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
Film110
Sort By

Showing 110 of 2,619 notable people

0003 FILM

Bruce Lee

1940 - 1973

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0064 FILM

Colin Trevorrow

Born 1976

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0065 FILM

Alan Taylor (director)

Born 1965

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0098 FILM

Joanna Kerns

Born 1953

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0101 FILM

Dorothy Arzner

1897 - 1979

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0106 FILM

Jesse L. Lasky

1880 - 1958

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0107 FILM

Todd Bridges

Born 1965

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0127 FILM

Rider Strong

Born 1979

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0133 FILM

Walter Wanger

1894 - 1968

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0137 FILM

David Butler (director)

1894 - 1979

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0147 FILM

Rawson Marshall Thurber

Born 1975

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0152 FILM

Michael Lehmann

Born 1957

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0162 FILM

Yvonne Rainer

Born 1934

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0165 FILM

Melissa Hill

Born 1970

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0170 FILM

Sidney Franklin (director)

1893 - 1972

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0184 FILM

Lowell Sherman

1885 - 1934

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0205 FILM

Michael A. Goorjian

Born 1971

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0212 FILM

Charles Ferguson (filmmaker)

Born 1955

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0213 FILM

Angela Robinson

Born 1971

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0215 FILM

Kirk Wise

Born 1963

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0225 FILM

Charles Barton (director)

1902 - 1981

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0242 FILM

Ruth Roland

1892 - 1937

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0245 FILM

Audrey Wells

1960 - 2018

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0254 FILM

Charles Lamont

1895 - 1993

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0262 FILM

James W. Horne

1881 - 1942

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0275 FILM

Peter Del Monte

Born 1943

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0287 FILM

James Isaac

1960 - 2012

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0310 FILM

Alexandra Pelosi

Born 1970

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0323 FILM

Miles Long

Born 1968

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0331 FILM

Kevin Rodney Sullivan

Born 1958

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0342 FILM

Noël Burch

Born 1932

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0347 FILM

George F. Marion

1860 - 1945

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0377 FILM

Jonathan Morgan (director)

Born 1966

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0378 FILM

Clarence G. Badger

1880 - 1964

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0381 FILM

Murdock MacQuarrie

1878 - 1942

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0392 FILM

Doug Aarniokoski

Born 1965

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0402 FILM

Alfred Santell

1895 - 1981

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0404 FILM

Richard Sakai

Born 1954

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0408 FILM

Hoyt Yeatman

Born 1955

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0414 FILM

Harry L. Fraser

1889 - 1974

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0435 FILM

Frank Hall Crane

1873 - 1948

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0481 FILM

Donna Deitch

Born 1945

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0496 FILM

Philip Haas

Born 1954

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0511 FILM

Shiloh Strong

Born 1978

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0536 FILM

Scott Pembroke

1889 - 1951

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0539 FILM

Bruce Brown

1937 - 2017

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0548 FILM

Gary Lucchesi

Born 1955

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0549 FILM

Fred Guiol

1898 - 1964

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0625 FILM

Irving Asher

1903 - 1985

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0646 FILM

Steve Cruz (actor)

Born 1972

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0687 FILM

Timothy Björklund

-

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0695 FILM

Jerry Fairbanks

1904 - 1995

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0703 FILM

Rob Rotten

Born 1981

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0705 FILM

Arthur Dong

Born 1953

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0716 FILM

Brian Oliver (producer)

Born 1971

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0718 FILM

Emory Johnson

1894 - 1960

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0734 FILM

Kori Rae

Born 1962

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0756 FILM

mr. Pam

Born 1972

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0759 FILM

Lloyd French

1900 - 1950

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0784 FILM

Denison Clift

1885 - 1961

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0821 FILM

Ori Sivan

Born 1964

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0831 FILM

Ron Lagomarsino

-

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0840 FILM

Matt Chessé

Born 1965

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0860 FILM

Davis Doi

Born 1957

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0862 FILM

Aurora Guerrero

-

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0863 FILM

Patty Chang

Born 1972

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0883 FILM

Steven Scarborough

Born 1954

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0895 FILM

John Broderick (producer)

1942 - 2001

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0917 FILM

John P. McCarthy

1884 - 1962

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0924 FILM

Larry Lansburgh

1911 - 2001

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0926 FILM

Walter Shenson

1919 - 2000

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0936 FILM

Matthew Leutwyler

Born 1969

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0941 FILM

Crispin Struthers

-

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1018 FILM

Esther Eng

1914 - 1970

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1075 FILM

Jack Sullivan (film director)

1893 - 1946

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1107 FILM

Robert Nelson (filmmaker)

1930 - 2012

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1109 FILM

Nat Ross

1902 - 1941

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1159 FILM

George Crone

1894 - 1966

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1168 FILM

George Nicholls Jr.

1897 - 1939

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1195 FILM

Jon Martin

Born 1947

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1231 FILM

Chester Bennett

1892 - 1943

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1259 FILM

Ernie Fosselius

Born 1945

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1282 FILM

Ari Gold (filmmaker)

-

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1288 FILM

Liz Holzman

1953 - 2014

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1290 FILM

Claire Atherton

Born 1963

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1367 FILM

Anthony Fabian

-

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1390 FILM

Leah Meyerhoff

-

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1448 FILM

Crystal Moselle

Born 1980

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1500 FILM

Cutter Hodierne

Born 1986

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1599 FILM

Roger Lim

Born 1968

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1696 FILM

Keith Fowler

Born 1939

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1741 FILM

Patrick Epino

-

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1752 FILM

Steph Green

Born 1979

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1815 FILM

Howard J. Green

1893 - 1965

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1824 FILM

Lynne Willingham

Born 1951

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1829 FILM

Armen Minasian

Born 1959

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1860 FILM

Matthew K. Firpo

Born 1990

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1903 FILM

Robin Budd

Born 1967

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2003 FILM

Tamarat Makonnen

Born 1972

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2029 FILM

Walter Morosco

1899 - 1948

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2050 FILM

Andrew Getty

1967 - 2015

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2118 FILM

Jon Paul Puno

Born 1985

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2126 FILM

Alex Goyette

Born 1988

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2146 FILM

Edmund Lawrence (regista)

1881 - 1944

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2218 FILM

Gary Rhine

1951 - 2006

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2345 FILM

George E. Middleton

1882 - 1969

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2354 FILM

Kathleen Korth

Born 1952

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2395 FILM

Edward A. Biery

1920 - 2012

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2428 FILM

David L. Hewitt

Born 1939

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2504 FILM

Dan Gitlin

Born 1983

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