Politics · born 1947
Mitt Romneypolitician, businessmanDetroit-born son of automaker and governor George Romney; grew up in Bloomfield Hills, attended Cranbrook, later governed Massachusetts and ran for president in 2012.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
- 16 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
56 people · 1/2 page
Clear filtersPolitics · born 1947Mitt Romneypolitician, businessmanDetroit-born son of automaker and governor George Romney; grew up in Bloomfield Hills, attended Cranbrook, later governed Massachusetts and ran for president in 2012.
Music · born 1944Diana Rosssinger, actressDetroit-born lead singer of the Supremes, Motown's biggest 1960s act, who grew up in the North End and the Brewster-Douglass projects before a long solo and film career.
Film & TV · born 1959Sam Raimifilm director, producer, screenwriterRoyal Oak-born director who launched The Evil Dead from metro Detroit, premiered it at the Redford Theatre and later shot Crimewave on Detroit streets.
Sports · 1921–1989Sugar Ray Robinsonboxer, world welterweight and middleweight championOften ranked the best pound-for-pound boxer ever, he spent his early childhood in Detroit, a block from Joe Louis, before moving to Harlem.
Music · born 1940Smokey Robinsonsinger, songwriter, record producer, record executiveNorth End native who founded the Miracles, gave Motown its first million-seller and wrote many of the label's defining hits while serving as its vice president.
Film & TV · born 1975Elizabeth ReaseractressTwilight and Grey's Anatomy actress who was born in Bloomfield Hills and finished high school in Auburn Hills before training at Juilliard.
Film & TV · born 1971Mary Lynn Rajskubactress, comedianDetroit-born, Downriver-raised comedian and actress, known as Chloe O'Brian on 24, who studied art in Detroit before turning to comedy.
Music · born 1971Kid Rocksinger, rapper, songwriterMacomb County-born rap-rocker who came up in the 1980s Detroit hip-hop scene and made his breakthrough album Devil Without a Cause at a downtown Detroit studio.
Film & TV · born 1985Crystal ReedactressDetroit-raised actress, Allison Argent on Teen Wolf, who graduated from Roseville High School and studied acting at Wayne State.
Music · 1942–2023Sixto Rodriguezsinger-songwriter, guitaristDetroit's “Sugar Man”: a working-class songwriter who spent his whole life in the city, unaware for decades that he was a star in South Africa.
Comedy · 1946–1989Gilda Radnercomedian, actressOriginal Saturday Night Live star who grew up in Detroit, where her father's Seville Hotel housed touring performers and her nanny inspired Emily Litella.
Film & TV · born 1971David Ramseyactor, television directorArrow's John Diggle, a Detroit native who went to Mumford High School and earned a BFA at Wayne State University.
Science & invention · 1934–2015Marshall Rosenbergpsychologist, mediatorPsychologist who created Nonviolent Communication; the Detroit race riot of 1943, which broke out a week after his family moved to the city, shaped his life's work.
Film & TV · born 1965Ted Raimiactor, director, writerDetroit-born character actor of the Evil Dead films and Xena, younger brother of director Sam Raimi, who started out in Detroit industrial films.
Film & TV · born 1977Michael Raymond-JamesactorDetroit-born actor of True Blood, Terriers and Once Upon a Time, a 1996 graduate of Clarkston High School.
Music · 1931–2017Della Reesesinger, actress, television host, ministerBlack Bottom-born singer who went from Detroit gospel choirs and the Flame Show Bar to pop hits, her own talk show and Touched by an Angel.
Sports · born 1975Rhynoprofessional wrestlerDetroit-born professional wrestler known as Rhyno, a former ECW, WWE and TNA champion who was raised in Dearborn Heights.
Sports · born 1978Michael Russelltennis player, coachDetroit-born professional tennis player who reached a career-high world No. 60 and set the all-time record for USTA Pro Circuit singles titles.
Sports · born 1973Jalen Rosebasketball player, sports analyst, authorDetroit-born guard who starred at Southwestern High School and with Michigan's 'Fab Five' before a long NBA career and a second career as a national broadcaster and Detroit philanthropist.
Sports · born 1983Brandi Rhodesprofessional wrestler, ring announcer, executiveDetroit-suburb-born wrestling personality who rose through WWE and became a founding executive and performer at All Elite Wrestling.
Sports · born 1973Brian Rafalskiice hockey defensemanDearborn-born defenseman, an undrafted free agent who signed with his hometown Red Wings in 2007 and won the Stanley Cup with them in 2008.
Music · born 1941Martha Reevessinger, former Detroit City Council memberLead singer of Martha and the Vandellas, who went from Motown secretary to star with “Heat Wave” and “Dancing in the Street”, and later served on the Detroit City Council.
Comedy · born 1984Sam Richardsonactor, comedian, writer, producerVeep and Ted Lasso actor who grew up in Boston-Edison, trained at Planet Ant and Second City Detroit and co-created Detroiters, a comedy shot on Detroit streets.Rockwellsinger, songwriterSon of Motown founder Berry Gordy, born and raised in Detroit, who scored a 1984 hit with "Somebody's Watching Me" featuring Michael Jackson.
Politics · born 1949Ann Romneyauthor, philanthropist, former First Lady of MassachusettsDetroit-born, Bloomfield Hills-raised Kingswood graduate who married Mitt Romney and became First Lady of Massachusetts and an advocate for multiple sclerosis research.
Film & TV · 1924–2024Joyce Randolphstage and television actressDetroit-born Trixie Norton of The Honeymooners, a Finnish-American store clerk who joined a touring play in Detroit and became the show's last surviving star.
Music · born 1945Mitch Ryderrock and soul singer, songwriterHamtramck-born singer whose Detroit Wheels fused rock and roll with Detroit soul on 1960s hits such as "Devil with a Blue Dress On & Good Golly Miss Molly."Bruce Joel Rubinscreenwriter, meditation teacher, photographerOscar-winning screenwriter of Ghost and Jacob's Ladder, raised in Detroit, a Mumford High School graduate who discovered film at the city's Krim Theater and studied at Wayne State.
Business & brands · born 1971Paul Rosenbergtalent manager, record executive, former entertainment lawyerDetroit-born lawyer turned manager who guided Eminem from the local scene to world fame, co-founded Shady Records and later ran Def Jam.
Music · 1926–1978Frank Rosolinojazz trombonist, singerDetroit-born trombonist, a Cass Tech alumnus, who became a star of West Coast jazz with Stan Kenton and the Lighthouse All-Stars and wrote the standard "Blue Daniel".Tim Robinsoncomedian, actor, writerCreator of I Think You Should Leave and co-creator of Detroiters, born in Detroit to a Chrysler employee, raised in Waterford and trained at The Second City Detroit.
Music · born 1934Roger ReynoldscomposerDetroit-born composer, trained first as an engineer, who pioneered computer and spatial music and won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Whispers Out of Time.
Music · 1940–2013Bobby Rogerssinger, songwriterDetroit-born founding member of the Miracles (1956–2013) who co-wrote the Temptations' first hit, "The Way You Do the Things You Do".Sonny Redjazz alto saxophonist, flutist, composerDetroit alto saxophonist who began with Barry Harris as a teenager and recorded hard bop for Blue Note, Jazzland and Donald Byrd before dying in his hometown at 48.Lloyd Richardstheatre director, actor, educatorDetroit-raised director of A Raisin in the Sun, the first Black director of a Broadway play, later dean of the Yale School of Drama and August Wilson's longtime collaborator.
Theatre & dance · born 1951Roz Ryanactress, singer, comedianDetroit nightclub singer who jumped to Broadway in Ain't Misbehavin' (1978) and became the longest-serving Matron 'Mama' Morton in Chicago.Dudley Randallpoet, publisher, librarianFounder of Detroit's Broadside Press (1965), the pioneering Black poetry publisher, author of Ballad of Birmingham and Detroit's poet laureate from 1981.
Comedy · 1915–2006Timmie Rogerscomedian, singer-songwriter, bandleaderDetroit-born comedian called the 'Jackie Robinson of comedy', one of the first Black comics to work solo and speak directly to white audiences, without blackface.Mack Ricesongwriter, singerDetroit singer-songwriter of the Falcons who wrote "Mustang Sally" and co-wrote "Respect Yourself", and whose songs include "Cadillac Assembly Line".
Music · born 1938Sugar Chile Robinsonjazz and boogie-woogie pianist, singerDetroit child prodigy who won a Paradise Theatre talent show at three, played for President Truman in 1946, then quit music for college and a Detroit career.
Visual art · 1858–1930Julius Rolshovenpainter, teacherDetroit-born painter who trained in Germany, taught in Paris and London, lived in a castle near Florence and painted the Southwest.Dennis Rowlandjazz singer, actorDetroit-born jazz singer who worked as a singer and actor in the city before Count Basie hired him in 1977 as his band vocalist for seven years.Omar Reganstand-up comedian, actor, former rapperDetroit-born, Highland Park-raised comedian who first did stand-up in Detroit clubs and became a leading voice of Muslim comedy and 'Halalywood' films.
Visual art · 1888–1964Betsy Graves Reyneauportrait painterPainter raised in Detroit whose portraits of prominent African Americans, including Detroit's Joe Louis, toured the nation from 1944 to 1954.
Film & TV · born 1962Shaun Robinsontelevision host, journalist, authorDetroit-born Cass Tech graduate who began her TV career at WGPR-TV before hosting Access Hollywood (1999–2015) and the 90 Day Fiancé tell-alls.DJ Rolandotechno DJ and producerMexicantown-raised Underground Resistance DJ whose “Knights of the Jaguar” became one of the most celebrated techno tracks of all time.
Music · born 1991Babyface RayrapperEast-side Detroit rapper whose laid-back, luxurious flow made him a central figure of 2020s Detroit hip-hop, peaking with the album Face in 2022.Tracy Reesefashion designerDetroit-born fashion designer and Cass Tech graduate who dressed Michelle Obama and later returned home to build a sustainable label in Detroit.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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