Famous People From Your Hometown

MakanJuu

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Just a fun, boredom topic. Has anyone ever looked up any famous people who came from your area? Just post up any you know of.

(PS- if this is in the wrong forum, forgive me. I wasn't able to find a more approapriate one)

--Clarence Darrow- Kinsman, OH
A lawyer known for several important cases of the early 1900s
--Niel Armstrong-
I think people ought to know this one
--President McKinley- Canton, OH
We have a school & a suburb named after him. Ironically, neither in. Or around Canton
--Kelly Pavlic- Youngstown, OH
Local boxer who everyone & their mom rallied around for a while
--The Original Warner Brothers- Youngstown, OH
The old Warner Theatre is actually a local landmark
--Chris Columbus- Warren, OH
The guy at the head of 1942 Pictures. Maker of the first 2 Harry Potter films, the Gremlins & Night at the Museum, among others. I actually live right up the road from the high school he attended.
--David Grohl- Warren, OH
Drummer from Nelvana as well as Foo Fighters
--Mike Tyson- Southington, OH
Ok, this one technically doesn't count. He had a mansion built in Southington & it was one of the several "summer homes" he foreclosed on when he refused to pay the bills.

This is all I know of, but if I find more, I'll post here. Just goes to show, fame & talent can come from anywhere!
 

FluffBunny

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Lorena and John Bobbit...

If I have to explain, google...

There's really no way to top that. :ROFL:

Tacoma, WA has a few, but the most famous ones:

Dale Chihuly - glass guy extraordinaire.
Bing Crosby - pretty famous, anyway. ;)
Frank Herbert - author of the Dune books.
Gary Larson - of Far Side cartoon fame.
 

williemeikle

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I'm from a small town in the West Coast of Scotland.

Our most famous person is probably unknown outside the UK - Scottish footballer and T.V. pundit GORDON McQUEEN. He used to play for Leeds and Man Utd back in the '70s. (I played against him at school, a great many years ago.)

Other than that, it's pretty slim pickings...
 

Alessandra Kelley

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Chicago is too big, I think, but in my neighborhood of Hyde Park we've had President Obama, President Reagan (briefly, in infancy), Amelia Earhart, Mel Tormé, Chaka Khan, James Tiptree Jr., Clarence Darrow, Enrico Fermi, Hugh Hefner, Mary Todd Lincoln, Saul Bellow, and Justice Elena Kagan.
 

Caitlin Black

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I'm not sure if many people from Adelaide will be famous anywhere else... But I found a nice list on Wikipedia, so I'll just write here which ones were household names for a while. :)

Kate Fischer
Anthony LaPaglia
Jonathon LaPaglia
Shaun Micallef (probably only famous in Australia)
David James Campbell
Jimmy Barnes (I'm sure some of you know that name, at least!)
Cold Chisel (band)
I Killed The Prom Queen (band - not sure if they're known outside of Australia, but I've seen plenty of people here wearing their T-shirts)
Guy Sebastian (winner of Australian Idol)
Testeagles (band)
Tony Shillitoe
Mem Fox
Rupert Murdoch (not sure if he was born here, but his first newspaper was in Adelaide, as well as HQ for a long time)
Julia Gillard (was Prime Minister up until a few weeks ago)
Howard Florey
Andy Thomas

There are also a bunch of sporting stars, which isn't surprising as Australia is obsessed with being a sporting nation.

So yes - there're a lot more famous Adelaideans than I realised (I didn't list even half of the ones on Wikipedia). As for the suburbs I've lived in... I have no idea about if any of them ever lived in those.

Generally the "successful" people in Adelaide live in the Northern suburbs, and I've always lived in the Southern suburbs.
 

MakanJuu

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Adding a few more from a Wikipedia list:

-Sorche Nic Leodhas- Youngstown, OH
Librarian. Collected & published old Gaelic Legends Bros. Grimm style.
-Dominic Sena- Niles, OH
Director. Gone in 60 Seconds, Swordfish & Season of the Witch
-Paula Wagner- Youngstown, OH
Former Play Actor & Hollywood Agent, co-owned MGM & currently sits on the Board of Directors for the Producers' Guild of America
-Henry Lawrence Burnett- Youngstown, OH
Prosecutor. Trial for assassination of Abraham Lincoln
-James Traficant- Youngstown, OH
US Representative. Jailed for Money Laundering. Massive Local Scandal
-Jake Abel- Canton, OH
Actor. Luke Castellan in Percy Jackson & The Olympians
-Joe Flynn- Youngstown, OH
Comedic Actor. McHale's Navy, Recurring role on Batman show & Disney Voice Actor
-Rex Lee- Warren, OH
Actor. Entourage
-Ed O'Niell- Youngstown, OH
Actor. Al Bundy, Married... with Children
-Jack Paar- Canton, OH
Tonight Show Host 1957-1962
-Austin Pendleton- Warren, OH
Actor, director, writer. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps
-Lee Wilkof- Canton, OH
Play Actor. Wicked
-Jerry DePizzo- Youngstown, OH
Saxophonist, rockband OAR
-Macy Grey- Canton, OH
-Marilyn Manson- Canton, OH
-Maureen McGovern- Youngstown, OH
Actor. The Poseidon Adventure, The Towering Inferno
-The O'Jays- Canton, OH
R&B group from the 70s
-Boz Scraggs- Canton, OH
Guitarist. Steve Miller Band
-Maurice Clarett- Warren, OH
Football Player
-Dave Dravecky- Youngstown, OH
Baseball Player
-Wayne Fontes- Canton, OH
Football Coach
 

J.S.F.

Red fish, blue fish...
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Born in Toronto, Canada, and outside of ME, there are a number of others.

Just off the top of my head...

Neil Young, musician

ME
Liona Boyd, musician


(justinbeiberandthatisNOTmyfault...)*****

ME

The late John Candy and Jim Carrey, both actors

Enrico Colantoni (actor from Galaxy Quest)

Don McKellar (actor and I went to high school with this guy
)
David Cronenburg--director

Ronnie Hawkins, singer and all-around badass

A shitload of hockey players, too numerous to mention

Ed Mirvish, founder of Honest Ed's

Anne Murray, singer

Catherine O'Hara, actress best known for SCTV and Beetlejuice

Joe Shuster, co-creator of Superman

Frank Shuster, Joe's cousin (comedian of Wayne and Shuster fame, and a friend of my late father. My father also used to hack around with Joe before he moved off to Cleveland)

Sammy Luftspring, the former Canadian welterweight boxing champion and a friend of my father's.

Joey Votto, first baseman for the Cincinnati Reds

Did I mention ME, by any chance?

*****Please don't hold justinbeiber against us Torontonians. I had nothing to do with it. Ya, rlly!
 

Siri Kirpal

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Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I was born in Elmira NY. Most famous resident (but he wasn't born there) was Samuel Clemons, AKA Mark Twain.

I was raised in San Diego, which has lots of famous people, but those I know of are

Raquel Welch (went to the same junior high school I did, but some years before my time)

Tess Gerritsen (the novelist, and my kindergarten best friend)

the Rodriguez brothers, classical guitarists

Art Linkletter (I think I botched the spelling of the last name, but he attended the same High School I did; I was in the audience as a teenager when he attended his 50th reunion.)

That's all I can think of without googling.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 

MaryMumsy

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Modesto CA. I was born there but moved away at two.

George Lucas

Phoenix/Scottsdale AZ. Where I have lived for 40 years.

Steven Speilberg
David Spade
numerous other actors and musicians.

MM
 

Mr Flibble

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I was at school with the guy who did Tank Girl. Also the guy who did the new Mortal Engine covers (which are awesome)


Harry Enfield -- Kevin the Teenager 'lived' in a street two over from my Mum and Dad.

Lintot - a well known publisher of his time, who published Alexander Pope (inc Pope's translation of the Illiad)A fair few places named for him.
Millais, the artist (or two generations of the artistic family)- my daughter goes to the school named for him. Actually quite a few artists are linked with the town.

Percy Shelley (technically he came from just outside, as do I - I played in Shelley's Woods as a nipper)

One of the writers of Men Behaving Badly

Holly Willoughby and the narrator of the Magic Roundabout (Eric Thompson, aka Emma Thompson's Dad) went to the local sixth form

An ex captain of the England Footie team

A fair few cricketers

Oh, and the school mentioned at the end of the Prince and the Pauper, that the prince set up for poor boys (and notably, girls, at least from 1707)? Moved here from London in 1897.

I don't expect anyone to know most of these unless they're British....
 

MakanJuu

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I'm a bit too young to have known anyone who became famous personally- unless it was a child star, which I have to say, I've never met one to my knowledge.

I know a handful of people who COULD be famous one day. Two people who went to film school, one who went to an art school to become a prefessional animation artist & a girl who was a damn good singer & guitar player who had a sister who was amazing at poetry & song lyrics.

However, none of these people, or myself, are as of yet famous for any reason. And, I'm not sure, but I think one of those people may have dropped out of film school because she's simply disappeared from existence. I know the other guy's busy all the freaking time, but he still gets on Facebook every once in a while.
 

Chase

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Big Timber, Montana:

The huge oaks for canoes to carry the Lewis and Clark expedition homeward (for which the town was named).

Judy Marz, Olympic speed skater and first woman governor of Montana, 2001-2005.

Brent Musburger, sportscaster.

Tom Brokaw, journalist.

One-time residents: Walter "Dub" Taylor, western film character actor, and his son "Buck" Taylor, western artist and film star (Newly on Gunsmoke, et al).
 
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itsmary

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I grew up in the same town as Britney Spears, but I didn't move there until after she left. Her sister and I had some mutual friends.
 

Liralen

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I wouldn't call this area my hometown, but I've lived here longer now than anywhere else (sadly).

Cormac McCarthy (the home he grew up in on Martin Mill Pike burned in 2009; his brother and sister-in-law and I became friends in the writing group we belonged to)
Alex Haley (Roots, his childhood home was in Hennig, TN and he later returned and bought a farm in Norris)
James Agee
Nikki Giovanni
Pat Head Summitt
Quentin Tarantino (from South Knoxville, which explains a lot of things)
David Keith
John Cullum (remember Northern Exposure?)
Kenny Chesney
Dolly Parton (Sevierville)
Polly Bergen
Patricia Neal
Chet Atkins
Archie Campbell (Bulls Gap)
Trevor Bayne
Johnny Knoxville (also from south Knoxville)
George Dempster (inventor of the Dempster dumpster)
Nora Moore Hendrix (grandmother of Jimi Hendrix, was raised in Knoxville -- how strange is THAT?)
 

shakeysix

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Very rural area but Shirley Knight is from Lyons, a town about thirty miles from here. Her photo is up in the Dairy Queen there. I have followed her career since I was a little girl and saw her standing in a buffet line in a restaurant. She played the mother in Our Idiot Brother recently. She won a Tony award and does Broadway plays, too. Funny, pretty lady from a small town in western Kansas--s6
 

Lycoplax

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Stephen King has a beach house in Sarasota, FL.I know he's not from there originally, but it's a small bit of hometown pride for a bookworm like me. I never ran into him myself while I still lived there, but I would hear about it any time he visited a local bookstore. Not for a signing event or anything, just to browse.
 

Xelebes

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from Edmonton:

Leslie Nielsen went to school here
The punk band SNFU is from Edmonton
kd lang made it big here, making the Sidetrack Café a famous place for bands to stop in.
Nellie McClung, one of the Big 5 in Canadian first-wave feminism, was an Edmonton resident and represented Edmonton in Parliament.

Yeah. . .
 
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angeluscado

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Pamela Anderson
Kim Cattrall
Steve Nash
Cory Monteith (my friend's mom worked with him when he was a stockboy at Wal-Mart)
Nelly Furtado
Diana Krall
Randy Bachman (lives on a small island nearby - Saltspring)
Atom Egoyan
Cameron Bright (he played Leech in X-Men: The Last Stand and Alec in Twilight)
Jennifer Tilly went to high school in Victoria

There are other famous people who own property/live here part time, but they're not from here, born and raised kind of thing.
 

Siri Kirpal

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You were best friends with Tess Gerritsen?! That's awesome!

Mum reads her books. She's quite popular here in Australia, I think.

I've never known any famous people IRL. :(

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

Yeah, I was surprised to find out since Gerritsen is her married name and Tess is a pen name. She's ethnically Chinese.

I've known other semi-famous people:

The guitarist John Fahey, lived in Salem Oregon before his death. We used to live there.

And I met the first lady to swim the English Channel, Florence Chapman. [ETA: My bad! The name is Florence Chadwick.] She was at a poolside party at a friend's house, and we asked her why she wouldn't go in the pool. She told us what she used to do for a living. For her, swimming was work, not play. BTW, we also asked if it would have been possible for the guy in Greek mythology to swim the Hellespont. She said, yes, it was an easy swim.

Should have thought to put those on the list too.

I've met some people who later had acting roles on TV: Don Sparks and Jennifer Henn. Knew both of them in high school, but am not sure if they qualify as famous.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal
 
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