List of people from Massachusetts

This is a list of people from Massachusetts. It includes both people born in the state, and people famous for association with it.

Artists

*Frank Weston Benson, painter
*John Singleton Copley, painter
*Thomas Dewing, painter
*Childe Hassam, painter
*Winslow Homer, painter
*Fitzhugh Lane, painter
*Willard Metcalf, painter
*Robert Reid, painter
*Norman Rockwell, artist
*Albert Pinkham Ryder, painter
*Edward Simmons, painter
*Frank Stella, artist
*Edmund Charles Tarbell, painter
*Abbott Handerson Thayer, painter
*James Abbott McNeill Whistler, artist

Athletes

*Kenny Florian, UFC Fighter
*Harry Agganis, baseball player
*Tony Amonte, hockey player
*Jerry Azumah, football player
*Jeff Bagwell, baseball player
*Tom Barrasso, hockey player
*Dana Barros, basketball player
*David Bavaro, football player
*Mark Bavaro, football player
*Joe Bellino, football player, Heisman Trophy Winner
*Travis Best, basketball player
*Mark Bellhorn, baseball player
*Andy Brickley, hockey player
*Chris Capuano,Baseball player
*Bob Cousy, Hall of Fame basketball player
*John Cena, professional wrestler
*Mickey Cochrane, Hall-of-Fame baseball player
*Tony Conigliaro, baseball player
*Stephen Cooper, football player
*Jim Craig, USA Olympic hockey player, 1980 Lake Placid
*Honey Craven, equestrian
*Mike Eruzione, USA Olympic Hockey Player, 1980 Lake Placid
*Mark Fidrych, Baseball player, 1976 MLB AL. rookie of the year
*Doug Flutie, NFL, Hall of Fame CFL Football Player, Heisman Trophy Winner Founder of Flutie Flakes and The Doug Flutie Jr. Foundation for Autism
*Bill Guerin, hockey player
*Tom Glavine, baseball pitcher
*Fran Healy, baseball player, announcer
*Jarrett Jack, went to school in Worcester, Mass.
*Tim Keefe, 19th century baseball pitcher
*Nancy Kerrigan, Olympic figure skater
*Michael Leach, tennis player
*Howie Long, hall of fame football player
*Rocky Marciano, boxer
*Lou Merloni, baseball player
*Mike Milbury, hockey player
*Jay Pandolfo, hockey player
*Vincent Peluga, Ultimate frisbee and ga-ga
*Carlos Peña, baseball player
*Tom Poti, hockey player
*Jerry Remy, baseball player, announcer
*Jeremy Roenick, hockey player
*Joe Sacco, hockey player
*Alicia Sacramone, World Champion gymnast
*Keith Tkachuk, hockey player
*Micky Ward, boxer
*Jermaine Wiggins, football player
*Mark Wohlers, baseball pitcher
*Wilbur Wood, baseball pitcher
*Paul Wylie, Olympic figure skater
*Jeff Reardon, baseball player
*Chris Alexander, baseball player

Business

*Sheldon Adelson, CEO of Las Vegas Sands Corp.
*Amar Bose, inventor
*Charles Bulfinch, architect
*Aaron Feuerstein, inventor
*Howard Deering Johnson, founder of the Howard Johnson's chain
*William LeBaron Jenney, architect
*Henry Huttleston Rogers, industrialist
*Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric 1981-2001
*Eli Whitney, inventor of the cotton gin
*Robert Kraft, Owner New England Patriots

Crime

*James J. Bulger
*Ronald Dermody
*Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi
*Jimmy Flynn
*Cornelius Hughes
*Stevie Hughes
*George "Boston George" Jung
*Bernard "Bernie" McLaughlin
*George McLaughlin
*Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin
*James "Buddy" McLean
*Russell Nicholson
*Jacob D. Robida
*Alex Rocco
*James "Spike" O'Toole
*Frank Salemme
*Frank Wallace
*Howie Winter

Entertainment

Comedians

*Mike Birbiglia comedian
*Bill Burr comedian
*Louis C.K. comedian, director
*Mario Cantone comedian
*Steve Carell comedian, actor, The Office US
*Dane Cook comedian, stand up, and actor
*Nate Corddry comedian, actor, The Daily Show
*Rob Corddry comedian, The Daily Show
*Lenny Clarke comedian, stand up, and actor
*Nick DiPaolo comedian
*Rachel Dratch comedian
*John Ennis comedian, actor, Mr. Show with Bob and David
*John Krasinski comedian, actor The Office US
*Denis Leary comedian and actor
*Jay Leno comedian and talk show host
*BJ Novak comedian, actor, and head writer of The Office US
*Conan O'Brien comedian and talk show host
*Patrice Oneal comedian, writer
*Amy Poehler comedian, actress
*Robby Roadsteamer comedian
*Steve Sweeney comedian and actor
*Maura Tierney actress
*Nancy Walls comedian, actress
*Steven Wright comedian, actor

Actors and film people

*Jane Alexander, actress
*Ben Affleck, Oscar-winning screenwriter & actor
*Casey Affleck, actor
*Traci Bingham, actress, model
*Ray Bolger, actor
*Walter Brennan, actor
*Paget Brewster, actress
*Jere Burns, actor
*Michael Chiklis, actor
*Marcia Cross, actress
*Jane Curtin, actress
*Matt Damon, Oscar-winning screenwriter & actor
*Bette Davis, actress
*Geena Davis, Oscar-winning actress
*Olympia Dukakis, Oscar-winning actress
*Eliza Dushku, actress
*John Enos III, actor
*Chris Evans, actor
*Ben Foster, actor
*Samuel Fuller, director, screenwriter
*Christos Gage, screenwriter
*Ruth Gordon, actress
*Sprague Grayden, actress
*Scott Grimes, actor
*Van Hansis, actor
*Ann Jillian, actress
*Amy Jo Johnson, actress
*Jean Louisa Kelly, actress
*Matt LeBlanc, actor
*Jack Lemmon, Oscar-winning actor
*Maria Menounos, actress
*Neal McDonough, actor
*Agnes Moorehead, Emmy-winning actress
*David Morse, actor
*Bridget Moynahan, actress
*Edward Norton, actor, director
*Leonard Nimoy, actor, director
*Matthew Perry, actor
*Rebecca Pidgeon, actress
*Ellen Pompeo, actress
*Kurt Russell, actor
*James Spader, Emmy-winning actor
*Uma Thurman, actress
*Paige Turco, actress
*Steven Van Zandt, actor
*Sam Waterston, actor
*Donnie Wahlberg, actor and former musician
*Mark Wahlberg, actor and former musician
* Kristen Wilson, actress
*Alicia Witt, actress

Musicians

*Frank Black, singer and guitarist of the Pixies
*Bobby Brown singer
*New Edition r&b/pop group
*Neil Cicierega, singer and internet cult icon
*Rich Cronin, singer (LFO)
*Danny Davis, country musician
*Stephen Foster, composer
*Kay Hanley singer (Letters to Cleo)
*JoJo, singer
*Andrew Jones, guitarist of AntarcticaFact|date = May 2008
*Phil Labonte, singer (All That Remains)
*Mary Lou Lord, singer/guitarist
*Andrew McMahon, singer/pianist
*Spider One, singer
*Joe Perry, guitarist
*Linda Perry singer and songwriter
*Wanda Perry-Josephs, singer
*Jonathan Richman songwriter, singer in The Modern Lovers
*Donna Summer singer
*Tavares vocal group
*James Taylor singer
*Rob Zombie singer, director
*John Linnell, one half of They Might Be Giants
*John Flansburgh, one half of They Might Be Giants
*Chad Stokes Urmston, Pete Francis Heimbold; of Dispatch
*Gang Starr, hip hop duo
*Akrobatik, hip hop artist
*LT, hip hop artists"

Radio

*Ray and Tom Magliozzi of Car Talk
*Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr., former "Howard Stern Show" regular

Hosts and Entertainment personalities

*Susie Castillo, current MTV VJ and 2003 Miss USA
*Damien Fahey, current MTV VJ
*Maria Menounos, actress and television presenter known for hostess/correspondent work on both "Entertainment Tonight" and later "Access Hollywood"
*John Sencio, current host Cash In The Attic for HGTV, prominent MTV VJ during the 1990s, occasional actor and musician.

Founders

*Pilgrims, first settlers
**John Alden
**Mary Allerton
*Elizabeth Poole, the foundress of Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1637; also the first woman to have founded a town in the Americas.

Literature

*Louisa May Alcott, author
*Horatio Alger, author
*Elizabeth Bishop, poet
*Anne Bradstreet, poet
*William Cullen Bryant, poet
*Stephen Daye, printer
*Emily Dickinson, poet
*Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet
*John Kenneth Galbraith, author, educator, and public official
*Theodor Seuss Geisel, author and illustrator
*Nathaniel Hawthorne, author
*Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet and essayist
*Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, author
*Jack Kerouac, author
*Stanley Kunitz, poet
*Peter Laird, Comic book creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
*Henry Cabot Lodge, author and public official
*Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet
*Charles Olson, poet
*Sylvia Plath, poet, author, and essayist
*Edgar Allan Poe, author and poet
*Henry David Thoreau, philosopher
*Edith Wharton, author
*John Greenleaf Whittier, poet and abolitionist
*Jane Yolen, author

Military

*General John Galvin (Retired), US Army. Former Dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University. Graduate of the United States Military Academy.
*George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy and founder of the US Naval Academy
* Adolphus Greely, Polar explorer, a United States Army officer and a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Native people

*King Philip (Metacomet), war chief of the Wampanoag.
*Crispus Attucks (See below)
*Samoset
*Tisquantum, (better known as Squanto)
*Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, first Native American graduate of Harvard University
*Jamaal Branch
*Chief Greylock
*Passaconaway, Pennacook sachem originally lived in Essex County.
*Squanto
*Massasoit-chief of the wampanoag in 1621

People involved in the American Revolutionary War

*John Adams, revolutionary, later President
*Samuel Adams, revolutionary
*Crispus Attucks, first casualty of the war
*John Hancock
*James Otis
*Robert Treat Paine
*William Prescott
*Paul Revere, revolutionary

Public office

"See Governor of Massachusetts for a complete list of governors from 1620 to the present."
*John Adams, 2nd U.S. president and 1st vice president
*John Quincy Adams, 6th U.S. president
*James Bowdoin, colonial governor
*Edward Brooke, U.S. Senator
*George Herbert Walker Bush, 41st U.S. president
*Andrew Card, State Rep., U.S. Secretary of Transportation, White House Chief of Staff
*Paul Cellucci, governor and U.S. Ambassador to Canada
*Calvin Coolidge, mayor, state representative, senator and governor, 30th U.S. president
*James Michael Curley, Mayor of Boston and Governor of Massachusetts
*Michael Dukakis, governor and 1988 Democratic nominee for president
*John Hancock, Governor of Massachusetts and President of the Continental Congress
*Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., justice of the U.S. Supreme Court
*Thomas Hutchinson, governor
*Edward Kennedy, U.S. Senator
*John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. president
*Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator (New York)
*John Forbes Kerry, U.S. Senator and 2004 Democratic nominee for president
*Thomas Menino, current mayor of Boston
*Mitt Romney, former governor
*Jane Swift, first and only female governor of Massachusetts

Religion

*Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science
* Ralph Waldo Emerson, Unitarian and Transcendentalist
*Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader
*Edward Everett Hale, religious leader
*John Harvard, clergyman and namesake of Harvard University
*Bernard Francis Law, archbishop and cardinal
*Cotton Mather, minister
*Increase Mather, minister
*Dwight Lyman Moody, evangelist
*Edmund Sears, Unitarian parish minister who penned "It Came upon the Midnight Clear" in 1849.

cience

*Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
*Luther Burbank, horticulturist
*Min Chueh Chang, scientist, developed birth control pill
*Benjamin Franklin, scientist and public official
*Robert Goddard, inventor
*Elias Howe, inventor
*Samuel Finley Breese Morse, inventor and artist
*Gregory Pincus, scientist, developed birth control pill
*Eli Whitney, inventor
*William T.G. Morton, dentist and physician, first successful public demonstration of an inhalation anesthetic

Others

*Susan B. Anthony, reformist
*F. Lee Bailey
*Harvey Ball, inventor of the smiley face
*Michelle Bonner, ESPN SportsCenter anchor & ESPNEWS anchor
*Becky DelosSantos, Playboy playmate of the Month April 1994
*William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist
*Shawnae Jebbia, Miss USA 1998
*Capt. Lawrence Mahan Sr., Schooner CaptainFact|date = May 2008
*Horace Mann, educationist and abolitionist
*Charles Peirce, logician, mathematician, philosopher, and scientist
*Charles Pomeroy Stone, soldier, explorer, and engineer
*Barbara Walters, television personality
*Capt. Marty Welch, Schooner Captain
*Rebecca Miyamoto, Teacher who teaches in Japan, She is important character who appears in "Paniponi" - the Japanese comic and animation.

Famous politicians and other residents

* John Adams, 1st Vice President of the U.S., 2nd President of the U.S., 1800 Federalist presidential nominee
* John Quincy Adams, Congressman, Senator, 6th President of the U.S.
* Samuel Adams, Patriot in the American Revolutionary War
* Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross
* James "Whitey" Bulger, leader of The Winter Hill Gang and wanted fugitive
* William Bulger, former President of the Massachusetts State Senate and former president of the University of Massachusetts.
* George H. W. Bush, 43rd Vice President of the U.S., 41st President of the U.S.
* Paul Cellucci, Governor and United States Ambassador to Canada
* Calvin Coolidge, 29th Vice President of the U.S., 30th President of the U.S.
* Michael Dukakis, Governor, 1988 Democratic presidential nominee
* Mark Foley, the disgraced U.S. Congressman, was born in Newton.
*Abby Kelley Foster, suffragist and abolitionist
* Margaret Fuller, feminist
* Elbridge Gerry, Congressman, Governor, 5th Vice President of the U.S., namesake of gerrymandering
* John Hancock, Governor, President of the Continental Congress
*Abbie Hoffman, political activist and founder of the Yippies
* Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Supreme Court Justice
* James Michael Curley, Governor, Congressman, Mayor of Boston
* Edward M. Kennedy, incumbent U.S. Senator, 1980 Democratic presidential candidate
* John F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator, 35th President of the U.S.
* Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator (representing New York), 1968 Democratic presidential candidate
* John F. Kerry, incumbent U.S. Senator, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee
* Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Senator, led the Senate opposition to the League of Nations
* Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., U.S. Senator, U.S. Ambassador to the U.N.,1960 Republican vice presidential candidate
* Barry McCaffrey, (4-star) Army General, Drug Czar
* John W. McCormack, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
* Tip O'Neill, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
* Paul Revere, Patriot in the American Revolution
* Theodore Sedgwick, President "pro tempore" of the Senate, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
*Lucy B. Stone, suffragist and abolitionist
* Paul Tsongas, U.S. Senator, 1992 Democratic presidential candidate
* Henry Wilson, U.S. Senator, 18th Vice President of the U.S.
* Malcolm X, political activist

Inventors

* Alexander Graham Bell, Salem (telephone)
* Harold Steven Black, Leominster (negative feedback principle)Fact|date = May 2008
* Rachel Fuller Brown, Springfield (antibiotics)
* Robert Goddard, Worcester ("father of modern rocketry")
* Charles Goodyear, Woburn (Vulcanized Rubber)
* Elias Howe, Specer (sewing machine)
* Sir Tim Berners-Lee, Lexington (Internet) MIT Professor
* Samuel Morse, Charlestown (Morse code)
* Benjamin Thompson, Woburn (Rumford fireplace, Thermal underwear)
* An Wang, inventor
* Eli Whitney, Westborough (cotton gin)

Authors and Poets

* Louisa May Alcott, Concord ("Little Women")
* Elizabeth Bishop, Worcester (poet)
* Augusten Burroughs, Amherst ("Running with Scissors")
* Robert Ellis Cahill, Salem (Three dozen books on New England History and Lore)
* E.E. Cummings, Cambridge (poet)
* Emily Dickinson, Amherst (poet)
* W.E.B. DuBois, Great Barrington ("The Souls of Black Folk")
* Ralph Waldo Emerson, Concord ("Nature", "The Transcendentalist")
* Robert Frost, Lawrence (poet)
* Nicholas Gage, Worcester writer and journalist
* Theodor Geisel, Springfield (the Dr. Seuss books)
* Nathaniel Hawthorne, Salem ("The Scarlet Letter")
* Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., Cambridge (poet)
* Jack Kerouac, Lowell ("On the Road")
* Stanley Kunitz, Worcester -- Poet Laureate of the United States
* Timothy Leary, Springfield ("Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out")
* Michael Patrick MacDonald, South Boston ("All Souls")
* Stephen McCauley, Woburn ("The Object of My Affection")
* Charles Olson, Worcester (poet)
* Sylvia Plath, Boston ("The Bell Jar")
* Edgar Allan Poe, Boston ("The Raven")
* Henry David Thoreau, Concord ("Walden")
* George Santayana, Boston ("The Life of Reason")
* Anne Sexton, Newton (poet)
* Michelle Tea, Chelsea ("Rent Girl")
* Thomas Paine, ("Common Sense")
* Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, Concord ("In the forests of the night, Demon in my View")

Television and Film

* Ben Affleck, Cambridge (Good Will Hunting, Gigli)
* Eric Bogosian, Woburn ()
* Steve Carell, Acton (The Office, The 40-Year Old Virgin)
* John Cena, West Newbury (WWE Champion)
* Dane Cook, Arlington (Retaliation, Harmful If Swallowed)
* Rob Corddry and Nate Corddry, Weymouth (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Studio 60)
* Marcia Cross, Marlborough (Desperate Housewives)
* Matt Damon, Cambridge (Good Will Hunting, The Bourne Identity, The Departed)
* Geena Davis, Wareham (Thelma and Louise)
* Ken Doane, Worcester (WWE Superstar)
* Rachel Dratch, Lexington (Saturday Night Live)
* Chris Evans, Sudbury (Fantastic Four)
* Jim Ford III, West Boylston ("Knock, Knock", "Across the Universe")
* John Hodgman, Brookline (The Daily Show, "I'm a PC" in Get a Mac)
* Denis Leary, Worcester (The Sandlot, Wag the Dog)
* Matt LeBlanc, Newton. (Friends)
* Jay Leno, Andover (The Tonight Show)
* Mindy Kaling, Cambridge (The Office)
* Ben Karlin, Needham. (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report)
* John Krasinski, Newton (The Office)
* Ben Kurland, Newton (Sinners)
* Ed McMahon, Lowell (The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Star Search)
* Maria Menounos, Medford
* Leonard Nimoy, Boston (Star Trek, IMAX voiceover)
* Ed Norton, Boston (American History X, Fight Club)
* B.J. Novak, Newton (The Office)
* Conan O'Brien, Brookline (Late Night with Conan O'Brien)
* Amy Poehler, Burlington (Saturday Night Live)
* Ellen Pompeo, Everett (Old School, Grey's Anatomy)
* Eli Roth, Newton (Hostel)
* Kurt Russell, Springfield (Escape from New York)
* James Spader, Boston (Secretary)
* Liam Kyle Sullivan, Boston (The "Kelly" Skits)
* Uma Thurman, Amherst (Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill)
* Steven Tyler, Lynn (Aerosmith)
* Mark Wahlberg, Dorchester (Entourage, The Departed)
* Nancy Walls, Cohasset (Saturday Night Live, The Office)
* Barbara Walters, Boston (journalist)
* Lyle R. Wheeler, Woburn (Academy Award-winning art-director)
* Alicia Witt, Worcester (actress)
* Steven Wright, Burlington (stand-up comedian)
* Rob Zombie, Haverhill (The Devil's Rejects)

Music

*Aerosmith
*All That Remains
*Lou Barlow
*Boston
*Boys Like Girls
*The Breeders
*Bobby Brown
*Bury Your Dead
*The Cars
*Converge
*Deep Wound
*Dinosaur Jr
*Dispatch
*Donna Summer
*Doomriders
*The Dresden Dolls
*Dropkick Murphys
*The Ducky Boys
*Extreme
*Folk Implosion
*Freezepop
*Michael Gandolfi
*Galaxie 500
*Godsmack
*Guster
*Have Heart
*The J. Geils Band
*James Taylor
*JoJo
*Killswitch Engage
*Lemon Demon
*J Mascis
*The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
*Mission of Burma
*The Modern Lovers
*New Edition
*New Kids on the Block
*Pixies
*Jonathan Richman
*Robby Roadsteamer
*Roger Sessions
*Sebadoh
*Shadows Fall
*Staind
*State Radio
*Street Dogs
*Tavares
*Unearth
*Walter Piston
*Antarctica