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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
22 fields

Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →

14 people

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Film & TV · born 1952S. Epatha MerkersonactressLaw & Order's Lt. Anita Van Buren grew up in Detroit, graduated from Cooley High School and earned her theatre degree at Wayne State University.Grew up hereStudied here

Film & TV · 1902–1992George Murphyactor, dancer, U.S. senatorSong-and-dance star of 1930s–40s Hollywood musicals and U.S. senator from California, who spent part of his boyhood in Detroit.Grew up here

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.Born hereGrew up here

Film & TV · 1923–2010Adele Maraactress, dancer, singerHighland Park-born dancer and actress of 1940s westerns and Sands of Iwo Jima, the daughter of Spanish immigrants, who started out in Xavier Cugat's show.Born hereGrew up here

Film & TV · born 1954Lonette McKeeactress, singer, songwriterStar of Sparkle, The Cotton Club and Broadway's Show Boat, a Detroit child prodigy who sang at the city's record hops and clubs from age seven and cut her first record at fourteen.Born hereGrew up here

Theatre & dance · born 1942Donna McKechniemusical theater dancer, singer, actress, choreographerPontiac-born dancer who trained in Royal Oak and won the 1976 Tony Award as Cassie in A Chorus Line, a role built largely on her own story.Born hereGrew up here

Theatre & dance · 1927–1984Robert Moorestage, film and television director, actorDetroit-born director of the landmark The Boys in the Band (1968), five-time Tony nominee and Neil Simon's frequent collaborator.Born here

Theatre & dance · 1898–1993Edith Meiseractress, playwright, radio writerDetroit-born actress and writer who brought Sherlock Holmes to American radio in 1930 and appeared in more than 20 Broadway shows.Born hereGrew up here

Theatre & dance · born 1978Dominique Morisseauplaywright, actress, television writerDetroit-born playwright whose Detroit Project trilogy (Detroit '67, Paradise Blue, Skeleton Crew) puts the city's history on stage; MacArthur Fellow and Tony nominee.Born hereGrew up here

Theatre & dance · 1938–2004Ron Milnerplaywright, theatre directorDetroit playwright of the Black Arts Movement, raised on Hastings Street in Black Bottom, co-founder of Concept East Theatre and author of What the Wine-Sellers Buy and Checkmates.Born hereGrew up here

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.Born hereGrew up here

Theatre & dance · 1903–1948Paul McPharlinpuppeteer, puppet maker, historian of puppetryDetroit puppeteer who staged some twenty productions in the city (1928–1937), founded the Marionette Fellowship of Detroit and co-founded the Puppeteers of America.Born hereDetroit career

Theatre & dance · ?–2023Bruce Millantheater founder, artistic directorDetroit-born co-founder of the Detroit Repertory Theatre (1957), whose 61 years as its artistic director and color-blind casting made him a pillar of Detroit theater.Born hereGrew up here

Film & TVNat Morristelevision hostHost of The Scene, the WGPR-TV dance show (1975–1987) from the first Black-owned TV station in the continental United States.Detroit career

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 ↗

Famous Detroiters

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