Pajiba

Theodor Geisel, aka Dr. Suess, was from my hometown of Springfield, MA. Now that live in Delaware, all I got is Joe Biden.

There are a couple of country music singers from my hometoen - Neil McCoy and Lee Ann Womack. Lee Ann Womack's dad was the principal at the middle school I attended. Although she's not from my hometown, Sandy Duncan attended the same junior college I attended (which is located in my hometown). Forrest Whitaker grew up in a town less than an hour away from where I grew up. I understand that his family still lives there.

Like me, Monica Potter hails from Euclid, Ohio. My friend's mom (a seamstress) made her a dress once.

MLK? Is everyone on this site a southerner?

Sayreville, NJ is the town to blame for both Greg Evigan (BJ & The Bear) and Jon Bonjovi. I usually just say I'm from someplace else.

I might actually be the most famous person from my hometown (Shirley, NY) and only 'cos I was on Jeopardy. The rest of the losers from my hometown never did crap.

Former President Gerald R. Ford was born here in Grand Rapids, MI. It's the city's real claim to fame other than Amway, furniture, and not being Detroit.

Famous people who refuse to admit they're from Wichita (Fuckin') Falls, Texas:
Tommy Tune, Mia Hamm, former MLB star Tim Salmon and those douchebag kids in Bowling For Soup.
Famous people proud to be from Wichita (Fuckin') Falls, Texas:
Larry McMurtry. Which makes up for the other so-called celebs.
Totally NOT famous person who rarely admits to being born in W.F.F.:
Me

Although, technically, I was born in Chicago, but that gives an unfair advantage, so I picked Los Alamos.

The only famous person I know of that has spent a significant amount of time in Spring, TX is Lee Pace (the Piemaker from Pushing Daisies), where we both went to high school. Knowing this makes me feel strangely giddy.

Rock Hudson. Or, if you're into NCIS spinoffs, Chris O'Donnell.

Or :::whispering in shame::: Donald Rumsfeld.

Wichita Falls, Texas

Regrettably, the answer to this question is Dr. Phil. That makes me want to get famous just to take that designation away from him.

In the close call department...

Larry McMurtry is from Archer City, Texas, which is very near Wichita Falls, and he writes about Wichita Falls in some of his books.

Mia Hamm lived in Wichita Falls for a couple years.

And not that y'all want me to contribute three comments to this thread, but the place I was born and lived the first several years of my life prior to going to Wichita Falls, Texas, claims the great Ben Folds (Winston-Salem, North Carolina).

Poet Carl Sandberg was from my hometown. True story: the lot on which his house once stood is now a church parking lot.

Slidell, LA is where I grew up, and off the top of my head I have:
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown
John Besh

Oh, and it's where Jane Mansfield lost her head (out in the Rigolets, maybe?)

Janine James

Mark Ruffalo

(Kenosha, WI)

Which actually goes along with the most famous person I've met. (Met him at a wedding of a friend's sister's)

Benicio del Toro.

I'm from Malta. That's a small country of 400,000 people. I won't tell you about my hometown (which is Tarxien if you're really interested). Since the country is so small (probably smaller than any of your hometowns!) I think it makes more sense to talk about anyone famous from the country.

I'll just mention two:

1) Joseph Calleia: Famous actor. Started out as a singer. Ended in Broadway and then moved to Hollywood to work in several films among them Algiers, The Robin Hood of El Dorado and others (if you want to know use imdb). When Orson Welles had seen him on Broadway he swore he would work with him one day because he was so good. They got to work together 20 years later in Touch of Evil. When he retired he came back to Malta with his wife. During retirement he was contacted by Francis Ford Coppola to work the part of Don Vito Corleone in The Godfather but Calleia had to turn him down due to ill health.

Joseph Calleja: Yep, another by the same name but one letter different in their surname. He is The Tenor. He is The Voice. This shit is seriously good and if you've never heard his voice yet, you'd better get around to it. He's played Ernesto in Don Pasquale, Rodolfo in La Boheme, Faust in Faust, Macduff in Macbeth and many others. He's sang in every major opera house around the world and whether in Frankfurt, Rome or New York, the reviewers and the crowds love him. Since Pavarotti sadly left us to to go and sing to the gods, he's often being quoted as the next really big thing. He's that good. Check out his website here. Buy his cds and if you get the chance go and watch him sing live. He'll make it worth it:

http://www.josephcalleja.com/career/discography.php

Now that live in Delaware, all I got is Joe Biden.

Posted by: slower lower at May 21, 2009 8:37 PM
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You have Sam Calagioni, very famous in beer-geek circles.

Cliff Burton (Metallica)
Christopher Titus (Comedian)
Kyle Gass (Tenacious D)

But the big Castro Valley, California winner is:

Rachel Maddow!
An amazingly smart, funny, articulate and well-respected woman on tv :)

I'm so proud!

Eric Millegan, who played Zach on Bones, went to the other high school in my hometown.

I could also list some famous pychopaths that made national news from my hometown, but then we'd all just get depressed...

Steubenville, Ohio

Take your pick: Dean Martin and Tracy Lords. That's some deep teen anal amore.

Oh, and according to wikipedia, I apparently went to high school with a girl who went on to be a Playmate of the Year. She would have been a freshman when I was a senior. I don't remember her at all.

Some names according to Wikipedia - I only knew a couple of them offhand: Art Carney, Dick Clark, Ruby Dee, Michael Imperioli, Arthur Murray, Denzel Washington...

Mount Vernon, NY.

Well, I grew up in D.C. so I'm going to have to go with... Wale the rapper. Or possibly those kids who did that unbelievably catchy chicken noodle soup song.

Yup... town of little consequence here.

Your whole province? admin, that is SO cheating! My province is way smaller than Saskatchewan, and I'm going by the rules!

Which means, representing Inverness, Nova Scotia:

Al MacInnis. Hall-of-fame NHL defenceman. That is all. (Actually, he grew up in Port Hood, a couple of towns away--but Inverness was the nearest town with a maternity ward, so he's in on a technicality!)

'Course, if I was going by province, I could claim Feist (you're welcome, Jer!), Sarah MacLachlan, Sidney Crosby, the Trailer Park Boys, Sloan....

From my hometown? No one. Not a single one. It's New Hampshire, for god's sake -- the offerings include Adam Sandler, Triple H, Bode Miller, Mandy Moore, Seth Meyers, Sarah Silverman, and John Irving, but not a blessed one is from my hometown.

From where I live now? A lot. In fact, I saw Jennifer Garner in the Harvard Square post office this afternoon.

Jeremy Bloom was born in Fort Collins. I took "Psychology of Human Sexuality" with his father at Colorado State University. I watched educational porn with a Olympian's father.

I don't really have a home town, moved way too many times, but the place I lived the longest boasts:
Tina Fey
Jamie Kennedy
Cheri Oteri
And I had heard Joan Jett was from there too, but no dice. I really wish that one were true.

Jim Carrey! My friend had his old locker in high school.

I live in a small town, and the most famous person to have come out of it is Sterling Holloway...the original voice of Winnie the Pooh. =)

I was born in Brooklyn, but that list would be even longer than the list of folks from where I grew up: Staten Island, which I call Satan Island

Thomas Adams -- Lived there. Invented Chiclets.

Christina Aguilera -- Born there.

Gerald Arpino -- Born there. Cofounded the Joffrey Ballet.

Alice Austen -- Famous photographer. Lived there.

Joan Baez -- Born on Staten Island.

Ella Reeve Bloor (1862-1951) Feminist, labor agitator, journalist and "the foremost American woman Communist", "Mother Bloor" organized women's suffrage and labor protests throughout the United States. She was born on Staten Island. Her autobiography is called We Are Many (1940).

Jane Auer Bowles -- Paul's wife. They lived on Satan Island .

Paul Bowles -- What I just said.

Aaron Burr -- Spent the last years of his life there.

Vincent Capodanno -- A Maryknoll Priest with the rank of Lieutenant in the U.S. Navy Chaplain Corps. Lost his life providing comfort and assistance to Marines fighting in the Quang Tin Province of Vietnam on September 4, 1967. Posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. A native Staten Islander, Father Capodanno Boulevard is named for him. His life story is told in The Grunt Padre: Father Vincent Robert Capodanno: Vietnam, 1966-1967 (2000) by Daniel L. Mode.

Marcia Clark -- Prosecutor in the O.J. Simpson trial.

Roy Clark -- Country singer. Grew up there.

Sir Edward Cunard -- Manager of the U.S. operations for Cunard ships. Lived there.

Dorothy Day -- Lived there; buried there.

Emilio Estevez -- Born there; sorry.

John Eberhard Faber -- Pencil guy; lived there.

Garibaldi -- Exiled there.

David Johansen -- NY Dolls guy, and later hack. Born there.

Robert Loggia -- Actor; born there.

Antonio Meucci -- Might have invented the telephone. Lived there with Garibaldi.

Alyssa Milano -- Grew up there.

Samuel I. Newhouse -- Newspaper and magazine magnate. Born there. First newspaper he owned was on Satan Island .

Mabel Normand -- Silent screen star. Credited with originating the pie in the face.

Emily Post

Santa Ana -- Exiled there.

Ricky Schroder -- Born there.

Steven Seagal -- Lived there.

Brendan Sexton III Actor; born there.

Gene Simmons -- KISS guy went to college there.

Theodore Sturgeon -- Sci-fi writer. Born there.

Henry David Thoreau -- Lived there.

Amy Vanderbilt -- Etiquette writer (again). Born there.

Cornelius Vanderbilt Born there.

William Henry Vanderbilt -- Lived there. Son, Cornelius, born there.

The Wu-Tang Clan -- 'nuff said.

Paul Zindel -- YA author and playwright; lived and taught high school in Satan Island .

I am from Oakland, NJ. The only thing I got is Doug McKeon. He was the blonde boy in On Golden Pond. And he might have been from the next town over.

I did grow up in Mahwah the first 12 years of my life, and there's probably more famous people from there, but you'd have to ask Robert.

Sackville, Nova Scotia
Charles Fenerty, the inventor of newsprint made from wood pulp.

Wichita Falls, Texas
Regrettably, the answer to this question is Dr. Phil. That makes me want to get famous just to take that designation away from him.
Posted by: DarthCorleone at May 21, 2009 9:12 PM

Damn, Darth... I had managed to block Dr. Phil from my memory but he is indeed a stain on our "beloved" hometown's reputation. I was wrong about Mia Hamm, so thanks for the correction. She lived there during most of her high school years.

*On a personal note... were you living in the "Fab'lus Falls" when The Big Wind blew through back in April of 1979 or is that before your time?*

I consider Red Bank NJ my hometown (I was born in NYC) so the 2 most famous people from my hometown, neither of whom I've met, are Count Basie and Kevin Smith.

As I live in the Greater Nashville area, I will disqualify my current living situation and go with the town I grew up in.

Richard Pryor
Sam Kinison
Dan Fogelberg
Jim Tome

Ernest Hemingway, from Oak Park, IL. Oddly, he hated the town and couldn't wait to get away.

Also Frank Lloyd Wright, Thomas Lennon, and Ludacris (for about 5 minutes.)

I hail from Santa Rosa, CA, home of Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts. It's a big point of pride for the city, to the point that I'm kind of over the whole thing.

We have these yearly fundraiser things where giant generic statues of a Peanuts character can be purchased for cheap, companies and artists decorate them, and then businesses purchase them at auction and display them around town outside their offices/storefronts.

I'm telling you: they're ALL OVER THE DAMN CITY. And the usual response to seeing one is as follows:
For an out-of-towner: "Oh my God! A Snoopy/Charlie Brown/Woodstock statue! Take my picture!"
A resident: "Great, another fucking Peanuts statue."

Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. She graduated from my high school in Colorado Springs back in 1969, and fans have snipped her picture out of every damn yearbook.

Rochester, NY

Bunch of folks -- I'll mention two. Chuck Mangione, because his father owned a gas station down the street from our Electric Avenue (yep) apartment.

And Philip Seymour Hoffman, because the maiden name of my maternal grandmother (also from Rochester) is Hoffman, and I share certain physical attributes with PSH (primarily an abnormally large and sweaty head). I'm convinced we're long lost cousins -- I'd look him up, but I'm afraid he'd glory-hog the phone call with all his mannerisms and shit.

I was born in Lille (France), so :
Louis Pasteur (He is responsible for the pasteurization, you're welcome earth)
Ovidie (a french porn star)
Philippe Noiret.
Not much there...

But I have been living in Paris for a while now, and the list is significantly more interesting (at least for you) :
Marion Cotillard, François Cluzet, Edith Piaf, Napoléon... and basically every French person who has managed to become famous in the US.

My town, which is a tiny 1x1 square mile neighborhood adjacent to Chicago, has one and ONLY one very, very notorious claim to fame: the Unibomber

............it's not exactly a point of pride.

Jonesboro, AR

The most famous person from there is probably Rodger Bumpass, the voice of Squidward on Spongebob Squarepants.

Then probably John Grisham, Wes Cook, and either Debbye Turner or Julia Butterfly Hill.

I'm from Danvers, Massachusetts. We were the historical town that brought you the little genocide known as the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Still have all the historical homes and gravesites and Benedict Arnold once camped here. Also Nathaniel Hawthorne who wrote The House of Seven Gables and the Scarlet Letter. A lot of Revolutionary War stuff if you're into that, but no major celebrities.

My college town of Farmington, Maine is home to Chester Greenwood, the guy who invented earmuffs. Every year they have a little parade and everyone wears earmuffs and buys crafts and cider and such. Folksy but really cute.

From the actual suburb I'm from? Shit, it might be me.

If we expand it to St. Louis, too many to name.

I did go to the same high school as Kevin Kline, though (which is saying something considering my graduating class was 45 kids).

Okay, there is Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Mike McKenna, whose dad Terry has had a dentist's office in my hometown, maybe a mile from the house I grew up in, forever and ever, so though they list St. Louis as his hometown, I would assume that he's actually from much closer to mine if not mine outright. Terry has a bit of fame in some circles too as he was a heck of a race car driver in his day and won two classes (and the President's trophy) at the SCCA Runoffs in 1982.

The only non-english member of Monty Python, Terry Gilliam, is from my hometown of Medicine Lake, MN...coconut clap ftw:D

I'm from Nashville, so there's no point in my even participating in this one.

U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)

I've never met her in person, and I don't dislike her politics, but I'm not keen on her because I keep on getting the impression that she is not as above-average as you'd like your senator to be.

Rene Zellwegger & Clint Black

(Katy, Texas)

Jermaine Dye from the White Sox graduated from my high school in Vacaville, CA.

Darth my boss is from Wichita Falls. The weather capital of Texas, if not the world. I love the fact that they turn the falls off at night...

Mary who had a little lamb (Mary Sawyer) was from my home town. We have a statue of a lamb in the center of town to commemorate!

Toronto, so take your pick. Jim Carrey, Mike Myers, the list goes on.

In terms of the wee suburb of Toronto I call "bed", there's Tom Cochrane, Donovan Bailey (former olympic runner), and Ron MacLean (a hugely famous sportscaster/the skinny half of an unintentional comedy duo). A thousand and two nhl players also bunk down here in their lakeside villas.

Although now that I live most of the year in Montreal, I suppose I can now with pride claim to be of the same city that produced Leonard Cohen and the one and only William Shatner.

(True story: I've performed on the same stage as Shatner and chilled in the same classrooms as Cohen.)

Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects, etc.) went to my middle school wayyyyy before I did. He grew up in my hometown of West Windsor, NJ. I think Ethan Hawke lived here for a little bit, too. And John Nash has lived here for several years.

I went to the same high school as the Cusacks. And now I work there.

Heh. I posted yesterday about Dinner with Bob Seger, and it turns out he's from my hometown of Dearborn, MI, so I can recycle him. But Henry Ford is probably the most famous. Either him or Chad Everett.

hey cool, I'm not the only person from Cleveland/Toledo around these parts after all.
THough I live in Cleveland, I live in Toledo, so I have to also mention Katie Holmes and Jamie Farr, but I can do those two one better.
I'm from a suburb of Toledo called Holland.
Holland, Ohio is the home of...

JOE THE PLUMBER

Mario Lopez is the most famous export from my only-drive-through-on-the-way-to-Mexico home town.
Charisma Carpenter went to Chula Vista High too, but she wasn't born there. We are an illustrious city indeed.

And, OH! I love Cliff Effing Lee. When he was getting close to the Cy Young at the end of last season I made a homemade pie every time he won a game. The morning of his last start of the season I got caught speeding. I was still so giddy when the cop asked me if I knew how fast I was going, I said, "Oh, Eighty. I was aiming for Cliff Lee Velocity."

The cop wasn't amused. I got the ticket. Bleh.

Hank Aaron, Jimmmy Buffett, and Satchel Paige.

Wikipedia has 1,893 people in its 'People from Brooklyn' category. For people who were born or lived in my neighborhood, Wikipedia and Google tell me we have

Chris Rock
Matisyahu
Stephanie Mills
Nas
Crown Heights Affair

Probably a bunch more

Point Loma, a community of San Diego:

David Wells and Don Larsen, both pitched perfect games as Yankees.

By the way, in high school I dated a girl who a few years later went on to date Mario Lopez. So that's my Two Degrees of Douchebag.

I don't really have a home town, we moved around a lot when I was a kid. But the town I call home now, is the home town of Geoffrey Rush.

The town where I spent a larger part of my childhood, the biggest name to come out of there might possibly be me... Because I at least can use the internet.

Isn't a good portion of the NHL from Kitchener, citizen_cris?

Evan Handler, the bald guy from Sex and the City and Californication, and Hurley's imaginary friend from Lost... went to my high school.

John Waters and Michael Phelps.

An airplane fell out of the sky a few months ago in my hometown. Around the corner from the house the drummer from Weezer grew up.

Until the past few years we could only brag about Bette Midler, The Rock and Jason Scott Lee. Oh... Don Ho, I guess.. If he's famous enough.

Now, all we've got is the President!!!

Magnolia, TX: Buddy Dial, 2-time Pro-Bowl receiver for the Steelers and the Cowboys (59-63 and 64-66, respectively) was from my hometown...and believe me, it's all we fucking heard about in high school.

Oh, and some dude from Big Brother 10. The old one. Jerry.

Sometimes living in a small town is balls.

If it's any indication, the commencement speaker at our high school graduation was an alumni who, are you ready for this, became...

A dentist.

Shoot me.

Being from Australia is bad enough, but I had to then grow up in the middle of nowhere...the only famous people are some Australian Football League players, one runner up on Australian Idol (who I attended Sunday school with...woo...what a brush with fame...) and...nope, that's it.

The place I live in now does a little better...there's a smattering of actors (including Anthony LaPaglia), a couple of Australian Idol winners, and a Booker prize winner...

Waldport, OR. Airforce Amy.

I was shocked and somewhat disgusted to realize that the hooker on that HBO show about the bunny ranch went to High School with me, a Freshman when I was a Senior. I had no idea until the little reunion newsletters were sent around.

I'm going to have to go by country too and say

Idi Amin

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Alternatively, from where i grew up, Samuel Matete 1991 World Champion hurdler and 196 Olympic silver medallist

*crickets chirp*

from where I was born; Ngugi Wa'Thiongo author and Wangari Mathai Nobel Prize winner as well as a multitude of marathon runners

Anyone?

From Northampton and probably not that proud of it:

Lesley Joseph (Birds of a Feather)

Matt Smith (Doctor 11)

and.............

Alan Moore.

Ok, that list makes Northampton sound way cooler than it has any right to.

Roy Jones, Emmet Smith, and Chappie James. Do the Blue Angels count? They should count, we love them. All from Pensacola.

I'm from a little county called Longford in the middle of Ireland and grew up in a tiny little town in that county. No one has ever come from that town. But Mel Gibson's mum is from Longford so I'm claiming him by proxy. Its probably why I have this irrational need to defend Mel Gibson; for a brief shining moment he was Mad Max and Lethal Weapon and he was one of ours dammit! Now he's an alcoholic, adulterating bigot which unfortunately makes him EXACTLY like someone from Longford.

Oh yeah, and Ryan Phillipe and that girl who played Ben Stiller's fiance/wife in Meet the Parents are from Delaware. I'm too lazy to look up her name.

My home town of Marlow, Buckinghamshire was also home to the poet Shelley and his wife Mary, who wrote a good part of Frankenstein while living there. We also claim Jerome K. Jerome who wrote "Three Men in a Boat", (and once patted my dad on the head and gave him sixpence! Brush with fame!) and Steve Redgrave, Olympic rower famous for being the only person ever to win gold medals in five consecutive Olympics.

Asheville, NC, the birthplace of:

Roberta Flack
Thomas Wolfe
Warren Haynes

and current home to:

Andie MacDowell
Brad Dougherty
Gladys Knight
Harry Anderson

We are awesome.

Mr. Marcus is from my hometown.

I hail from Houston, so we have such venerable celebrities as Beyonce and the Duff sisters. But I went to the same high school as Brent Spiner, which is awesome.

Wilmington, DE

Elizabeth Shue
Michael Spinks
Bruce Willis
Bob Marley (Newark)
Henry Heimlich
Valerie Bertinelli
E.I., A.I., H.B. and all the other DuPonts

I grew up in Katy, Texas (just a short 30 mile drive to the west from Houston).

Renee Zellweger (sorry about that one)
Clint Black (don't like his music)
Missi Pyle (went to school with her)
And I think the short blonde haired chick that was Xena's sidekick is from Katy, but I don't know her name.

Whorish Mouth I dunno where he is from originally in state, but when my buddy Rich comes home on military leave in June, I'll have him whip out the pics of him as a little kid sitting on George's lap down at Saint George's. George rented the apartment on the 2nd floor of the building Rich and his mom lived in.

Lake Charles, LA
Lucinda Williams - and her song "Lake Charles"
Dr. Michael DeBakey - famous heart surgeon, started the whole "M.A.S.H." idea
David Filo - co-creator of Yahoo!
Andre Dubus
Sean Patrick Flanery - Boondock Saints, The Dead Zone
Tony Kushner - playwright
Zachary Levi
Van Dyke Parks

Damn, Lake Charles, you are surprising sometimes.

Joey Fatone from N*SYNC. Sorry...

We were in high school together. He was my partner in every dance performance because I was freakishly taller than all the other girls. I still get Christmas cards from him and his sister.

Brampton, Ontario. The hometown of Michael Cera and Russell Peters. Sorry about that one, guys.

Lisa Waltz, who is hardly a celebrity. Let's see, she was in Brighton Beach Memoirs, Pet Cemetery 2, she was on My So-Called Life and a bunch of Tylenol commercials.

Oh and most of the idiots from the Bloodhound Gang. True story, I was a woman of loose morals in my former life and I almost went home with the lead singer but chose the guy who became my husband instead. It's not the most romantic of stories...but hey, I think I made the right choice.

Paris Hilton's BFF (her words).

I grew up in Lower Bucks County around Yardley, Langhorne, Doylestown, and Morrisville (we moved a bit). Off the top of my head, people who either grew up around there or live there:

Pink
Justin Guarini (HEEEE)
Asher Roth (you're welcome)
Langhorne Slim (folk singer with a following around here)
Aileen Quinn (Annie)
Troy Vincent (former Eagle)
Steve Slaton (played for West Virginia and now the Texans I believe, went to my high school)

Southerners? Hell yes, and a howdy YEE-HAW for ya there! Representing Houston, the one off the top of my head is Beyonce - hey, stop throwing stones! - oh, and Renee Zellwegger - ouch! - let's see... oh Lord, apparently the Duff sisters...
OK, fine. Throw the stones. AT THEM, NOT AT ME!?!

We got Clay Aiken y'alls...

plus David and Amy Sedaris,
Michael C. Hall
Sharon Lawrence
Emily Proctor - Ainsley from West Wing
and Evan Rachel Wood

We also spawned Corrosion of Conformity and Whiskeytown

This is just from Raleigh though, there's a shit ton of people from the state of NC.

Muhammad Ali
Hunter S. Thompson

Courtesy of Louisville. KY.

Totally forgot about George Thorogood, PB and WM. My oldest daughter went to Newark HS with one of the band's kids, so at least one of them is still around here. She said he was kind of a douche, always taking the opportunity to remind everyone who his dad was. Then again, she was a teenager, and thought everyone was a douche. I'm so proud. Now, get a haircut and get a real job.

Thank you MizHelion for mentioning the G.O.A.T in your post and young'uns out there it ain't James Smith. Go Cards!

Ms. Besser I salute you for mentioning Dave Sim. Guy went off the deep in for many in the '90s and has not been listened to since. After "Latter Days" I couldn't read "Cerebus" anymore. Anywho it's nice that he gets any name recognition despite his views on religion and gender. "Cerebus" for it's run was one of the most interesting and artful comic books around.

Dayton, OH (this is in addition to Tracer Bullet's May 22, 9:40 AM post):
Martin Sheen
Phil Donahue
Rob Lowe (so Chad's from there too)
Allison Janney (didn't she also claim Dayton as her hometown in The West Wing?)
Jonathan Winters
Robert Pollard of Guided By Voices (PROLIFIC motherfucker, look it up)
Roger Clemens (*head hangs in shame*)
Rob Dyrdek (MTV's Rob & Big)
Edwin Moses (greatest Olympic hurdler ever)

Another person from Grand Rapids, MI. Anthony Kiedis is from GR. My aunt and his mom have been best friends since 2nd grade, and he spent a lot of time at my grand parents house before moving to LA.

I also just discovered the Andy Richter is from Grand Rapids. Sweet!

Hank Aaron

Satchel Paige

Alexis Herman (former Sec. Of Labor)

William March (writer)

Rich Boy (rapper, daughter met him recently)

Eugene Walter (writer and filmmaker, worked with Fellini)

s. pisaster where the fuck do you live? You have GOT to be literally right down the road from me!!!! Mellencamp is from Seymour, now lives in Bloomington....Seymour is, like, 30-45 minutes from my hometown.

All we got is Monica Buckley-Price-Holloway-whatever (author who's book I reviewed) and we adopted both Wendell Willkie cause he married a girl from here, ran his Presidential campaign from here, and is buried here, and Tony Stewart, cause he started his midget racing career here.

Yeah, we got nuthin'. But, seriously, s.p. we need to hook up!!

Oh, and I totally spaced the fact that none other than the star of that 5 star film, GYMKATA, Kurt Thomas, married a girl from my high school. He actually helped her coach the gymnastics team a couple of years my freshman and sophmore years. He would walk around the halls in his little sweats, looking very small and cute.

It's just easier to say you're from New Orleans than saying you're from Vacherie, LA and getting blank stares. People from out of state don't even know Baton Rouge, so most people from south LA say they're from NOLA.

Dude, for real. But I'm from Lake Charles, so NOLA is just a bit too far for me to claim. In fact, I'd say it's only east of Baton Rouge that people would start to claim New Orleans. Poor old Louisiana.

Julia Roberts: Smyrna, GA. Y'all didn't know she was southern did you?

Nate, your teacher was kinda right. It's a lovely town, and prides itself on its racial and sexual diversity. I don't consider the citizens narrow-minded, but they beat you over the head with their liberal ideas. Like they're afraid you'll forget about them being open-minded.

Thanks for the shout-out, Lucas.

Triple H grew up here in Nashua, NH and Mandy Moore was born here apparently.

Okay, so, Dallas, Texas

Lee Harvey Oswald?

Lyndon Baines Johnson

I hail from the tiny hamlet of Athens, Alabama, where we apparently are pretty damn good at growing athletes.

* Evelyn Ashford - 4-time Olympic gold medalist for 100 m. Although she was born in Louisiana, she went to high school in Athens. My mom was on the track team with her.
* Keith Askins - former Miami Heat player, now assistant coach for the Heat
* Philip Rivers - San Diego Chargers QB
* Gary Redus - former MLB outfielder, now outfield coordinator for the Houston Astros. He was my ex's college baseball coach.
* Lee Vickers - NFL tight end, now with NY Giants

Athens was also home to Patti J. Malone, a former slave who became a noted mezzo-soprano.

The city where I live now - Huntsville, Alabama - has borne such personalities as Tallulah Bankhead, John Hendricks (founder/CEO of Discovery Networks), Bill Holbrook (artist for On the Fast Track), and Jimmy Wales (of Wikipedia).

bALTIMORE
BILLY HOLIDAY
BABE RUTH
MAMA CASS
FRANK ZAPPA
DAVID BYRNE
ADAM DURITZ
BARRY LEVINSON
JADA PINKETT SMITH
JOHN WATERS
ANNA FARRIS
RIC OCASEK
ROBIN QUIVERS
PARKER POSEY

i went to school with zach gilford and the cusacks went to my high school.

i actually had the same guidance counselor as john cusack...i remember thinking she was a total idiot, but i was pretty caustic in high school so she might have been just fine.

I lived in Anaheim and Garden Grove(they're literally RIGHT next to eachother) where Gwen Stefani and Steve Martin are from.

I'm originally from a tiny little place called Alvord, Texas. I got nothin'. I'm probably the most famous person from Alvord, so that tells you something right there.

My current town (Nyack, NY) is more promising--artist Edward Hopper and writer Carson McCullers both lived here in their lifetimes. We've had plenty of actors (Helen Hayes for the oldies and illustrious names such as Stephen Baldwin and Rosie O.--we've gone a bit downhill recently, I guess). Another local dude is Jonathan Demme.

Grace Kelly. Ah, the joys of living in Bryn Mawr, PA. Also home to Jayne Mansfield of all people. We're pretty classy.

my frost-bitten town spit out 5 NHL players and 2 Hockey Night in Canada sportscasters, and 1 NHL ref.
also, Gordie Sampson (the guy who wrote 'Jesus, Take The Wheel')

samma, you're in CB?!

Jimmy Fallon. Sucks for me.

The lovely John and Lorena Bobbitt were made famous in my hometown, but I don't believe either of them are actually from Manassas, Virginia. Other than them... we had someone in the semi-finals of American Idol.

Manny Pacquiao!!! Well, his dad came from Cebu but he's actually from another province here in the Philippines.
Probably Monique Lhullier, the fashion designer and Kenneth Cobonpue, the furniture designer.

According to Wikipedia, actors Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Daniel Stern are from my hometown (a suburb of DC). Spike Jonze is a much-younger alumnus of my high school.

yes meaux!

Bobby Bonds, baseball player, came back and did a lot for this city's kids. His son, Barry, was also born here, but we don't talk 'bout him much, because he's pretty much a douche.
Troy Percival - I loved watching him close for the Angels.
Rod Piazza (of the Mighty Flyers)

... and a few I had to go to Wiki for:

the Miller kids: Reggie (NBA), Cheryl (wow just wow), and Darrell (Angels)
Don Imus (sorry sorry sorry)

Also home to:
The parent navel orange tree
Harada House (for you law junkies, that's California v. Harada, which ended alien land laws)

H-O-T
Dating Networking Site

__SeekBi Co M___

Helps you find your ideal lover

Tom Hanks is from Concord, not Oakland. By the way...famous people from my hometown...hmmm, Raul Julia, Benicio Del Toro, Luis Guzman? I've from San Juan, PR...I think there's many others, but I can't recall right now.

Uhm, my hometown is barely a speck on a map, so I'm going with the town I went to school in. Jay McMillian, the drummer for that band Jack's Mannequin, is from there. I was in the marching, pep, and concert bands with him. He was (probably still is) very cool and very talented. He was good friends with my brother. Oh, and the town (Bedford, VA) had the most casualties on D-Day (the national D-Day memorial was built there). I think Peter Viemiester, the author, is from Bedford, too.

Tony Atlas is from Roanoke, VA. He was/is a pro wrestler. I live halfway between Bedford and Roanoke.

Young adult author Robert Cormier. Also Johnny Appleseed.

I know this is rather late, but I just heard on the radio today that Sam Worthington is from my town. Who knew?