List of people from Worcester, Massachusetts

The following is a list of prominent people who were born in Worcester, Massachusetts, lived in Worcester, or for whom Worcester is a significant part of their identity.

Academics and inventors

 * Richard T. Antoun (1932–2009), Professor Emeritus of Anthropology at Binghamton University
 * Harvey Ball (1921–2001), inventor of the smiley face
 * Alan T. Busby (1895–1992), educator and first African-American alumnus of the University of Connecticut
 * Harold W. Chase (1922–1982), educator and United States military officer
 * Robert Goddard (1882–1945), father of modern rocketry
 * G. Stanley Hall (1846–1924), first president of Clark University
 * John Kneller (1916–2009), English-American professor and fifth President of Brooklyn College
 * David Green (born 1963), president of Colby College
 * Leonard Morse (born 1929), university professor of clinical medicine
 * Lawrence Park (1873–1924), art historian, architect, and genealogist
 * Francis E. Reed (1852–1917), inventor and industrialist who founded F.E. Reed & Co.
 * Daniel B. Wesson (1825–1906), gunsmith, co-founder of Smith & Wesson

Actors and artists

 * John Wolcott Adams (1874–1925), artist
 * Edith Ella Baldwin (1846–1920), artist
 * H. Jon Benjamin, actor best known as the voices of Sterling Archer on Archer, Bob Belcher on Bob's Burgers, and Can of Vegetables in the Wet Hot American Summer franchise
 * Christopher Boffoli, photographer
 * Elbridge Boyden, architect of Mechanics Hall
 * Zara Cully, actress best known for The Jeffersons
 * Stephen DiRado, photographer
 * Stephen C. Earle, architect
 * Paul Fontaine, abstractist colorist painter
 * Joslyn Fox, drag queen, contestant on Rupaul’s Drag Race season 6
 * Ryan Idol, adult film actor
 * Rita Johnson, actress, co-starred opposite Spencer Tracy in Edison, The Man
 * Jean Louisa Kelly, actress from Yes, Dear
 * Arthur Kennedy, Oscar-nominated, Tony Award-winning actor
 * Dorothy Stratton King, painter and printmaker
 * Diane and Elaine Klimaszewski, actresses and models best known as the "Coors Light Twins"
 * Jarrett J. Krosoczka, children's book author and illustrator; his Punk Farm optioned by DreamWorks Animation
 * Denis Leary, actor and comedian
 * Tom Lewis, artist and activist
 * Joyner Lucas, American rapper
 * John Lurie, actor, musician, and composer
 * Nora Marlowe (1915–1977), actress
 * Eddie Mekka, actor best known for playing Carmine Ragusa on Laverne and Shirley
 * Alisan Porter, former child actress and winner of Season 10 of The Voice
 * Terri Priest, artist
 * Sam Qualiana, actor and filmmaker involved with many low-budget horror films, including Snow Shark (2012)
 * Joyce Reopel, artist
 * Renee Sands, former child actress and singer from Kids Incorporated and Wild Orchid
 * Sam Seder, podcast host of The Majority Report, actor, writer and director
 * Joseph Skinger, silversmith, sculptor
 * Doug Stanhope, comedian known for abrasive style and for The Man Show
 * Lewis Stone (1879–1953), actor, The Secret Six, Grand Hotel, Andy Hardy series
 * Erik Per Sullivan, actor, Malcolm in the Middle
 * Wu Tsang, filmmaker, artist, and performer
 * David Whitney, art curator
 * Alicia Witt, actress, singer-songwriter
 * Hildegard Woodward, children's book illustrator

Athletes

 * Jerry Azumah, former NFL defensive back
 * Tyler Beede (born 1993), baseball pitcher for the San Francisco Giants
 * Frank Carroll, US figure skater and coach, 1960 graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, actor
 * Tim Collins, relief pitcher for the Kansas City Royals
 * Alana Cook, soccer player for the United States national team
 * Bob Cousy, Hall of Fame basketball player; attended the College of the Holy Cross; currently lives in Worcester
 * Ken Doane, professional wrestler
 * Oliver Drake, relief pitcher who's a free agent
 * Rich Gedman, Boston Red Sox catcher, manager of the Worcester Tornadoes
 * Bill Guerin, former Pittsburgh Penguins right winger
 * Aaron Haddad, professional wrestler in WWE
 * Tom Heinsohn, NBA Hall of Fame, Boston Celtics great; attended College of Holy Cross
 * Gordon Lockbaum, attended Holy Cross College; twice finished in the top five in the Heisman Trophy balloting
 * Dwayne McClain, former NBA/Professional basketball player. Starred at Villanova in the early/mid 1980s. Attended Holy Name Catholic Central
 * Tom Poti, former NHL defenseman
 * J.P. Ricciardi, MLB executive, former general manager of the Toronto Blue Jays
 * José Antonio Rivera, WBA light middleweight champion
 * Richard Rodgers II, 3rd-string Tight End for the Philadelphia Eagles; played for St. John's High School
 * Edwin Rodríguez, boxer
 * Rosy Ryan – was a professional baseball pitcher. He played ten seasons. Best remembered for his time with the World Series Champion New York Giants
 * Tanyon Sturtze, former MLB pitcher
 * Major Taylor, track cycling champion
 * Bill Toomey, gold medal decathlete, 1968 Olympics; attended Worcester Academy
 * Leah Van Dale, professional wrestler better known by her ring name Carmella
 * Vinnie Yablonski, NFL player

Musicians

 * John Adams, popular composer
 * Duncan Arsenault, musician
 * Norman Bailey, big band trumpet player from The Lawrence Welk Show
 * Jaki Byard, jazz pianist, composer and recording artist
 * Frank Capp, jazz drummer and bandleader
 * Luke Caswell, better known as Cazwell, an LGBT rapper
 * Wendell Culley, jazz trumpeter from Worcester who played with Noble Sissle, Lionel Hampton, and Count Basie's Orchestra, and many others
 * Don Fagerquist, jazz trumpeter
 * Four Year Strong, rock band
 * J. Geils, lead in J. Geils Band, attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute
 * J. Geils Band, formed in Worcester as a fraternity party band at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, as Snoopy and the Sopwith Camels
 * Georgia Gibbs, 1950s pop singer
 * Duke Levine, guitarist
 * The Hotelier, rock band
 * Jordan Knight, member of the boy band New Kids On The Block
 * Joyner Lucas, rapper
 * Arun Luthra, jazz saxophonist, konnakol artist, composer, arranger, band leader
 * Miriam "Mamie" Moffitt, jazz pianist and band leader of Mamie Moffitt and Her Five Jazz Hounds, the first professional jazz ensemble in Worcester
 * Orpheus, band that enjoyed popularity in the 1960s and early 1970s
 * Cole Porter, Broadway composer, student at Worcester Academy ca. 1912, born in Peru, Indiana
 * Andy Ross, guitarist for rock band OK Go
 * Maureen Steele, pop singer and songwriter, one of the very few white artists signed to Motown during the mid 1980s
 * Einar Swan, multi-instrumental jazz musician and songwriter of "When Your Lover Has Gone"
 * Boots Ward, jazz drummer, band leader, and Worcester jazz club owner

Politicians

 * Charles Allen (1797–1869), United States Congressman from Massachusetts
 * George Bancroft, 17th United States Secretary of the Navy, founder of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis, author of the first comprehensive history of the United States
 * John Binienda, Massachusetts state legislator
 * Alexander H. Bullock, Governor of Massachusetts (1866–1868)
 * Kate Campanale, member of Massachusetts House of Representatives from District 17
 * John Curtis Chamberlain, US Representative
 * Dorothea Dix, reformer and activist
 * Dwight Foster, Massachusetts Attorney General and Associate Justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
 * Roger Sherman Baldwin Foster, lawyer
 * Emma Goldman, Lithuanian-American anarchist; owned ice cream parlor in Worcester
 * Thomas Wentworth Higginson, abolitionist, literary mentor to Emily Dickinson
 * Abbie Hoffman, radical activist
 * Abby Kelley Foster, abolitionist, suffragette
 * Joseph T. Higgins, member of the New York State Assembly
 * Jim McGovern, US Representative from Massachusetts's 2nd congressional district
 * Levi Lincoln Sr., American revolutionary
 * Levi Lincoln Jr., Governor of Massachusetts
 * William D. Mullins, state representative and baseball player
 * Albert L. Nash, politician and businessman
 * Richard Neal, US Representative from Massachusetts's 1st congressional district
 * Kenneth P. O'Donnell, Appointments Secretary and Political Adviser to President John F. Kennedy
 * Robert Owens, businessman and Massachusetts state senator
 * John Rucho, politician and businessman
 * Charles F. Sullivan, Mayor of Worcester and Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, 1949–1953
 * Benjamin Swan, longest-serving Vermont State Treasurer
 * Charles G. Washburn, member of the U.S. House of Representatives

Writers and journalists

 * Jane G. Austin, writer
 * Mike Barnicle, print and broadcast journalist, social and political commentator
 * S. N. Behrman, playwright, author of memoir The Worcester Account
 * Robert Benchley, writer and member of the Algonquin Round Table
 * Elizabeth Bishop, poet and writer
 * John D. Casey, novelist and translator
 * John Dufresne, novelist and screenwriter
 * Alice Morse Earle, writer
 * Esther Forbes, writer
 * Samuel Fuller, screenwriter, producer and director
 * John Michael Hayes, writer of the Alfred Hitchcock films Rear Window, To Catch a Thief, The Trouble with Harry, and The Man Who Knew Too Much
 * Isabel Hornibrook, children's literature writer
 * Omar Jimenez, CNN reporter, known for being arrested on live TV while reporting on the George Floyd protests in Minneapolis
 * Aidan “Turtleboy” Kearney, author and investigative journalist
 * Stanley Kunitz, Poet Laureate
 * Frank O'Hara, poet
 * Charles Olson, modernist poet
 * Charlie Pierce (born 1953), American writer/journalist, and panelist on NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me
 * Normand Poirier, writer
 * Olive Higgins Prouty, writer, known for "Now, Voyager" and "Stella Dallas"
 * Ernest Lawrence Thayer, poet and journalist, known for "Casey at the Bat"
 * Isaiah Thomas, publisher of the Massachusetts Spy
 * Stanley Woodward, newspaper editor and sportswriter

Other

 * Lillian Asplund, last survivor of the RMS Titanic who remembered the actual sinking
 * William Austin Burt, 19th-century explorer and surveyor in Michigan
 * Nathaniel Bar-Jonah, convicted child molester, possible serial killer and cannibal
 * Timothy Bigelow, Revolutionary War patriot
 * Jonas Clark, founder of Clark University
 * Edmund L. Daley (1883–1968), U.S. Army major general
 * Edgar C. Erickson (1896–1989), United States Army Major General and Chief of the National Guard Bureau
 * Catherine Fiske (1784-1837), school founder
 * John Stanley Grauel (1917–1986), Christian Zionist leader
 * Samuel Fisk Green (1822–1884), physician and medical missionary, served with the American Ceylon Mission 1847–1873
 * Samuel R. Heywood, founder of the Heywood Boot & Shoe Company
 * Myra Kraft, philanthropist, wife of New England Patriots owner Bob Kraft
 * Royal B. Lord (1899–1963), United States military officer
 * Joe Morrone, Connecticut Huskies soccer coach
 * Charley Parkhurst, stagecoach driver and horseman
 * Irving Price, co-founder of Fisher Price toys and games
 * Michael Ritchie, artistic director
 * George Edward Rueger (1929–2019), Roman Catholic bishop
 * Stephen Salisbury III, founder of the Worcester Art Museum
 * Richard B. Sellars (1915–2010), Chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson
 * Madeline Singas, American attorney and jurist.
 * Ichabod Washburn, founder of Worcester Polytechnic Institute
 * Steven N. Wickstrom, Army National Guard major general who commanded the 42nd Infantry Division
 * Stillman Witt (1808–1875), Ohio railroad and steel executive, banker
 * Geoffrey Zakarian, Iron Chef, Food Network Channel celebrity chef