37.7775° N, 122.4165° W

SAN FRANCISCO

Most Famous People Born in San Francisco, United States

Notable people
2,619
Peak decade
1960s
Median birth year
1943
Most distinctive
Baseball 6.1×

A city of restless reinventions. San Francisco's notables are heavily literary and athletic in the 19th century, then heavily technological and countercultural in the 20th — the same town gave the world Jack London and Steve Jobs, Ansel Adams and Bruce Lee, the Beats and the venture capitalists. The dataset doesn't show the tech industry as a category, but you can see its silhouette in the unusually high share of entrepreneurs, engineers, and screenwriters with day jobs in software.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in San Francisco during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1960s with 295 notable births.

What San Francisco Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Actor is San Francisco's biggest profession — 15% of all notables (385).

San Francisco over-indexes on baseball6.1× the global rate.

San Francisco under-produces politician — only 0.4× the global rate.

  1. Actor385
  2. Baseball182
  3. Football144
  4. Politician136
  5. Film110
  6. Writer77
  7. Music74
  8. Singer74
  1. Baseball1826.1×
  2. Screenwriter433.8×
  3. Film1103.4×
  4. Actor3852.8×
  5. Photographer322.5×
  6. Basket732.2×
  7. Music742.0×
  8. Artist511.9×
  1. Politician1360.4×
  2. Football1440.5×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of San Francisco's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

18001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Film & TV
  • Music
  • Politics & Law
  • Writing
  • Art & Design
  • Other
Actor385
Sort By

Showing 385 of 2,619 notable people

1443 ACTOR

Zion Myers

1898 - 1948

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1455 ACTOR

Ashley Clements

-

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1468 ACTOR

Serge Levin

Born 1979

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1471 ACTOR

Chester Gan

1908 - 1959

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1492 ACTOR

Bonnie MacBird

-

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1507 ACTOR

Keith Charles (actor)

1934 - 2008

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1508 ACTOR

Karen Ludwig

Born 1942

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1532 ACTOR

Robert Phalen

Born 1937

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1561 ACTOR

Skip Young (actor)

1930 - 1993

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1573 ACTOR

Shirley Deane

1913 - 1983

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1578 ACTOR

George MacQuarrie

1873 - 1951

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1579 ACTOR

Estelle Etterre

1899 - 1996

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1582 ACTOR

Johnny Holiday

1912 - 2009

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1585 ACTOR

Edna Maison

1892 - 1946

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1586 ACTOR

Sahar Jafari Jozani

Born 1978

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1589 ACTOR

Minnie Tittell Brune

1875 - 1974

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1596 ACTOR

Sean Anthony Moran

Born 1978

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1601 ACTOR

Sunrise Coigney

Born 1972

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1607 ACTOR

Darryl Chan

-

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1608 ACTOR

Jacki R. Chan

Born 1980

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1620 ACTOR

Lia Chang

Born 1963

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1621 ACTOR

Manoel Felciano

Born 1970

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1636 ACTOR

Karen Jensen

Born 1944

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1648 ACTOR

Kristina Wong

-

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1692 ACTOR

Mel Arrighi

1933 - 1986

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1705 ACTOR

Pamela Dunlap

Born 1941

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1732 ACTOR

Scott Trimble

Born 1977

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1740 ACTOR

George Marshall Ruge

Born 1952

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1742 ACTOR

Glen Chin

1948 - 2018

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1745 ACTOR

Harry C. Bradley (actor)

1869 - 1947

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1781 ACTOR

Ingrid Einfeldt

Born 1961

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1786 ACTOR

Robert Wu

Born 1972

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1794 ACTOR

Shirley Dinsdale

1926 - 1999

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1834 ACTOR

Kelvin Han Yee

-

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1840 ACTOR

Betty Shamieh

-

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1873 ACTOR

Christina Zilber

-

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1883 ACTOR

Joan Baker

Born 1960

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1900 ACTOR

Ken Mayer

1918 - 1985

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1902 ACTOR

Marion E. Wong

1895 - 1970

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1917 ACTOR

Ray Gallagher

1885 - 1953

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1919 ACTOR

Rubén Carbajal

Born 1993

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1933 ACTOR

George Stanley

Born 1875

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1937 ACTOR

Leslie Denniston

Born 1950

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1973 ACTOR

Dino Natali

Born 1931

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1981 ACTOR

Joel Blum

Born 1952

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1985 ACTOR

Marion Feducha

1911 - 1976

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1989 ACTOR

Tobit Raphael

-

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1998 ACTOR

Jaclyn Ngan

Born 1986

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2017 ACTOR

Gerri Lawlor

Died 2019

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2028 ACTOR

Bill Duggan

Born 1974

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2039 ACTOR

Billy Naylor

1916 - 2011

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2048 ACTOR

Jules Mendel

1874 - 1938

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2065 ACTOR

Charles Dorety

1898 - 1957

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2103 ACTOR

Arrin Skelley

Born 1966

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2109 ACTOR

Charles Arthur Berg

Born 1970

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2111 ACTOR

Mary Wynn

1902 - 2001

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2120 ACTOR

Delia Bogard

1921 - 1995

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2138 ACTOR

Matthew Allen

Born 1958

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2149 ACTOR

Dagmar Oakland

1893 - 1989

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2158 ACTOR

Gladys Field

1889 - 1920

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2169 ACTOR

Estelle Lau

Born 1964

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2174 ACTOR

Scott Kraft

-

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2178 ACTOR

Blanche Deyo

1880 - 1933

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2188 ACTOR

Katherine Grey (actress)

1873 - 1950

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2189 ACTOR

Bettina Devin

Born 1951

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2200 ACTOR

Alice Inoue

Born 1964

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2201 ACTOR

Marla Tellez

Born 1976

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2202 ACTOR

Ethel Levey

1880 - 1955

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2213 ACTOR

Anna Mathias

-

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2215 ACTOR

Joe Stefanelli

Born 1960

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2227 ACTOR

Betty Marsh

1909 - 1994

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2233 ACTOR

James Lontayao

-

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2246 ACTOR

Lee Van Atta

1922 - 2002

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2273 ACTOR

Ari Zagaris

Born 1977

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2276 ACTOR

Wilna Hervey

1894 - 1979

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2300 ACTOR

Erik Altemus

Born 1987

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2309 ACTOR

Tyree Brown

Born 2005

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2312 ACTOR

Bebe Sweetbriar

Born 1962

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2327 ACTOR

Monte Carter

1884 - 1950

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2386 ACTOR

Joyce Bryant

1916 - 2004

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2390 ACTOR

Eva Prout

1899 - 1985

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2493 ACTOR

P. David Miller

Born 1963

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2547 ACTOR

Shavon Kirksey

Born 1989

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2585 ACTOR

Wong Chung

1880 - 1963

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2600 ACTOR

Barbara Leonard

1908 - 1971

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