# List of people from Portland, Maine

The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Portland, Maine.

## Authors and academics

* Brock Clarke, author
* John Howard Appleton, chemist
* Louisa Dow Benton, linguist and letter writer
* Hannah Johnson Carter, art educator
* Elisabeth Cavazza (1849–1926), author, journalist, and music critic
* Jennie Maria Drinkwater Conklin (1841–1900), author
* Leo Connellan, Beat poet and Poet Laureate of Connecticut
* Owen Davis, dramatist
* Robert F. Griffin, essayist
* Dorothy M. Healy, professor at Westbrook College and Curator of the Maine Women Writers Collection
* Stephen King, author
* Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet
* John Neal, author and critic
* Alan Taylor, historian
* William Irwin Thompson, poet and cultural historian

## Business

* James Phinney Baxter, canning magnate and Mayor
* Asa Clapp, international merchant
* Cyrus Curtis, publisher and philanthropist
* John A. Poor, railroad developer
* Roxanne Quimby, founder of Burt's Bees
* Reuben Ruby, businessman and political activist
* Thomas A. Sanders, real estate developer and politician
* Donald Valle, founder and owner of the Valle's Steak House restaurant chain

## Explorers and settlers

* George Baker Leavitt Sr., whaling captain, arctic explorer
* Capt. Christopher Levett, English explorer of Casco Bay, founded first settlement
* Francis Pettygrove, one of Portland Oregon's founders

## Media and arts

* Dorothy Appleby, American film actress
* Maria a'Becket, painter
* Hiram Abrams, motion picture mogul
* William H. Brown Jr., television director and producer; born, raised, and died in Portland.
* Bebe Buell, model, musician, and mother of Liv Tyler
* Howie Carr, radio personality
* Cody Christian, actor and rapper
* John Greenleaf Cloudman, artist, portrait painter and cabinet maker
* Charles Codman, painter
* Jerry Crasnick, sports journalist
* Kevin Eastman, co-creator of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
* Greg Finley II, actor
* Frank Fixaris, sportscaster
* Francis Ford, actor
* John Ford, director
* Charles L. Fox, painter, labor unionist, and two-time candidate for Governor of Maine with the Socialist Party
* Adam Gardner, musician
* Peter Garland, composer
* Jeremiah Hacker, journalist and reformer
* Will Holt, songwriter
* Avery Yale Kamila, journalist and community organizer
* Anna Kendrick, actress
* Charles F. Kimball, artist
* Jennie Kimball, actor, soubrette, theatrical manager
* Linda Lavin, actress
* Tawny Little, television newscaster and Miss America (1976)
* Bob Ludwig, Grammy Award-winning audio mastering engineer
* Bob Marley, comedian
* Andrea Martin, actress
* Judd Nelson, actor
* Lincoln Peirce, comic strip creator, Big Nate
* Ryan Peters, aka Spose, rapper
* Victoria Rowell, actress
* Ethelynde Smith, concert singer and botanical painter
* Stuart Saunders Smith, composer and percussionist
* Brett Somers, actress
* Franklin Stanwood, painter
* Phyllis Thaxter, actress
* Liv Tyler, actress
* Louise Brown Verrill, composer

## Military

* James Alden Jr., rear admiral in the United States Navy
* George G. Gatley, brigadier general who commanded brigades and divisions in World War I
* John H. Hall, inventor of the first United States Army breech-loading rifle
* Horatio Collins King, Medal of Honor recipient
* Charles J. Loring Jr., Medal of Honor recipient
* Holman S. Melcher, mayor, Civil War veteran
* Edward Preble, naval officer
* Herbert E. Schonland, Medal of Honor recipient
* Ronald Speirs, army officer with the Easy Company, 506 Parachute Infantry Regiment
* Peleg Wadsworth, Revolutionary War general

## Politics

* Joseph Adams, state legislator
* Justin Alfond, President of the Maine Senate
* George H. Allan, state legislator and women's suffrage proponent
* Daniel W. Ames, Civil War veteran and state legislator
* James Appleton, state legislator and activist
* Joseph E. Brennan, 70th Governor of Maine
* Michael F. Brennan, Mayor and state legislator
* Joshua Chamberlain, Civil War veteran, governor, served as Surveyor of the Portland Port
* W. Edward Crockett, state legislator
* Winfred Thaxter Denison, United States Assistant Attorney General and Secretary of the Interior for the Philippines; born in Portland
* Santo DiPietro, Maine state legislator and businessman; born in Portland
* Neal Dow, mayor of Portland; Civil War general; temperance movement leader
* John Eder, state legislator and Maine Green Independent Party organizer
* William P. Fessenden, U.S. Senator
* Fletcher Hale, U.S. Congressman from New Hampshire
* Charles Harlow, mayor of Portland; state legislator
* Anne Haskell, state legislator
* Jon Hinck, state legislator and attorney
* John Lynch, U.S. Congressman
* George Mitchell, U.S. Senate Majority Leader (1989 to 1995); chairman of Walt Disney; U.S. special envoy to the Middle East
* Merle Nelson, state legislator
* William Pitt Preble, Justice of the Maine Supreme Court; U.S. Minister to the Netherlands; President of the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad
* Anne Rand, state legislator
* Thomas Brackett Reed, U.S. Congressman; Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
* George Ruby, Black Republican legislator in Reconstruction-era Texas; raised in Portland
* James E. Thorne, state legislator
* Charles W. Walton, U.S. Congressman
* Herman W. Waterman, politician from Wisconsin

## Professionals

* Edville Gerhardt Abbott, surgeon
* Oscar Cox, lawyer
* Walter M. Fleming, physician, founder of the Shriners
* Alexander Wadsworth Longfellow Jr., architect
* Robert E. McAfee, physician
* Alexander Parris, architect
* Lois Rice, College Board executive & education scholar
* Thomas J. Sparrow, architect
* Henry Aiken Worcester, 19th century minister & vegetarian

## Sports

* Mike Brown (born 1975), mixed martial arts fighter
* Nik Caner-Medley (born 1983), basketball forward
* Dick Capp (born 1942), American football tight end and linebacker
* Ian Crocker (born 1982), Olympic swimmer
* Emily Durgin (born 1994), distance runner
* Rob Elowitch (born 1943), wrestler
* Terry Farnsworth (born 1942), Canadian Olympic judoka
* Ryan Flaherty (born 1986), baseball second baseman
* Charlie Furbush (born 1986), baseball pitcher
* Rip Jordan (1889–1960), baseball pitcher
* Pete Ladd (born 1956), baseball pitcher
* Michelle Lilienthal (born 1982), distance runner
* Gary McAdam (born 1955), ice hockey forward
* Quinton Porter (born 1982), American football quarterback
* Matt Rand (born 1991), distance runner
* Joan Benoit Samuelson (born 1957), distance runner
* Bob Stanley (born 1954), baseball pitcher
* Coley Welch (1919–2000), middleweight boxer

## Other

* Cornelia Dow (1842–1905), philanthropist, temperance activist; born and died in Portland, Maine
* Sarah E. Fuller (1838-1913), national president, Woman's Relief Corps; born in Portland, Maine
* Nathaniel Gordon, only American slave trader to be tried, convicted, and executed under the Piracy Law of 1820 "for being engaged in the Slave Trade"
* L. Isabel Heald (1842–1932), social leader and philanthropic worker
* Ellen Martin Henrotin, social reformer; born in Portland, Maine
* Augusta Merrill Hunt (1842-1932), philanthropist, suffragist, temperance leader; lived in Portland her entire life
* Lois Galgay Reckitt (born 1944), executive director of Family Crisis Services, Portland, Maine
* Frederick L. Small (1866–1918), stockbroker; convicted and hanged by the state of New Hampshire for the murder of his wife