Sports · born 1959
Mark Aguirrebasketball playerThree-time All-Star traded to Detroit for Adrian Dantley in 1989, becoming a key role player as the Pistons won back-to-back NBA championships.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,949 famous people
- 516 Detroit places
- 22 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
1747 people · 9/37 page
Clear filtersSports · born 1959Mark Aguirrebasketball playerThree-time All-Star traded to Detroit for Adrian Dantley in 1989, becoming a key role player as the Pistons won back-to-back NBA championships.
Film & TV · born 2005Ella Andersonactress, singer-songwriterActress and singer-songwriter born in Ypsilanti, west of Detroit, best known as Piper Hart on Nickelodeon's Henry Danger.Anita BaroneactressSitcom actress trained in Detroit, with a BFA from the University of Detroit and an MFA in theatre from Wayne State University.
Civil rights & activism · 1915–2015Grace Lee Boggsactivist, philosopher, authorChinese American philosopher and activist who lived on Detroit's East Side for 62 years, shaping Black Power, labor and community-renewal movements.
Music · born 1981Danny Brownrapper, songwriter, podcasterDetroit-born rapper whose off-kilter voice and blunt stories of the city made him one of hip-hop's most acclaimed left-field artists.Rex Cawleytrack and field athlete, 400-meter hurdlerHighland Park-born hurdler who set a world record and won Olympic gold in the 400-meter hurdles at the 1964 Tokyo Games.
Sports · born 1962Chris Cheliosice hockey defensemanHall of Fame defenseman who joined the Red Wings in 1999, won Stanley Cups in 2002 and 2008 and played in Detroit into his late forties.
Sports · born 1993
Spencer Dinwiddiebasketball player, guardGuard who spent his first two NBA seasons developing with the Pistons before becoming a regular rotation player, and later a well-known scorer, elsewhere in the league.
Literature · 1858–1939Charles Eastmanphysician, writer, reformerSantee Dakota physician and author, one of the best-known Native American writers of his time, who spent his last winters in Detroit, died here in 1939 and is buried in Evergreen Cemetery.
Film & TV · born 1973Colin EgglesfieldactorAll My Children and Melrose Place actor and romantic lead of Something Borrowed, born in Farmington Hills.
Film & TV · born 1966Anne Fletcherfilm director, choreographer, dancerDirector of Step Up, The Proposal and Hocus Pocus 2, born in Detroit and raised in St. Clair Shores, where she learned to dance and first performed.
Press & broadcasting · born 1969Sanjay Guptaneurosurgeon, CNN chief medical correspondent, authorCNN's chief medical correspondent and a practicing neurosurgeon, born and raised in the Detroit suburb of Novi to parents who were Ford engineers.
Film & TV · 1914–1955John HodiakactorHollywood leading man of the 1940s, of Ukrainian and Polish descent, who grew up in Hamtramck and started out in radio before starring in Hitchcock's Lifeboat.
Sports · born 1970Lindsey Hunterbasketball player and coachTenacious defensive guard across two Pistons stints who won the 2004 NBA championship guarding some of the league's best scorers.
Science & invention · born 1958Brent W. Jett Jr.astronaut, naval aviator, test pilotFour-time Space Shuttle astronaut and Navy test pilot, born in Pontiac, Michigan.
Sports · born 1987Amir Johnsonbasketball forward, coachForward drafted straight out of high school by the Pistons in 2005, who spent four seasons in Detroit learning the game before a long, productive career elsewhere.Thad Jonesjazz trumpeter, cornetist, composer, bandleaderPontiac-born trumpeter and composer who played in the house band of Detroit's Blue Bird Inn before joining Count Basie and co-founding the Thad Jones/Mel Lewis Orchestra.
Music · 1948–2020
Ivan Králguitarist, bassist, songwriter, producer, filmmakerPrague-born guitarist of the Patti Smith Group and Iggy Pop, co-writer of “Dancing Barefoot,” who spent his final years recording in Ann Arbor and Detroit.
Sports · born 1958Nancy Liebermanbasketball player, coach and broadcasterHall of Fame point guard nicknamed "Lady Magic" who was the Detroit Shock's first general manager and head coach, then set a WNBA age record with a seven-day comeback contract in 2008.Marguerite MacIntyreactress, writer, producerDetroit-born actress who played Sheriff Liz Forbes on The Vampire Diaries and Nicole Trager on Kyle XY.
Film & TV · born 1941Robert McKeescreenwriting teacher, author, story consultantDetroit-born story guru whose Story Seminar and book Story have trained generations of screenwriters; he started as a young actor on Detroit stages.
Film & TV · 1931–2015Martin MilneractorStar of the TV classics Route 66 and Adam-12, born in Detroit to a Paramount circuit dancer and a film distributor.
Sports · born 1977Nazr Mohammedbasketball player, centerJourneyman center who signed with Detroit in 2006 and became the Pistons' starting center for a season and a half.
Press & broadcasting · born 1971Kenya Moorebeauty queen, actress, television personality, entrepreneurMiss USA 1993 and Real Housewives of Atlanta star, raised in Detroit by her grandmother, a Cass Tech graduate who studied at Wayne State.
Politics · 1890–1949Frank Murphymayor of Detroit, governor, U.S. Supreme Court justiceRecorder's Court judge and Depression-era mayor of Detroit (1930–1933) who went on to govern Michigan and sit on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Film & TV · born 1969
Vincenzo Natalifilm director, screenwriterDetroit-born Canadian-American director of the cult science-fiction thriller Cube and the horror film Splice.
Music · born 1942Freda Paynesinger, actressDetroit-born singer of the 1970 smash “Band of Gold”, recorded for Invictus, the label her hometown friends Holland–Dozier–Holland founded after leaving Motown.
Film & TV · 1920–1989Richard Quinefilm director, actor, singerDetroit-born child actor turned director of Bell, Book and Candle and The World of Suzie Wong.
Sports · born 1973Jalen Rosebasketball player, sports analyst, authorDetroit-born guard who starred at Southwestern High School and with Michigan's 'Fab Five' before a long NBA career and a second career as a national broadcaster and Detroit philanthropist.
Literature · born 1967Ruta Sepetyshistorical novelistCarnegie Medal–winning author of Between Shades of Gray, born in Detroit to a Lithuanian refugee family and raised in the city's northwestern suburbs.
Eddie SlovikU.S. Army privateDetroit-born private who became the only American soldier executed for desertion since the Civil War; his remains were brought home to Woodmere Cemetery in 1987.Edwin Starrsinger, songwriterSoul singer who launched his career on Detroit's Ric-Tic label with "Agent Double-O-Soul" and then sang Norman Whitfield's protest anthem "War" for Motown.
Sports · born 1983Justin Verlanderbaseball pitcherAce right-hander who anchored the Tigers' rotation for 13 seasons, threw two no-hitters, and won the 2011 AL MVP and Cy Young awards in a unanimous vote.
Music · born 1952Don Wasbassist, record producer, label executiveDetroit-born producer of Bonnie Raitt and the Rolling Stones, co-founder of Was (Not Was) and president of Blue Note Records, who still champions the Detroit music scene.Mark Watersfilm directorDirector of Mean Girls and Freaky Friday, born in Wyandotte and raised in South Bend, Indiana.
Music · 1930–1986Pepper Adamsjazz baritone saxophonist, composerHighland Park-born baritone saxophonist who came of age in Detroit's 1950s bebop clubs, running the bandstand at the Blue Bird Inn before a career in New York.Dave Alexanderbassist, songwriterOriginal bassist of the Stooges, the Ann Arbor proto-punk band that came up through Detroit's Grande Ballroom alongside the MC5.B. J. Armstrongbasketball player, executiveDetroit-born point guard who attended Brother Rice High School in Bloomfield Township and went on to win three NBA championships with the Chicago Bulls.
Sports · born 1974Chucky Atkinsbasketball player, point guardJourneyman point guard who arrived in Detroit in the same 2000 trade that brought Ben Wallace, then returned for a brief encore nine years later.
Music · 1927–2003Hank Ballardsinger, songwriterDetroit-born leader of the Midnighters, a Ford assembly-line worker turned rock and roll pioneer who wrote and first recorded “The Twist.”
Architecture & design · 1925–2017
Gunnar BirkertsarchitectLatvian-American modernist who worked for Saarinen and Yamasaki and ran his own firm from Birmingham, Michigan, for four decades.
Music · born 1976BizarrerapperDetroit rapper and founding member of D12, recruited by Proof in 1995, who still lives and makes music in his hometown.
Sports · born 1991Reggie Bullockbasketball playerThree-and-D wing who spent four seasons with the Pistons, developing from a fringe rotation player into a reliable three-point shooter.Elden Campbellbasketball forward and centerVeteran big man who turned down bigger offers to join the Pistons in 2003 and became a key defensive piece off the bench for Detroit's 2004 championship team.
Sports · born 1979Swin Cashbasketball player, broadcaster, executiveWNBA Hall of Famer who was the second overall pick of the Detroit Shock in 2002 and led the team to championships in 2003 and 2006.Derrick Colemanbasketball player, entrepreneurSyracuse star raised in Detroit who returned late in his career to play for the Pistons, then came home for good as a local developer and Flint water crisis volunteer.Dale Davisbasketball playerVeteran power forward and rebounding specialist who closed out his long NBA career with two seasons on the Pistons.
Visual art · 1821–1872Robert S. Duncansonlandscape and portrait painterThe first internationally known African American painter; he grew up in Monroe, Michigan, painted portraits in Detroit in the 1840s and died here in 1872.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗