List of people from Indianapolis
The following is a list of notable people who have been born or lived in Indianapolis, Indiana. Organized alphabetically by field of study and last name.
Actors
- Monte Blue (1887-1963), silent film/character actor
- Connie Booth, actress, screenwriter
- Steve Burton (1970- ), television actor
- Joyce DeWitt, actress, best known for Three's Company
- Mike Epps, stand-up comedian, actor, producer, writer, rapper
- Frances Farmer, actress
- Brendan Fraser, film actor
- Vivica A. Fox, actress
- Doug Jones, actor
- Brook Kerr (1973- ), actress
- Forrest Landis, actor
- Priscilla Lawson, actress
- Marjorie Main (1890-1975), actress
- Steve McQueen (1930–80), Academy Award-nominated actor
- Julie McWhirter, actress
- Margo Moore, actress
- Dayo Okeniyi, film actor
- Jake Short, actor
- Steve Talley (1981- ), television/film actor
- Clifton Webb, stage/film actor
- Sasheer Zamata, comedian, actress, current cast member on Saturday Night Live
Artists
Athletes
- Donie Bush, MLB player/manager
- Rodney Carney, NBA player
- Oscar Charleston, baseball player, member of Baseball Hall of Fame
- Mike Conley Jr., NBA player
- Hooks Dauss, MLB player
- Euphrasia Donnelly, swimmer, Olympic gold medalist (1924)
- Jeff George, NFL quarterback
- Eric Gordon, NBA player
- Greg Graham, NBA player
- Marcellus Greene, football player
- Oral Hildebrand, MLB All-Star pitcher
- George Hill, NBA player
- Alan Henderson, NBA player
- John F. Hennessey, tennis player (1920s)
- Lauren Holiday, US Women's National Soccer player, Olympic gold medalist, 2015 Women's World Cup champion
- Kenny Irwin, NASCAR driver
- Mathias Kiwanuka, NFL player
- Ken Klee, retired NHL player
- Chuck Klein, MLB player
- Kyle Krisiloff, NASCAR driver
- Courtney Lee, NBA player
- Don Leppert, MLB player
- Lori Lindsey, U.S. Women's National Soccer player, Olympic gold medalist
- Zack Martin, NFL player
- George McGinnis, NBA player
- Frank McKinney, diver, Olympic gold medalist (1960), banking executive
- Eric Montross, NBA player
- Greg Oden, NBA player
- Oscar Robertson, basketball player, member of Basketball Hall of Fame
- Sally Schantz, figure skater, U.S. ice dancing champion (1963)
- Judy Schwomeyer, figure skater, U.S. ice dancing champion (1968–72)
- Sandra Spuzich, LPGA pro golfer
- Marshall Walter Taylor, cyclist, commonly known as "Major Taylor"
- Jeff Teague, NBA player
- Johnny Weaver, pro wrestler, first to use the sleeper hold "Weaver Lock"
- Randy Wittman, NBA head coach
- Greg Wojciechowski, wrestler
- John Wooden, UCLA coach, Purdue University basketball player, member of College Basketball Hall of Fame
- Sean Woods, college basketball coach (currently Morehead State)
Business and philanthropy
- Steve Bellamy, sports media entrepreneur, founder of The Ski Channel and The Tennis Channel
- Steve Ells, founder, CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill
- John Geisse, businessman, founder of Target Stores
- Bob Glenalvin, first manager of Detroit Tigers
- Sid Grauman, founder of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, former home of the Academy Awards
- Scott A. Jones, co-founder of ChaCha
- Eli Lilly, founder, president of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company
- Josiah K. Lilly, Sr., president of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company
- Ruth Lilly, philanthropist
- Kim Ng, Major League Baseball executive
- Freeman Ransom, lawyer, businessman, civic leader[1]
- Madam C.J. Walker, pioneering African-American businesswoman, first female self-made millionaire in America
Entertainment
- Rupert Boneham, reality show contestant, Survivor: Pearl Islands, Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains; politician
- June Cochran, model, Miss Indiana USA 1960, Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Year 1963
- Ken Hixon, screenwriter
- David Letterman, television personality (Late Night with David Letterman)
- Ryan Murphy, film and television screenwriter, director, and producer, notably Nip/Tuck, 'American Horror Story and Glee
- Marc Summers, game show host, television personality
- Dan Wakefield, screenwriter, novelist
- Marjorie Wallace, Miss World 1973
Journalists and media
Military
Musicians
- Scrapper Blackwell, blues legend, writer of the earliest version of "Sweet Home Chicago"
- Darrell Clanton, singer[2]
- Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R&B music producer/performer
- Jan Garber, bandleader
- Gunna, rapper
- Billy Henderson, singer
- John Hiatt, musician
- Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpeter
- J. J. Johnson, jazz trombonist
- Josh Kaufman, singer-songwriter, contestant on The Voice (U.S. Season 6)
- Adam Lambert, singer, runner-up of American Idol (Season 8)
- Ted Leo, musician
- Charles Scott Leonard, member of the a cappella group Rockapella
- Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, indie rock band formed in Indianapolis
- Tim McIlrath, musician
- Wes Montgomery, jazz guitarist
- Hal Rayle, voice artist
- Larry Ridley, jazz bassist
- George Shirley, operatic tenor
- Noble Sissle, composer
- Tiara Thomas, singer-songwriter
- Albert Von Tilzer, composer, notably "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
- Keke Wyatt, R&B singer
Politicians
- Maria Cantwell, U.S. Senator from Washington
- André Carson, member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Indiana, second Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress (2008)
- Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th Vice President of the United States (1905–09)
- William T. Francis, United States Ambassador to Liberia (1927–29)[3]
- Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (1889–93); lived and died in Indianapolis
- Thomas A. Hendricks, 21st Vice President of the United States (1863–69)
- Richard Lugar, U.S. Senator from Indiana
- Frank E. McKinney, Democratic Party chairman
- Dan Quayle, 44th Vice President of the United States (1981-1989)
- Ted Stevens, former U.S. Senator from Alaska
- Mark Warner, U.S. Senator from Virginia
Writers
- Margaret C. Anderson, critic, editor and publisher
- Allan Bloom, philosopher and essayist
- Jared Carter, poet
- Janet Flanner, Paris correspondent of The New Yorker
- Hildegarde Flanner, poet
- John Green, award-winning author of The Fault in Our Stars; vlogger
- Joseph Hayes, author
- Charles Major, author
- Booth Tarkington, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
- Kurt Vonnegut, author
- James Whitcomb Riley, poet
Other
- Frank J. Anderson, former Sheriff of Marion County, Indiana (2003-2011)
- Kent Brantly, physician, author, speaker, first American to be treated for the Ebola virus in 2014, TIME Person of the Year 2014
- John P. Donohue, professor, doctor, pioneered treatments for testicular cancer
- John Dillinger, bank robber
- Jared Fogle, Subway restaurant endorser, motivational speaker, and convicted child pornographer
- Ruth M. Gardiner, first nurse killed in action during World War II
- Michael Graves, architect
- Peter Kassig, aid worker, taken hostage and ultimately beheaded by The Islamic State[4]
- Justin Knapp, Wikipedia editor
- Irvine Page, physiologist, former president of the American Heart Association (1956–57)
- Bill Shirk, escape artist, president of Hoosier Broadcasting Corp.
- Avriel Shull, architect
- Ryan White, poster child for AIDS
- David A. Wolf, astronaut
References
