# List of people from Providence, Rhode Island

The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Providence, Rhode Island.

## Arts, literature, humanities and entertainment

* Tom Adams, illustrator most famous for his Agatha Christie paperback cover designs
* Daniel Adel, painter and illustrator
* Chester Holmes Aldrich, architect and director of American Academy in Rome
* David Aldrich, artist and architect
* Mathuren Arthur Andrieu, painter
* Omar Bah, journalist and founder of the Refugee Dream Center
* Mildred Barker, Shaker eldress, musician, and scholar who lived at the Alfred and Sabbathday Lake Shaker communities
* Joe Bastardi, meteorologist
* Joe Beats, hip-hop producer
* Alice D. Engley Beek, watercolor painter
* Ted Berrigan, poet
* Blu Cantrell, singer of 2001 hit "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops)"
* William Carpenter, early settler of Providence
* Marilyn Chambers (1952–2009), adult-film actress
* Damien Chazelle, director and screenwriter, Whiplash and La La Land
* Nicole Chesney, artist
* George M. Cohan, songwriter and entertainer, composed "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "You're a Grand Old Flag"
* Bill Conti, composer of music for film and television, including theme from Rocky
* Scott Corbett, writer of children's books
* Michael Corrente, film director and producer
* Pauly D, television personality, noted for contributions to the MTV program Jersey Shore.
* Charlotte F. Dailey, editor and exposition official
* Christopher Denise, illustrator of children's books, including many in the Redwall series
* Bruce DeSilva, author of the Liam Mulligan series of mystery novels
* Paul Di Filippo, author of Steampunk Trilogy
* Ronald Dworkin, author, professor of constitutional law
* John Dwyer, multi-instrumentalist, primary songwriter and core member of Thee Oh Sees, visual artist, record label owner
* C. M. Eddy, Jr., author of mysteries and horror fiction
* Nelson Eddy, singer and film actor
* Susan Eisenberg, voice actress
* Jeanpaul Ferro, poet, short fiction author, novelist
* Elisabeth Filarski, footwear designer, Survivor: The Australian Outback contestant
* Sage Francis, hip hop artist and slam poet
* Margaret Burnham Geddes, architect, activist, and urban planner
* Al Gomes, record producer and songwriter
* Roger A. Graham, lyricist, songwriter
* Robert Leo (Bobby) Hackett, jazz musician (trumpet, cornet, guitar)
* Scott Haltzman, author, The Secrets of Happily Married Men: Eight Ways to Win Your Wife's Heart Forever
* Scott Hamilton, tenor saxophonist
* Clay Hart, country musician (guitar)
* Richard Hatch, winner of Survivor: Borneo
* David Hedison, actor, star of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
* Greta Hodgkinson, ballet dancer
* Ruth Hussey, actress, Oscar-nominated for The Philadelphia Story (1940)
* Joe S. Jackson, sportswriter and editor
* Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (1868–1933), pioneering black soprano who played to audiences around the world
* Claudia Jordan, actress, Miss Rhode Island USA 1997
* Galway Kinnell, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
* Jesse Leach, vocalist and musician, original frontman of Killswitch Engage, Seemless, The Empire Shall Fall and Times of Grace
* James Sullivan Lincoln (1811–1888), "Father of Rhode Island Art" and first president of the Providence Art Club
* H. P. Lovecraft (1890–1937), author of fantasy and horror fiction
* Dorothy Lovett, actress
* Albert Lythgoe (1868–1934), archaeologist and curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
* Dodge MacKnight, painter
* George Macready, actor, Gilda, Paths of Glory
* Jason Marsden, voice actor
* Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Road, No Country for Old Men, Blood Meridian
* Shanna Moakler, 1992 Miss Rhode Island Teen USA, 1995 Miss New York USA and Miss USA
* Nico Muhly, composer
* Andy On, Chinese-American Hong Kong actor
* Jeffrey Osborne, lead vocalist with L.T.D.
* Monty Oum (1981–2015), animator for Rooster Teeth Productions; creator of RWBY
* John Pagano, R&B and pop singer
* Vincent Pagano, actor, screenwriter
* Don Pardo (1918–2014), NBC announcer since 1944, Saturday Night Live 1975–2014
* S. J. Perelman, humorist, author, and screenwriter
* Sylvia Poggioli, reporter for National Public Radio
* Ira Rakatansky (1919–2014), modernist architect
* Josh Schwartz, creator of television series The O.C.
* A. O. Scott, film critic for New York Times
* Chris Sparling, screenwriter and film director
* Daniel Sully, stage actor and playwright
* Benjamin C. Truman, war correspondent and author
* Meredith Vieira, television personality
* Sarah Helen Whitman, poet, possible inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe poems "To Helen" and "Annabel Lee"
* Mabel May Woodward (1877–1945), prominent impressionist painter and RISD faculty
* Nate DiMeo, podcaster, screenwriter, and author. Creator of The Memory Palace podcast and author of the book of the same name.

## Business

* Arunah Shepherdson Abell, publisher and philanthropist
* Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, comic-book entrepreneur and publisher
* Betsey Metcalf Baker (1786–1867; née Betsey Metcalf) manufacturer of straw bonnets, entrepreneur, social activist
* Andrew Dexter Jr., financier of Exchange Coffee House
* Wylie Dufresne, chef
* Alan Shawn Feinstein, finance expert and philanthropist; Feinstein High School in Providence is named in his honor
* A. O. Granger (1846–1914), industrialist and soldier
* William Hamlin (1772–1869), entrepreneur and Rhode Island's first engraver
* Abbie E. Krebs-Wilkins (1842–1924), businesswoman
* Henry J. Steere, industrialist and philanthropist

## Innovators

* Zachariah Allen, scientist and inventor, patented automatic cut-off valve for steam engines
* George Henry Corliss, inventor of the Corliss steam engine, which revolutionized industry by making steam-power cheaper than water-power for powering factories
* Andries van Dam, pioneer in the field of computer graphics and professor at Brown University

## Military

* George K. Anderson, general
* George Andrews, Adjutant General of the U.S. Army from 1912 to 1914
* Israel Angell, colonel in the American Revolution
* Richard Arnold, Civil War general
* William Seaman Bainbridge, military physician, surgeon and gynecologist
* Charles L. Hodges, U.S. Army major general
* Albert Martin, defender of the Alamo
* Frank Wheaton, Civil War general

## Politics

* Arunah Shepherdson Abell, creator of Philadelphia Public Ledger and Baltimore Sun newspapers
* Nelson W. Aldrich, U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, grandfather of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and father of Richard S. Aldrich
* Richard S. Aldrich, U.S. Representative
* Philip Allen, 22nd Governor of Rhode Island and U.S. Senator
* William Henry Allen, naval officer during War of 1812
* Zachariah Allen, scientist and inventor
* Jonathan Arnold, member of Continental Congress from Rhode Island
* Samuel G. Arnold, United States Senator from Rhode Island
* Edward Beard, U.S. Representative
* Grace Lee Boggs, social activist and feminist, known for work done in Detroit
* Jabez Bowen, federalist supporter, Deputy Governor of Rhode Island and Chief Justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
* John Brown, co-founder of Brown University, U.S. Representative
* John Chafee, Governor of Rhode Island, Secretary of the Navy, and United States Senator
* Zechariah Chafee, lawyer, academic and civil libertarian
* Vincent Cianci, longest-serving mayor in Providence history (1974–1984) and (1991–2002); city's first Italian-American mayor
* Thomas Davis, U.S. Representative
* Herbert F. DeSimone, Attorney General of Rhode Island and Assistant Secretary of Transportation
* Ray Fogarty, Rhode Island state representative
* Dwight Foster, U.S. Senator and U.S. Representative
* Theodore Foster, U.S. Senator
* J. Joseph Garrahy, 69th Governor of Rhode Island
* Albert C. Greene, U.S. Senator and Attorney General of Rhode Island
* John Patrick Hartigan, Judge of United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and of United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island
* Nicole Love Hendrickson, chair of the Gwinnett County, Georgia Board of Commissioners
* Stephen Hopkins, nine-time Governor of Rhode Island and signer of Declaration of Independence
* David Jagolinzer, American litigation attorney, born in Providence.
* Elisha Jenkins, New York Secretary of State, Mayor of Albany
* Pat LaMarche, Green Party vice presidential candidate in 2004 and activist
* Oscar Lapham, U.S. Congressman
* Henry Lippitt (1818–1891), textile magnate, governor of Rhode Island, his Victorian mansion is one of the finest in Providence
* Audri Mukhopadhyay, Canadian diplomat
* Dee Dee Myers, first female White House Press Secretary, served during Clinton administration
* John O. Pastore, Democratic politician, first Italian-American governor (1945–1950) and Italian-American senator (1950–1976) of Rhode Island
* John Rucho, Massachusetts state legislator and businessman, was born in Providence
* Pamela Sawyer, member of Connecticut House of Representatives
* Bruce Sundlun, 71st Governor of Rhode Island and businessman
* Robert Tiernan, U.S. Representative and member of Rhode Island General Assembly
* Pat Toomey, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania

## Reformers

* Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis (1813–1876), abolitionist, suffragist, and educator
* Arthur L. Hardge (1927–1983), African American civil rights activist, minister, and administrator
* Bertha G. Higgins (1872–1944), African American suffragist, civil rights activist and clubwoman
* Mary E. Jackson (1867–1923), African-American female suffrage activist, YWCA leader and writer, born in Providence and active in RI politics
* Marion Simon Misch (1869–1941), activist, teacher, writer, businesswoman
* Elizabeth J. Smith (1842–unknown), Canadian-American temperance activist; newspaper editor and publisher

## Science and medicine

* Martha H. Mowry (1818–1899), first woman physician in Rhode Island

## Sports

* Bill Almon, player for eight MLB teams
* Deon Anderson, NFL fullback
* Isaac Angking, soccer player
* Rocco Baldelli, MLB outfielder
* Marvin Barnes, NBA player
* Will Blackmon, NFL cornerback
* Paul Briggs, NFL player
* Jill Craybas, professional tennis player
* Ernie DiGregorio, NBA rookie of the year in 1974
* William Butler Duncan II, leader in New York Yacht Club's long defense of the America's Cup
* Hobe Ferris, second baseman for the Boston Americans
* Beverly Baker Fleitz, tennis player, 1955 Wimbledon singles and doubles finalist, French Open doubles champion
* Anita Foss, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
* Harold Gomes, boxer
* Matt Hyson, pro wrestler, better known as Spike Dudley
* Chris Ianetta, MLB catcher
* Ray Jarvis, MLB pitcher
* Marilyn Jones, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
* Paul Konerko, MLB first baseman
* Davey Lopes, player, coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers
* Tom Lovett, MLB pitcher
* Peter Manfredo Jr., boxer
* Bill Osmanski, College Football Hall of Fame
* Chuck Palumbo, pro wrestler
* Michael Parkhurst, soccer defender for USMNT

## Others

* Edward Francis Anhalt, professor, event promoter, and company founder
* James E. FitzGerald (1906–1969) Jesuit and academic, fourth president of Fairfield University in Connecticut