List of people from Tucson, Arizona explained

This is a listing of notable people who were born in, or have lived in, Tucson, Arizona. For people whose only connection with the city is attending the University of Arizona, see: List of University of Arizona people. Coaches of University of Arizona athletic teams should not be included either.

Athletics

• George Arias – professional baseball player
• Dave Baldwin – major league baseball player, writer, artist
• Michael Bates – athlete
• Stanley Berryhill – NFL player
• Chad Beyer – professional cyclist^[1]
• Craig Bjornson – baseball coach
• Alex Bowman – NASCAR driver
• Bryce Cotton – professional basketball player
• Dominick Cruz – mixed martial artist
• Lum Davenport - baseball player
• Ike Davis – professional baseball player
• Chris Duncan – baseball player
• Shelley Duncan – baseball player
• Sean Elliott – professional basketball player
• Cole Ford – professional football player
• Jim Grabb – former professional tennis player ranked world # 1 in doubles
• Chelsi Guillen – pairs figure skater^[2]
• J. J. Hardy – baseball player
• Ron Hassey – baseball player^[3]
• Gary Hayes – professional football player
• Alex Kellner – born in Tucson, baseball player^[3]
• Walt Kellner – born in Tucson, baseball player^[3]
• Mike Kellogg – professional football player
• Ian Kinsler (born 1982), Israeli-American Major League Baseball 4x All Star second baseman
• Chris Knierim – pairs figure skater
• Hank Leiber – professional baseball pitcher^[4]
• Eddie Leon – born in Tucson, baseball player^[3]
• Lafayette Lever – professional basketball player, attended Pueblo High School^[5]
• Caitlin Leverenz – Olympic swimmer, born in Tucson, attended Sahuaro High School
• Pete McCaffrey  – basketball player
• Roger McCluskey – National Sprint Car Hall of Fame racer
• Alice Greenough Orr – rodeo star, originally from Montana
• Tom Pagnozzi – professional baseball pitcher
• Allen Pitts – professional Canadian Football League player
• Bijan Robinson - Running back for the Atlanta Falcons, 8th overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft
• Sam Sacksen – 2008 Beijing Olympic modern pentathlete^[6]
• Anthony Shumaker – baseball player
• Michael Smith – NFL running back
• Brad Steinke – Emmy award-winning sportscaster^[7]
• Kerri Strug – Olympic gold-medalist gymnast
• Alex Verdugo — Baseball outfielder for Boston Red Sox, attended Sahuaro High School
• Roman Bravo Young – freestyle and folkstyle wrestler, two-time NCAA champion for Penn State University
• Win Young – Olympic medalist in diving^[8]

Business

• Leopoldo Carrillo – Mexican-American entrepreneur, early founder of Tucson
• Arturo Moreno – entrepreneur, owner of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Jeff Rein – chairman and chief executive officer of Walgreens
• Margaret Sanger – Planned Parenthood founder
• Robert Sarver – entrepreneur, principal owner of Phoenix Suns
• Robert Stewart co-founder of GMA Network

Law and order

• Clay Pell lawyer
• Eugene O'Dunne – jurist on the Supreme Bench of Baltimore

Literature

• Edward Abbey – author
• Sue Alexander – children's author^[9]
• Jon Anderson – poet
• Byrd Baylor – essayist and children's author
• Michael Blake – author
• Charles Bowden – author
• Ray Bradbury – author
• Erskine Caldwell – playwright
• Max Cannon – author and creator of the comic strip Red Meat
• Mitch Cullin – author
• Charles G. Finney – author
• Frances Gillmor, folklorist, scholar and novelist
• Andrew Greeley  – author, scholar and Roman Catholic priest
• Brenda Hillman - poet, translator
• Barbara Kingsolver – novelist
• Joseph Wood Krutch – author
• Todd Miller – journalist
• Tom Miller – travel writer
• Gary Paul Nabhan — author and ethnobotanist
• Adam Rex – children's writer and illustrator
• Stacey Richter – author
• Richard Shelton – poet, author
• Richard Siken - poet, painter, filmmaker
• Leslie Marmon Silko – author
• Susan Sontag – author, critic and public intellectual^[10]
• Luci Tapahonso – poet laureate of the Navajo Nation
• David Foster Wallace – author
• Peter Wild – poet, author and professor of English at the University of Arizona
• Ofelia Zepeda – poet laureate of Tucson, author
• Tom Zoellner – nonfiction author

Movies, television, and media

• Tommy Shannon – Musician Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
• Rex Allen – actor, musician
• Hailey Baldwin – model
• Mika Boorem – actress
• Lynn Borden – actress and 1957 Miss Arizona
• Roy Brown – actor
• Brooke Burke – model, TV host
• Aaron Chang – photographer
• Kaylee DeFer – actress
• Barbara Eden – actress
• Pablo Francisco – stand-up comedian
• Savannah Guthrie – television personality
• Dan Hicks – sportscaster
• Michael Horse – actor, jeweler, painter
• Pat Hughes – baseball announcer
• Dominic Janes – actor
• Cord Jefferson - screenwriter, director, journalist
• Ben Patrick Johnson – journalist, model, voice-over artist
• Brad Johnson – actor, former Marlboro Man^[11]
• Daniel Kennedy – actor
• Gavin MacIntosh – child/teen actor, model
• Taryn Manning – actress
• George Meyer – Simpsons producer and writer
• Clare McNulty – actress
• Bentley Mitchum – actor
• Noel Neill – actress
• Sierra Teller Ornelas – filmmaker and screenwriter
• Larry Pine – actor
• Timothy Reckart – Oscar-nominated filmmaker
• Garry Shandling – comedian and actor
• W. Eugene Smith – photographer
• Frederick Sommer – photographer^[10]
• Martin Spanjers – actor
• Sally Todd – model, actress
• Janet Varney – actress
• Kate Walsh – actress
• Lou Waters – newscaster
• Nick Young – actor^[12]
• Parker Young – model, actor

Music, arts

• Panteha Abareshi – multidisciplinary visual artist
• Madeline Heineman Berger – music and arts promoter
• Duane Bryers – painter, illustrator and sculptor
• Joey Burns – musician
• Joseph Byrd – musician
• Luis Coronel – singer, musician
• John Convertino – musician
• James Pringle Cook – Western landscape painter
• Jason DeCorse – musician, member of Greyhound Soul^[13]
• Ted DeGrazia – artist
• John Denver – singer, musician
• Daniel Martin Diaz – artist and musician
• Maynard Dixon – artist
• Duane Eddy – musician, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Howe Gelb – musician
• Greg Ginn – musician, founder of Black Flag and SST Records
• Lalo Guerrero – father of Chicano music
• Cord Jefferson - writer and film director
• Ulysses Kay – composer
• Katie Lee – folk singer, writer, photographer
• Dan Levenson – old-time musician^[14]
• Bob Log III – musician
• Linda McCartney - photographer, musician
• Arizona Muse – model
• Dennis F. Parker – musician, recording engineer
• Raymond Pettibon – artist
• Signe Pierce (born 1988) – multidisciplinary artist
• Rainer Ptacek  – composer, musician
• Linda Ronstadt – singer, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
• Ivan and Jane Rosenquist - art gallerists
• Barry Sadler – singer-songwriter
• Pat The Bunny Schneeweis – folk-punk artist
• Sara Tea - musician and DJ
• Mark Wystrach – musician

Politics

• Dean Burch – Republican National Committee chairman, 1964–1965; chairman, FCC^[15]
• J. W. Buchanan - Arizona state senator, member of the Arizona House of Representatives
• James B. Burkholder – peace activist and retired U.S. Army officer
• Richard Carmona – U.S. Surgeon General
• Tony Carrillo – Arizona state legislator
• James N. Corbett – former Mayor of Tucson
• Dennis DeConcini – U.S. Senator
  • Gabby Giffords – former U.S. Representative Raul Grijalva – U.S. Representative
• Alma Hernandez - Member of the Arizona House of Representatives
• Don Hummel – politician, former Tucson mayor, businessman
• Mark Kelly – U.S. Senator, former astronaut
• Laura Loomer – far-right political activist and white nationalist
• Kyrsten Sinema – U.S. Senator
• Robert C. Strong – U.S. diplomat
• Mark Udall – U.S. Senator from Colorado, former member of the House
• Mo Udall – Congressman
• Stewart Udall – politician, U.S. Secretary of Interior
• Tom Udall – U.S. Senator from New Mexico

Science and medicine

• David Arnett – astronomer
• Bart Bok – astronomer
• Frank Borman – astronaut, orbited the Moon on Apollo 8
• A. E. Douglass – astronomer, dendrochronologist
• Tom Gehrels – planetary scientist
• Emil Haury – archaeologist
• Rashad Khalifa – biochemist and founder of United Submitters International
• Gerard Kuiper – planetary scientist
• William Rathje – archaeologist, Garbage Project director
• Peter M. Rhee – physician
• Elizabeth Roemer – astronomer
• Peter Smith – scientist, principal investigator of Phoenix Project
• Andrew Weil – doctor who promotes integrative medicine
• Wieslaw Z. Wisniewski – astronomer

Military

• Thad Allen – U.S. Coast Guard admiral
• Frank L. Culin Jr. – United States Army major general
• José de Urrea – Mexican general

Crime

• Robert John Bardo – convicted murderer and stalker of actress and model, Rebecca Schaeffer
• Terri Cruz (1927-2017), American community organizer
• Jared Lee Loughner – convicted mass murderer who perpetrated the 2011 Tucson shooting
• Joseph Bonanno – mobster
• Stephen Paddock – mass shooter who perpetrated the 2017 Las Vegas shooting
• Charles Schmid – killer

Religion

• William M. Branham – minister
• Eusebio Kino – pioneer missionary and explorer

Miscellaneous

• María Urquides – educator, "Mother of Bilingual Education"

Notes and References

1. Web site: Chad Beyer Bio . Chad Beyer . September 4, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140302081705/http://www.chadbeyer.com/bio.html . March 2, 2014.
2. Web site: Pairs: Chelsea Guillen, Danny Curzon . International Skating Union . September 5, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140209195205/http://www.isuresults.com/bios/isufs00010233.htm . February 9, 2014.
3. Book: Reichler, Joseph L. . The Baseball Encyclopedia . 1969 . 4th . 1979 . Macmillan Publishing . New York . 0-02-578970-8 . registration .
4. Web site: Hank Leiber . Baseball-Reference.com . live . December 12, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140705035514/http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/l/leibeha01.shtml . July 5, 2014.
5. Web site: basketball-reference.com. basketball-reference.com. April 9, 2015.
6. Web site: 2012-04-25 . Sam Sacksen . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20120425024330/http://www.teamusa.org/Athletes/SA/Sam-Sacksen.aspx . 2012-04-25 . 2024-01-20.
7. Web site: Alumnus, a Booth, & 8 Emmys . Southern Utah University . dead . December 12, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20130112010203/http://www.suu.edu/alumni/magazine/fall07/pdf/steinke.pdf . January 12, 2013.
8. Web site: Win Young . Sports-Reference.com . September 4, 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140202114627/http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/yo/win-young-1.html . February 2, 2014.
9. Encyclopedia: Sue Alexander. Frischer. Rita Berman. Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. 3 July 2017.
10. Web site: List of Famous People from Arizona . The Free Resource . dead . December 12, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120605210231/http://www.thefreeresource.com/list-of-famous-people-from-arizona . June 5, 2012 .
11. Web site: Famous People from Arizona . ThingsToDo.com . dead . December 12, 2016 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140702013412/http://www.thingstodo.com/states/AZ/famous_people.htm . July 2, 2014 .
12. Web site: San Diego's Spielberg? Q&A With Director Brian Butler Near Sci-Fi Film Premiere . Times of San Diego . July 24, 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200810031905/https://timesofsandiego.com/arts/2020/07/24/san-diegos-spielberg-qa-with-director-brian-butler-near-sci-fi-film-premiere/ . August 10, 2020.
13. Web site: Greyhound Soul . Phoenix New Times . September 27, 2007 . Ventre . Sarah . September 15, 2014 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121020080720/http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/2007-09-27/music/greyhound-soul/ . October 20, 2012.
14. Steinberg, David (January 2, 2009) "Old-time Musician Keeps Flame Burning: Levenson is Part Performer, Part Teacher and Part Historian", Albuquerque Journal. Retrieved April 18, 2024.
15. News: Dean Burch, Presidential Adviser And F.C.C. Chairman, Dies at 63 . The New York Times . September 6, 2014 . August 5, 1991 . Pace . Eric . https://web.archive.org/web/20130526155940/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/08/05/us/dean-burch-presidential-adviser-and-fcc-chairman-dies-at-63.html . May 26, 2013.