List of people from Atlanta

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of famous people who have lived in the area in and near Atlanta, Georgia, including both natives and residents.

Contents 1 Politicians and activists 1.1 Statesmen 1.2 Jurists 1.3 Diplomats 1.4 Activists 1.5 Atlanta Mayors 2 Military 2.1 Generals 3 Sports figures 3.1 Baseball 3.2 Basketball 3.3 Football 3.4 Hockey 3.5 Golf 3.6 Boxing 3.7 Wrestling 3.8 Olympians 4 Musicians, actors, artists and entertainers 4.1 Music 4.1.1 Producers 4.1.2 Hip Hop and Rap 4.1.3 Country 4.1.4 R&B 4.1.5 Rock 4.1.6 Pop 4.1.7 Jazz 4.1.8 Conductors 4.1.9 Singers and Musicians 4.2 Film and Acting 4.3 Visual Arts 4.4 Radio and Television 4.5 Other 5 Writers, journalists and photographers 5.1 Pulitzer Prize Winners 5.2 Historians 5.3 Journalists 5.4 Playwrights and Screenwriters 5.5 Contemporary 6 Scientists and Technology 7 Business people 8 Crime Related 9 Other people

[edit] Politicians and activists

[edit] Statesmen

• • Jimmy Carter - 39th President of the United States (1977–1981), Nobel Peace laureate 2002 and Governor of Georgia (1971–1975)
  • Woodrow Wilson - 28th President of the United States (1913–1921),
  • Sam Nunn - United States Senator from Georgia (1972 until 1996), particularly influential in defense
  • John Lewis - Civil rights leader and Congressman
  • Joe Scarborough - former US Congressman and MSNBC personality

[edit] Jurists

• • Griffin Bell - US Attorney General 1976 to 1979 under President Carter, Mr. Blackwell's list of best dressed Americans in 1978
  • Rowland Barnes - Fulton County Superior Court Judge

[edit] Diplomats

• • Andrew Young - Ambassador to the UN under President Carter, Civil rights activist and former mayor of Atlanta
  • Dean Rusk - US Secretary of State 1961 to 1969 under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson

[edit] Activists

• • Martin Luther King, Jr. - Civil Rights Leader
  • Charlotte Laws - Animal Rights
  • William Luther Pierce - neo-Fascist

[edit] Atlanta Mayors

• • Maynard Jackson - former mayor
  • Ivan Allen Jr. - former mayor

See also List of mayors of Atlanta

[edit] Military

[edit] Generals

• • Lucius D. Clay - "father" of the Berlin Airlift (1948-49), the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways and the National System of Airports and Airbases - known as "The Man Who Changed America"

[edit] Sports figures

[edit] Baseball

• • Hank Aaron - Baseball Hall of Famer and the major leagues' all-time home run leader
  • Chipper Jones - baseball player
  • Brett Butler, retired MLB baseball player
  • David Justice, retired MLB baseball player
  • Phil Niekro, retired MLB baseball player

[edit] Basketball

• • Hubie Brown - NBA legendary coach
  • Dominique Wilkins - former NBA player
  • Spud Webb - former NBA player

[edit] Football

• • Deion Sanders - two-sport athlete (MLB and NFL)
  • Michael Vick - NFL quarterback

[edit] Hockey

• • Jean-Marc Pelletier - Goaltender

[edit] Golf

• • Bobby Jones - only player ever to have won the Grand Slam (golf)

[edit] Boxing

• • Evander Holyfield - heavyweight champion boxer

[edit] Wrestling

• • Raven - professional wrestler
  • Chris Benoit - professional wrestler
  • Lita - professional wrestler / valet

[edit] Olympians

• • Dick Buerkle - 1976 Olympian featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated

[edit] Musicians, actors, artists and entertainers

[edit] Music

[edit] Producers

• • Lil' Jon - rapper, producer ("King Of Crunk")
  • Keith Sweat-singer/songwriter/producer
  • Kawan Prather - music producer
  • Dallas Austin - music executive/producer
  • DJ Toomp - producer
  • Mr. Collipark - hip hop producer
  • Babyface - singer/producer
  • Jermaine Dupri - rapper, producer

[edit] Hip Hop and Rap

• • Ciara
  • Trillville - rap group
  • Youngbloodz - rap group
  • Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - rapper, former member of r&b trio TLC
  • Ludacris - rapper
  • Lil' Scrappy- rapper
  • Goodie Mob - rap group
  • OutKast - hip hop duo
  • Majesty - rapper
  • T.I. - rapper
  • Yung Joc - rapper
  • Dem Franchize Boyz - rap group
  • D4L- rap group
  • Ying Yang Twins- hip hop duo
  • Killer Mike - rapper
  • Bonecrusher - rapper
  • Goodie Mob - rap group
  • Cee-Lo - rapper
  • Crime Mob - rap group
  • Jim Crow - rap group
  • Kanye West - rapper (born in Atlanta raised in chicago)
  • Justin White - rapper
  • Young Jeezy - rapper
  • Kihenaton - rapper
  • Kilo Ali - rapper
  • The Faculty - Rap music collective based in Sandy Springs, Ga

[edit] Country

• • Jerry Reed - country singer
  • Alan Jackson - Country Singer
  • Travis Tritt - Country Singer
  • Mark Wills - Country Singer

[edit] R&B

• • Ciara - R+B singer - raised in Atlanta.
  • 112 - R&B foursome
  • Kelly Rowland - R&B singer and actress
  • Raven-Symoné - R&B singer and actress
  • Blaque - R&B group
  • Bobby Valentino - R&B singer
  • TLC- r&b trio
  • Sleepy Brown - R&B singer
  • Usher - singer
  • Monica - R&B singer and actress

[edit] Rock

• • The Black Crowes - Blues Rock band
  • Collective Soul - Alt Rock band
  • Drivin N Cryin - Folk/Rock band featuring Kevn Kinney
  • Cartel - Punk/Power Pop band
  • Follow for Now - Black rock band
  • Mastodon - Metal/Hardcore band
  • Norma Jean - Metalcore band
  • Sevendust - Alt Metal band
  • State of Man - Alt Rock band
  • Injected - Alt Metal band
  • Family Force 5 - Crunk Rock band

[edit] Pop

• • Gladys Knight & the PiMps - popular music act
  • Indigo Girls - Folk and Pop duo
  • Brenda Lee - Singer
  • Shawn Mullins - Singer / Songwriter
  • Evan and Jaron - Pop duo

[edit] Jazz

• • Duke Pearson - jazz pianist and composer
  • Mary Lou Williams - jazz pianist, composer and arranger

[edit] Conductors

• • Robert Shaw - conductor
  • Predrag Gosta - conductor and harpsichordist
  • Robert Spano - Grammy winning conductor Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

[edit] Singers and Musicians

• • Chan Marshall - singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist for Cat Power
  • Richard Marx - singer
  • Monica - singer
  • Jennifer Paige - singer
  • Graham Jackson - the "entertainer of presidents" - seven consecutive - the "Official Musician of the State of Georgia."

[edit] Film and Acting

• • Brittany Murphy - actress
  • David Cross - stand-up comedian/actor
  • Jeff Foxworthy - actor & comedian
  • Oliver Hardy - comedian
  • Joel Chandler Harris - author of the Uncle Remus tales
  • Shuler Hensley - Broadway and film actor
  • Spike Lee - film director
  • Christopher Massey - actor (Zoey 101)
  • Kyle Massey - actor, (Thats So Raven!)
  • Chloe Moretz - child actress
  • Julia Roberts - actress
  • Chris Tucker - film actor
  • Robert Patrick - actor, best remembered as the "T-1000" in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
  • Holly Hunter - actress
  • Dakota Fanning - actress
  • Kip Pardue - actor
  • Steven Soderbergh - film director
  • Kenny Leon - former artistic director of the Alliance Theatre Company
  • Raven Symone - actress
  • Chris Lowell - actor, Veronica Mars
  • DeForest Kelley - actor, "Star Trek"

[edit] Visual Arts

• • Jennifer Allen Craft - Artist & Theologian; best known for her unity murals
  • Gutzon Borglum - sculptor of Mount Rushmore and the first aborted Stone Mountain carving

[edit] Radio and Television

• • Forrest Sawyer - news anchor and journalist winner of multiple Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award and the Associated Press award and more
  • Neal Boortz - talk radio host, author with Congressman John Linder, The FairTax Book
  • Deborah Norville - host of Inside Edition previous co-host of The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel prior to Katie Couric
  • Clark Howard - talk radio host
  • Ty Pennington - television personality
  • Ryan Seacrest - TV/radio personality and host of American Idol
  • Alicia Leigh Willis - actress on General Hospital
  • Bert Parks - longtime host of the Miss America Pageant and many television game shows
  • Patrika Darbo - actress on Days of our Lives

[edit] Other

• • Baton Bob - cross-dressing street performer
  • The Brothers Chaps - Homestar Runner creators
  • RuPaul - entertainer
  • Dominique Simone - adult entertainer
  • George Wallace (comedian) - comedian
  • Zack Bicardi - Unicornologist

[edit] Writers, journalists and photographers

[edit] Pulitzer Prize Winners

• • Margaret Mitchell - 1937 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel Gone with the Wind
  • Alice Walker - 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Color Purple
  • Alfred Uhry - 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 1989 Academy Awards for Best Picture and for Writing Adapted Screenplay and more, Driving Miss Daisy
  • Ralph McGill - 1959 Pulitzer Prize foe Editorial Writing editor of the Atlanta Constitution, editorial "A Church, A School...." and for his long, courageous and effective editorial leadership
  • Daniel Boorstin - 1974 Pulitzer Prize for History The Americans: The Democratic Experience by the Librarian of Congress from 1975 until 1987
  • Clark Howell - 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for exposing the Atlanta graft ring
  • Mike Luckovich - 1995 and 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
  • George Goodwin - 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting of the Atlanta Journal for his story of the Telfair County vote fraud, published in 1947
  • Atlanta Constitution - 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a successful municipal graft exposure and consequent convictions.
  • Arnold Hardy - 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography amateur photographer, Georgia Tech student, for his photo of a woman leaping from a fire in the Winecoff Hotel resulting in national fire safety standards
  • Jack Nelson - 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, Edition Time of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for the excellent reporting in his series of articles on mental institutions in Georgia.
  • Mike Toner - 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for "When Bugs Fight Back," a series that explored the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics and pesticides.
  • Eugene Patterson - 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Atlanta Constitution, for his editorials during the year
  • Doug Marlette - 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, Atlanta Constitution and Charlotte Observer

[edit] Historians

• • Franklin Garrett - Atlanta's official historian wrote the massive Atlanta and Environs (1954), the best reference for the city's history.

[edit] Journalists

• • Lewis Grizzard - journalist and author
  • Celestine Sibley - journalist and author
  • Henry W. Grady - editor of the Atlanta Constitution

[edit] Playwrights and Screenwriters

• • Pearl Cleage, playwright and author

[edit] Contemporary

• Belle K. Abbott, novelist author of Leah Mordecai
• Pat Conroy, contemporary Atlanta-born author of The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, and The Great Santini.
• Walter Sorrells - Edgar winning mystery writer as Ruth Birmingham

• Virginia Spencer Carr, noted scholar and biographer of Carson McCullers, Dos Passos, and Paul Bowles
• James Dickey
• Joel Chandler Harris, author of Uncle Remus
• Mary Hood, Townsend Fiction, Robert Penn Warren and Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction winner, wrote How Far She Went, And Venus is Blue and Familiar Heat
• Shaunti Feldhahn, author of For Women Only, For Men Only, The Veritas Conflict, and The Lights of 10th Street

[edit] Scientists and Technology

• Will Wright - computer game designer, best known for creating Simcity and The Sims

[edit] Business people

• Arthur Blank - Co-founder of Home Depot and the current owner of the Atlanta Falcons
• Asa Griggs Candler - founder of The Coca-Cola Company
• Anne Cox Chambers - co-owner of Cox Enterprises
• S. Truett Cathy - founder of Chick-fil-A
• Bernard Marcus - Co-founder of Home Depot and primary funding source for the Georgia Aquarium
• John Pemberton - chemist and inventor of Coca-Cola
• Ted Turner - media mogul
• Robert W. Woodruff - Coca-Cola executive
• Charles Brewer founder of Mindspring, now known as Earthlink
• John Portman - international architect and developer - designer of the groundbreaking atrium style hotel
• Arnie Geller - President and CEO of Premiere Exhibitions with sole rights to recover relics from the RMS Titanic and exhibits both the "Titanic" and "Bodies" shows

[edit] Crime Related

• Leo Frank - Jewish lynching victim
• Wayne Williams - convicted murderer and suspected serial killer
• Jennifer Wilbanks - "the runaway bride"

[edit] Other people

• John Thrasher - Atlanta pioneer
• Zack Biscardi - Anti-Christ