Comedy · 1951–2014Robin Williamscomedian, actorOscar-winning comic genius who spent his early teens in Bloomfield Hills, where his father was a Ford executive, and attended Detroit Country Day School.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
- 515 Detroit places
- 22 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
11 people
Clear filtersComedy · 1951–2014Robin Williamscomedian, actorOscar-winning comic genius who spent his early teens in Bloomfield Hills, where his father was a Ford executive, and attended Detroit Country Day School.
Film & TV · born 1930Robert WagneractorHart to Hart and It Takes a Thief star, born in Detroit to a Ford Motor Company salesman, who lived in the city until his family moved to Bel Air in 1937.
Film & TV · born 1952Billy Westvoice actor, musicianDetroit-born voice of Futurama's Fry, Farnsworth and Zoidberg, Ren & Stimpy and the red M&M, who grew up in Boston and New Jersey.
Film & TV · born 1968Cynthia WatrosactressDaytime Emmy-winning soap star and Lost's Libby, born in Lake Orion and a former Macomb Community College student.
Film & TV · 1943–2019Max WrightactorALF's harried father Willie Tanner, born in Detroit and raised in Southfield, where he starred in high school musicals; he returned to act at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre in 2007.
Sports · born 1987Charlie Whiteice dancer, Olympic champion, coachDearborn-born ice dancer, 2014 Olympic champion with Meryl Davis, who now coaches at the Michigan Ice Dance Academy he co-founded in Canton.
Film & TV · 1930–2015Grace Lee Whitneyactress, singerStar Trek's Yeoman Janice Rand, who grew up in Detroit and began her career at 14 as a girl singer on WJR radio.
Film & TV · born 1985James WolkactorFarmington Hills native known as Bob Benson on Mad Men, who grew up in Oakland County and trained at the University of Michigan.
Fashion · born 1965Veronica Webbmodel, actress, writer, television personalityDetroit-born supermodel who in 1992 became the first Black model with an exclusive cosmetics contract (Revlon), and who acted in Spike Lee's Jungle Fever.
Film & TV · born 1996Chase Sui Wondersactress, director, screenwriterStar of The Studio and Bodies Bodies Bodies, born in Bloomfield Hills and educated at Cranbrook; niece of Detroit-born designer Anna Sui.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 ↗