List of people from Illinois

This is a list of people whose career was all or part in Illinois; people are not included if they left the state before beginning a career.

A

* Jane Addams, social work
* George Ade, author
* Dankmar Adler, architect
* Nelson Algren, author
* John Peter Altgeld, politics, Dem
* Philip Danforth Armour, business
* Louis Armstrong, music

B

* John Bardeen (1908-1991) winner of two Nobel prizes in physics
* Edward Beecher, religion
* Louis Bellson, music
* Jack Benny, comedian
* Joseph Cardinal Bernardin (1928-1996), religion, Cardinal for the Archdiocese of Chicago
* Black Hawk, Sauk Indian Chief
* Lydia Moss Bradley, philanthropy
* Anthony Braxton, jazz musician
* Phil Brooks, professional wrestler under the ring name "CM Punk"
* William Jennings Bryan, politician
* Daniel H. Burnham, architect

C

* Joe Cannon, politics, GOP
* Al Capone, business
* Anton Cermak, politics, Democrat
* Judy Chicago, feminist artist
* Hillary Rodham Clinton, former first lady and current United States Senator from New York, Democrat
* Billy Corgan (born 1967), rock musician from Alternative Rock band "Smashing Pumpkins"
* John Coughlin, politics, Dem
* Cindy Crawford (born 1966), supermodel
* Common (rapper), rapper , songwriter , producer , actor
* Adrianne Curry, model and America's Next Top Model, Cycle 1 winner

D

* Richard J. Daley (1902-1976), Chicago mayor (1955-1976); Democrat
* Richard M. Daley (born 1942), Chicago mayor (1989-present), son of Richard J. Daley; Democrat
* Clarence Darrow, law
* Miles Davis, musician
* John Deere, manufacturer
* John Dewey, philosopher
* Bo Diddley, musician
* Everett Dirksen (1896-1969), politics, United States Senator, Senate Minority Leader, Republican
* Dorothy L. Dodson, athlete
* Stephen Douglas, politics, Dem
* Theodore Dreiser, author
* Finley Peter Dunne, author
* Dick Van Dyke, actor
* Jean Baptiste Pointe du Sable, settler
* Walt Disney, creator

E

* Roger Ebert (1942-present), film critic
* Ninian Edwards, politics
* Richard Estes, painter

F

* Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader
* James T. Farrell, author
* Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), nuclear physics
* Eugene Field, author
* Marshall Field, business
* Marshall Field Jr., business
* Marshall Field III, business
* Dan Fogelberg, musician
* Thomas Ford, politics, Dem
* John T. Frederick, literature
* R. Buckminster Fuller, scientist

G

* John Wayne Gacy (1942-1994), serial killer
* Lyman J. Gage, business
* Jaslene Gonzalez, model and America's Next Top Model, Cycle 8 winner
* Red Grange, sports
* Ulysses S. Grant, military, 18th President of the United States 1869–1877
* Andrew Greeley (born 1928), author; religion; sociology
* Frank W. Gunsaulus, education
* Buddy Guy, music

H

* Gene Hackman, screen actor
* George Halas, (1895-1983) sports, co-founder of National Football League and longtime coach-owner of the Chicago Bears
* Herbie Hancock, jazz musician
* William Rainey Harper, education
* Carter Harrison, Sr., politics, Dem
* Carter Harrison, Jr., politics, Dem
* Dennis Hastert, Republican, Speaker of the U.S. House, 1998-2006
* George Peter Alexander Healy, artist
* Ben Hecht, author
* Hugh Hefner, publisher
* Ernest Hemingway, writer
* William Holabird, architect
* Raymond Hood, architect
* Henry Horner, politics, Dem
* Rock Hudson, actor
* Robert Maynard Hutchins, education

I

* Robert G. Ingersoll, religion
* Samuel Insull, business
* Burl Ives, music

J

* Jesse Jackson, political activist
* William Le Baron Jenney, architect
* Michael Jordan (born 1963), athlete

K

* Leslie Keeley, medicine
* Florence Kelley, social work
* Fazlur Khan (1929-1982), structural engineer
* John Kinzie, settler
* Frank Knox, newspapers, newspapers, newspapers
* William Kohlsaat, newspapers
* Alison Krauss, musician

L

* René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explorer
* Victor F. Lawson, newspapers. Longtime owner/editor of the Chicago Daily News
* Abraham Lincoln, politics, Whig, GOP
* Mary Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's wife
* Robert Todd Lincoln, Lincoln's son
* Vachel Lindsay, author
* John A. Logan, politics, Dem, GOP
* Frank Orren Lowden, politics, GOP

M

* James Robert Mann, politics, GOP
* Michael Mann, film director
* George S. May, businessman, golf promoter
* Edgar Lee Masters, author
* Cyrus Hall McCormick, business
* Robert R. McCormick, newspapers
* Joseph Medill, newspapers
* Charles Edward Merriam, education
* Robert H. Michel, (born 1923), politics, longtime member of Congress and former House Minority Leader, Republican
* Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969), architect
* Harriet Monroe, poet
* Dwight L. Moody, religion
* William Vaughn Moody, author
* George Cardinal Mundelein, religion

N

* Wayne Nelson, (born 1950) musician from classic rock's Little River Band
* Eliot Ness, government
* Frank Nitti, gangster

O

* Barack Obama, politician, current United States Senator from Illinois, Democrat
* William Butler Ogden, business
* Richard James Oglesby, politics, GOP

P

* John M. Palmer, politics, GOP, Dem
* Phoebe Palmer, society
* Potter Palmer, business
* Francis W. Parker, education
* Tom Paxton, (born 1937) folk musician and singer-songwriter
* John Mason Peck, author
* Richard Pryor, comedian
* George M. Pullman, business

Q

R

* Henry T. Rainey, politics, Dem
* Ronald Reagan (1911-2004), 40th President of the United States, Republican
* John Root, architect
* Julius Rosenwald, business
* Benjamin Rusk, medicine
* Ann Rutledge, friend of Lincoln

* Carl Sandburg, poet
* Edward Wyllis Scripps, newspapers
* Richard Warren Sears, business
* Bernard J. Sheil, religion
* William Shockley, (1910-1989), physicist invented transistor
* Bobby Short, singer
* Gene Siskel, film critic
* Albion W. Small, sociology
* Joseph Smith, religion
* John Spalding, Scottish churchman
* Amos Alonzo Stagg, sports
* Ellen Gates Starr, social work
* John Paul Stevens, supreme court justice
* Adlai Stevenson II, politician, Vice President, Presidential candidate in 1952 and 1956, Democrat
* Melville E. Stone, newspapers
* Louis Sullivan, architect
* Gustavus Franklin Swift, business

T

* Graham Taylor, social work
* Theodore Thomas, conductor and violinist
* Gregg Toland, cinematographer
* Lyman Trumbull, politics, Dem, GOP, Dem
* Jonathan Baldwin Turner, scholar and activist

U

V

*Vince Vaughn, actor

W

* David Foster Wallace, author
* Aaron Montgomery Ward, business
* Muddy Waters, music
* George Wendt, actor, best known for the role of Norm Peterson on the television show Cheers
* John Wentworth, politics, Dem
* Frances E. Willard, social activist
* Oprah Winfrey, media icon
* Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
* Kanye West, rapper , songwriter , producer

X

Y

* Richard Yates Sr., Republican Civil War Governor
* Richard Yates Jr., Republican Progressive Era Governor
* Charles Yerkes, business

Z