - 1925
Harry Bryden
Born 1946
Donald Kushner
Born 1945
Joe Mulvey
1858 - 1928
Henry Lodge (musicien)
1885 - 1933
Joseph R. Paolino Jr.
Born 1955
Thomas Palangio
Born 1962
Edgar Chandler (minister)
1904 - 1988
Joe Cavanagh
Born 1948
Paul Briggs (American football)
1920 - 2011
Steve Nardella
Born 1948
Maurice Davis
1921 - 1993
Zoë Chao
-
Daniel Abbott
1682 - 1760
Frank W. Angell
1852 - 1943
Rolf McPherson
1913 - 2009
Joseph Pope Balch
1822 - 1872
Henry Rodman Barker
1841 - 1901
Patrick Sheehan (golfer)
Born 1969
William P. Robinson III
-
Ruth Shepley
1892 - 1951
Joseph Clark Hoppin
1870 - 1925
Cedric Whitman
1916 - 1979
John Flynn (baseball)
1883 - 1935
Robert Q. Crane
1926 - 2018
George Lippitt Andrews
1828 - 1920
Louis B. Mendelsohn
-
George Lovejoy Rockwell
1889 - 1978
Art Quirk
1938 - 2014
Fabio Milano
Born 1977
Joe Polisena
Born 1954
Hope Goddard Iselin
1868 - 1970
Russ Ekeblad
1946 - 2018
Everett M. "Busy" Arnold
1899 - 1974
Eileen S. Naughton
Born 1945
Bradley S. Jacobs
Born 1956
Deb Ruggiero
Born 1958
Kalliope Amorphous
Born 1978
Herbert F. DeSimone
1929 - 2013
Eden White
Born 1970
Carol Fowler
Born 1949
Isaac Angking
Born 2000
Gerard Ouimette
1940 - 2015
Ray Monaco
1918 - 2002
Jack Andreozzi
Born 1939
Robert I. Jewett
Born 1937
Jonathan M. Nelson
Born 1956
John Baca
Born 1949
Mary M. Lisi
Born 1950
Derrick Levasseur
Born 1984
Joe Trillo
Born 1943
Steven McElroy
Born 1966
Tammy Hazleton
Born 1947
Walter Francis Brown
1853 - 1929
Sherry Appleton
Born 1942
Harry Kizirian
1925 - 2002
Leanna Brown
1935 - 2016
Jeanpaul Ferro
Born 1967
Ryan W. Pearson
Born 1988
Margaret Church
1889 - 1976
Curtis Carlson
Born 1945
Edward McEntee
1906 - 1981
Earl Audet
1921 - 2002
Jonathan McClark
Born 1977
Colin Grafton
Born 1991
Sylvia Poggioli
Born 1946
Stephen Morin
1951 - 1985
Gilbert V. Indeglia
Born 1941
Tara Hurley
Born 1976
Francis Flaherty (judge)
Born 1947
Steven Leath
Born 1957
John Power Knowles
1808 - 1887
Edward A. Gisburne
1892 - 1955
Joe Zabilski
1917 - 2002
Steven M. Costantino
Born 1957
Gail Thacker
Born 1959
Mark Morettini
Born 1962
Edward P. Gallogly
1919 - 1995
D. Thomas Russillo
1902 - 1980
Billy Kinloch
1874 - 1931
Louis F. Menage
1850 - 1924
Bill MacDermott
1936 - 2016