List of people from Tucson, Arizona

This is a listing of notable people who were born in, or have lived in, Tucson, Arizona. For people whose only connection with the city is attending the University of Arizona, see: List of University of Arizona people. Coaches of University of Arizona athletic teams should not be included either.

Athletics

• George Arias – baseball player
• Dave Baldwin – major league baseball player, writer, artist
• Michael Bates – National Football League (NFL) player, sprinter, and 1992 Olympian
• Stanley Berryhill – NFL player
• Chad Beyer – cyclist
• Craig Bjornson – baseball player and coach
• Nat Borchers – soccer player
• Alex Bowman – NASCAR driver
• Henry Brauner – soccer player
• Bryce Cotton – basketball player
• Dominick Cruz – mixed martial artist
• Lum Davenport – baseball player
• Ike Davis – baseball player
• Chris Duncan – baseball player
• Shelley Duncan – baseball player
• Sean Elliott – basketball player
• Cole Ford – football player
• Jim Grabb – tennis player
• J. J. Hardy – baseball player
• Ron Hassey – baseball player
• Gary Hayes – football player
• Alex Kellner – born in Tucson, baseball player
• Walt Kellner – born in Tucson, baseball player
• Mike Kellogg – football player
• Ian Kinsler – baseball player
• Chris Knierim – pairs figure skater
• Hank Leiber – baseball player
• Eddie Leon – born in Tucson, baseball player
• Lafayette Lever – basketball player
• Caitlin Leverenz – Olympic swimmer, born in Tucson, attended Sahuaro High School
• Pete McCaffrey  – basketball player
• Roger McCluskey – National Sprint Car Hall of Fame racer
• Alice Greenough Orr – rodeo star, originally from Montana
• Tom Pagnozzi – baseball player
• Allen Pitts – Canadian Football League player
• Bijan Robinson – NFL running back for the Atlanta Falcons
• Sam Sacksen – 2008 Beijing Olympic modern pentathlete
• Anthony Shumaker – baseball player
• Tommy Silva – soccer player
• Michael Smith – NFL running back
• Brad Steinke – Emmy award-winning sportscaster
• Kerri Strug – Olympic gold-medalist gymnast
• Donny Toia – soccer player
• Alex Verdugo – baseball player
• Roman Bravo Young – freestyle and folkstyle wrestler, two-time NCAA champion for Penn State University
• Win Young – Olympic medalist in diving

Business

• Leopoldo Carrillo – Mexican-American entrepreneur, early founder of Tucson
• Arturo Moreno – entrepreneur, owner of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Jeff Rein – chairman and chief executive officer of Walgreens
• Robert Sarver – entrepreneur, principal owner of Phoenix Suns
• Robert Stewart co-founder of GMA Network

Law and order

• Eugene O'Dunne – jurist on the Supreme Bench of Baltimore
• Clay Pell lawyer

Literature

• Edward Abbey – author
• Sue Alexander – children's author
• Jon Anderson – poet
• Byrd Baylor – essayist and children's author
• Michael Blake – author
• Charles Bowden – author
• Ray Bradbury – author
• Erskine Caldwell – playwright
• Max Cannon – author and creator of the comic strip Red Meat
• Mitch Cullin – author
• Charles G. Finney – author
• Frances Gillmor – folklorist, scholar and novelist
• Andrew Greeley – author, scholar and Roman Catholic priest
• Brenda Hillman – poet, translator
• Barbara Kingsolver – novelist
• Joseph Wood Krutch – author
• Todd Miller – journalist
• Tom Miller – travel writer
• Gary Paul Nabhan — author and ethnobotanist
• Adam Rex – children's writer and illustrator
• Stacey Richter – author
• Richard Shelton – poet, author
• Richard Siken – poet, painter, filmmaker
• Leslie Marmon Silko – author
• Susan Sontag – author, critic and public intellectual
• Luci Tapahonso – poet laureate of the Navajo Nation
• David Foster Wallace – author
• Peter Wild – poet, author and professor of English at the University of Arizona
• Ofelia Zepeda – poet laureate of Tucson, author
• Tom Zoellner – nonfiction author

Movies, television, and media

• Rex Allen – actor, musician
• Max Amini – stand-up comedian
• Hailey Baldwin – model
• Mika Boorem – actress
• Lynn Borden – actress and 1957 Miss Arizona
• Roy Brown – actor
• Brooke Burke – model, TV host
• Aaron Chang – photographer
• Kaylee DeFer – actress
• Barbara Eden – actress
• Pablo Francisco – stand-up comedian
• Savannah Guthrie – television personality
• Dan Hicks – sportscaster
• Michael Horse – actor, jeweler, painter
• Pat Hughes – baseball announcer
• Dominic Janes – actor
• Cord Jefferson – screenwriter, director, journalist
• Ben Patrick Johnson – journalist, model, voice-over artist
• Brad Johnson – actor, former Marlboro Man
• Daniel Kennedy – actor
• Gavin MacIntosh – child/teen actor, model
• Taryn Manning – actress
• Clare McNulty – actress
• George Meyer – Simpsons producer and writer
• Bentley Mitchum – actor
• Noel Neill – actress
• Sierra Teller Ornelas – filmmaker and screenwriter
• Larry Pine – actor
• Timothy Reckart – Oscar-nominated filmmaker
• Garry Shandling – comedian and actor
• Tommy Shannon – musician, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
• W. Eugene Smith – photographer
• Frederick Sommer – photographer
• Martin Spanjers – actor
• Sally Todd – model, actress
• Amber Valletta – actress
• Janet Varney – actress
• Kate Walsh – actress
• Lou Waters – newscaster
• Nick Young – actor
• Parker Young – model, actor

Music, arts

• Panteha Abareshi – multidisciplinary visual artist
• Madeline Heineman Berger – music and arts promoter
• Duane Bryers – painter, illustrator and sculptor
• Joey Burns – musician
• Joseph Byrd – musician
• Luis Coronel – singer, musician
• Jason DeCorse – musician, member of Greyhound Soul
• John Convertino – musician
• James Pringle Cook – Western landscape painter
• Ted DeGrazia – artist
• John Denver – singer, musician
• Daniel Martin Diaz – artist and musician
• Maynard Dixon – artist
• Duane Eddy – musician, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Howe Gelb – musician
• Greg Ginn – musician, founder of Black Flag and SST Records
• Lalo Guerrero – "father of Chicano music"
• Cord Jefferson – writer and film director
• Ulysses Kay – composer
• Katie Lee – folk singer, writer, photographer
• Dan Levenson – old-time musician
• Bob Log III – musician
• Linda McCartney – photographer, musician
• Arizona Muse – model
• Dennis F. Parker – musician, recording engineer
• Raymond Pettibon – artist
• Signe Pierce – multidisciplinary artist
• Rainer Ptacek – composer, musician
• Linda Ronstadt – singer, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Ivan and Jane Rosenquist – art gallerists
• Barry Sadler – singer-songwriter
• Pat The Bunny Schneeweis – folk-punk artist
• Sara Tea – musician and DJ
• Randy "R Dub!" Williams – DJ and radio host
• Mark Wystrach – musician

Politics

• Andy Biggs – U.S. representative for Arizona
• J. W. Buchanan – Arizona state senator, member of the Arizona House of Representatives
• Dean Burch – Republican National Committee chairman, 1964–1965; chairman, FCC
• James B. Burkholder – peace activist and retired U.S. Army officer
• Richard Carmona – U.S. Surgeon General
• Tony Carrillo – Arizona state legislator
• Juan Ciscomani – U.S. representative for Arizona
• James N. Corbett – former mayor of Tucson
• Eli Crane – U.S. representative for Arizona
• Terri Cruz – community organizer and political activist
• Dennis DeConcini – U.S. senator
• Randy Fine – U.S. representative for Florida
• Gabby Giffords – U.S. representative for Arizona
• Adelita Grijalva – U.S. representative for Arizona; daughter of Raul Grijalva
• Raul Grijalva – U.S. representative for Arizona; father of Adelita Grijalva
• Alma Hernandez – member of the Arizona House of Representatives
• Don Hummel – politician, former Tucson mayor, businessman
• Mark Kelly – U.S. senator, former astronaut
• Laura Loomer – far-right political activist and white nationalist
• Kyrsten Sinema – U.S. senator for Arizona
• Robert C. Strong – U.S. diplomat
• Mark Udall – U.S. senator from Colorado, former member of the House
• Mo Udall – U.S. representative for Arizona
• Stewart Udall – U.S. Secretary of Interior and U.S. representative
• Tom Udall – U.S. senator from New Mexico

Science and medicine

• David Arnett – astronomer
• Bart Bok – astronomer
• Frank Borman – astronaut, orbited the Moon on Apollo 8
• A. E. Douglass – astronomer, dendrochronologist
• Tom Gehrels – planetary scientist
• Emil Haury – archaeologist
• Rashad Khalifa – biochemist and founder of United Submitters International
• Gerard Kuiper – planetary scientist
• Brian A. Larkins – molecular biologist
• William Rathje – archaeologist, Garbage Project director
• Peter M. Rhee – physician
• Elizabeth Roemer – astronomer
• Peter Smith – scientist, principal investigator of Phoenix Project
• Andrew Weil – doctor who promotes integrative medicine
• Wieslaw Z. Wisniewski – astronomer

Military

• Thad Allen – U.S. Coast Guard admiral
• Frank L. Culin Jr. – United States Army major general
• José de Urrea – Mexican general

Crime

• Robert John Bardo – convicted murderer and stalker of actress and model, Rebecca Schaeffer
• Joseph Bonanno – mobster
• Jared Lee Loughner – convicted mass murderer who perpetrated the 2011 Tucson shooting
• Stephen Paddock – mass shooter who perpetrated the 2017 Las Vegas shooting
• Charles Schmid – killer

Religion

• William M. Branham – minister
• Eusebio Kino – pioneer missionary and explorer

Miscellaneous

• John Dossey – mathematician
• Margaret Sanger – birth control activist; feminist; founder of Planned Parenthood
• María Urquides – educator, "mother of bilingual education"

References