List of people from Newton, Massachusetts

Newton, Massachusetts has been the home of many notable people.

Academics

 * Michael Rosbash, geneticist and chronobiologist at Brandeis University, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017
 * Daron Acemoglu, economist and professor of economics at MIT
 * Frederick M. Ausubel, molecular biologist, professor at Harvard Medical School
 * David Berson, neurobiologist, professor at Brown University
 * Jean Briggs, anthropologist and expert on Inuit languages, raised in Newton
 * J. Walter Fewkes, ethnologist and archaeologist
 * Stanley Fischer, former governor of the Bank of Israel, former professor at the MIT Department of Economics
 * Alexandra I. Forsythe, author of the first computer science textbook; helped found the Stanford University Department of Computer Science
 * William Tudor Gardiner, 55th Governor of Maine, January 2, 1929 – January 4, 1933
 * Caroline D. Gentile, associate professor emeritus of education, University of Maine at Presque Isle
 * Michael Hammer, one of the founders of the management theory of business process reengineering
 * H. Robert Horvitz, MIT professor of biology; won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 2002 together with Sydney Brenner and John Sulston
 * Steven Hyman, neuroscientist and Provost of Harvard University
 * Ruth Langer, professor of theology at Boston College; expert on Jewish Liturgy and on Christian-Jewish relations
 * Robert C. Lieberman, political scientist and provost of the Johns Hopkins University
 * William Stetson Merrill, classifier at Newberry Library; expert on classification of library books, author of A Code for Classifiers
 * Arnold A. Offner, historian, author, and former professor
 * Rosalind Picard, director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab
 * Jeffrey Sachs, Harvard professor, 1980–2002; current director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University
 * Ruggero Santilli, Center for Theoretical Physics of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 * Jonathan Sarna, Joseph H. Braun and Belle R. Braun Professor of American Jewish History in the department of Near Eastern and Judaic Studies at Brandeis University
 * Andrei Shleifer, economist and professor of economics at Harvard
 * Isadore Singer, mathematician, recipient of the Abel Prize (2004) and National Medal of Science (1983), and Institute Professor in the Department of Mathematics at MIT
 * Lawrence Summers, former Harvard president, former secretary of the treasury, and nephew of the Nobel Prize laureate Paul Samuelson
 * Scott Sumner, economist and professor of economics at Bentley University
 * Susumu Tonegawa, MIT professor; won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1987
 * Edward Wagenknecht, literary critic, prolific writer and Boston University professor, lived on Otis Street in West Newton
 * Melvin M. Weiner, electrical engineer, author, inventor, he was the first to reduce pass-bands and stop-bands in photonic crystals to practice
 * Victor Weisskopf, theoretical physicist; worked with Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Niels Bohr; group leader of the Theoretical Division of the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos
 * Howard Zinn, radical historian and author of A People's History of the United States

Actors and actresses

 * Peggy Bernier, actress and comedienne
 * Virginia Bosler, actress
 * Louis C.K., born Louis Szekely, stand-up comedian, Louie TV series, actor and writer
 * Jessica Chaffin, actress, comedienne, and writer
 * Priyanka Chopra, actress
 * Matt Damon, actor, film producer, philanthropist and screenwriter
 * Dimitri Diatchenko, actor and musician
 * Anne Dudek, actress, played Dr. Amber Volakis in TV series House
 * Kathryn Erbe, actress, star of Law & Order: Criminal Intent
 * Marin Hinkle, actress, best known for playing Judith Harper on CBS's Two and a Half Men
 * Josephine Hull, actress
 * Jennifer Dundas, actress
 * Alex Karpovsky, actor, best known for playing Ray Ploshansky on HBO's Girls
 * Jonathan Katz, actor, best known for his starring role on the animated sitcom Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist
 * Karen Kondazian, actress and author
 * John Krasinski, actor, best known for playing Jim Halpert on NBC's The Office
 * Ben Kurland, actor
 * Matt LeBlanc, actor, best known for playing Joey Tribbiani on Friends
 * Jack Lemmon, Oscar-winning actor
 * Christopher Lloyd, actor, best known for playing Rev. Jim in TV series Taxi and as "Doc" (Emmett Brown) in Back to the Future films
 * Robert Morse, actor, star of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying and Mad Men
 * Olga C. Nardone, actress, best known for playing three parts in The Wizard of Oz
 * Hari Nef, actress, model, and writer
 * B. J. Novak, comedian, writer, best known for playing Ryan Howard on The Office
 * Rebecca Pidgeon, actress, singer and songwriter, wife of playwright David Mamet
 * Amy Poehler, actress and comedian, Saturday Night Live and Parks and Recreation
 * Robert Preston, actor, "Professor" Harold Hill in The Music Man
 * James Remar, actor, known for many films and TV series Dexter
 * Joe Rogan, actor and comedian
 * Eli Roth, film director, producer, writer and actor
 * John Slattery, actor, best known for playing Roger Sterling in Mad Men
 * Arnold Stang, comic actor
 * Brian J. White, actor, best known for his role in The Shield

Artists

 * David Bowes, painter
 * Mickie Caspi, artist, calligrapher
 * Tama Hochbaum, artist and photographer
 * Plane Jane (Andrew Dunayevsky), drag performer and competitor on season 16 of RuPaul's Drag Race
 * Roger Kellaway, Oscar-nominated and Grammy-winning composer, arranger, and pianist
 * Bow Sim Mark, wushu practitioner; mother of actor Donnie Yen
 * Florence Maynard, photographer
 * Arthur Polonsky, draughtsman, painter and academic
 * Nancy Schön, sculptor of the Make Way for Ducklings statues on Boston Common; also did statues of Winnie-the-Pooh and Eeyore at the Newton Free Library
 * Sidewalk Sam (Robert Guillemin), folk artist
 * Edwin Lord Weeks, painter
 * Morgan Bassichis, American comedic performer, writer, and artist

Authors, writers, journalists, poets

 * Binyamin Appelbaum, journalist
 * Tom Ashbrook, journalist and radio broadcaster
 * Isaac Asimov, prolific science fiction and non-fiction writer
 * Russell Banks, writer of fiction and poetry
 * Alex Beam, columnist for the Boston Globe
 * Thomas Bulfinch, author of Bulfinch's Mythology
 * Ty Burr, film critic for the Boston Globe
 * Virginia Lee Burton, illustrator and author of children's books
 * Russell Gordon Carter, writer
 * Anita Diamant, author of fiction and nonfiction books
 * Ralph Waldo Emerson, essayist, poet, lecturer, philosopher
 * Bill Everett, comic book writer, artist (creator of Sub-Mariner, co-creator of Daredevil)
 * Ellen Goodman, Pulitzer Prize-winning syndicated columnist
 * Ann Warren Griffith, writer
 * Dan Harris, correspondent for ABC News; anchor for Nightline; co-anchor for the weekend edition of Good Morning America
 * Nate Kenyon, author
 * Raymond Kurzweil, writer, futurist, inventor
 * Don Lessem, author
 * Barry Levy, screenwriter, best known for the 2008 film Vantage Point
 * Bill Lichtenstein, Peabody Award-winning journalist and filmmaker
 * Melissa Lozada-Oliva, poet and spoken word artist
 * David Mamet, playwright, screenwriter and film director
 * Adam Mansbach, novelist
 * Elizabeth McCracken, author
 * Tova Mirvis, novelist
 * Diana Muir, writer and historian
 * Charles J.V. Murphy, journalist and author
 * Michael Novak, author
 * William Novak, author
 * Robert Pinsky, former Poet Laureate of the United States
 * Caroline Mehitable Fisher Sawyer, writer, editor
 * Anne Sexton, poet, writer
 * Edward Sheehan, journalist and author
 * Samuel Shem, playwright
 * Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom's Cabin
 * Andrew Szanton, collaborative memoirist
 * Celia Thaxter, poet and writer
 * Ben Ames Williams, novelist
 * Jonathan Wilson, novelist and critic

Business and industry

 * Roger Berkowitz, owner of Legal Sea Foods
 * Charles Bilezikian, co-founder of Christmas Tree Shops
 * Elizabeth Boit, textile manufacturer
 * Richard B. Carter, head of Carter's Ink Company 1905–1949
 * Jim Davis, CEO of New Balance
 * Semyon Dukach, professional gambler, entrepreneur, writer
 * Leo Kahn, co-founder of Staples
 * Jim Koch, co-founder and chairman of the Boston Beer Company
 * Louis K. Liggett, drug store magnate
 * Eddie Lowery, golf caddy, auto dealer
 * John Palmer Parker, early Hawaiian rancher, married into Hawaiian royal family
 * Sumner Redstone, global media businessman
 * Francis Edgar Stanley (1849–1918), co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer
 * Freelan Oscar Stanley (1849–1940), co-inventor of the Stanley Steamer and builder of the Stanley Hotel
 * Donald Valle, founder and owner of Valle's Steak House
 * Richard Valle, restaurateur; son of Donald Valle; owner of Valle's Steak House
 * Peter Lynch, Mutual Fund Manager & Philanthropist; Managed Fidelity Magellan Fund 1977-1990

Colonial figures

 * Waban, 17th-century American Indian tribal chief; lived in Nonantum
 * Ephraim Williams, colonel in the colonial militia during the French and Indian War and benefactor of Williams College
 * Thomas Wiswall (1601–1683), prominent early citizen of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and Cambridge Village, Massachusetts

Environmentalists

 * Francis P. Farquhar (1887–1974), former president of the Sierra Club

Government, education and politics

 * Benigno Aquino Jr. and Corazon Aquino, Filipino public intellectual and political figures; lived with their five children in Newton, 1980–1983; Corazon eventually became the first female president of the Philippines (1986–1992); their third child and only son, Benigno III or "Noynoy", was elected president in 2010
 * Benigno Aquino III, 15th president of the Philippines (assumed office June 2010; term ended June 2016), lived in Newton 1980–1983
 * Jake Auchincloss, member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district
 * Thomas Cardozo, first African American State Superintendent of Education in Mississippi (1874–1876)
 * Evan Falchuk, founder of the United Independent Party and candidate for governor of Massachusetts in 2014
 * Barney Frank, former U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district
 * Joseph Healy, U.S. Representative from New Hampshire
 * Joseph Kennedy III, son of Joseph P. Kennedy II and former U.S. Representative for Massachusetts's 4th congressional district
 * Richard Lakin, Freedom Rider, school principal, terrorism victim
 * Horace Mann, public educator, college president (Antioch College) and U.S. Representative from Massachusetts
 * Lisa Monaco, United States Deputy Attorney General and former Homeland Security Advisor
 * Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Shah of Iran; exiled after Ayatollah Khomeini took power; lived for a short time in Newton
 * Cyrus Peirce, public educator, college president of Framingham State College (once located in West Newton); namesake of the Peirce School in West Newton
 * John Pigeon, representative of Newton to the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and served as Massachusetts Commissary General while a resident
 * Roger Sherman, only person to have signed all four basic documents of American sovereignty: the Continental Association of 1774, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution; born and spent his first two years in Newton
 * Henry Lawrence Southwick, author, actor and 3rd President of Emerson College (1908–1932)
 * Nguyen Van Thieu, exiled President of South Vietnam
 * Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
 * John W. Weeks, mayor of Newton; U.S. Congressman and U.S. Senator from Massachusetts; U.S. Secretary of War under Harding
 * Sinclair Weeks, son of John W. Weeks; born in West Newton; like his father, served as mayor of Newton and U.S. Senator; U.S. Secretary of Commerce under President Dwight Eisenhower
 * Harry F. Stimpson Jr., lawyer who was the United States Ambassador to Paraguay

Military

 * James S. Gracey, Commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard

Music

 * Leonard Bernstein, composer, conductor, pedagogue, pianist.
 * Robert Beaser, composer, professor, The Juilliard School
 * Dai Buell, pianist, performed the first piano recital on radio in 1921, lived at the Aloha Bungalow
 * Ralph Burns, songwriter, bandleader, composer, conductor, arranger and bebop pianist
 * Rob Chiarelli, multiple Grammy Award winner
 * Catie Curtis, folk/pop singer
 * Stephen Custer, cellist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, grew up in Newton
 * Fat Mike, lead singer and bassist of punk rock band NOFX
 * Alfred Genovese, principal oboist of Metropolitan Opera and Boston Symphony Orchestra
 * Osvaldo Golijov, Grammy award-winning composer of classical music
 * Avi Jacob, singer-songwriter
 * Mike Mangini, drummer for Dream Theater
 * Vaughn Monroe, singer, trumpeter and big band leader
 * Jane Morgan, popular singer, specializing in traditional pop music
 * Jesse Novak, composer
 * Aoife O'Donovan, singer-songwriter, lead singer of band Crooked Still
 * Seiji Ozawa, Boston Symphony Orchestra Music Director Laureate
 * Horatio Parker, composer, first Dean of Yale School of Music, born in Auburndale (a village of Newton)
 * Rachel Platten, singer and songwriter
 * Seth Putnam, singer and leader of grindcore band Anal Cunt
 * Fritz Richmond, jug and washtub bass player
 * Mark Sandman, lead singer of the alternative rock band Morphine
 * Jason Solowsky, composer

Philosophy, religion and spirituality

 * Ram Dass (Dr. Richard Alpert), author, philosophic and religious guru
 * Mary Baker Eddy, founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist; her last home has been preserved as the Dupee Estate-Mary Baker Eddy Home
 * Timothy Leary, author, psychologist, lecturer at Harvard, advocate of L.S.D.-25 (i.e., lysergic acid diethylamide) and other entheogens

Physicians

 * Donald Berwick, former Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; candidate for Massachusetts Governor in 2014
 * Atul Gawande, general and endocrine surgeon at Brigham and Women's Hospital
 * Kurt Julius Isselbacher, M.D., American physician and the former Mallinckrodt Distinguished Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Director Emeritus of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
 * Sara Murray Jordan, gastroenterologist

Political activists

 * Charles Jacobs, founder of the American Anti-Slavery Group and of The David Project Center for Jewish Leadership
 * Andrea Levin, director of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America
 * Leonard Zakim, prominent New England religious and civil rights leader

Producers and directors

 * Brad Falchuk, writer, director, and producer of Nip/Tuck and Glee
 * Andrew Bujalski, film director, screenwriter, and actor
 * Lyn Greene, writer, director and producer of Nip/Tuck, Boss and Masters of Sex
 * Eli Roth, film director, producer, actor
 * Bruce Sinofsky, director of documentary films, Brothers Keeper, The Paradise Lost Trilogy, Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (TV series), Iconoclasts
 * Julie Taymor, director of Broadway theatre and film

Psychologists and psychiatrists

 * Julian Jaynes, psychologist
 * Kenneth Levin, psychiatrist and historian
 * Kurt Lewin, "the father of social psychology"

Radio, television personalities

 * Paula S. Apsell, television producer
 * Tom Ashbrook, host of the NPR radio show On Point
 * Maria Lopez, former judge, TV personality
 * Jade McCarthy, ESPN sportscaster
 * Suzyn Waldman, color commentator for New York Yankees

Science, medicine and technology

 * Michael Rosbash, geneticist and chronobiologist at Brandeis University, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2017
 * Dan Bricklin, with Bob Frankston, co-creator of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet
 * Charles Stark Draper, inventor of the aircraft inertial guidance system; founder of MIT's Draper Labs
 * Wes Hildreth, a USGS geologist born in Newton.
 * Reginald Fessenden (1866–1932), inventor and radio pioneer; his house at 45 Waban Hill Road is listed in the National Register of Historic Places
 * Bob Frankston, with Dan Bricklin, co-creator of VisiCalc, the first spreadsheet
 * Atul Gawande, surgeon, writer for The New Yorker
 * Ashish Jha, Dean of Brown University School of Public Health and White House COVID-19 pandemic Response Coordinator
 * Jonathan Mann, head of the World Health Organization's global AIDS project
 * Charles Johnson Maynard, naturalist and ornithologist; lived in the Charles Maynard House
 * Thomas C. Peebles, physician, responsible for first isolating the measles virus, setting the stage for the development of a vaccine
 * Judy Smith, nurse who disappeared from Philadelphia in 1997; found murdered in North Carolina five months later
 * Rochelle Walensky, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and former Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital
 * Frank E. Winsor, civil engineer and chief engineer of the Quabbin Reservoir project

Songwriters

 * Katharine Lee Bates, professor of English at Wellesley College and author of the lyrics to "America the Beautiful"
 * Samuel Francis Smith, Baptist minister and author of the lyrics to My Country, 'Tis of Thee, also known as "America"

Auto racing

 * Pete Hamilton, NASCAR racer, winner of the 1970 Daytona 500

Baseball

 * The following are current and former players of the Boston Red Sox:
 * Matt Clement (former)
 * Jim Corsi (former) (born in Newton)
 * John Curtis (former) (born in Newton)
 * Hal Deviney (former) (born in Newton)
 * JD Drew (former)
 * Bob Gallagher (former) (born in Newton)
 * Gabe Kapler (former)
 * Mark Loretta (former)
 * Doug Mirabelli (former)
 * Trot Nixon (former)
 * David Ortiz (former)
 * Wily Mo Peña (former)
 * Jimmy Piersall (former)
 * Jason Varitek (former)
 * Ted Williams (former)


 * The following also played Major League Baseball:
 * Bob Barr (born in Newton)
 * Sean DePaula (born in Newton)
 * Bob Dresser (born in Newton)
 * Jake Fishman (born in Newton)


 * The following play for a national team:
 * Jake Fishman, American-Israeli (born in Newton; plays for Team Israel)
 * Ben Wanger, American-Israeli baseball pitcher (born in Newton; plays for Team Israel)

Basketball

 * Geoffrey Gray (born 1997), American player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League
 * Tom Heinsohn (1934–2020), NBA player
 * Jayson Tatum, NBA player

Boxing

 * Joe DeNucci, middleweight boxer and MA State Auditor

Fencing

 * Paul Friedberg, Olympic fencer

Figure skating

 * Tenley Albright (born 1935 in Newton Centre), first American female skater to win an Olympic gold medal; other titles included 1952 Olympic silver medal, 1953 and 1955 World Champion, 1953 and 1955 North American champion, and 1952–1956 U.S. national champion
 * Gracie Gold, 2014 and 2016 U.S. champion, Olympic team bronze medalist, born in Newton
 * Jennifer Kirk, 2000 World Junior champion, born in Newton
 * John Summers, 1978–80 national champion in ice dancing

Football

 * Kiko Alonso, (former) linebacker for the Miami Dolphins
 * Patrick Sullivan, (former) general manager, New England Patriots
 * Will Levis, (current) quarterback for the Tennessee Titans

Soccer

 * Daouda Kante, (former) New England Revolution player
 * Taylor Twellman, (former) New England Revolution player

Skateboarding

 * Andy MacDonald, eight-time X Games gold medalist and eight-time World Cup Skateboarding champion