Science & invention · born 1948
Paul MilgromeconomistStanford economist who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize for auction theory and helped design the U.S. radio-spectrum auctions; born in Detroit and raised in Oak Park.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,949 famous people
- 516 Detroit places
- 19 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
91 people · 1/2 page
Clear filtersScience & invention · born 1948Paul MilgromeconomistStanford economist who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize for auction theory and helped design the U.S. radio-spectrum auctions; born in Detroit and raised in Oak Park.
Film & TV · born 2004Kaitlyn Mahersinger, actressSinger and actress born in Novi, northwest of Detroit, who became the youngest top-10 finalist in America's Got Talent history at age four.
Film & TV · born 1939Lee MajorsactorThe Six Million Dollar Man and The Fall Guy star, born Harvey Lee Yeary in Downriver Wyandotte and orphaned there as a toddler.
Film & TV · 1915–2011Harry MorganactorColonel Potter of M*A*S*H and Officer Gannon of Dragnet, born Harry Bratsberg in Detroit to Norwegian immigrant parents.Douglas McGregormanagement theorist, psychologistManagement theorist of Theory X and Theory Y, born in Detroit into the family that ran the McGregor Institute, a mission for homeless men, and a graduate of today's Wayne State.
Comedy · born 1961Tim Meadowscomedian, actorTen-season Saturday Night Live veteran from Highland Park and Detroit's Conant Gardens, who learned improv at the Soup Kitchen Saloon and later moved back to the city.
Science & invention · born 1942Deirdre McCloskeyeconomist, economic historianEconomic historian known for The Rhetoric of Economics and the Bourgeois Era trilogy, born in Ann Arbor in 1942.
Sports · born 1970Mike Modanoice hockey centerThe NHL's all-time leading American-born goal scorer, born and raised in Livonia, who closed out his 21-season career with a single season for his hometown Red Wings.
Sports · born 1978Corina Morariutennis playerDetroit-born doubles specialist who won Wimbledon in 1999, reached the world No. 1 doubles ranking, and became a prominent voice for leukemia survivors.
Michael Moriartyactor, jazz pianist, composerDetroit-born, Emmy- and Tony-winning actor, the original prosecutor Ben Stone of Law & Order, who is also a jazz pianist and composer.
Science & invention · born 1954Geoffrey MarcyastronomerAstronomer whose team found many of the first known planets around other stars; born in the Detroit suburb of St. Clair Shores.
Music · 1927–1999Guy Mitchellpop singer, actorDetroit-born son of Croatian immigrants who became one of the top-selling pop singers of the 1950s with “Singing the Blues”.Marguerite MacIntyreactress, writer, producerDetroit-born actress who played Sheriff Liz Forbes on The Vampire Diaries and Nicole Trager on Kyle XY.
Film & TV · born 1941Robert McKeescreenwriting teacher, author, story consultantDetroit-born story guru whose Story Seminar and book Story have trained generations of screenwriters; he started as a young actor on Detroit stages.
Film & TV · 1931–2015Martin MilneractorStar of the TV classics Route 66 and Adam-12, born in Detroit to a Paramount circuit dancer and a film distributor.
Press & broadcasting · born 1971Kenya Moorebeauty queen, actress, television personality, entrepreneurMiss USA 1993 and Real Housewives of Atlanta star, raised in Detroit by her grandmother, a Cass Tech graduate who studied at Wayne State.
Film & TV · 1923–2010Adele Maraactress, dancer, singerHighland Park-born dancer and actress of 1940s westerns and Sands of Iwo Jima, the daughter of Spanish immigrants, who started out in Xavier Cugat's show.
Press & broadcasting · 1923–2009Ed McMahonannouncer, TV host, actorJohnny Carson's announcer and sidekick for thirty years on The Tonight Show, born in Detroit.
Music · born 1963Jeff MillsDJ, record producer, composerDetroit-born techno DJ and producer, "The Wizard" of WJLB radio, who co-founded Underground Resistance before taking Detroit techno to Berlin and the world.
Film & TV · born 1982Simone MissickactressMarvel's Misty Knight and All Rise's Judge Lola Carmichael, a Detroit native and graduate of Renaissance High School.
Law · 1913–1988John N. Mitchelllawyer, U.S. attorney generalDetroit-born bond lawyer who became Richard Nixon's attorney general and campaign manager, and later the highest-ranking official imprisoned over Watergate.
Literature · born 1947John C. Maxwellleadership author, speaker, pastorBest-selling leadership author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, born in the western Detroit suburb of Garden City.
Film & TV · born 1974David Robert Mitchellfilm director, screenwriterClawson-born director of It Follows, who has set three of his four features in metro Detroit and shot It Follows around the city.
Sports · born 1973Brian Maisonneuvesoccer playerMetro Detroit-born midfielder who played youth soccer around the city before representing the United States at the 1996 Olympics and the 1998 World Cup.
Politics · born 1965Thaddeus McCotterpolitician, radio hostDetroit-born Republican congressman for the northwestern suburbs (2003–2012) and 2012 presidential hopeful who later hosted talk radio in Detroit.
Sports · born 1988
Justin Meramsoccer player, wingerMetro Detroit-born winger, son of Iraqi immigrants who met in the Detroit area, who played for the Iraq national team and later returned home to play for the Michigan Stars.
Fashion · born 1984Naima Morafashion modelWinner of America's Next Top Model Cycle 4, raised on Detroit's northwest side and a graduate of Cass Technical High School.
Sports · born 1976Kate Markgrafsoccer player and executiveBloomfield Hills-born defender who starred at Detroit Country Day School before a decorated international career that included three Olympic medals and a World Cup title.
Sports · born 1982Jeremiah Masseybasketball playerDetroit-born power forward who attended Mackenzie High School before a college and professional career that took him through Kansas State and more than a decade of European and international basketball.
Music · born 1963Derrick MayDJ, electronic music producerDetroit-born techno pioneer, one of the Belleville Three, whose 1987 track "Strings of Life" became an anthem and who ran the Transmat label from Detroit's Eastern Market.
Sports · born 1991Ray McCallum Jr.basketball playerDetroit-born guard who won a state title at Detroit Country Day School and played college basketball for his father at the University of Detroit Mercy.
Sports · born 1985Megan Moulton-Levytennis playerGrosse Pointe-born tennis player, of Jamaican-American background, who built a career mainly in doubles, reaching a career-high WTA doubles ranking of 50.
Sports · born 1997Kyle MacksnowboarderRoyal Oak-born snowboarder from West Bloomfield who won Olympic silver in Big Air at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games, an unusual winter-sports success story out of flat, suburban Detroit.
Music · born 1987Teairra Marísinger, songwriter, actressDetroit-born R&B singer who signed with Roc-A-Fella Records at 16 while a student at the city's performing-arts high school; her debut album reached the Billboard top five.
Sports · born 1987Alec Martinezice hockey player, defensemanRochester Hills-born defenseman and three-time Stanley Cup champion who scored two of the biggest overtime goals in Los Angeles Kings history.Steve McCroryboxerKronk Gym-trained flyweight, younger brother of world champion Milton McCrory, who won Olympic gold in 1984 before a career and life cut short.
Sports · 1932–2009Arthur Frank McKinlayrowerDetroit-born Olympic silver medalist rower, a 1950 graduate of Cooley High School with his twin brother, who won his medal in the coxless fours at the 1956 Games.Tom Monaghanentrepreneur, founder of Domino's Pizza, former Detroit Tigers ownerAnn Arbor–born founder of Domino's Pizza who owned the Detroit Tigers during their 1984 World Series championship.
Music · born 2002Chloe Moriondosinger-songwriter, YouTuberMetro Detroit singer-songwriter who began posting ukulele covers on YouTube as a child in 2014 and grew into an indie pop and pop-punk artist with millions of followers.
Music · born 1988Maejorrecord producer, singer, rapperSouthfield-born producer and singer who scored his first gold record while a University of Michigan student and later wrote and produced for Justin Bieber.Lonette McKeeactress, singer, songwriterStar of Sparkle, The Cotton Club and Broadway's Show Boat, a Detroit child prodigy who sang at the city's record hops and clubs from age seven and cut her first record at fourteen.
Visual art · 1860–1932Gari Melcherspainter, muralistDetroit-born naturalist painter, son of sculptor Julius Melchers, who later painted murals of Detroit history for the city's Main Library.
Religion · 1933–2008Warith Deen MohammedMuslim religious leaderHamtramck-born son of Elijah Muhammad who, after 1975, led most of the Nation of Islam's followers into mainstream Sunni Islam.
Press & broadcasting · 1950–2026Dave Marshrock critic, editor, author, radio hostPontiac-born rock critic who left Wayne State in 1969 to help build Creem, Detroit's irreverent rock magazine, before becoming a Rolling Stone editor and Springsteen biographer.Dwayne McDuffiecomics writer, television writer and producerDetroit-born co-founder of Milestone Media and creator of Static, who brought Black superheroes into the mainstream in comics and on TV's Static Shock and Justice League Unlimited.
Music · born 1940Bennie Maupinjazz saxophonist, bass clarinetist, flutistDetroit-born reed player whose bass clarinet is heard on Miles Davis's Bitches Brew and in Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi and Headhunters bands.Swifty McVayrapperDetroit rapper and longtime member of D12, the group that grew out of the city's 1990s battle scene and went multi-platinum alongside Eminem.
Music · 1949–2022Barbara Morrisonjazz and blues singer, educatorYpsilanti-born, Romulus-raised jazz and blues singer who first sang on Detroit radio at ten and became a mainstay of the Los Angeles jazz scene.The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗
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