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
William Penn Bates
1879 - 1956
Joe Trimble
1930 - 2011
Charlie Reilley
1856 - 1904
Joanne Giannini
Born 1953
Walter H. Reynolds
1901 - 1987
Edgar Smith (pitcher)
1862 - 1892
Amos C. Barstow
1813 - 1894
John Cattanach
1863 - 1926
Feliciano Vierra Tavares
1920 - 2008
Joseph Whipple
1662 - 1746
Albert Martin (soldier)
1808 - 1836
David Kestenbaum
Born 1969
John McGovern (Schauspieler)
1902 - 1985
Dave Viti
Born 1939
Matt Plumb
Born 1974
Ogarita Booth Henderson
1859 - 1892
Edwin D. McGuinness
1856 - 1901
Paddy Greene
1875 - 1934
Dick Rondeau
1921 - 1989
Victoria Lederberg
1937 - 2002
John Edwards (American Civil War sailor)
1831 - 1902
Robert Gaudreau
Born 1944
James E. Dunne
1882 - 1942
Richard M. Atwater
1844 - 1922
Wade Woodworth
1905 - 1992
Pete Sheppard
Born 1967
George E. Barstow
1849 - 1924
Bruce L. Paisner
Born 1942
Dan Sullivan (baseball)
1857 - 1893
Marilyn C. Jones
1927 - 2015
Davina Davis
Born 1995
Frank Leoni
Born 1968
Jeff Bannister
Born 1945
Artie Clarke
1865 - 1949
Moira Walsh
Born 1990
Fred A. Lennon
1905 - 1998
Rudy Traylor
1918 - 1992
Rod Correia
Born 1967
Horatio Rogers Jr.
1836 - 1904
John Shepard III
1886 - 1950
Edward A. Batchelor
1883 - 1968
Hank Morrison
1866 - 1927
Jonathan Galkin
Born 1972
Joseph A. Doorley Jr.
Born 1930
Bob Hattoy
1950 - 2007
Judith Dupré
-
Ralph Metcalf (Washington politician)
1861 - 1939
Dinty Gearin
1897 - 1959
Matthew Gillick
Born 1852
Johnny Marcum
1909 - 1984
Joe S. Jackson
1871 - 1936
Edward P. Knowles
1805 - 1881
Bill Sullivan (pitcher)
1868 - 1905
Felicia Nimue Ackerman
Born 1947
Clarence Boston
1917 - 2002
Ira MacIntosh
1903 - 1973
Salvatore D. Morgera
Born 1946
Melvin T. Mason
-
Al Kellogg
1886 - 1953
Kelly Padrick
-
Mary S. McElroy
Born 1965
Phil Price (Canadian football)
Born 1949
William B. Avery
1840 - 1894
Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf
1830 - 1895
Walt Slater
1920 - 2012
Vincent Ragosta
1924 - 2017
Kevin Poirier
Born 1940
Edward Francis Anhalt
Born 1946
Simeone George Pesare
1939 - 2012
Albert Granger Harkness
1856 - 1923
Art Hagan
1863 - 1936
William Shaw (yacht designer)
Died 2006
Audri Mukhopadhyay
Born 1974
Joseph R. Weisberger
1920 - 2012
Clement Micarelli
1929 - 2008
George Leite
1920 - 1985
Henry J. Steere
1830 - 1889
John Patrick Hartigan
1887 - 1968
Nathaniel W. Smith
1873 - 1957
August Wesley (wrestler)
Born 1972
Steve Cascione
Born 1954
Dennis Driscoll
1862 - 1901
Ed Doherty (baseball executive)
1900 - 1971
Adam DeGraide
Born 1971
Joseph H. Gainer
1878 - 1945
William Ames (militaire)
1842 - 1914
Louis W. Cappelli
1894 - 1966
Al Hawkes
1930 - 2018
Robert Alexander Inch
1873 - 1961
Edward Angell
1847 - 1923
Steven Libman
Born 1959
John Bucklin
1773 - 1844
Bill Connor (American football)
1899 - 1980
Barbara Liebrich
1922 - 2006
John F. Collins (mayor of Providence)
1872 - 1962
Arthur Lewis Brown
1854 - 1928
Willem Van Lancker
Born 1987
Joe Flynn (baseball)
1861 - 1933
David Jagolinzer
-
Paige Jansen-Nichols
-
Thomas L. Dunne
Born 1946
John C. Revens Jr.
Born 1947
Leonard Decof
1924 - 2010
Stanford Newel
1839 - 1907
Frederick Burgess
1853 - 1925
Raymond James Pettine
1912 - 2003
Francis Joseph Boyle
1927 - 2006
Leonard Holland
1916 - 1999
Francis E. Ormsbee Jr.
1892 - 1936
Courtland Pollard
1899 - 1977
Lily Stockman
Born 1982
Judith Spang
Born 1946
Daniel Sully
1855 - 1910
Ray Fogarty
1957 - 2018
Gerald F. Russell
1916 - 2014
William O. Head
1859 - 1931
Thomas H. Roberts
1902 - 1976
Benjamin H. Child
1843 - 1902
Anita Foss
Born 1921
John C. Quinn
1925 - 2017
Elisha Dyer III
1862 - 1917
Harry Salisbury
1855 - 1933
Joseph H. Crawford Jr.
Born 1932
Robert M. Hall
1909 - 1998
Jim Hanley
1885 - 1961
Henry L. P. Beckwith Jr.
Born 1935
Irving O. Hunt
1878 - 1951
William A. Dyer
1902 - 1993
Henry Howell Williams
1796 - 1873
Agnes Hoppin
1874 - 1898
Cynthia Chase
Born 1943
Oliver B. Munroe
Born 1856
Edward Manning Ruttenber
1825 - 1907
Samuel Ames (jurist)
1806 - 1865
Mary Parker Dascomb
1842 - 1917
J. Clement Cicilline
Born 1940