The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in Providence, Rhode Island.
Arts, literature, humanities and entertainment
- Tom Adams, illustrator most famous for his Agatha Christie paperback cover designs
- Daniel Adel, painter and illustrator
- Chester Holmes Aldrich, architect and director of American Academy in Rome
- David Aldrich, artist and architect
- Mathuren Arthur Andrieu, painter
- David Angell, Frasier co-creator and 9/11 victim
- Omar Bah, journalist and founder of the Refugee Dream Center
- Mildred Barker, Shaker eldress, musician, and scholar who lived at the Alfred and Sabbathday Lake Shaker communities
- Joe Bastardi, meteorologist
- Joe Beats, hip-hop producer
- Alice D. Engley Beek, watercolor painter
- Ted Berrigan, poet
- Blu Cantrell, singer of 2001 hit "Hit 'Em Up Style (Oops)"
- William Carpenter, early settler of Providence
- Marilyn Chambers (1952âÂÂ2009), adult-film actress
- Damien Chazelle, director and screenwriter, Whiplash and La La Land
- Nicole Chesney, artist
- George M. Cohan, songwriter and entertainer, composed "I'm a Yankee Doodle Dandy" and "You're a Grand Old Flag"
- Bill Conti, composer of music for film and television, including theme from Rocky
- Scott Corbett, writer of children's books
- Michael Corrente, film director and producer
- Pauly D, television personality, MTV program Jersey Shore
- Charlotte F. Dailey, editor and exposition official
- Christopher Denise, illustrator of children's books, including many in the Redwall series
- Bruce DeSilva, author of the Liam Mulligan series of mystery novels
- Paul Di Filippo, author of Steampunk Trilogy
- Nate DiMeo, podcaster, screenwriter, and author; creator of The Memory Palace podcast and author of the book of the same name
- Ronald Dworkin, author, professor of constitutional law
- John Dwyer, multi-instrumentalist, primary songwriter and core member of Thee Oh Sees, visual artist, record label owner
- C. M. Eddy, Jr., author of mysteries and horror fiction
- Nelson Eddy, singer and film actor
- Susan Eisenberg, voice actress
- Jeanpaul Ferro, poet, short fiction author, novelist
- Elisabeth Filarski, footwear designer, ' contestant
- Sage Francis, hip hop artist and slam poet
- Margaret Burnham Geddes, architect, activist, and urban planner
- Al Gomes, record producer and songwriter
- Roger A. Graham, lyricist, songwriter
- Robert Leo (Bobby) Hackett, jazz musician (trumpet, cornet, guitar)
- Scott Haltzman, author, The Secrets of Happily Married Men: Eight Ways to Win Your Wife's Heart Forever
- Scott Hamilton, tenor saxophonist
- Clay Hart, country musician (guitar)
- Richard Hatch, winner of '
- David Hedison, actor, star of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
- Greta Hodgkinson, ballet dancer
- Ruth Hussey, actress, Oscar-nominated for The Philadelphia Story (1940)
- Joe S. Jackson, sportswriter and editor
- Matilda Sissieretta Joyner Jones (1868âÂÂ1933), pioneering black soprano who played to audiences around the world
- Claudia Jordan, actress, Miss Rhode Island USA 1997
- Galway Kinnell, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
- Jesse Leach, vocalist and musician, original frontman of Killswitch Engage, Seemless, The Empire Shall Fall and Times of Grace
- James Sullivan Lincoln (1811âÂÂ1888), "father of Rhode Island art" and first president of the Providence Art Club
- H. P. Lovecraft (1890âÂÂ1937), author of fantasy and horror fiction
- Dorothy Lovett, actress
- Albert Lythgoe (1868âÂÂ1934), archaeologist and curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Dodge MacKnight, painter
- George Macready, actor, Gilda, Paths of Glory
- Jason Marsden, voice actor
- Cormac McCarthy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author, The Road, No Country for Old Men, Blood Meridian
- Shanna Moakler, 1992 Miss Rhode Island Teen USA, 1995 Miss New York USA and Miss USA
- Nico Muhly, composer
- Andy On, Chinese-American Hong Kong actor
- Jeffrey Osborne, lead vocalist with L.T.D.
- Monty Oum (1981âÂÂ2015), animator for Rooster Teeth Productions; creator of RWBY
- John Pagano, R&B and pop singer
- Vincent Pagano, actor, screenwriter
- Don Pardo (1918âÂÂ2014), NBC announcer since 1944, Saturday Night Live 1975âÂÂ2014
- S. J. Perelman, humorist, author, and screenwriter
- Sylvia Poggioli, reporter for National Public Radio
- Ira Rakatansky (1919âÂÂ2014), modernist architect
- Josh Schwartz, creator of television series The O.C.
- A. O. Scott, film critic for New York Times
- Chris Sparling, screenwriter and film director
- Daniel Sully, stage actor and playwright
- Benjamin C. Truman, war correspondent and author
- Meredith Vieira, television personality
- Sarah Helen Whitman, poet, possible inspiration for Edgar Allan Poe poems "To Helen" and "Annabel Lee"
- Mabel May Woodward (1877âÂÂ1945), prominent impressionist painter and RISD faculty
Business
- Arunah Shepherdson Abell, publisher and philanthropist
- Everett M. "Busy" Arnold, comic-book entrepreneur and publisher
- Betsey Metcalf Baker (1786âÂÂ1867; née Betsey Metcalf) manufacturer of straw bonnets, entrepreneur, social activist
- Andrew Dexter Jr., financier of Exchange Coffee House
- Wylie Dufresne, chef
- Alan Shawn Feinstein, finance expert and philanthropist; Feinstein High School in Providence is named in his honor
- A. O. Granger (1846âÂÂ1914), industrialist and soldier
- Abbie E. Krebs-Wilkins (1842âÂÂ1924), businesswoman
- Henry J. Steere, industrialist and philanthropist
Innovators
Military
- George K. Anderson, general
- George Andrews, adjutant general of the U.S. Army 1912âÂÂ1914
- Israel Angell, colonel in the American Revolution
- Richard Arnold, Civil War general
- William Seaman Bainbridge, military physician, surgeon and gynecologist
- Samuel T. Cushing, US Army brigadier general
- Charles L. Hodges, U.S. Army major general
- Albert Martin, defender of the Alamo
- Frank Wheaton, Civil War general
Politics and law
- Arunah Shepherdson Abell, creator of Philadelphia Public Ledger and Baltimore Sun newspapers
- Nelson W. Aldrich, U.S. representative, U.S. senator, grandfather of Vice President Nelson Rockefeller and father of Richard S. Aldrich
- Richard S. Aldrich, U.S. representative
- Philip Allen, 22nd governor of Rhode Island and U.S. senator
- William Henry Allen, naval officer during War of 1812
- Zachariah Allen, scientist and inventor
- Gabe Amo, U.S. representative
- Jonathan Arnold, member of Continental Congress from Rhode Island
- Samuel G. Arnold, United States senator from Rhode Island
- Edward Beard, U.S. representative
- Grace Lee Boggs, social activist and feminist, known for work done in Detroit
- Jabez Bowen, federalist supporter, deputy governor of Rhode Island and chief justice of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
- John Brown, co-founder of Brown University, U.S. representative
- Frank Caprio (1936âÂÂ2025), chief judge of Providence Municipal Court (1985âÂÂ2023); known for conducting actual court hearings on his television program, Caught In Providence, where he routinely exercised kindness and empathy to litigants
- John Chafee, governor of Rhode Island, Secretary of the Navy, and United States Senator
- Zechariah Chafee, lawyer, academic and civil libertarian
- Vincent Cianci, longest-serving mayor in Providence history (1974âÂÂ1984) and (1991âÂÂ2002); city's first Italian-American mayor
- David Cicilline, U.S. representative, former mayor of Providence and Rhode Island State Representative
- Thomas Davis, U.S. representative
- Herbert F. DeSimone, attorney general of Rhode Island and assistant secretary of transportation
- Ray Fogarty, Rhode Island state representative
- Dwight Foster, U.S. senator and U.S. representative
- Theodore Foster, U.S. senator
- J. Joseph Garrahy, 69th governor of Rhode Island
- Albert C. Greene, U.S. senator and attorney general of Rhode Island
- John Patrick Hartigan, judge of United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit and of United States District Court for the District of Rhode Island
- Nicole Love Hendrickson, chair of the Gwinnett County, Georgia Board of Commissioners
- Stephen Hopkins, nine-time governor of Rhode Island and signer of Declaration of Independence
- David Jagolinzer, litigation attorney, born in Providence
- Elisha Jenkins, New York secretary of state, mayor of Albany
- Pat LaMarche, Green Party vice presidential candidate in 2004 and activist
- Oscar Lapham, U.S. congressman
- Henry Lippitt (1818âÂÂ1891), textile magnate, governor of Rhode Island; his Victorian mansion is one of the finest in Providence
- Audri Mukhopadhyay, Canadian diplomat
- Dee Dee Myers, first female White House press secretary, served during Clinton administration
- Peter Newsham, police chief
- John O. Pastore, Democratic politician, first Italian-American governor (1945âÂÂ1950) and Italian-American senator (1950âÂÂ1976) of Rhode Island
- Jack Reed, U.S. senator for Rhode Island
- John Rucho, Massachusetts state legislator and businessman, was born in Providence
- Pamela Sawyer, member of Connecticut House of Representatives
- Bruce Sundlun, 71st governor of Rhode Island and businessman
- Robert Tiernan, U.S. representative and member of Rhode Island General Assembly
- Pat Toomey, U.S. senator from Pennsylvania
Reformers
- Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis (1813âÂÂ1876), abolitionist, suffragist, and educator
- Arthur L. Hardge (1927âÂÂ1983), African-American civil rights activist, minister, and administrator
- Bertha G. Higgins (1872âÂÂ1944), African-American suffragist, civil rights activist and clubwoman
- Mary E. Jackson (1867âÂÂ1923), African-American female suffrage activist, YWCA leader and writer, born in Providence and active in RI politics
- Marion Simon Misch (1869âÂÂ1941), activist, teacher, writer, businesswoman
- Elizabeth J. Smith (1842âÂÂunknown), Canadian-American temperance activist; newspaper editor and publisher
Science and medicine
Sports
- Bill Almon, player for eight MLB teams
- Deon Anderson, NFL fullback
- Isaac Angking, soccer player
- Rocco Baldelli, MLB outfielder
- Marvin Barnes, NBA player
- Will Blackmon, NFL cornerback
- Paul Briggs, NFL player
- Nico Colaluca, soccer player
- Jill Craybas, professional tennis player
- Ernie DiGregorio, NBA rookie of the year in 1974
- William Butler Duncan II, leader in New York Yacht Club's long defense of the America's Cup
- Hobe Ferris, second baseman for the Boston Americans
- Beverly Baker Fleitz, tennis player, 1955 Wimbledon singles and doubles finalist, French Open doubles champion
- Anita Foss, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
- Harold Gomes, boxer
- Matt Hyson, pro wrestler, better known as Spike Dudley
- Chris Ianetta, MLB catcher
- Ray Jarvis, MLB pitcher
- Marilyn Jones, All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
- Paul Konerko, MLB first baseman
- Davey Lopes, player, coach for the Los Angeles Dodgers
- Tom Lovett, MLB pitcher
- Peter Manfredo Jr., boxer
- Bill Osmanski, College Football Hall of Fame
- Chuck Palumbo, pro wrestler
- Michael Parkhurst, soccer defender for USMNT
Others
References