This is a list of famous people from New York City.
Native New Yorkers
The following were born in New York City. Some became famous after they moved away.
A
- Aaliyah - singer
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - basketball player
- Bella Abzug - feminist activist and politican
- Marv Albert - sports announcer
- Danny Aiello - actor
- Woody Allen - film director
- Red Auerbach - basketball coach
B
- Anne Bancroft - actress
- Harry Belafonte - actor and singer
- Pat Benatar - singer
- Moe Berg - baseball player and spy
- Humphrey Bogart - film actor
- Clara Bow - actress
- Matthew Broderick - actor
- Mel Brooks - film director
- William F. Buckley, Jr. - author and conservative commentator
- Steve Buscemi - actor
C
- James Caan - actor
- Maria Callas - opera singer
- Al Capone - gangster
- George Carlin - comedian
- Paddy Chayefsky
- Shirley Chisholm - politican
- Peter Cooper - inventor
- Aaron Copland - composer
- Bob Costas - sports announcer
- Bob Cousy - basketball player
- George Cukor - film director
- Tony Curtis - actor
D
- Marion Davies - actress
- Sammy Davis, Jr. - singer and entertainer
- Alfonse D'Amato - politician
- Eamon de Valera - Irish Taoiseach
- Samuel R. Delany - author and critic
- Don DeLillo - author
- P. Diddy - rap artist
- Neil Diamond - singer and composer
- Richard Dreyfuss - actor
F
- Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - actor
- Richard Feynman - Nobel Prize-winning physicist
- 50 Cent - rap artist
- Hamilton Fish - politician and Secretary of State
- Malcolm Forbes - publisher
- Al Franken - comedian and radio host
- Milton Friedman - economist
G
- Lou Gehrig - baseball player
- George Gershwin - composer
- Ira Gershwin - lyricist
- Vitas Gerulaitis - tennis player
- Ruth Bader Ginsburg - Supreme Court justice
- Rudolph Giuliani - mayor
- Jackie Gleason - comedian
- Whoopi Goldberg - comedian and actress
- Daniel S. Goldin - NASA director
- Cuba Gooding Jr. - actor
- Elliott Gould - actor
- Hank Greenberg - baeball player
- Bob Guccione - publisher
H
- Armand Hammer - industrialist and philanthropist
- Rita Hayworth - actress
- Anthony Hecht - poet
- Joseph Heller - author
- Peter Cooper Hewitt - inventor
- Gregory Hines = dancer and actor
- Judd Hirsch - actor
- Lena Horne - singer
- Edward Everett Horton - actor
- Moe, Curly and Shemp Howard - the Three Stooges
I
- Washington Irving - author
J
- Wolfman Jack - radio personality
- Henry James - author
- William James - philosopher
- Jay-Z - rap artist
- Billy Joel - singer
- Norah Jones - singer
- Michael Jordan - basketball player
K
- Danny Kaye - actor and comedian
- Harvey Keitel - actor
- Jerome Kern - composer
- Alicia Keys - R&B singer
- C. Everett Koop - physician
- Stanley Kubrick - film director
- William Kunstler - lawyer
L
- Fiorello LaGuardia - mayor
- Jake LaMotta - boxer
- Martin Landau - actor
- Cyndi Lauper - singer
- Emma Lazarus - author and poet
- Steve Lawrence - singer
- Madeleine L'Engle - author
- Roy Lichtenstein - artist
- John Lindsay - mayor
- Vince Lombardi - football coach
- Lindsay Lohan - actress and singer
- Jennifer Lopez - singer and actress
- Lucky Luciano - gangster
- Sid Luckman - footbal player and coach
M
- Bernard Malamud - author
- Melissa Manchester - singer
- Stephon Marbury - professional basketball player
- Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo and Gummo Marx - the Marx Brothers
- Walter Matthau - actor
- Herman Melville - author
- Yehudi Menuhin - violinist
- Ethel Merman - singer and actress
- Arthur Miller - playwright
- Sal Mineo - actor
- Mary Tyler Moore - actress and producer
- Zero Mostel - actor and comedian
- Eddie Murphy - actor and comedian
N
- Najee - jazz musician
- Jack Nicholson - actor
O
- Carroll O'Connor - actor
- Eugene O'Neill - playwright
- Robert Oppenheimer - physicist
P
- Al Pacino - actor
- Joe Paterno - football coach
- Chaim Potok - author
- Colin Powell - army general and Secretary of State
- Priscilla Presley - actress
- Tito Puente - band leader
R
- Joey Ramone and Marky Ramone - punk rock musicians
- Christopher Reeve - actor
- Paul Reiser - actor
- Buddy Rich - jazz drummer
- Burton Richter - Nobel Prize-winning physicist
- Thelma Ritter - actress
- Norman Rockwell - artist
- Richard Rodgers - composer
- Alex Rodriguez - baseball player
- Mickey Rooney - actor
- Eleanor Roosevelt - First Lady and human rights activist
- Theodore Roosevelt - President of the United States
S
- Carl Sagan - physicist and astronomer
- J. D. Salinger - author
- Jonas Salk - medical researcher
- Dick Schaap - journalist
- Vin Scully - sports radio announcer
- Jerry Seinfeld - comedian
- Maurice Sendak - author and illustrator
- Elizabeth Ann Seton - first American Catholic saint
- Tupac Shakur - rap artist
- Artie Shaw - band leader
- Bugsy Siegel - gangster
- Beverly Sills - opera singer
- Robert Silverberg - author
- Neil Simon - playwright
- Stephen Sondheim - songwriter
- Mickey Spillane - author
- Sylvester Stallone - actor
- Barbara Stanwyck - actress
- Henry L. Stimson - politician and diplomat
- Oliver Stone - film director
- Barbra Streisand - singer and actress
T
- Irving Thalberg - film producer
- Louis Comfort Tiffany - artist
- Joe Torre - baseball player and coach
- Donald Trump - businessman
- John Turturro - actor
- Mike Tyson - professional boxer
V
- Luther Vandross - singer
W
- Eli Wallach - actor
- Steven Weinberg - Nobel Prize-winning physicist
- Nathanael West - author
- Edith Wharton - author
- Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney - sculptor and art patron
- Vanessa Williams - singer and actess
Other New Yorkers
These people were not born in New York City but were well-known for living there.
- Jason Alexander - television actor, born in New Jersey
- Isaac Asimov - author, born in Russia
- John Jacob Astor - First multimillionaire of the US, born in Germany
- Count Basie - jazz pianist and band leader, born in New Jersey
- Mary J. Blige - R&B singer, born in Georgia
- Michael Bloomberg - businessman and mayor, born in Massachusetts
- Brandy - singer, born in Mississippi
- Mariah Carey - singer, born on Long Island
- Dick Clark - born in Mount Vernon, New York
- Bill Cullen - radio host, born in Pennsylvania
- Joe DiMaggio - professional baseball player, born in California
- Frederick Douglass - abolitionist, born in Maryland
- Millard Fillmore - President of the United States, born in Summerhill, New York
- Dizzy Gillespie - jazz trumpet player, born in South Carolina
- Alexander Hamilton - Founding Father, born in the West Indies
- Derek Jeter - professional baseball player, born in Michigan
- Tom Kennedy - game show host
- Lisa Kudrow - actress, born in California
- Spike Lee - film director, born in Georgia
- Dean Martin - singer, born in Ohio
- Ricky Martin - singer, born in Puerto Rico
- John McEnroe - professional tennis player, born in Germany
- Rosie O'Donnell - comedian, born on Long Island
- David Hyde Pierce - actor, born in Saratoga Springs, New York
- Tony Randall - actor, born in Oklahoma
- Dan Rather - television news anchor, born in Texas
- Chris Rock - comedian, born in South Carolina
- John D. Rockefeller - businessman, born in Richford, New York
- Frank Sinatra - singer, born in Hoboken, New Jersey