From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This is a list of people from Massachusetts. It includes both people born in the state, and people famous for association with it.
[edit] Artists
[edit] Athletes
- Harry Agganis, baseball player
- Tony Amonte, hockey player
- Jeff Bagwell, baseball player
- Tom Barrasso, hockey player
- Dana Barros, basketball player
- David Bavaro, football player
- Mark Bavaro, football player
- Joe Bellino, football player, Heisman Trophy Winner
- Travis Best, basketball player
- Mark Bellhorn, baseball player
- Andy Brickley, hockey player
- Chris Capuano,Baseball player
- John Cena, professional wrestler
- Mickey Cochrane, Hall-of-Fame baseball player
- Tony Conigliaro, baseball player
- Stephen Cooper, football player
- Jim Craig, USA Olympic hockey player, 1980 Lake Placid
- Honey Craven, equestrian
- Mike Eruzione, USA Olympic Hockey Player, 1980 Lake Placid
- Mark Fidrych, Baseball player, 1976 MLB AL. rookie of the year
- Doug Flutie, NFL, Hall of Fame CFL Football Player, Heisman Trophy Winner Founder of Flutie Flakes and The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism
- Bill Guerin, hockey player
- Tom Glavine, baseball pitcher
- Fran Healy, baseball player, announcer
- Jarrett Jack, went to school in Worcester, Mass.
- Tim Keefe, 19th century baseball pitcher
- Michael Leach, tennis player
- Rocky Marciano, boxer
- Lou Merloni, baseball player
- Mike Milbury, hockey player
- Jay Pandolfo, hockey player
- Vincent Peluga, Ultimate frisbee and ga-ga
- Carlos Peña, baseball player
- Tom Poti, hockey player
- Jerry Remy, baseball player, announcer
- Jeremy Roenick, hockey player
- Joe Sacco, hockey player
- Alicia Sacramone, World Champion gymnast
- Keith Tkachuk, hockey player
- Micky Ward, boxer
- Jermaine Wiggins, football player
- Mark Wohlers, baseball pitcher
- Wilbur Wood, baseball pitcher
- Jeff Reardon, baseball player
[edit] Business
[edit] Entertainment
[edit] Comedians
- Mike Birbiglia comedian
- Bill Burr comedian
- Louis C.K. comedian, director
- Mario Cantone comedian
- Steve Carell comedian, actor, The Office US
- Dane Cook comedian, stand up, and actor
- Nate Corddry comedian, actor, The Daily Show
- Rob Corddry comedian, The Daily Show
- Lenny Clarke comedian, stand up, and actor
- Nick DiPaolo comedian
- Rachel Dratch comedian
- John Ennis comedian, actor, Mr. Show with Bob and David
- John Krasinski comedian, actor The Office US
- Denis Leary comedian and actor
- Jay Leno comedian and talk show host
- BJ Novak comedian, actor, and head writer of The Office US
- Conan O'Brien comedian and talk show host
- Patrice Oneal comedian, writer
- Amy Poehler comedian, actress
- Robby Roadsteamer comedian
- Steve Sweeney comedian and actor
- Maura Tierney actress
- Nancy Walls comedian, actress
- Steven Wright comedian, actor
[edit] Actors and film people
- Jane Alexander, actress
- Ben Affleck, Oscar-winning screenwriter & actor
- Casey Affleck, actor
- Traci Bingham, actress, model
- Ray Bolger, actor
- Walter Brennan, actor
- Paget Brewster, actress
- Jere Burns, actor
- Michael Chiklis, actor
- Marcia Cross, actress
- Jane Curtin, actress
- Matt Damon, Oscar-winning screenwriter & actor
- Bette Davis, actress
- Geena Davis, Oscar-winning actress
- Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-winning actress
- Eliza Dushku, actress
- John Enos III, actor
- Chris Evans, actor
- Ben Foster, actor
- Samuel Fuller, director, screenwriter
- Christos Gage, screenwriter
- Ruth Gordon, actress
- Sprague Grayden, actress
- Scott Grimes, actor
- Van Hansis, actor
- Ann Jillian, actress
- Amy Jo Johnson, actress
- Jean Louisa Kelly, actress
- Matt LeBlanc, actor
- Jack Lemmon, Oscar-winning actor
- Neal McDonough, actor
- Agnes Moorehead, Emmy-winning actress
- David Morse, actor
- Bridget Moynahan, actress
- Edward Norton, actor, director
- Leonard Nimoy, actor, director
- Matthew Perry, actor
- Ellen Pompeo, actress
- Kurt Russell, actor
- James Spader, Emmy-winning actor
- Uma Thurman, actress
- Paige Turco, actress
- Steven Van Zandt, actor
- Sam Waterston, actor
- Donnie Wahlberg, actor and former musician
- Mark Wahlberg, actor and former musician
- Alicia Witt, actress
[edit] Musicians
- Frank Black, singer and guitarist of the Pixies
- Bobby Brown singer
- New Edition r&b/pop group
- Neil Cicierega, singer and internet cult icon
- Rich Cronin, singer (LFO)
- Danny Davis, country musician
- Stephen Foster, composer
- Kay Hanley singer (Letters to Cleo)
- JoJo, singer
- Andrew Jones, guitarist of Antarctica[citation needed]
- Phil Labonte, singer (All That Remains)
- Mary Lou Lord, singer/guitarist
- Andrew McMahon, singer/pianist
- Spider One, singer
- Joe Perry, guitarist
- Linda Perry singer and songwriter
- Wanda Perry-Josephs, singer
- Jonathan Richman songwriter, singer in The Modern Lovers
- Donna Summer singer
- Tavares vocal group
- James Taylor singer
- Rob Zombie singer, director
- John Linnell, one half of They Might Be Giants
- John Flansburgh, one half of They Might Be Giants
- Chad Stokes Urmston, Pete Francis Heimbold; of Dispatch
- Gang Starr, hip hop duo
- Akrobatik, hip hop artist
- LT, hip hop artists
[edit] Hosts and Entertainment personalities
[edit] Founders
[edit] Literature
- Louisa May Alcott, author
- Horatio Alger, author
- Elizabeth Bishop, poet
- Anne Bradstreet, poet
- William Cullen Bryant, poet
- Stephen Daye, printer
- Emily Dickinson, poet
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet
- John Kenneth Galbraith, author, educator, and public official
- Theodor Seuss Geisel, author and illustrator
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, author
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet and essayist
- Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, author
- Jack Kerouac, author
- Stanley Kunitz, poet
- Peter Laird, Comic book creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
- Henry Cabot Lodge, author and public official
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet
- Charles Olson, poet
- Sylvia Plath, poet, author, and essayist
- Edgar Allan Poe, author and poet
- Henry David Thoreau, philosopher
- Edith Wharton, author
- John Greenleaf Whittier, poet and abolitionist
- Jane Yolen, author
[edit] Military
[edit] Native people
[edit] People involved in the American Revolutionary War
[edit] Public office
See Governor of Massachusetts for a complete list of governors from 1620 to the present.
- John Adams, 2nd U.S. president and 1st vice president
- John Quincy Adams, 6th U.S. president
- James Bowdoin, colonial governor
- Edward Brooke, U.S. Senator
- George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st U.S. president
- Andrew Card, State Rep., U.S. Secretary of Transportation, White House Chief of Staff
- Paul Cellucci, governor and U.S. Ambassador to Canada
- Calvin Coolidge, mayor, state representative, senator and governor, 30th U.S. president
- James Michael Curley, Mayor of Boston and Governor of Massachusetts
- Michael Dukakis, governor and 1988 Democratic nominee for president
- John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts and President of the Continental Congress
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
- Thomas Hutchinson, governor
- Edward Kennedy, U.S. Senator
- John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. president
- Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator (New York)
- John Forbes Kerry, U.S. Senator and 2004 Democratic nominee for president
- Thomas Menino, current mayor of Boston
- Mitt Romney, former governor
- Jane Swift, first and only female governor of Massachusetts
[edit] Religion
- Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Unitarian and Transcendentalist
- Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader
- Edward Everett Hale, religious leader
- John Harvard, clergyman and namesake of Harvard University
- Bernard Francis Law, archbishop and cardinal
- Cotton Mather, minister
- Increase Mather, minister
- Dwight Lyman Moody, evangelist
- Edmund Sears, Unitarian parish minister who penned "It Came upon the Midnight Clear" in 1849.
[edit] Science
- Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
- Luther Burbank, horticulturist
- Min Chueh Chang, scientist, developed birth control pill
- Benjamin Franklin, scientist and public official
- Robert Goddard, inventor
- Elias Howe, inventor
- Samuel Finley Breese Morse, inventor and artist
- Gregory Pincus, scientist, developed birth control pill
- Eli Whitney, inventor
- William T.G. Morton, dentist and physician, first successful public demonstration of an inhalation anesthetic
[edit] Others
- William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist
- Susan B. Anthony, reformist
- Harvey Ball, inventor of the smiley face
- F. Lee Bailey
- Michelle Bonner, ESPN SportsCenter anchor & ESPNEWS anchor
- Becky DelosSantos, Playboy playmate of the Month April 1994
- Shawnae Jebbia, Miss USA 1998
- Capt. Lawrence Mahan Sr., Schooner Captain[citation needed]
- Horace Mann, educationist and abolitionist
- Barbara Walters, television personality
- Capt. Marty Welch, Schooner Captain
- Charles Pomeroy Stone, soldier, explorer, and engineer
- Rebecca Miyamoto, Teacher who teaches in Japan, She is important character who appears in "Paniponi" - the Japanese comic and animation.
[edit] Famous politicians and other residents
- John Adams, 1st Vice President of the U.S., 2nd President of the U.S., 1800 Federalist presidential nominee
- John Quincy Adams, Congressman, Senator, 6th President of the U.S.
- Samuel Adams, Patriot in the American Revolutionary War
- Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross
- James "Whitey" Bulger, leader of The Winter Hill Gang and wanted fugitive
- William Bulger, former President of the Massachusetts State Senate and former president of the University of Massachusetts.
- George H. W. Bush, 43rd Vice President of the U.S., 41st President of the U.S.
- Paul Cellucci, Governor and United States Ambassador to Canada
- Calvin Coolidge, 29th Vice President of the U.S., 30th President of the U.S.
- Michael Dukakis, Governor, 1988 Democratic presidential nominee
- Mark Foley, the disgraced U.S. Congressman, was born in Newton.
- Abby Kelley Foster, suffragist and abolitionist
- Margaret Fuller, feminist
- Elbridge Gerry, Congressman, Governor, 5th Vice President of the U.S., namesake of gerrymandering
- John Hancock, Governor, President of the Continental Congress
- Abbie Hoffman, political activist and founder of the Yippies
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Supreme Court Justice
- James Michael Curley, Governor, Congressman, Mayor of Boston
- Edward M. Kennedy, incumbent U.S. Senator, 1980 Democratic presidential candidate
- John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator, 35th President of the U.S.
- Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator (representing New York), 1968 Democratic presidential candidate
- John F. Kerry, incumbent U.S. Senator, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee
- Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Senator, led the Senate opposition to the League of Nations
- Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., U.S. Senator, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.,1960 Republican vice presidential candidate
- Barry McCaffrey, (4-star) Army General, Drug Czar
- John W. McCormack, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
- Tip O'Neill, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Paul Revere, Patriot in the American Revolution
- Theodore Sedgwick, President pro tempore of the Senate, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Lucy B. Stone, suffragist and abolitionist
- Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator, 1992 Democratic presidential candidate
- Henry Wilson, U.S. Senator, 18th Vice President of the U.S.
- Malcolm X, political activist
[edit] Inventors
- Alexander Graham Bell, Salem (telephone)
- Harold Steven Black, Leominster (negative feedback principle)[citation needed]
- Rachel Fuller Brown, Springfield (antibiotics)
- Robert Goddard, Worcester ("father of modern rocketry")
- Charles Goodyear, Woburn (Vulcanized Rubber)
- Elias Howe, Specer (sewing machine)
- Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Lexington (Internet) MIT Professor
- Samuel Morse, Charlestown (Morse code)
- Benjamin Thompson, Woburn (Rumford fireplace, Thermal underwear)
- An Wang, inventor
- Eli Whitney, Westborough (cotton gin)
[edit] Authors and Poets
- Louisa May Alcott, Concord (Little Women)
- Elizabeth Bishop, Worcester (poet)
- Augusten Burroughs, Amherst (Running with Scissors)
- E.E. Cummings, Cambridge (poet)
- Emily Dickinson, Amherst (poet)
- W.E.B. DuBois, Great Barrington (The Souls of Black Folk)
- Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord (Nature, The Transcendentalist)
- Robert Frost, Lawrence (poet)
- Nicholas Gage, Worcester writer and journalist
- Theodor Geisel, Springfield (the Dr. Seuss books)
- Nathaniel Hawthorne, Salem (The Scarlet Letter)
- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Cambridge (poet)
- Jack Kerouac, Lowell (On the Road)
- Stanley Kunitz, Worcester -- Poet Laureate of the United States
- Timothy Leary, Springfield (Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out)
- Michael Patrick MacDonald, South Boston (All Souls)
- Stephen McCauley, Woburn (The Object of My Affection)
- Charles Olson, Worcester (poet)
- Sylvia Plath, Boston (The Bell Jar)
- Edgar Allan Poe, Boston ("The Raven")
- Henry David Thoreau, Concord (Walden)
- George Santayana, Boston (The Life of Reason)
- Anne Sexton, Newton (poet)
- Michelle Tea, Chelsea (Rent Girl)
- Thomas Paine, (Common Sense)
- Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Concord (In the forests of the night, Demon in my View)
[edit] Television and Film
- Ben Affleck, Cambridge (Good Will Hunting, Gigli)
- Eric Bogosian, Woburn (Law & Order: Criminal Intent)
- Steve Carell, Acton (The Office, The 40-Year Old Virgin)
- John Cena, West Newbury (WWE Champion)
- Dane Cook, Arlington (Retaliation, Harmful If Swallowed)
- Rob Corddry and Nate Corddry, Weymouth (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Studio 60)
- Marcia Cross, Marlborough (Desperate Housewives)
- Matt Damon, Cambridge (Good Will Hunting, The Bourne Identity, The Departed)
- Geena Davis, Wareham (Thelma and Louise)
- Ken Doane, Worcester (WWE Superstar)
- Rachel Dratch, Lexington (Saturday Night Live)
- Chris Evans, Sudbury (Fantastic Four)
- Jim Ford III, West Boylston (Knock, Knock, Across the Universe)
- John Hodgman, Brookline (The Daily Show, "I'm a PC" in Get a Mac)
- Denis Leary, Worcester (The Sandlot, Wag the Dog)
- Matt LeBlanc, Newton. (Friends)
- Jay Leno, Andover (The Tonight Show)
- Mindy Kaling, Cambridge (The Office)
- Ben Karlin, Needham. (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report)
- John Krasinski, Newton (The Office)
- Ben Kurland, Newton (Sinners)
- Ed McMahon, Lowell (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Star Search)
- Maria Menounos, Medford
- Leonard Nimoy, Boston (Star Trek, IMAX voiceover)
- Ed Norton, Boston (American History X, Fight Club)
- B.J. Novak, Newton (The Office)
- Conan O'Brien, Brookline (Late Night with Conan O'Brien)
- Amy Poehler, Burlington (Saturday Night Live)
- Ellen Pompeo, Everett (Old School, Grey's Anatomy)
- Eli Roth, Newton (Hostel)
- Kurt Russell, Springfield (Escape from New York)
- James Spader, Boston (Secretary)
- Liam Kyle Sullivan, Boston (The "Kelly" Skits)
- Uma Thurman, Amherst (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill)
- Steven Tyler, Lynn (Aerosmith)
- Mark Wahlberg, Dorchester (Entourage, The Departed)
- Nancy Walls, Cohasset (Saturday Night Live, The Office)
- Barbara Walters, Boston (journalist)
- Lyle R. Wheeler, Woburn (Academy Award-winning art-director)
- Alicia Witt, Worcester (actress)
- Steven Wright, Burlington (stand-up comedian)
- Rob Zombie, Haverhill (The Devil's Rejects)
