READ Famous People From Louisville

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List of famous people from Louisville, including photos when available. The people below are listed by their popularity, so the most recognizable names are at the top of the list. Some of the people below are celebrities born in Louisville, while others are simply notable locals. If you're from Louisville you might already know that these prominent figures are also from your hometown, but some of the names below may really surprise you. This list includes people who were born and raised in Louisville, as well as those who were born there but moved away at a young age.

List includes Percy Parsons, Henry C. McDowell, Jr. and more.

If you want to answer the questions, "Which famous people are from Louisville?" or "Which celebrities were born in Louisville?" then this list is a great resource for you.

1

Jennifer Lawrence age 27 Jennifer Shrader Lawrence is an American actress. Her first major role was as a lead cast member on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. She appeared in the independent dramas The Burning Plain ...more

2

Muhammad Ali age 76 Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, generally considered among the greatest heavyweights in the sport's history. A controversial and polarizing figure during his early career, ...more

3

Jennifer Carpenter age 38 Jennifer Leann Carpenter is an American actress best known for playing Debra Morgan on the Showtime drama series Dexter, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on ...more

4

Maggie Lawson age 37 Margaret Cassidy "Maggie" Lawson is an American actress who is best known for her role as Detective Juliet "Jules" O'Hara in the TV show Psych. She also has starred in the ...more

5

Sean Young age 58 Sean Young is an American actress. She is best known for her performances in films from the 1980s such as Blade Runner, Dune, No Way Out, Wall Street and Cousins.

6

Gus Van Sant age 65 Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American film director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician and author. He is a two-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director—for the drama Good ...more

7

Linda Beatty age 65

8

Ned Beatty age 80 Ned Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden ...more

9

Charley Chase age 30 Charley Chase is the stage name of an American former pornographic actress. Credited with over 400 movies, she has won an AVN Award and an XRCO Award, receiving nominations for the XBIZ Awards ...more

10

Mark Hudspeth age 49 Mark Hudspeth is the current head football coach of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Previously, Hudspeth was a four-year football letterman at Delta State University, head coach at the ...more

11

Tommy Kirk age 76 Thomas Lee "Tommy" Kirk is an American former actor and later a businessman. He is best known for his performances in a number of highly popular movies made by Walt Disney Studios such ...more

12

William Conrad Died at 74 (1920-1994) William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television. A radio writer and actor, he moved to Hollywood, California, after ...more

13

George M. Whitesides age 78 George M. Whitesides is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at Harvard University. He is best known for his work in the areas of NMR spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecular ...more

14

Mia Zapata Died at 28 (1965-1993) Mia Katherine Zapata was the lead singer for the Seattle punk band The Gits.

15

Mary Travers Died at 73 (1936-2009) Mary Allin Travers was an American singer-songwriter and member of the folk music group Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Peter, Paul and Mary was one of the most ...more

16

Miss Elizabeth Died at 43 (1960-2003) Elizabeth Ann Hulette, best known as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in the World Wrestling ...more

17

Bill Ludwig Died at 65 (1882-1947) William Lawrence Ludwig was a catcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1908.

18

Marsha Norman age 70 Marsha Norman is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. She received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play 'night, Mother. She wrote the book and lyrics for such Broadway ...more

19

Allen Allensworth Died at 72 (1842-1914) Allen Allensworth, born into slavery, escaped and became a Union soldier; later he became a Baptist minister and educator, and was appointed as a chaplain in the United States Army. He was the ...more

20

Charles Mengel Allen Died at 84 (1916-2000) Charles Mengel Allen was a United States federal judge. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Allen received a B.A. from Yale University in 1941 and an LL.B. from the University of Louisville School of ...more

21

Telma Hopkins age 69 Telma Louise Hopkins is an American singer and actress. A member of the 1970s pop group Tony Orlando and Dawn, she later starred in several television sitcoms, including Bosom Buddies, Getting ...more

22

Clark Adams Died at 38 (1969-2007) Clark Davis Adams was a prominent American freethought leader and activist. Adams was born in Louisville, Kentucky. As a child, he attended Catholic school, but became skeptical of the church's ...more

23

Rudy Rucker age 72 Rudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and philosopher, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of ...more

24

John Patrick Died at 90 (1905-1995) John Patrick was an American playwright and screenwriter.

25

Rebecca Broussard age 55 Rebecca Broussard is an American actress and model.

26

T. Coleman du Pont Died at 67 (1863-1930) Thomas Coleman du Pont was an American engineer and politician, from Greenville, Delaware. He was President of the of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, and a member of the Republican Party ...more

27

William E. Lori age 66 William Edward Lori is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who is serving as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland since 2012. Archbishop Lori had previously ...more

28

Dawn Landes age 37 Dawn Landes is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, but has been for decades a Brooklyn, New York transplant, having arrived as a New York ...more

29

Carl Jackson age 64 Carl Eugene Jackson is an American country and bluegrass musician. Jackson's first Grammy was awarded in 1992 for his duet album with John Starling titled "Spring Training." In 2003 ...more

30

Iman Crosson age 36 Iman Crosson, better known by his stage name Alphacat, is an American actor, impressionist and YouTube personality and is known for his impersonations of U.S. President Barack Obama and his ...more

31

Allan Houston age 46 Allan Wade Houston is an American retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association from 1993-2005. He is currently the Assistant General Manager for the ...more

32

Stephen Garrett Died at 34 (1974-2008) Stephen Ellis Garrett, also known as Static Major, was a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, rapper, singer and record producer from Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He was a member of the ...more

33

Jimmy Blythe Died at 30 (1901-1931) Jimmy Blythe was an influential American jazz and boogie-woogie pianist.

34

Darrell Griffith age 59 Darrell Steven Griffith, also known by his nickname Dr. Dunkenstein, is a retired American basketball player who spent his entire professional career with the Utah Jazz of the National ...more

35

John Harwood age 62 John Harwood is an American journalist who is the chief Washington Correspondent for CNBC. He is also a writer for The New York Times. He writes a weekly column entitled "The Caucus" ...more

36

Lee Reherman age 51 Lee Reherman is an American actor, appearing in television and film and hosting television reality shows.

37

Hunt Stromberg Died at 74 (1894-1968) Hunt Stromberg was a film producer during Hollywood's Golden Age. In a prolific 30-year career beginning in 1921, Stromberg produced, wrote, and directed some of Hollywood's most profitable and ...more

38

Bill Sowders Died at 87 (1864-1951) William Jefferson "Little Bill" Sowders was a professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of three seasons with the Boston Beaneaters and Pittsburg ...more

39

William Preston Died at 71 (1816-1887) William Preston was an American lawyer, politician, and ambassador. He also was a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

40

William L. Lyons Died at 54 (1857-1911) William L. Lyons was mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1890 to 1891. He was educated at Highland Military Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts and first worked as a clerk for the Louisville ...more

41

Oscar Underwood Died at 67 (1862-1929) Oscar Wilder Underwood was an American politician from Alabama and candidate for President of the United States.

42

J. Smith-Cameron age 60 J. Smith-Cameron is an American actress.

43

Katherine Covell age 40 Katherine Covell is a film producer and film art director.

44

Hub Collins Died at 28 (1864-1892) Hubert B. "Hub" Collins was a professional baseball player. He was a left fielder and second baseman over parts of seven seasons with the Louisville Colonels and Brooklyn ...more

45

John Pope Died at 70 (1822-1892) John Pope was a career United States Army officer and Union general in the American Civil War. He had a brief but successful career in the Western Theater, but he is best known for his defeat at ...more

46

Charlie Tyra Died at 71 (1935-2006) Charles E. Tyra was an American basketball player who is best known as the first Louisville Cardinal All-American. He is still the school's leading all-time rebounder and ranks 11th on the NCAA ...more

47

Joseph Byrd age 80 Joseph Byrd and raised in Tucson, Arizona, was the leader of The United States of America, a notable rock band from the 1960s, as well as the psychedelic group Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, of ...more

48

George Croghan Died at 58 (1791-1849) George Croghan was an American soldier. was born at the Locust Grove farm in what is now Louisville, Kentucky and died in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a recipient of the Congressional Gold ...more

49

Derek Anderson age 43 Derek Lamont Anderson is an American former professional basketball player. Anderson is a graduate of Doss High School and was a Kentucky All-Star. Anderson played college basketball at the Ohio ...more

50

Moe Thacker Died at 63 (1934-1997) Morris Benton Thacker, was an American professional baseball player. His usual position was catcher. He played from 1958 to 1963 for the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals. Thacker was ...more

1 Jennifer Lawrence age 27 Jennifer Shrader Lawrence is an American actress. Her first major role was as a lead cast member on the TBS sitcom The Bill Engvall Show. She appeared in the independent dramas The Burning Plain ...more

2 Muhammad Ali age 76 Muhammad Ali is an American former professional boxer, generally considered among the greatest heavyweights in the sport's history. A controversial and polarizing figure during his early career, ...more

3 Jennifer Carpenter age 38 Jennifer Leann Carpenter is an American actress best known for playing Debra Morgan on the Showtime drama series Dexter, for which she won a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actress on ...more

4 Maggie Lawson age 37 Margaret Cassidy "Maggie" Lawson is an American actress who is best known for her role as Detective Juliet "Jules" O'Hara in the TV show Psych. She also has starred in the ...more

5 Sean Young age 58 Sean Young is an American actress. She is best known for her performances in films from the 1980s such as Blade Runner, Dune, No Way Out, Wall Street and Cousins.

6 Gus Van Sant age 65 Gus Green Van Sant, Jr. is an American film director, screenwriter, painter, photographer, musician and author. He is a two-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director—for the drama Good ...more

7 Linda Beatty age 65

8 Ned Beatty age 80 Ned Thomas Beatty is an American actor who has appeared in more than 100 films and has been nominated for an Academy Award, two Emmy Awards, an MTV Movie Award for Best Villain and a Golden ...more

9 Charley Chase age 30 Charley Chase is the stage name of an American former pornographic actress. Credited with over 400 movies, she has won an AVN Award and an XRCO Award, receiving nominations for the XBIZ Awards ...more

10 Mark Hudspeth age 49 Mark Hudspeth is the current head football coach of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Previously, Hudspeth was a four-year football letterman at Delta State University, head coach at the ...more

11 Tommy Kirk age 76 Thomas Lee "Tommy" Kirk is an American former actor and later a businessman. He is best known for his performances in a number of highly popular movies made by Walt Disney Studios such ...more

12 William Conrad Died at 74 (1920-1994) William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television. A radio writer and actor, he moved to Hollywood, California, after ...more

13 George M. Whitesides age 78 George M. Whitesides is an American chemist and professor of chemistry at Harvard University. He is best known for his work in the areas of NMR spectroscopy, organometallic chemistry, molecular ...more

14 Mia Zapata Died at 28 (1965-1993) Mia Katherine Zapata was the lead singer for the Seattle punk band The Gits.

15 Mary Travers Died at 73 (1936-2009) Mary Allin Travers was an American singer-songwriter and member of the folk music group Peter, Paul and Mary, along with Peter Yarrow and Paul Stookey. Peter, Paul and Mary was one of the most ...more

16 Miss Elizabeth Died at 43 (1960-2003) Elizabeth Ann Hulette, best known as Miss Elizabeth, was an American professional wrestling manager. She gained international fame from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s in the World Wrestling ...more

17 Bill Ludwig Died at 65 (1882-1947) William Lawrence Ludwig was a catcher in Major League Baseball. He played for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1908.

18 Marsha Norman age 70 Marsha Norman is an American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist. She received the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play 'night, Mother. She wrote the book and lyrics for such Broadway ...more

19 Allen Allensworth Died at 72 (1842-1914) Allen Allensworth, born into slavery, escaped and became a Union soldier; later he became a Baptist minister and educator, and was appointed as a chaplain in the United States Army. He was the ...more

20 Charles Mengel Allen Died at 84 (1916-2000) Charles Mengel Allen was a United States federal judge. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Allen received a B.A. from Yale University in 1941 and an LL.B. from the University of Louisville School of ...more

21 Telma Hopkins age 69 Telma Louise Hopkins is an American singer and actress. A member of the 1970s pop group Tony Orlando and Dawn, she later starred in several television sitcoms, including Bosom Buddies, Getting ...more

22 Clark Adams Died at 38 (1969-2007) Clark Davis Adams was a prominent American freethought leader and activist. Adams was born in Louisville, Kentucky. As a child, he attended Catholic school, but became skeptical of the church's ...more

23 Rudy Rucker age 72 Rudolf von Bitter Rucker is an American mathematician, computer scientist, science fiction author, and philosopher, and is one of the founders of the cyberpunk literary movement. The author of ...more

24 John Patrick Died at 90 (1905-1995) John Patrick was an American playwright and screenwriter.

25 Rebecca Broussard age 55 Rebecca Broussard is an American actress and model.

26 T. Coleman du Pont Died at 67 (1863-1930) Thomas Coleman du Pont was an American engineer and politician, from Greenville, Delaware. He was President of the of E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company, and a member of the Republican Party ...more

27 William E. Lori age 66 William Edward Lori is an American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who is serving as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, Maryland since 2012. Archbishop Lori had previously ...more

28 Dawn Landes age 37 Dawn Landes is an American singer-songwriter and musician. She is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, but has been for decades a Brooklyn, New York transplant, having arrived as a New York ...more

29 Carl Jackson age 64 Carl Eugene Jackson is an American country and bluegrass musician. Jackson's first Grammy was awarded in 1992 for his duet album with John Starling titled "Spring Training." In 2003 ...more

30 Iman Crosson age 36 Iman Crosson, better known by his stage name Alphacat, is an American actor, impressionist and YouTube personality and is known for his impersonations of U.S. President Barack Obama and his ...more

31 Allan Houston age 46 Allan Wade Houston is an American retired professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association from 1993-2005. He is currently the Assistant General Manager for the ...more

32 Stephen Garrett Died at 34 (1974-2008) Stephen Ellis Garrett, also known as Static Major, was a Grammy Award-winning American songwriter, rapper, singer and record producer from Louisville, Kentucky, USA. He was a member of the ...more

33 Jimmy Blythe Died at 30 (1901-1931) Jimmy Blythe was an influential American jazz and boogie-woogie pianist.

34 Darrell Griffith age 59 Darrell Steven Griffith, also known by his nickname Dr. Dunkenstein, is a retired American basketball player who spent his entire professional career with the Utah Jazz of the National ...more

35 John Harwood age 62 John Harwood is an American journalist who is the chief Washington Correspondent for CNBC. He is also a writer for The New York Times. He writes a weekly column entitled "The Caucus" ...more

36 Lee Reherman age 51 Lee Reherman is an American actor, appearing in television and film and hosting television reality shows.

37 Hunt Stromberg Died at 74 (1894-1968) Hunt Stromberg was a film producer during Hollywood's Golden Age. In a prolific 30-year career beginning in 1921, Stromberg produced, wrote, and directed some of Hollywood's most profitable and ...more

38 Bill Sowders Died at 87 (1864-1951) William Jefferson "Little Bill" Sowders was a professional baseball player. He was a right-handed pitcher over parts of three seasons with the Boston Beaneaters and Pittsburg ...more

39 William Preston Died at 71 (1816-1887) William Preston was an American lawyer, politician, and ambassador. He also was a brigadier general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War.

40 William L. Lyons Died at 54 (1857-1911) William L. Lyons was mayor of Louisville, Kentucky from 1890 to 1891. He was educated at Highland Military Academy in Worcester, Massachusetts and first worked as a clerk for the Louisville ...more

41 Oscar Underwood Died at 67 (1862-1929) Oscar Wilder Underwood was an American politician from Alabama and candidate for President of the United States.

42 J. Smith-Cameron age 60 J. Smith-Cameron is an American actress.

43 Katherine Covell age 40 Katherine Covell is a film producer and film art director.

44 Hub Collins Died at 28 (1864-1892) Hubert B. "Hub" Collins was a professional baseball player. He was a left fielder and second baseman over parts of seven seasons with the Louisville Colonels and Brooklyn ...more

45 John Pope Died at 70 (1822-1892) John Pope was a career United States Army officer and Union general in the American Civil War. He had a brief but successful career in the Western Theater, but he is best known for his defeat at ...more

46 Charlie Tyra Died at 71 (1935-2006) Charles E. Tyra was an American basketball player who is best known as the first Louisville Cardinal All-American. He is still the school's leading all-time rebounder and ranks 11th on the NCAA ...more

47 Joseph Byrd age 80 Joseph Byrd and raised in Tucson, Arizona, was the leader of The United States of America, a notable rock band from the 1960s, as well as the psychedelic group Joe Byrd and the Field Hippies, of ...more

48 George Croghan Died at 58 (1791-1849) George Croghan was an American soldier. was born at the Locust Grove farm in what is now Louisville, Kentucky and died in New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a recipient of the Congressional Gold ...more

49 Derek Anderson age 43 Derek Lamont Anderson is an American former professional basketball player. Anderson is a graduate of Doss High School and was a Kentucky All-Star. Anderson played college basketball at the Ohio ...more

50 Moe Thacker Died at 63 (1934-1997) Morris Benton Thacker, was an American professional baseball player. His usual position was catcher. He played from 1958 to 1963 for the Chicago Cubs and the St. Louis Cardinals. Thacker was ...more

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