Notable current and former residents of Montclair, New Jersey, include:

Academics and science
 H. Bruce Franklin (born 1934), author and historian who was expelled from his Stanford University professorship for involvement in a leftist group
 Joshua Lederberg (1925–2008), geneticist who received the 1958 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work in bacterial genetics; born in Montclair
 Ronald T. Raines (born 1958), chemical biologist and expert on the chemistry and biology of proteins
 Kenneth B. Smith (1931-2008), President of the Board of Education of the Chicago Public Schools; President of the Chicago Theological Seminary
 Dr. Leo Sternbach (1908–2005), chemist, invented precursor to Valium
 Edward Weston (1850–1936), electrical engineer and inventor whose Weston Electrical Instrument Company won the contract to illuminate the Brooklyn Bridge

Arts

Authors and journalists
 Virginia Hamilton Adair (1913–2004), poet
 Jonathan Alter (born 1957), Newsweek magazine journalist
 Jim Axelrod, national correspondent for CBS News; reporter for the CBS Evening News
 Eric Boehlert, journalist, author, frequent contributor to The Huffington Post and contributing editor to Rolling Stone
 David Carr (1956-2015), media and culture columnist for The New York Times
 Wendy Coakley-Thompson (born 1966), author of the novel Back to Life
 Cojo, Art Juggernaut (born 1977), artist, writer, cartoonist
 Fleur Cowles (1908–2009), painter, journalist, hostess, socialite and founder of Flair magazine; claimed to have been born in Montclair but records from the United States Census Bureau indicate that she was born in New York City
 Louise DeSalvo (born 1942), author
 Christopher Durang (born 1949), contemporary playwright
 Edward S. Ellis (1840–1916), teacher, school administrator, journalist; author of hundreds of publications under his name and many pseudonyms
 Jessie Redmon Fauset (1882-1961), novelist, poet, literary critic for The Crisis; later teacher
 Ian Frazier (born 1951), writer, humorist, and essayist

 Frank Bunker Gilbreth (1868–1924) and Lillian Moller Gilbreth (1878–1972), and their twelve children, featured in the autobiography Cheaper by the Dozen and Belles on Their Toes by Ernestine Gilbreth Carey and Frank Bunker Gilbreth, Jr.
 Bob Herbert, (born 1945), syndicated op-ed columnist for The New York Times
 Ken Johnson, (born 1953), art critic for The New York Times
 Jon Katz (born 1947), author
 Peter King (born 1957), journalist and Sports Illustrated senior writer
 Michael Laser (born 1954), author
 Donna Leon (born 1942), novelist
 Arthur Levine (born 1962), editor, author, and publisher of children's books, including the American editions of the Harry Potter series
 Anne McCaffrey (1926–2011), a prolific writer of fantasy and science fiction best known for her Dragonriders of Pern series
 Susan Meddaugh, author of the Martha Speaks series of children's books, whose first home in Montclair was 33 Fairfield Street, where Martha the talking dog "lives" now
 Isabel Paterson (1886–1961), journalist, novelist, political philosopher, author of The God of the Machine
 Andrew Rosenthal (born 1956), editorial page editor of The New York Times; son of the paper's former executive editor A.M. Rosenthal
 Lee Siegel (born 1957), writer and cultural critic
 Richard Wesley (born 1945), screenwriter and playwright
 Valerie Wilson Wesley (born 1947), mystery writer
 Jana Winter, Fox News Channel reporter

Fashion
 Bobbi Brown (born 1957), makeup artist
 Jack McCollough (born 1978), fashion designer; co-creator of Proenza Schouler
 Louise Vyent, Dutch-born fashion model and portrait photographer

Fictional characters
 Paul Kinsey, on Mad Men
 Millicent Kent, in David Foster Wallace's novel Infinite Jest
 Jennifer Melfi, on The Sopranos
 Marnie Michaels, on Girls
Carmela Soprano, on The Sopranos, attended Montclair State University

Fine arts
 Thomas Ball (1819–1911), sculptor
 William Couper (1853–1942), sculptor
 Harry Fenn (1845–1911), was an English-born illustrator, primarily of landscapes
 George Inness, (1825–1894), landscape painter
 Joe McNally (born 1952), photographer
 Dorothy Canning Miller (1904–2003), art curator

Movies, stage and television
 Richard E. Besser (born 1959), former acting director of Centers for Disease Control; current Senior Health and Medical Editor at ABC News
 Richard Burgi (born 1958), actor
 John Callahan (born 1953), actor, Falcon Crest, Santa Barbara, All My Children, Days of Our Lives
 Stephen Colbert (born 1964), television personality, host of The Colbert Report
 Margaret Colin (born 1957), actress, Gossip Girl, The Edge of Night, Something Wild, Independence Day
 R.J. Colleary (1928–2012), Peabody and Emmy Award-winning comedy writer and producer for M*A*S*H and Barney Miller;  produced Benson and It's a Living
 Kristen Connolly (born 1980), actress
 Justin Deas (born 1948), actor
 Dagmara Dominczyk (born 1976), actress
 Olympia Dukakis (born 1931), Academy Award-winning actress, Moonstruck, Steel Magnolias, Mr. Holland's Opus
 Allen DuMont (1901–1965), television pioneer
 Beth Ehlers (born 1968), actress on Guiding Light and All My Children
 Frankie Faison (born 1949), actor, The Silence of the Lambs
 Frank Field (born 1923), meteorologist, former resident
 Savion Glover (born 1974), tap dancer and choreographer
 Peter Greene (born 1965), actor, Pulp Fiction, The Mask
 Sterling Hayden (1916–1986), actor, Dr. Strangelove, The Godfather, The Asphalt Jungle, 9 to 5
 Anthony Heald (born 1944), actor, The Silence of the Lambs, Boston Public
 Shuler Hensley (born 1967), actor; won a Tony Award for Oklahoma!
 Louis Jean Heydt (1903–1960), actor
 Steve Hofstetter (born 1979), comedian and radio personality
 Janet Hubert-Whitten (born 1956), television and Broadway actress
 Vincent Irizarry (born 1959), Emmy Award-winning actor, [All My Children
 The Amazing Kreskin (born 1935), paranormalist and TV personality
 Eva La Rue (born 1966), actress, model, singer
 Nicole Leach (born 1979), actress
 Delroy Lindo (born 1952), actor nominated for Tony and SAG awards; Get Shorty, The Cider House Rules, Crooklyn, Gone in 60 Seconds, Malcolm X, More American Graffiti
 Warren Littlefield, (born 1952), President of NBC in the 1990s
 Priscilla Lopez (born 1948), actress, singer, dancer, Maid in Manhattan
 Tyler Mathisen (born 1957), writer, editor, co-host of CNBC's Power Lunch
 John Miller (born 1959), journalist, author, former FBI and ABC News journalist, current CBS News Senior Correspondent and investigative reporter
 Joe Morton (born 1947), actor, Scandal
 Michael O'Leary (born 1958), actor who portrayed Dr. Fredrick "Rick" Bauer on Guiding Light
 Roscoe Orman (born 1944), actor who portrayed Gordon Robinson on Sesame Street
 Stacie Passon, film director and screenwriter
 Kal Penn (born 1977), actor, Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
 Todd Porter (born 1968), child/teen actor, Starstuff, Pinocchio's Christmas, Whiz Kids
 Christina Ricci (born 1980), actress whose films include The Addams Family, Buffalo '66, Monster, Sleepy Hollow
 Rosemary Rice (1925–2012), actress; played Katrin on Mama; voice-over artist and children's musician
 Bruce Sinofsky (born 1956), screenwriter, editor, producer and filmmaker, 2012 Academy Award nominee
 Steven Spielberg (born 1946), Academy Award-winning film director
 Elaine Stewart (1930–2011), model and Hollywood actress of the 1950s, promoted as a "dark-haired Marilyn Monroe"
 Sophia Takal, actress, writer and director
 Michelle Thomas (1968–1998), actress who played Myra on Family Matters
 Dallas Townsend (1919–1995), anchor for CBS World News Roundup
 Jake Weary (born 1990), actor, As the World Turns
 Mary Alice Williams (born 1949), television personality
 Wendy Williams (born 1964), TV and radio personality, host of The Wendy Williams Show
 Patrick Wilson (born 1973), actor, Watchmen, The A-Team, Little Children
 Alex Winter (born 1965), actor
 Kim Zimmer (born 1955), actress, Guiding Light
 Louis Zorich (born 1924), actor, Mad About You; married to Olympia Dukakis
 Eric Nyenhuis (born 1967), actor Walking Dead, Almost Mercy

Music
 Al Anderson (born 1950), guitarist and songwriter; played with Bob Marley & The Wailers
 David Bendeth (born 1954), musician, songwriter and producer
 Chuck Burgi (born 1952), drummer
 Ted Curson (born 1935), jazz trumpeter
 Robert DeLeo (born 1966), bass player, songwriter, and harmony vocalist for the Stone Temple Pilots
 Tommy DeVito (born 1936), guitarist and vocalist for The Four Seasons
 Hussein Fatal (born 1973), rapper, former member of the Outlawz
 Bob Gaudio, (born 1942), singer, songwriter, musician, record producer and songwriting member of The Four Seasons
 Billy Hart (born 1940), jazz drummer
 Herman Hupfeld (1894–1951), lyricist who wrote "As Time Goes By", used in the 1943 Oscar winner Casablanca
 Dorothy Kirsten (1910–1992), lyric soprano
 Vincent La Selva, (born 1929), symphony and opera conductor
 Oliver Lake (born 1944), alto saxophone player and composer
Joseph Lamb, (1887-1960), prominent composer of ragtime music, born and lived in Montclair 
 Christian McBride (born 1972), three-time Grammy Award winner for jazz (bass)
 Jim McNeely (born 1949), Grammy-winning jazz pianist, composer and arranger
 Anwar Robinson (born 1979), singer, contestant on American Idol
 Wallace Roney (born 1960), trumpet player and jazz musician
 Adam Schlesinger (born 1967), musician, bass player for Fountains of Wayne and Ivy
 Duncan Sheik (born 1969), singer-songwriter, composer; known for his 1996 single, "Barely Breathing", and his work on the award-winning musical Spring Awakening
 Ty Taylor (born 1967), guitarist and vocalist of R&B group Dakota Moon; contestant on the reality TV show Rock Star: INXS
 Steve Turre (born 1948), jazz trombonist and member of Saturday Night Live band since 1984

 Joe Walsh (born 1947), musician/songwriter for the James Gang and the Eagles
 Reggie Workman (born 1937), jazz musician

 Jenny Owen Youngs (born 1981), singer/songwriter

Business
 Israel Crane (1774-1858), merchant
 Allen B. DuMont (1901–1965), television pioneer and inventor who created the DuMont Television Network
 Floyd Hall, CEO of K-Mart, 1995-2001
 Benjamin Moore, co-founder with his brother Robert of Benjamin Moore & Co, in Brooklyn in 1883; lived in Upper Montclair, 1905-1917

Government, politics and law
 Bradley Abelow, Treasurer of the U.S. State of New Jersey, appointed by Governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine
 Steve Adubato (born 1957), former member of the New Jersey General Assembly; talk show host
 Jane Barus (1892-1977), member of the Constitutional convention that formulated the 1947 New Jersey State Constitution
 Bill Bradley (born 1942), former forward for the New York Knicks; U.S. Senator; prospective presidential candidate
 Raymond A. Brown (1915–2009), attorney whose clients included Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter and "Dr. X" physician Mario Jascalevich
 Bayard H. Faulkner (1894–1983), former mayor and chairman of the Commission on Municipal Government that created New Jersey's Optional Municipal Charter Law, better known eponymously as the Faulkner Act
 Paul J. Fishman (born 1957), United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey
 William H. Gray (born 1941), former Congressman who was head of the United Negro College Fund
 Lonna Hooks, Secretary of State of New Jersey from 1994 to 1998, under Governor of New Jersey Christine Todd Whitman
 J. Erik Jonsson (1901-1995), businessman, philanthropist, and mayor of Dallas, Texas, reared in Montclair
 Sean T. Kean (born 1963), represents the 11th legislative district in the New Jersey General Assembly
 Arthur Kinoy (1920–2003), activist lawyer who was part of the team that represented the Chicago Seven
 Howard Krongard (born 1940), head of the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of State
 Archie Lochhead (1892-1971), first director of the Exchange Stabilization Fund and President of the Universal Trading Corporation
 Benjamin Chavis Muhammad (born 1948), civil rights activist
 Lucy Stone (1818–1893), feminist and suffragist
 Benjamin Strong, Jr. (1872-1928), governor of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
 Edward W. Townsend (1855–1942), represented New Jersey's 6th congressional district, 1911-1913, and the 10th district, 1913-1915
 Jeh Johnson (1957), fourth United States Secretary of Homeland Security from 2013 to 2017

Sports
 Me'Lisa Barber (born 1980), track and field sprint athlete
 Yogi Berra (born 1925), baseball player and manager with the New York Yankees and New York Mets
 Bob Bradley (born 1958), soccer coach of the Egypt national football team; former manager of the United States men's national soccer team
 David Caldwell (born 1987), football safety for the Hamilton Tiger-Cats, previously with the Indianapolis Colts
 Peter A. Carlesimo (1915–2003), basketball coach
 Leonard Coleman (born 1949), President of the National League of Professional Baseball Clubs
 Larry Doby (1923–2003), second African-American to play professional baseball in Major League Baseball
 Alex Ferguson (1897–1976), right-handed pitcher; played for the New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, Philadelphia Phillies, and Brooklyn Robins; played in the 1925 World Series
 Don Garber (born 1957), commissioner of Major League Soccer
 Billy "Brud" Johnson (1918–2006), former New York Yankees third baseman; played nine seasons in the majors; missed two seasons for military service during World War II
 Rees Jones (born 1941), golf course architect
 Robert Trent Jones, Jr. (born 1939), golf course architect
 Robert Trent Jones, Sr. (1906–2000), golf course architect; moved here from England where he married and raised two sons, both following in their father's footsteps
 Sean Jones (born 1962), defensive end for the Raiders, Oilers, and the Packers; played in the 1997 Super Bowl championship
 Rich Kenah (born 1970), middle distance runner; won bronze medals over 800 metres at the 1997 World Indoor Championships and 1997 World Championships in Athens; member of the US Team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney
 Dave Meads (born 1964), pitcher for the Houston Astros who had an 8-4 career record
 John McMullen (1918–2005), naval architect and marine engineer; former owner of the New Jersey Devils and Houston Astros
 Jeff Mills (born 1968), linebacker who played four seasons in the NFL with the San Diego Chargers and Denver Broncos
 Scott Niedermayer (born 1973), retired hockey defenseman for the New Jersey Devils and Anaheim Ducks
 William Steinitz (1836–1900), one of the greatest chess masters of the 19th century; first world champion; known as the "Bohemian Caesar"
 Michael Strahan (born 1971), NFL defensive end for the New York Giants; holds single season sack record
 Willie Taylor (born 1955), wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers
 David Tyree (born 1980), NFL wide receiver for the New York Giants; 1998 graduate of Montclair High School
 Ingrid Wells (born 1989), soccer player
 Earl Williams (born 1948), baseball player; National League's rookie of the Year in 1971
 Dainius Zubrus (born 1978), forward for New Jersey Devils

Other
 Buzz Aldrin (born 1930), astronaut, second man to walk on the moon
 Paul Cushing Child (1902–1994), husband of chef Julia Child, who introduced his wife to fine cuisine, which began her legendary career
 Victor E. Engstrom (1914–2000), philatelist
 Vladimir Guryev and Lydia Guryev, aka Richard and Cynthia Murphy, arrested in their Montclair home June 2010 by FBI; admitted in court to being agents of the Russian Federation and pled guilty to conspiracy to act as unregistered agents; expelled with eight others in a prisoner exchange with Russia
 Isaac Newton Lewis (1858–1931), soldier and inventor who created the Lewis Gun

References

Lists of American people
New Jersey-related lists