American People Famous Choreographers from the United States

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List of notable or famous choreographers from the United States, with bios and photos, including the top choreographers born in the United States and even some popular choreographers who immigrated to the United States. If you're trying to find out the names of famous American choreographers then this list is the perfect resource for you. These choreographers are among the most prominent in their field, and information about each well-known choreographer from the United States is included when available.

You can rank all of these people, from Michael Jackson to Paula Abdul.

This historic choreographers from the United States list can help answer the questions "Who are some American choreographers of note?" and "Who are the most famous choreographers from the United States?" These prominent choreographers of the United States may or may not be currently alive, but what they all have in common is that they're all respected American choreographers.

Use this list of renowned American choreographers to discover some new choreographers that you aren't familiar with. Don't forget to share this list by clicking one of the social media icons at the top or bottom of the page. (180 items)

1
Michael Jackson is listed (or ranked) 1 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 51 (1958-2009) Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. Called the King of Pop, his contributions to music and dance, along with his publicized personal ...more

2
Paula Abdul is listed (or ranked) 2 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 55 Paula Julie Abdul is an American-Canadian singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality. She is a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. She began her ...more

3
Gene Kelly is listed (or ranked) 3 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 84 (1912-1996) Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director, producer and choreographer. He was known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks ...more

4
Fred Astaire is listed (or ranked) 4 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 88 (1899-1987) Fred Astaire was an American dancer, choreographer, singer, musician and actor. His stage and subsequent film and television careers spanned a total of 76 years, during which he made 31 musical ...more

5
Carrie Ann Inaba is listed (or ranked) 5 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 50 Carrie Ann Inaba is an American dancer, choreographer, television dance competition judge, actress, game show host, and singer. She started her career as a singer in Japan, but became best known ...more

6
James Lipton is listed (or ranked) 6 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 91 James Lipton is an American writer, composer, actor and dean emeritus of the Actors Studio Drama School at Pace University in New York City. He is the executive producer, writer and host of the ...more

7
Mýa is listed (or ranked) 7 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 38 Mýa Marie Harrison, better known as Mýa, is an American hip hop and R&B singer, record producer and actress. Harrison's eponymous debut album with Interscope Records was ...more

8
Debbie Allen is listed (or ranked) 8 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 68 Debbie Allen is an author.

9
Briana Evigan is listed (or ranked) 9 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 31 Briana Barbara-Jane Evigan is an American actress and dancer. She is perhaps best known for her roles as Andie West in the Step Up series and Cassidy Tappan in Sorority Row. She started dancing ...more

10
Gates McFadden is listed (or ranked) 10 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 69 Cheryl Gates McFadden usually credited as Gates McFadden, is an American actress and choreographer. She played Dr. Beverly Crusher in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series and in ...more

11
Tommy Tune is listed (or ranked) 11 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 79 Thomas James "Tommy" Tune is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won nine Tony Awards and the ...more

12
Alyson Stoner is listed (or ranked) 12 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 24 Alyson Rae Stoner is an American actress, dancer, choreographer and singer. Stoner is known as Max in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and also for the roles Sarah Baker in Cheaper by the ...more

13
Adam Shankman is listed (or ranked) 13 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 53 Adam Michael Shankman is an American film director, producer, dancer, actor, and choreographer. He has been a judge on the television program So You Think You Can Dance since Season 3. He began ...more

14
Rosie Perez is listed (or ranked) 14 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 53 Rosa Maria "Rosie" Perez is an American actress, community activist, talk show host, author, dancer, and choreographer. Her film breakthrough was in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing. She ...more

15
Maya Deren is listed (or ranked) 15 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 44 (1917-1961) Maya Deren, born Eleanora Derenkowskaia, was one of the most important American experimental filmmakers and entrepreneurial promoters of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a ...more

16
Jerome Robbins is listed (or ranked) 16 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 80 (1918-1998) Jerome Robbins, was an American theater producer, director, and dance choreographer known primarily for Broadway Theater and Ballet/Dance, but who also occasionally directed films and ...more

17
Gregory Hines is listed (or ranked) 17 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 57 (1946-2003) Gregory Oliver Hines was an American actor, singer, dancer and choreographer.

18
Stanley Donen is listed (or ranked) 18 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 94 Stanley Donen is an American film director and choreographer whose most celebrated works are Singin' in the Rain and On the Town, both of which he co-directed with actor and dancer Gene Kelly. ...more

19
Alvin Ailey is listed (or ranked) 19 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 58 (1931-1989) Alvin Ailey was an African-American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York City. He is credited with popularizing modern dance and ...more

20
Arthur Mitchell is listed (or ranked) 20 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 84 Arthur Mitchell is an African-American dancer and choreographer who created a training school and the first African-American classical ballet company, Dance Theatre of Harlem. Among other ...more

21
Michael K. Williams is listed (or ranked) 21 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 51 Michael Kenneth Williams is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Omar Little on the HBO drama series The Wire and Albert "Chalky" White on the HBO series Boardwalk

22
Martha Graham is listed (or ranked) 22 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 97 (1894-1991) Martha Graham was an American modern dancer and choreographer whose influence on dance has been compared with the influence Picasso had on the modern visual arts, Stravinsky had on music, or ...more

23
Alwin Nikolais is listed (or ranked) 23 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 83 (1910-1993) Alwin Nikolais was an American choreographer.

24
Mark Morris is listed (or ranked) 24 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 61 Mark William Morris is an American dancer, choreographer and director whose work is acclaimed for its craftsmanship, ingenuity, humor, and at times eclectic musical accompaniments. Morris is ...more

25
Matthew Diamond is listed (or ranked) 25 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 66 Matthew Diamond is an American film and television director, producer and choreographer.

26
Cris Judd is listed (or ranked) 26 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 48 Cristan Leenon "Cris" Judd is an American actor and choreographer known for his brief marriage to Jennifer Lopez.

27
Bill T. Jones is listed (or ranked) 27 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 66 Bill T. Jones is an American artistic director, choreographer and dancer. Jones has received numerous awards for his work and is the co-founder of the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company.

28
Merce Cunningham is listed (or ranked) 28 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 90 (1919-2009) Mercier Philip "Merce" Cunningham was an American dancer and choreographer who was at the forefront of the American modern dance for more than 50 years. He is also notable for his ...more

29
Rob Marshall is listed (or ranked) 29 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 57 Rob Marshall is an American theater director, film director and choreographer. His most noted work is the 2002 Academy Award for Best Picture winner Chicago, for which he won a Directors Guild ...more

30
Agnes de Mille is listed (or ranked) 30 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 88 (1905-1993) Agnes Demille was the daughter of William C. DeMille.

31
Derek Hough is listed (or ranked) 31 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 32 Derek Hough is an American professional latin and ballroom dancer and choreographer. He is known for his work, since September 2007, on the ABC dance-competition series Dancing with the Stars, ...more

32
Geoffrey Holder is listed (or ranked) 32 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 84 (1930-2014) Geoffrey Lamont Holder was a Trinidadian-American actor, choreographer, director, dancer, painter, costume designer, and singer.

33
Michael Berresse is listed (or ranked) 33 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 53 Michael Berresse is an American actor, dancer, choreographer, and director.

34
Toni Basil is listed (or ranked) 34 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 74 Antonia Christina Basilotta, better known by her stage name Toni Basil, is an American singer-songwriter, actress, filmmaker, film director, choreographer, and dancer, best known for her ...more

35
Gower Champion is listed (or ranked) 35 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 61 (1919-1980) Gower Carlyle Champion was an American actor, theatre director, choreographer, and dancer.

36
Michael Kidd is listed (or ranked) 36 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 92 (1915-2007) Michael Kidd was an American film and stage choreographer, dancer and actor, whose career spanned five decades, and staged some of the leading Broadway and film musicals of the 1940s and 1950s. ...more

37
Joshua Logan is listed (or ranked) 37 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 80 (1908-1988) Joshua Lockwood Logan III was an American stage and film director and writer.

38
Mikhail Baryshnikov is listed (or ranked) 38 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 70 Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov, nicknamed "Misha", is a Russian-American dancer, choreographer, and actor born in the Soviet Union, often cited alongside Vaslav Nijinsky and Rudolf ...more

39
Casey Nicholaw is listed (or ranked) 39 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 55 Casey Nicholaw is an American theatre director, choreographer and performer. He has been nominated for Tony Awards for directing and choreographing The Drowsy Chaperone, for choreographing Monty ...more

40
Richard Move is listed (or ranked) 40 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Richard Move is a present-day choreographer, dancer, performing artist, director, and filmmaker. He is the Artistic Director of MoveOpolis! and Move- It! Productions. Move is well known ...more

41
Michael Bennett is listed (or ranked) 41 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 44 (1943-1987) Michael Bennett was an American musical theater director, writer, choreographer, and dancer. He won seven Tony Awards for his choreography and direction of Broadway shows and was nominated for ...more

42
Michael Flatley is listed (or ranked) 42 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 59 Michael Ryan Flatley is an American-born Irish dancer, choreographer and musician. He became internationally known for Irish dance shows Riverdance, Lord of the Dance, Feet of Flames, and Celtic ...more

43
Ron Field is listed (or ranked) 43 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 55 (1934-1989) Ronald Field was an American choreographer, director, and dancer.

44
Bob Fosse is listed (or ranked) 44 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 60 (1927-1987) Robert Louis "Bob" Fosse was an American dancer, musical theatre choreographer, director, screenwriter, film director and actor. He won 8 Tony Awards for choreography, more than anyone ...more

45
Loie Fuller is listed (or ranked) 45 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 66 (1862-1928) Loie Fuller was a pioneer of both modern dance and theatrical lighting techniques.

46
Jerry Mitchell is listed (or ranked) 46 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 58 Jerry Mitchell is an American theatre director and choreographer.

47
Katherine Dunham is listed (or ranked) 47 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
Died at 97 (1909-2006) Katherine Dunham was an American dancer, choreographer, author, educator, and social activist. Dunham had one of the most successful dance careers in American and European theater of the 20th ...more

48
André DeShields is listed (or ranked) 48 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 72 André De Shields is an American actor, singer, director, dancer, acclaimed novelist, choreographer, lyricist, composer and college professor.

49
Zachary Woodlee is listed (or ranked) 49 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 40 Zach Woodlee is an American choreographer and dancer. He is currently choreographer and co-producer of the TV series Glee.

50
Kenny Wormald is listed (or ranked) 50 on the list Famous Choreographers from the United States
age 33 Kenneth "Kenny" Wormald is an American dancer, reality television star and actor. His best known role to date is perhaps as Ren McCormack in the 2011 remake of 1984's Footloose. ...more