Theatre & dance · born 1972Dita Von Teeseburlesque dancer, model, businesswomanThe performer credited with bringing burlesque back to the mainstream was born Heather Sweet in Rochester, Michigan, in Oakland County.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.
- 1,940 famous people
- 366 Detroit places
- 16 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
15 people
Clear filtersTheatre & dance · born 1972Dita Von Teeseburlesque dancer, model, businesswomanThe performer credited with bringing burlesque back to the mainstream was born Heather Sweet in Rochester, Michigan, in Oakland County.
Film & TV · born 1972Elizabeth Berkleyactress, dancerSaved by the Bell's Jessie Spano grew up in Farmington Hills, trained as a dancer in Detroit and first acted on metro Detroit stages.
Comedy · born 1971Keegan-Michael Keyactor, comedian, writer, producerCo-creator of Key & Peele who grew up in Detroit, studied theater at the University of Detroit Mercy and co-founded Hamtramck's Planet Ant Theatre.
Film & TV · born 1975Elizabeth ReaseractressTwilight and Grey's Anatomy actress who was born in Bloomfield Hills and finished high school in Auburn Hills before training at Juilliard.
Film & TV · born 1975David Burtkaactor, chefBroadway and How I Met Your Mother actor turned professional chef, born in Dearborn and raised in Canton, where he graduated from Salem High School.
Theatre & dance · born 1971Renée Elise Goldsberryactress, singerTony- and Grammy-winning Angelica Schuyler of Hamilton, who grew up partly in the Detroit area and graduated from Cranbrook Kingswood School in Bloomfield Hills.
Film & TV · born 1978Jaime Ray Newmanactress, producer, singerTelevision actress (Veronica Mars, Eureka, The Punisher) who grew up in Farmington Hills, acted in Detroit-area regional theaters and graduated from Cranbrook in 1996.
Film & TV · born 1970Matt Letscheractor, playwright, directorGrosse Pointe-born actor (The Mask of Zorro, The Flash's Reverse-Flash) and playwright, discovered at Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea.
Film & TV · born 1970Jacqueline Kimactress, writer, filmmaker, composerActress of Star Trek Generations and Charlotte Sometimes and co-writer of Advantageous, who grew up in Bloomfield Hills and started acting there at four.
Theatre & dance · born 1978Celia Keenan-Bolgerstage actress, singerDetroit-born Broadway actress, trained at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, who won a Tony as Scout in To Kill a Mockingbird (2018).
Comedy · born 1976Misty Leemagician, voice actress, comedianMagician raised in Detroit and trained by local magician Scorpio, the first woman to serve as séance medium at Hollywood's Magic Castle, and a prolific video-game voice actress.
Literature · born 1971Jessica Care moorepoet, performer, playwright, publisherDetroit poet and performer who won Showtime at the Apollo five times, founded Moore Black Press and Black Women Rock!, and lives and works in downtown Detroit.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 ↗