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
 * 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

Business

 * Arunah Shepherdson Abell, publisher and philanthropist
 * Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, comic-book entrepreneur and publisher
 * 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), American industrialist and soldier
 * William Hamlin, 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
 * 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