List of people from Pittsburgh explained
This article contains a list of notable people who were born or lived a significant amount of time in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the second-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia.
Artists
Actresses
Actors
Comedians
Reporters and anchors
Media personalities
- Porky Chedwick – announcer
- Foo Conner – journalist
- Rege Cordic – actor and broadcaster
- Bill Cullen – TV game show host
- John Dennis – radio host
- Frank DiLeo – Michael Jackson's manager, Goodfellas cast member
- Phil Frank – cartoonist
- Chris Garver – tattoo artist, Miami Ink
- Justine Ezarik (aka. iJustine) – YouTube personality
- Rafe Judkins –
- Sarah Kozer – Joe Millionaire
- Billy Mays – television direct-response advertisement salesperson
- Sheena Monnin – Miss Pennsylvania
- Jenna Morasca – reality show contestant, winner of
- Sharon Needles – drag queen, winner of season four of RuPaul's Drag Race
- David Newell – TV actor, "Mr. McFeely" on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- Beth Ostrosky – model, TV personality, wife of Howard Stern
- Bob Trow – TV actor, "Bob Dog" and "Robert Troll" on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood
- Ricki Wertz – WTAE-TV
- Lucian Wintrich – Artist, writer, photographer, former White House Correspondent for Gateway Pundit
Producers, directors, and effects
- Antoine Fuqua – director
- John P. Harris – invented the first movie theater
- David Hollander – TV and movie producer, director
- Tim Kaiser – producer, Seinfeld, Will & Grace, 2 Broke Girls
- Carl Kurlander – film producer, writer
- Sally Lapiduss – producer
- Rob Marshall – director, Chicago
- Greg Nicotero – actor, director, producer, special effects and makeup artist The Walking Dead
- Eric Red – screenwriter and director
- Ford Riley – producer, screenwriter and lyricist; created The Lion Guard
- George A. Romero – director, best known for Night of the Living Dead
- Richard Rossi – director
- Tom Savini – actor, stunt man, director, special effects and makeup artist
- Lou Scheimer – animator, voice actor, co-founder of animation studio Filmation
- David O. Selznick – film producer, Gone with the Wind
- Lewis J. Selznick – film producer
- Myron Selznick – producer, talent agency head
Music
Jazz, soul, R&B, and gospel
Classics and standards
Rock and alternative
Classical
Country and folk
Pop
Rap and hip-hop
Dancers and choreographers
Visual arts
Authors
- Joseph Bathanti – poet, writer, professor; NC Poet Laureate, 2012–2014
- Nellie Bly – Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and writer
- Kenneth Burke – literary theorist
- Rachel Carson — marine biologist, writer, and conservationist
- Willa Cather – author, Pulitzer Prize winner
- Michael Chabon – Pulitzer Prize-winning author
- Murray Chass – New York Times baseball writer, author
- Stephen Chbosky – author
- Malcolm Cowley – poet, critic
- Melanie Craft – novelist; wife of Larry Ellison of Oracle
- Stephen Dau – writer
- Annie Dillard – author and Pulitzer Prize winner
- Harry Dolan – writer
- Zak Ebrahim – author, peace activist, public speaker
- Jack Gilbert – poet
- Lester Goran – writer and professor
- Beth Gylys – poet and professor
- George Heard Hamilton – art historian
- Kerry Hannon – author
- Agatha Tiegel Hanson – writer, poet, and editor
- Samuel Hazo – poet and professor
- Lori Jakiela – author
- George S. Kaufman – humorist, playwright
- Joseph Koerner – art historian
- David Leavitt – novelist
- Stephen Manes – magazine writer, author
- David McCullough – historian and author and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner
- Elizabeth Moorhead – novelist
- Burton Morris – painter
- Stewart O'Nan – author
- Peter Oresick – poet
- Mary Roberts Rinehart – mystery writer
- William Roos – playwright, mystery novelist, and screenwriter
- Gladys Schmitt – writer
- Jim Shooter – comic book writer, editor and publisher
- Michael Simms – poet in Pittsburgh since 1987
- George Smith – gambler, handicapper
- Gertrude Stein – writer, poet, playwright, and feminist
- Gerald Stern – poet
- Kathleen Tessaro – novelist
- John Edgar Wideman – author and professor
- August Wilson – Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright
- Cecilia Woloch – poet and writer
- Damon Young (writer) – author and columnist
Athletes
Baseball
Baseball contributors
Basketball
Coaches
Forwards and centers
Guards
Basketball contributors
Boxing
Figure skating
Football
Coaches: primarily NFL
Coaches: other football
Quarterbacks
- Marc Bulger – 2000–2011, Super Bowl[7]
- Chuck Fusina – NFL 1979–1986
- Bruce Gradkowski – Steelers, Bucs, Raiders 2006–2016
- Major Harris – record-setter in college and CFL
- Leon Hart – Heisman Trophy, College Hall of Fame
- Al Jacks – quarterback, Penn State and college head coach
- Jim Kelly – 1986–1996, Hall of Fame, 4 Super Bowl appearances
- Dan Marino – 1983–1999, Hall of Fame 1 Super Bowl appearance
- Mike McMahon – NFL, CFL, UFL quarterback 2001–2012
- Joe Namath – New York Jets, Alabama Crimson Tide National Champion
- Rod Rutherford – NFL quarterback 2004–2006 and college coach
- Matt Schaub – NFL quarterback 2004–2020
- Willie Thrower – first black quarterback in the NFL*
- Johnny Unitas – 1956–1973, Hall of Famer, two Super Bowls
- Alex Van Pelt – 1995–2003
- Scott Zolak – 1991–1999, 1 Super Bowl appearance
Running backs
Receivers and tight ends
Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
Defensive backs and linebackers
Football specialists
Football contributors
Golf
Hockey
Centers and wingers
Defense
Goalies
Hockey contributors
Motorsports
Olympic sports
Soccer
Tennis
Professional wrestling
Other sports
Industry
Aviation
Steel and metals
Energy
Transport
Finance
Technology and communications
Consumer goods
Other industries
Labor
Religion
Science and research
- Ross Allen – herpetologist
- Frederick S. Billig – scramjet pioneer
- Daniel Chamovitz – biologist, author of What a Plant Knows, and President of Ben Gurion University of the Negev[12]
- Yuan Chang – virologist, co-discoverer of causes of several viral cancers, including Kaposi's sarcoma
- Norman Christ – physicist
- Childs Frick
- George Otto Gey – scientist who propagated the HeLa cell line
- William Jacob Holland – entomologist and chancellor of the Western University of Pennsylvania
- Irene Jakab (1919–2011) – native of Hungary, psychiatrist and humanist; member of the faculties of Harvard University, the University of Pittsburgh and the McLean Hospital
- Ayana Jordan – addiction psychiatrist
- Randy Pausch – founder of Alice, and man behind the Last Lecture
- David M. Pozar – electrical engineer and academician[13]
- Jonas Salk – physician, inventor of first polio vaccine
- Alex Shigo – arboriculturist and horticulturist
- Clifford Shull – Nobel Prize winner
- Herbert A. Simon – Carnegie Mellon University professor; winner of Nobel Prize for Economics
- Thomas Starzl – pioneering transplant surgeon in liver and multiorgan transplantation
- Jesse Steinfeld – United States Surgeon General under Nixon
- Otto Stern – German-American physicist and Nobel laureate, known for his studies of molecular beams; Carnegie Institute of Technology professor
- Jerome Wolken (1917–1999) – biophysicist[14]
- Vladimir Zworykin – engineer and inventor, developed an early form of television; the IEEE presents a Vladimir Zworykin Award for outstanding contributions to development of television technology
Military
18th-century leaders
19th-century leaders
20th-century leaders
21st-century leaders
Medal recipients: World War I
Medal recipients: Vietnam
Astronauts
Other military
- Thomas Enright - first soldier from Pennsylvania, and possibly first American soldier, killed in World War I
- Adrian Cronauer – Airman, radio personality, subject of Good Morning, Vietnam
- Charles Graner – U.S. Army reservist convicted of prisoner abuse in connection with 2003–2004 Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal
Government
Governors and mayors
See also: Mayors of Pittsburgh.
Congressmen and senators
Jurists
See also: Allegheny County District Attorney.
CIA and defense administrators
White House cabinet
Ambassadors
State legislators
Suffragists and other women's rights activists
Other administrators and advisors
Law enforcement
See also: Pittsburgh Police Chief and Allegheny County Sheriff.
- Vic Cianca – Pittsburgh traffic cop made famous by Johnny Carson, Candid Camera and Flashdance
- Thomas Delahanty – police officer who took a bullet in President Ronald Reagan's 1981 assassination attempt; declared a hero and awarded a medal for bravery
Other
See also
Notes and References
- Web site: New MCG Jazz CD by Guitarist Sheryl Bailey, Due for Release Feb. 2, P…. https://archive.today/20120717190058/http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/news.php?id=47573 . dead . 2012-07-17 .
- Logan, Neill (April 11, 2008) "A Fine Pick at Roots-Music Fest", St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
- Fox, Margalit."Jonathan Wolken, a Founder of Pilobolus, Dies at 60", The New York Times, June 15, 2010. Accessed July 5, 2010.
- Web site: Faure. Stephen. James Michalopoulos: Adventures in Painting. Inside Northside. July 27, 2013.
- Web site: Dave Bush Stats. Baseball Almanac . November 15, 2012.
- Book: Reichler, Joseph L. . The Baseball Encyclopedia . 1969 . 4th . 1979 . Macmillan Publishing . New York . 0-02-578970-8 . registration .
- Web site: Marc Robert Bulger . databaseBasketball.com . November 10, 2012 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20121023021500/http://www.databasefootball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BULGEMAR01 . October 23, 2012 .
- https://swimswam.com/bio/allison-schmitt/ "Allison Schmitt - Bio"
- Web site: Plum native takes home title at French Open . June 8, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110609055712/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11157/1151670-139.stm . June 9, 2011 . dead . mdy-all .
- News: 'My Long Trip Home,' by Mark Whitaker – Review. Janet. Maslin. The New York Times. July 2, 2018. November 6, 2011.
- Web site: ADM: Leadership - Patricia A. Woertz, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President . 2011-05-27 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090123014305/http://adm.com/en-US/company/leadership/Pages/default.aspx . January 23, 2009 . mdy-all .
- Web site: Ben-Gurion University of the Negev - BGU President - Prof. Daniel Chamovitz. 27 June 2019.
- Pozar . D.M. . Microstrip antennas . . January 1992 . 80 . 1 . 79–91 . 10.1109/5.119568.
- Saxon, Wolfgang. "Jerome Wolken, 82, Scientist Who Gave Sight to Some Blind", The New York Times, May 20, 1999. Accessed July 6, 2010.
- News: Shaloup . Dean . November 14, 2012 . Nashua Guardsman to lead NY-based 42nd Infantry Division . Nashua Telegraph . Nashua, NH . .
- Woo, Elaine. "Albert L. Gordon dies at 94; attorney fought for gay rights", Los Angeles Times, September 6, 2009. Accessed September 9, 2009.