Politics · born 1947Mitt Romneypolitician, businessmanDetroit-born son of automaker and governor George Romney; grew up in Bloomfield Hills, attended Cranbrook, later governed Massachusetts and ran for president in 2012.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 1,940 famous people
- 515 Detroit places
- 14 fields
Hungarian ties 22 Detroiters with Hungarian ties →
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
23 people
Clear filtersPolitics · born 1947Mitt Romneypolitician, businessmanDetroit-born son of automaker and governor George Romney; grew up in Bloomfield Hills, attended Cranbrook, later governed Massachusetts and ran for president in 2012.
Music · born 1944Diana Rosssinger, actressDetroit-born lead singer of the Supremes, Motown's biggest 1960s act, who grew up in the North End and the Brewster-Douglass projects before a long solo and film career.
Music · born 1940Smokey Robinsonsinger, songwriter, record producer, record executiveNorth End native who founded the Miracles, gave Motown its first million-seller and wrote many of the label's defining hits while serving as its vice president.
Film & TV · born 1971Mary Lynn Rajskubactress, comedianDetroit-born, Downriver-raised comedian and actress, known as Chloe O'Brian on 24, who studied art in Detroit before turning to comedy.
Film & TV · born 1985Crystal ReedactressDetroit-raised actress, Allison Argent on Teen Wolf, who graduated from Roseville High School and studied acting at Wayne State.
Music · 1942–2023Sixto Rodriguezsinger-songwriter, guitaristDetroit's “Sugar Man”: a working-class songwriter who spent his whole life in the city, unaware for decades that he was a star in South Africa.
Comedy · 1946–1989Gilda Radnercomedian, actressOriginal Saturday Night Live star who grew up in Detroit, where her father's Seville Hotel housed touring performers and her nanny inspired Emily Litella.
Film & TV · born 1971David Ramseyactor, television directorArrow's John Diggle, a Detroit native who went to Mumford High School and earned a BFA at Wayne State University.
Science & invention · 1934–2015Marshall Rosenbergpsychologist, mediatorPsychologist who created Nonviolent Communication; the Detroit race riot of 1943, which broke out a week after his family moved to the city, shaped his life's work.
Film & TV · born 1965Ted Raimiactor, director, writerDetroit-born character actor of the Evil Dead films and Xena, younger brother of director Sam Raimi, who started out in Detroit industrial films.
Music · 1931–2017Della Reesesinger, actress, television host, ministerBlack Bottom-born singer who went from Detroit gospel choirs and the Flame Show Bar to pop hits, her own talk show and Touched by an Angel.
Sports · born 1983Brandi Rhodesprofessional wrestler, ring announcer, executiveDetroit-suburb-born wrestling personality who rose through WWE and became a founding executive and performer at All Elite Wrestling.
Comedy · born 1984Sam Richardsonactor, comedian, writer, producerVeep and Ted Lasso actor who grew up in Boston-Edison, trained at Planet Ant and Second City Detroit and co-created Detroiters, a comedy shot on Detroit streets.
Politics · born 1949Ann Romneyauthor, philanthropist, former First Lady of MassachusettsDetroit-born, Bloomfield Hills-raised Kingswood graduate who married Mitt Romney and became First Lady of Massachusetts and an advocate for multiple sclerosis research.
Music · 1926–1978Frank Rosolinojazz trombonist, singerDetroit-born trombonist, a Cass Tech alumnus, who became a star of West Coast jazz with Stan Kenton and the Lighthouse All-Stars and wrote the standard "Blue Daniel".The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own. Famous people's places among the sights ↗