Sports · born 1988
Jordan Crawfordbasketball playerDetroit-born guard who attended a Detroit public high school before a college and NBA career that took him to Washington, Boston and several other franchises.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
- 22 fields
Hungarian ties 31 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Origin and citizenship
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
1949 people · 15/41 page
Sports · born 1988Jordan Crawfordbasketball playerDetroit-born guard who attended a Detroit public high school before a college and NBA career that took him to Washington, Boston and several other franchises.
Sports · 1957–2015Darryl Dawkinsbasketball player, centerPowerful dunker famous for shattering backboards who joined the Pistons late in his career and earned a championship ring with the 1989 "Bad Boys."John DeardenCatholic cardinal, Archbishop of DetroitArchbishop of Detroit for 21 years who brought the Second Vatican Council's reforms home and pressed the church to confront racial injustice.
Sports · 1912–1995Richard DegenerdiverDetroit-born diver who won an Olympic bronze in 1932 and gold in 1936, trained at the Detroit Athletic Club, and was honored in his hometown as one of the era's "City of Champions" stars.Bison Delebasketball player, centerNBA champion center, then known as Brian Williams, who set career highs with the Pistons before walking away from a $36 million contract in a dispute with the team.
Sports · born 1971
Kris Draperice hockey forward and executiveFour-time Stanley Cup champion who spent 17 seasons with the Red Wings as part of the famed "Grind Line," then stayed on in the front office as assistant general manager.
Architecture & design · 1893–1969Harley Earlautomotive designer, GM's first head of designHollywood coachbuilder whom GM brought to Detroit in 1927 to create the industry's first styling studio; he gave America the tailfin and the Corvette.
Music · 1943–2018Dennis EdwardssingerDetroit-raised lead singer who replaced David Ruffin in the Temptations and fronted their psychedelic-soul era, from “Cloud Nine” to “Papa Was a Rollin' Stone.”
Sports · 1911–1986Hank Greenbergbaseball first baseman, team executiveHall of Fame slugger and two-time American League MVP who spent twelve of his thirteen major league seasons with the Tigers and led Detroit to two World Series titles.
Politics · 1912–2003Martha Griffithslawyer, judge, politicianDetroit lawyer, first woman judge of the city's Recorder's Court and 20-year congresswoman who forced sex discrimination into the Civil Rights Act and pushed the ERA through the House.
Sports · 1931–2026Glenn Hallice hockey goaltenderHall of Fame goaltender who broke in with the Red Wings and later set the NHL's iron-man record of 502 consecutive games, mostly earned after leaving Detroit.
Visual art · 1925–1996Duane HansonsculptorAmerican hyperrealist sculptor of lifelike ordinary people, who earned his MFA at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills.
Film & TV · born 1960Don HarveyactorCharacter actor of Eight Men Out, Casualties of War and The Thin Red Line, born and raised in St. Clair Shores, where he began acting at Lake Shore High School.Brian Hollandsongwriter, record producerDetroit-born songwriter and producer, the musical architect of Holland–Dozier–Holland, whose hits for the Supremes and Four Tops defined the Motown sound.
Science & invention · 1846–1933William Henry Holmesanthropologist, archaeologist, artistSmithsonian anthropologist, survey artist of the American West and director of the national art gallery, who spent his last year with his son in Royal Oak.
Sports · born 1992
Tomáš Jurčoice hockey forwardSlovak winger drafted by Detroit who spent parts of several seasons with the Red Wings, shuttling between the NHL club and its Grand Rapids farm team.Mike Kelleyartist, musicianInfluential installation artist from suburban Detroit whose Mobile Homestead, a replica of his childhood home, stands permanently at MOCAD.
Sports · 1927–2019Red Kellyice hockey defenceman, politician, coachHall of Fame defenceman who won four Stanley Cups with Detroit in the 1950s, part of the most decorated career of any player never to suit up for the Montreal Canadiens.
Film & TV · born 1976Page Kennedyactor, rapperDetroit-raised actor and rapper, U-Turn on Weeds and Radon Randell on Blue Mountain State, whose debut album features Detroit rappers.
Film & TV · born 1970Jacqueline Kimactress, writer, filmmaker, composerActress of Star Trek Generations and Charlotte Sometimes and co-writer of Advantageous, who grew up in Bloomfield Hills and started acting there at four.
Sports · born 1982Tomáš Kopeckýice hockey forwardSlovak forward drafted by Detroit in 2000 who won the Stanley Cup with the Red Wings in 2008 after working his way up through the organization's minor-league affiliate.
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.
Auto industry · born 1932
Bob Lutzautomotive executive at Ford, Chrysler and GMSwiss-born 'car guy' who held top jobs at all three Detroit automakers, from the Dodge Viper at Chrysler to GM's product revival.
Sports · born 1958Rick Mahornbasketball player, coach, broadcasterEnforcer on the late-1980s "Bad Boys" Pistons who won the 1989 NBA title in Detroit and has stayed connected to the city for decades as a coach and broadcaster.
Music · 1918–1987Howard McGheejazz trumpeter, composerOne of the first bebop trumpeters, born in Tulsa and raised in Detroit, who later recorded with Charlie Parker and inspired Fats Navarro.
Business & brands · born 1954Scott McNealytechnology executive, co-founder of Sun MicrosystemsSon of an American Motors executive who grew up in Bloomfield Hills, graduated from Cranbrook and co-founded Sun Microsystems.
Music · 1886–1979
Paul Parayconductor, composer, organistFrench conductor who rebuilt the Detroit Symphony after its 1949 collapse and made its celebrated Mercury Living Presence recordings between 1951 and 1962.Kathleen Rose PerkinsactressCarol Rance of Showtime's Episodes, born in New Baltimore on Anchor Bay and a 1992 graduate of Anchor Bay High School.
Film & TV · born 1996Sarah PidgeonactressTony- and Emmy-nominated actress (Stereophonic, Love Story) who grew up in Birmingham, acting at the Community House and attending Groves High School.
Science & invention · 1923–1969Walter Pittslogician, computational neuroscientistSelf-taught Detroit-born logician who, with Warren McCulloch, wrote the 1943 paper that introduced the first mathematical model of a neural network.
Sports · born 1985David Pricebaseball pitcher2012 Cy Young winner who anchored the Tigers' rotation for a season and a half, clinching a division title and later leading the league in ERA.Clifford Robinsonbasketball playerSixth Man of the Year and former All-Star forward who played two seasons for the Pistons in the early 2000s, part of an eighteen-year NBA career.
Sports · born 1966Luc Robitailleice hockey executive and former playerHighest-scoring left winger in NHL history who capped his long career with a two-season stint in Detroit and his only Stanley Cup, in 2002.
Sports · born 1971Iván Rodríguezbaseball player, catcherHall of Fame catcher who signed with Detroit in 2004 and helped rebuild the Tigers into a 2006 American League pennant winner.
Comedy · 1926–2009Soupy Salescomedian, television hostPie-throwing comic whose Lunch with Soupy Sales on Detroit's WXYZ-TV (1953–1960) made him a local legend before he went national.
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.
Science & invention · 1956–2018Richard A. Searfossastronaut, Air Force pilot, test pilotAir Force colonel and three-time Space Shuttle astronaut, commander of the 1998 Neurolab mission, born in Mount Clemens, Michigan.
Film & TV · born 1955Newton Thomas Sigelcinematographer, directorDetroit-born cinematographer, a painter turned camera artist, who shot The Usual Suspects, the first X-Men films and Drive.
Sports · born 1988Matthew StaffordAmerican football quarterbackFirst overall pick of 2009 who quarterbacked the Lions for twelve seasons at Ford Field and holds the franchise's career passing records.
Sports · 1944–2012Emanuel Stewardboxing trainer, commentator, former boxerThe 'godfather of Detroit boxing', who built the Kronk Gym into a world-famous training ground and coached forty-one world champions, among them Thomas Hearns, Lennox Lewis and Wladimir Klitschko.George Stultsactor, modelDetroit-born actor who played Kevin Kinkirk, the police officer who marries Lucy Camden, on the long-running family drama 7th Heaven.
Film & TV · born 1955Joel Surnowtelevision writer and producerCo-creator of the thriller series 24 and La Femme Nikita, born in Detroit and raised first in Michigan and then in Los Angeles.
Film & TV · born 1981Joe Swanbergindependent filmmakerLeading figure of the mumblecore movement and creator of Netflix's Easy, born in Detroit.
Sports · born 2003Ausar Thompsonbasketball player, guard/forwardAthletic young guard-forward selected fifth overall by the Pistons in 2023, one pick behind his twin brother Amen, who has grown into one of the league's top perimeter defenders.Tiny Thompsonice hockey goaltender, scoutFour-time Vezina Trophy winner and Hockey Hall of Famer who closed his 12-season NHL career with two seasons in Detroit after a decade starring for Boston.
Film & TV · 1903–1954Tom Tylerfilm actor, weightlifterHamtramck-raised B-Western star and screen Captain Marvel, who came home to Hamtramck to die and is buried in Detroit's Mount Olivet Cemetery.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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