Film & TV · 1927–1999
George C. Scottactor, directorOscar-winning star of Patton who grew up in Detroit and graduated from Redford High School before joining the Marines.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)
33 people
Clear filtersFilm & TV · 1927–1999George C. Scottactor, directorOscar-winning star of Patton who grew up in Detroit and graduated from Redford High School before joining the Marines.
Science & invention · born 1946Robert J. ShillereconomistYale economist and Nobel laureate known for the Case–Shiller home-price index and for warning of the dot-com and housing bubbles; born in Detroit.
Architecture & design · 1910–1961
Eero Saarinenarchitect, industrial designerFinnish-American architect who grew up at Cranbrook in Bloomfield Hills and ran his office there; his first masterpiece was the GM Technical Center in Warren.
Film & TV · 1961–2023Tom SizemoreactorDetroit-born, Wayne State-trained character actor of Heat, True Romance and Saving Private Ryan.
Film & TV · born 1933Tom Skerrittactor, directorEmmy-winning actor of M*A*S*H, Alien, Top Gun and Picket Fences who grew up in Detroit, graduated from Mackenzie High School and studied at Wayne State.
Music · born 1975Sufjan Stevenssinger, songwriter, multi-instrumentalistIndie songwriter born in Detroit who lived in the city until age nine and later saluted it on his 2003 album Michigan.
Music · born 1988Big Seanrapper, songwriterRapper raised in Detroit from infancy whose albums Detroit and Detroit 2 honor his hometown; he runs a youth foundation in the city and works with the Pistons.
Politics · born 1976Elissa Slotkinpolitician, former CIA analystFormer CIA analyst and Pentagon official raised on a farm in Holly, Oakland County, and schooled at Cranbrook Kingswood; U.S. senator from Michigan since 2025.
Edmund SzokaCatholic cardinal, Archbishop of Detroit, Vatican administratorArchbishop of Detroit in the 1980s who hosted Pope John Paul II in 1987, then became the Vatican's top financial officer and governor of Vatican City.
Sports · born 1964
Otmar Szafnauerengineer, Formula One team principalRomanian-born, Detroit-raised engineer who went from Ford program manager to running Force India, Racing Point, Aston Martin and Alpine in Formula One.
Film & TV · born 1976
Haaz SleimanactorLebanese actor of The Visitor and Killing Jesus who, after immigrating at 21, lived in metro Detroit and earned a computer science degree at Wayne State University.
Music · 1941–2023Barrett Strongsinger, songwriterSinger of "Money (That's What I Want)," Motown's first hit, who became the lyricist behind "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone."
Music · 1936–2008Levi Stubbssinger, voice actorLifelong Detroiter and lead voice of the Four Tops, formed with Pershing High School friends, who sang “Reach Out I'll Be There” and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Sports · 1937–2017George Steeleprofessional wrestler, teacher, actorDetroit-born wrestler and Madison Heights schoolteacher whose 'George the Animal Steele' character, born out of the local Detroit wrestling scene, became a national WWE star.
Theatre & dance · born 1956Ruben Santiago-Hudsonactor, playwright, directorTony-winning actor, playwright of Lackawanna Blues and August Wilson director, who earned his master's degree at Wayne State University, which later gave him an honorary doctorate.
Music · born 1964Kevin SaundersonDJ, record producer, label ownerOne of the Belleville Three who invented Detroit techno; his Inner City hits carried the city's sound onto pop charts worldwide.Leonard Jimmie Savagemathematician, statisticianDetroit-born statistician whose Foundations of Statistics (1954) laid the groundwork for modern Bayesian statistics and decision theory.
Literature · 1941–2024John Sinclairpoet, activist, music manager, radio hostJazz poet, MC5 manager and White Panther co-founder who helped build Detroit's 1960s Cass Corridor counterculture and died in the city in 2024.Alexander H. SmithmycologistLeading American mushroom expert who spent his entire career at the University of Michigan Herbarium and wrote popular guides to Michigan's mushrooms.
Science & invention · born 1963
Ulana Suprunphysician, activist, health minister of UkraineDetroit-born radiologist from the city's Ukrainian community who trained at Wayne State and Henry Ford Hospital and later served as Ukraine's acting health minister (2016–2019).
Music · born 1975Colin Stetsonsaxophonist, multi-reedist, composerAnn Arbor–born saxophonist, trained at the University of Michigan, known for circular-breathing solo records and work with Arcade Fire and Bon Iver.
Music · born 1934George Shirleyoperatic tenor, music educatorDetroit-raised tenor who became the first African American tenor to sing leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera, and the first Black music teacher in Detroit's high schools.
Politics · 1811–1891Henry Hastings Sibleyfur trader, first governor of Minnesota, army officerSon of Detroit's first mayor, raised in the frontier town, who became a fur trader, Minnesota's first governor and the commander in the 1862 Dakota War.
Politics · 1903–1961George G. Sadowskilawyer, politicianDetroit-born son of a Polish-American family who went from the city's east-side schools to the Michigan Senate and three terms in Congress in the 1930s.
Music · born 1960Karen Clark Sheardsinger, songwriterYoungest of the Clark Sisters, a Detroit gospel singer whose solo debut Finally Karen (1997) made her one of the genre's leading voices; Grammy winner for "Blessed & Highly Favored".
Music · 1936–2013Bobby SmithsingerPrincipal lead singer of the Spinners from their founding at a Ferndale high school in 1954 until 2013.
Politics · born 1987Mary Sheffieldpolitician, pastor, mayor of DetroitWest Side native, pastor's daughter and youngest-ever council president who in 2025 became the first woman elected mayor of Detroit, taking office in January 2026.
Ruth Adler Schneetextile and interior designerGerman-born textile designer who fled the Nazis as a girl, studied at Cass Tech and Cranbrook, and brought post-war modernism to Detroit homes and offices.Leni Sinclairphotographer, activistGerman-born photographer who documented Detroit's jazz and rock underground from the 1960s, co-founded the Detroit Artists Workshop and the White Panther Party, and still lives in Detroit.Gilda Snowdenpainter, educatorDetroit abstract painter and beloved College for Creative Studies professor whose work drew on the city's streets, gardens and family history.
Visual art · 1867–1961Mary Chase Perry Strattonceramic artist, founder of Pewabic PotteryCeramic artist who co-founded Pewabic Pottery in 1903, whose iridescent tiles decorate the Guardian Building, the DIA and churches across Detroit.Nolan StrongsingerHigh-tenor lead of the Diablos, Detroit's leading pre-Motown doo-wop group on Fortune Records ("The Wind"), and a key early influence on Smokey Robinson.
MusicHouse Shoeship-hop DJ and producerThe Detroit hip-hop scene's signature DJ, resident at Saint Andrew's Hall from 1994 to 2004, champion of J Dilla and producer for Elzhi, Phat Kat and Danny Brown.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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