Sports · 1914–1981
Joe Louisboxer, world heavyweight championHeavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949 who grew up in Detroit's Black Bottom and learned to box at the Brewster Recreation Center; the city's best-loved sports hero.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
- 17 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
52 people · 1/2 page
Clear filtersSports · 1914–1981Joe Louisboxer, world heavyweight championHeavyweight champion from 1937 to 1949 who grew up in Detroit's Black Bottom and learned to box at the Brewster Recreation Center; the city's best-loved sports hero.
Film & TV · 1932–2023Piper LaurieactressThree-time Oscar nominee (The Hustler, Carrie, Children of a Lesser God) who was born Rosetta Jacobs in a one-bedroom walk-up on Detroit's Tyler Street.
Music · born 1988Lizzosinger, rapper, flutist, actressGrammy-winning singer and rapper of “Truth Hurts” and “About Damn Time,” born in Detroit in 1988 and raised there until age ten.
Literature · 1925–2013Elmore Leonardnovelist, screenwriterCrime novelist nicknamed 'the Dickens of Detroit', raised and educated in the city, who set many of his hard-boiled stories on its streets.
Film & TV · born 1950Christine Lahtiactress, directorOscar-winning director and Emmy-winning star of Chicago Hope, born in Birmingham, Michigan, and a graduate of Seaholm High School.
Politics · 1934–2021Carl Levinpolitician, lawyerDetroit-born Democrat who sat on the city council in the 1970s and then served Michigan in the U.S. Senate for 36 years, longest in the state's history.
Sports · born 1970Alexi Lalassoccer player and executive, broadcasterMetro Detroit-born soccer star of the 1994 World Cup and MLS era, raised in Birmingham and schooled at Cranbrook, now a leading American soccer broadcaster.
Film & TV · 1925–2015Joan Leslieactress, vaudevillianGolden Age star of High Sierra, Sergeant York and Yankee Doodle Dandy who began as the youngest of Detroit's singing Brodel sisters in Depression-era vaudeville.
Music · 1920–2013Yusef Lateefjazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator, authorJazz saxophonist and flutist who grew up in Detroit, studied at Wayne State and blended jazz with Eastern sounds long before "world music" had a name.
Literature · 1928–2015Philip Levinepoet, essayist, professorU.S. Poet Laureate (2011–2012) and Pulitzer winner whose poems about Detroit's factories and working people made him the city's great industrial poet.Thomas Ligottihorror writer, philosopherCult master of philosophical horror who was born in Detroit, studied at Wayne State and spent 23 years as an editor at Gale Research while writing his stories in the city.
Film & TV · 1926–2020James Liptontelevision host, writer, actor, educatorHost of Inside the Actors Studio who grew up in Detroit, worked as a Detroit Times copy boy, acted on local stages and radio, and studied at Central High and Wayne State.Tim LaHayeevangelical minister, novelist, activistDetroit-born co-author of the best-selling Left Behind novels and a key organizer of the Christian right, the son of a Ford autoworker.
Film & TV · born 1970Matt Letscheractor, playwright, directorGrosse Pointe-born actor (The Mask of Zorro, The Flash's Reverse-Flash) and playwright, discovered at Jeff Daniels' Purple Rose Theatre in Chelsea.
Sports · born 1996Dylan Larkinice hockey centerMetro Detroit-born center who grew up playing for Detroit Belle Tire, starred at the University of Michigan and became captain of his hometown Red Wings.
Science & invention · born 1955Jerry M. Linengerastronaut, Navy physicianNavy flight surgeon and NASA astronaut from East Detroit who spent almost five months aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1997, surviving a fire on board; a Wayne State medical graduate.
Sports · born 1965Pat LaFontaineice hockey centerHall of Fame center who grew up in Waterford, Oakland County, after 1972 and became one of the highest-scoring American-born players in NHL history.
Music · born 1946Bettye LaVettesingerDetroit-raised soul singer who cut her first hit at 16 for local producer Johnnie Mae Matthews and found late-career acclaim in the 2000s.
Music · born 1949Lene Lovichsinger, songwriterDetroit-born new-wave singer of “Lucky Number” who spent her childhood in the city before moving to England at 13.Annie Lazorcompetitive swimmerDetroit-born breaststroke swimmer who won Olympic bronze in 2021 after a standout high school career at Groves High School in suburban Beverly Hills, Michigan.
Politics · born 1931Sander Levinpolitician, lawyerDetroit-born Democrat who represented northwestern Detroit and its northern suburbs in Congress for 36 years (1983–2019) and chaired the Ways and Means Committee.
Fashion · 1945–1979Donyale Lunamodel, actressDetroit-born model widely regarded as the first Black supermodel, the first Black model on the cover of British Vogue (1966).
Politics · born 1954Brenda Lawrencepostal worker, mayor of Southfield, congresswomanNortheast Detroit native and 30-year postal worker who became Southfield's first Black and first woman mayor and then represented eastern Detroit and Oakland County in Congress (2015–2023).
Science & invention · 1927–2005Emmett Leithelectrical engineer, physicistDetroit-born co-inventor of three-dimensional laser holography, who studied at Wayne State and did his pioneering work at the University of Michigan's Willow Run Laboratories.
Politics · born 1960Andy Levinunion organizer, lawyer, congressmanSon of Sander Levin and nephew of Carl Levin, raised in suburban Berkley, a labor organizer who ran Michigan's 'No Worker Left Behind' retraining program and served in Congress (2019–2023).
Music · born 1991Dej Loafrapper, singer, songwriterEast-side Detroit rapper and singer whose soft-spoken 2014 hit “Try Me” made her one of the first Detroit women in hip-hop to break nationally in the streaming era.
Music · 1930–2009Eddie Lockejazz drummerDetroit-born drummer of the Bop & Locke act who became Coleman Hawkins's and Roy Eldridge's drummer and appears in the photograph A Great Day in Harlem.
Visual art · born 1947
Suzy Lakephotographer, performance and video artistDetroit-born, Toronto-based photographer and performance artist, a pioneer of feminist art whose early work was shaped by 1960s Detroit.
Music · 1937–2005Ruth Laredoclassical pianistDetroit-born pianist, 'America's First Lady of the Piano', who made the first complete recording of Scriabin's ten sonatas after hearing Horowitz play Scriabin in Detroit as a child.Mark Ledfordtrumpeter, singer, guitaristDetroit-raised multi-instrumentalist and singer of the Pat Metheny Group, heard on the Grammy-winning albums Still Life (Talking) and Secret Story.
Comedy · born 1971Loni Lovecomedian, television host, actress, authorDetroit comedian raised in the Brewster-Douglass projects, a Cass Tech graduate and former electrical engineer who became a Daytime Emmy-winning co-host of The Real.
Civil rights & activism · 1947–2014Chokwe Lumumbahuman rights lawyer, Black nationalist activist, mayor of Jackson, MississippiDetroit-born lawyer and Republic of New Afrika leader who practiced civil rights law in Detroit before moving to Mississippi, where he became mayor of Jackson.
Music · born 1968Kenny Larkintechno producer, DJDetroit-born second-wave techno producer whose soulful, melodic records on Plus 8 and Warp made him a major influence in Europe.Barbara Leajazz singer, actressDetroit-born jazz singer, admired for her faithful readings of the American songbook, whose father was a clarinetist turned Michigan attorney general.
Music · born 1937Kirk Lightseyjazz pianist, flutistDetroit-born pianist who accompanied singers in Detroit and California in the 1960s, toured with Dexter Gordon, played in The Leaders and has lived in Paris since 2000.
Fashion · 1932–2017Kenneth Jay Lanecostume jewelry designerDetroit-born designer whose glamorous costume jewelry was worn by Jacqueline Kennedy, the Duchess of Windsor and Barbara Bush.
Comedy · born 1976Misty Leemagician, voice actress, comedianMagician raised in Detroit and trained by local magician Scorpio, the first woman to serve as séance medium at Hollywood's Magic Castle, and a prolific video-game voice actress.
Politics · 1885–1950John Lesinski Sr.businessman, congressman, Polish community leaderDetroit-raised Polish-American builder and lumber dealer who led the Polish Citizens' Committee of Detroit, recruited thousands of Polish volunteers in World War I and served in Congress from 1933 to 1950.
Politics · 1862–1950John C. Lodgejournalist, city council president, mayor of DetroitDetroit-born newspaperman who spent more than 30 years on the City Council, served three stints as mayor in the 1920s and gave his name to the Lodge Freeway.
Music · born 1976Tony Luccasinger-songwriter, actorPontiac-born, Waterford-raised singer who joined The All New Mickey Mouse Club after a Detroit audition and later finished third on The Voice in 2012.Hugh Lawsonjazz pianistDetroit pianist who was Yusef Lateef's keyboard partner for more than a decade from 1957 and later toured with Charles Mingus.Laura Leesoul and gospel singer, songwriterDetroit-raised soul singer of "Women's Love Rights" and "Rip Off" on Hot Wax, who began in the Meditation Singers gospel group in Della Reese's place.
Sports · born 1948Ron LeFlorebaseball player, center fielderEast-side Detroiter who went from Jackson State Prison to center field at Tiger Stadium in 1974, a story told in the TV film One in a Million.Shirley Loveoperatic mezzo-sopranoDetroit-born mezzo-soprano, a Wayne State graduate who sang at the Metropolitan Opera for twenty consecutive seasons from 1963.Charlie LeDuffjournalist, author, TV reporter, podcasterPulitzer-winning reporter raised in Westland who came home to cover Detroit's collapse for The Detroit News and Fox 2, and wrote Detroit: An American Autopsy.
Law · 1897–1970Theodore Levinimmigration lawyer, federal judgeDetroit immigration lawyer and Jewish community leader who served as a federal judge (1946–1970) and whose name is on Detroit's federal courthouse; uncle of Carl and Sander Levin.
Science & invention · 1876–1954Evangeline Lodge Land Lindberghchemistry teacherDetroit-born chemistry teacher at Cass Technical High School for two decades, best known as the mother of the aviator Charles Lindbergh.Seymour Lipkinpianist, conductor, educatorDetroit-born pianist who entered the Curtis Institute at eleven, toured with Jascha Heifetz at seventeen and became Leonard Bernstein's assistant conductor.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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