List of people from South Orange, New Jersey

Notable current and former residents of South Orange, New Jersey include:

• Platt Adams (1885–1961), athlete who won a gold medal in the standing high jump and a silver medal in the standing long jump at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.^[1]
• Paul Auster (born 1947), author known for works blending absurdism and crime fiction^[2]
• Louis Bamberger (1855–1944), department store founder and philanthropist^[3]
• Jane Barus (1892–1977), member of the Constitutional convention that formulated the 1947 New Jersey State Constitution^[4]
• Kelly Bishop (born 1944), actress, current resident^[5][6][7]
• Zach Braff (born 1975), actor on the TV series Scrubs; writer and director of the movie Garden State^[8]
• Andre Braugher (born 1962), actor, current resident^[9]
• Chris Broussard (born 1968), sports analyst for ESPN, current resident^[10]
• Chris Browne (born 1952), cartoonist, Hägar the Horrible^[11]
• Mark Bryant (born 1965), former NBA player^[12]
• James Delany (born 1948), commissioner of the Big Ten Conference^[13]
• John Dossett (born c. 1958), actor, current resident^[14]
• Asher Brown Durand (1796–1886), painter^[15]
• John Franklin Fort (1852–1920), 33rd Governor of New Jersey, 1908–1911^[16]
• Jared Gilman (born 1998), actor who appeared in the film Moonrise Kingdom^[17]
• Lauryn Hill (born 1975), musician, solo and with the The Fugees^[18]
• Jerome Hines (1921–2003), opera singer with the Metropolitan Opera^[19]
• Andrew Jacobs, New York Times journalist; documentary film director and producer^[20]
• Wyclef Jean (born 1969), member of The Fugees^[21]
• James Kaplan (born 1951), novelist^[22]
• Peter W. Kaplan (1954–2013), newspaper editor best known for his 15-year-long stint as Editor-In-Chief of The New York Observer^[23]
• Stacey Kent (born 1968), singer and recording artist Blue Note Records^[24]
• Alfred Kinsey (1894–1956), sex researcher, who moved to the town in 1904^[25]
• Michael Lally (born 1942), poet and author^[26]
• Frank Langella (born 1938), actor^[27]
• Lee Leonard (born 1929), journalist, current resident, husband of Kelly Bishop^[6]
• Joe Martinez (born 1983), Major League Baseball pitcher who has played for the San Francisco Giants, Cleveland Indians and Arizona Diamondbacks^[28]
• Elmer Matthews (1927–2015), lawyer and politician who served three terms in the New Jersey General Assembly.^[29]
• Sean McCourt, Broadway actor^[14]
• Walter I. McCoy (1859–1933), represented New Jersey's 8th congressional district, 1911–1913, and the 9th district, 1913–1914; village trustee 1893–1895, 1901–1905, and in 1910^[30]
• T. S. Monk (born 1949), jazz musician^[31]
• Michele Pawk (born 1961), actor^[14]
• Thomas J. Preston, Jr. (1862–1955), professor of archeology at Princeton University; married Frances Cleveland, widow of President Grover Cleveland^[32]
• James Rebhorn (1948–2014), actor, Independence Day, Meet the Parents^[33]
• Don Rogers (born 1936), former NFL and AFL offensive lineman.^[34]
• Alan Sagner (born 1920), politician, businessman and philanthropist who served as New Jersey Commissioner of Transportation, as Chairman of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and as Chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.^[35]
• Andrew Shue (born 1967), actor; co-founder of CafeMom^[36]
• Elisabeth Shue (born 1963), actress^[37]
• Joel Silver (born 1952), director and producer^[38]
• Kiki Smith (born 1954), artist^[39]
• Tony Smith (1912–80), sculptor^[40]
• Kevin Spacey (born 1959), actor^[41]
• Jeff Van Note (born 1946), former Atlanta Falcons player and Georgia Tech broadcaster^[42]
• Jeffrey Vanderbeek, owner of the New Jersey Devils.^[43]
• Dionne Warwick (born 1940), singer^[44]
• Max Weinberg (born 1951), drummer for E-Street Band and Late Night with Conan O'Brien^[45]
• Lonnie Wright (1944–2012), professional basketball and football player; played in the same season for the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association and the Denver Broncos of the American Football League before switching to basketball on a full-time basis^[46]
• Aaron D. Wyner (1939–1997), information theorist noted for his contributions in coding theory^[47]

References

1. Staff. "Platt Adams, Former Olympic Champion, Made Chief Boxing Inspector in Jersey", The New York Times, March 25, 1923. Accessed October 12, 2015. "Assemblyman Platt Adams of South Orange, one of the Republican delegation from Essex County was named Chief Boxing Inspector under the new Stevens bill today."
2. Begley, Adam. "Case of the Brooklyn Symbolist", The New York Times, August 30, 1992. Accessed September 19, 2008. "The grandson of first-generation Jewish immigrants, he was born in Newark in 1947, grew up in South Orange and attended high school in Maplewood, 20 miles southwest of New York."
3. Staff. "GET GOOD-WILL CITATIONS; Three Essex County Residents Honored by Civic Groups", The New York Times, February 28, 1941. Accessed February 1, 2011.
4. Staff. "Jane Barus, Jersey Civic Leader And Women Voters Official, Dies", The New York Times, August 13, 1977. Accessed December 7, 2013.
5. Robertson, Campbell. "‘Chorus Line’ Returns, as Do Regrets Over Life Stories Signed Away", The New York Times, October 1, 2006. Accessed March 25, 2012. "Caption: Kelly Bishop, performing as Sheila in “A Chorus Line,” top, and last week in her home in South Orange, N.J."
6. "Theater; Two Mature Lives on Stage and Screen, Now Playing in New Jersey", The New York Times, September 19, 1999. "She and her husband, Lee Leonard, the host of Jersey Talking on News 12 in Edison, have been living in South Orange for four years."
7. Worth-Baker, Marcia."Mother's Always Right: Kelly Bishop has played the mother many times over", Maplewood matters, accessed April 22, 2007. "Ask Kelly Bishop, South Orange resident and star of Gilmore Girls, what drew her to the role of Emily Gilmore, and she recalls, 'The pilot was simply the best script I ever read.'"
8. Scrubs cast profile of Zach Braff, accessed December 26, 2006
9. Andre Braugher, TV.com, accessed April 7, 2007. "Braugher has been busy at home as well; in 1991 he married writer/actress Ami Brabson, who portrayed his wife on Homicide, and they are currently residing in South Orange, New Jersey, with their two sons, Michael (born in 1992) and Isaiah (born in 1996)."
10. Smith, Brian. "Hoops for a haven: Game to benefit Project Oasis", The Montclair Times, May 6, 2010. Accessed June 3, 2011. "Cummings, Montclair born and bred, and ESPN colleague Chris Broussard, a South Orange resident, grew tired of jawing back and forth about which of their towns would win a pick-up hoops game. Spectators will, if enough creaky bodies remain upright, find out tomorrow."
11. “Hagar” Cartoonist Featured in Conference at Augustana, Augustana College (South Dakota) press release, dated September 6, 2005. Accessed August 19, 2007. "Browne was born in South Orange, N.J., in 1952, and grew up in suburban Wilton, Conn."
12. Martinez, Michael. "College Basketball '87: Seton Hall; Carlesimo starts to lookup", The New York Times, January 11, 1987. Accessed March 15, 2012. "The team's pivotal player is Mark Bryant, a 6-foot-9-inch junior from South Orange, who had 24 points and 15 rebounds against Georgetown."
13. Staff. "Big Ten Commissioner, Jim Delany", Chicago Tribune. Accessed July 28, 2011. "The 62-year old Delany is a native of South Orange, N.J. He received his undergraduate degree in political science from the University of North Carolina in 1970 and juris doctorate degree from the University of North Carolina School of Law in 1973."
14. Rockland, Kate. "Where the Midtown Direct, Oz and Springsteen Meet", The New York Times, December 25, 2005. Accessed February 3, 2008. "But amid the hustle and bustle came the strains of the decidedly un-Oz-like Bruce Springsteen album The Rising. Following that music -- like the Yellow Brick Road -- led to the dressing room of the actor Sean McCourt, who lives in South Orange.... Mr. McCourt recently helped John Dossett and Michele Pawk, two stars of the Abba musical Mamma Mia! move into a house in his neighborhood."
15. "AN OLD-TIME ARTIST DEAD.; WHAT AMERICAN ART OWES TO ASHER BROWN DURAND.", The New York Times, September 20, 1886. Accessed July 15, 2008.
16. New Jersey Governor John Franklin Fort, National Governors Association. Accessed August 1, 2007.
17. Maynard-Parisi, Carolyn. " Maplewood Rolls Out Red Carpet for Local Movie Stars; Maplewood Theater hosts a premiere of Wes Anderson's Moonrise Kingdom, featuring two hometown boys.", SouthOrangePatch, June 12, 2012. Accessed November 19, 2012. "South Orange teen Jared Gilman and Maplewood resident Wyatt Ralff, actors in the critically acclaimed Wes Anderson film Moonrise Kingdom, will be on hand for a special local premiere of the film on Thursday, June 14 at 6:30 p.m. at the Maplewood Theater."
18. That thing: Lauryn Hill sets Grammy record, CNN.com, February 24, 1999. "Hill, a native of South Orange, New Jersey, saw her musical career take off after critics heard her gritty alto performance on the Fugees' 1993 debut, 'Blunted on Reality.'"
19. Smolowe, Jill. "A Film About Hope", The New York Times, July 16, 1978. Accessed March 15, 2012. "Together, they wrote the script, which is narrated by Jerome Hines of South Orange, the opera star."
20. Haley Sweetland Edwards (March 27, 2009). "A Homegrown Director who had to tell this Story", The New York Times
21. Baker, Steven; and Hoppock, Julia. "Nightline Playlist: Wyclef Jean - The Haitian Hip-Hop Artist Shares the Inspiration Behind His Music", ABC News, December 8, 2007. Accessed December 28, 2008. "Jean was thrust into music at the age of 3 when he sang at his father's church. He immigrated to the United States with his family in 1981, living in Brooklyn for a year and then moving to South Orange, N.J. "
22. Kaplan, James. "Hanging On In The Burbs; Too Rich For Their Blood", The New York Times, April 9, 2000. Accessed February 1, 2011. "Neighboring South Orange, where I grew up (the two communities shared a school system), was the first stop for Jewish Americans migrating west from Newark -- there was plenty of new money, and even a fancy neighborhood for it (piquantly named Newstead) at the top of the hill."
23. Lee, Edmund. "Peter W. Kaplan, Who Made News From New York’s Rich, Dies at 59", Bloomberg News, November 30, 2013. Accessed December 1, 2013. "Peter Wennik Kaplan was born on Feb. 10, 1954, in South Orange, New Jersey. His father, Robert, was an executive at a clothing firm and his mother, Roberta Wennik, was a psychotherapist. Kaplan grew up in northern New Jersey, making the occasional trip to New York."
24. Radanovich, John. "Stacey Kent is the American Songbook idol", The Record (Bergen County), October 22, 2004.
25. Rhodes, Richard. "Father of the Sexual Revolution: A new biography of the man who studied sex the same way he studied insects.", The New York Times, November 2, 1997. Accessed July 30, 2007. "Kinsey suffered a rigid, inhibited childhood, growing up in Hoboken and South Orange, N.J., under the thumb of a dictatorial petit-bourgeois father who taught at the Stevens Institute."
26. Stewart, Susan. "Food, Drink, and Plenty of Literary Dish", The New York Times, November 25, 2007. Accessed July 28, 2011. "Michael Lally, a New Jersey poet, did not seem to be suffering from a surfeit of fame. He sat at the writers’ table and waited his turn at the lectern.... Mr. Lally read next, from a work-in-progress he called “Poor Moth Boy on the Moon,” about growing up Irish Catholic in South Orange, N.J."
27. Venutolo, Anthony. "From heroes to villains, Frank Langella finds the heart in them all", The Star-Ledger, November 29, 2008. Accessed June 14, 2011. "The family moved to South Orange, where Langella graduated from Columbia High School before heading off to Syracuse to study drama."
28. Costa, Brian. "Seton Hall Prep product Joe Martinez still recovering after taking line drive to head while pitching for San Francisco Giants", The Star-Ledger, May 18, 2009. Accessed February 11, 2012. "Joe Martinez was laying in a San Francisco hospital bed last month, his right eye swollen and black and blue, when something on TV caught his attention. It was him. After four years in the minor leagues, the South Orange native wasn't just pitching for the Giants. He was being talked about on ESPN. But not for the reason he had envisioned."
29. Staff. "Elmer M. Matthews, veteran, lawyer and former N.J. legislator, dies", Palm Beach Daily News, February 7, 2015. Accessed November 23, 2015. "Elmer M. Matthews of Palm Beach and Sea Girt, N.J., died Thursday, Feb. 5, 2015, after a brief illness. He was 87. Born in Orange, N.J., Mr. Matthews lived in South Orange, Verona, Bernardsville and Sea Girt, N.J., before moving to Palm Beach."
30. Walter Irving McCoy biography, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed August 3, 2007.
31. Ratliff, Ben. "Nellie Monk, 80, Wife, Muse And Mainstay of a Jazz Legend", The New York Times, June 27, 2002. Accessed April 5, 2015. "She is survived by her son, Thelonious Monk Jr. (known as T. S. Monk) of South Orange, N.J., a drummer, composer and chairman of the Thelonious Monk Institute; a grandson, Thelonious Monk IV; and a granddaughter, Sierra."
32. Staff. "Dr. T. J. Preston Jr., Educator, Was 93", The New York Times, December 26, 1955. Accessed February 11, 2012.
33. Filichia, Peter. "Actor reflects on 'Luck,' parenthood and hard work", The Star-Ledger, May 3, 2002. Accessed August 1, 2007. "James Rebhorn, 53, is one of those actors whose name you may not know, but you never forget his face, from such films as 'Meet the Parents,' 'The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle' and 'The Talented Mr. Ripley.' Now the South Orange resident is appearing on Broadway in Arthur Miller's first play, 'The Man Who Had All the Luck,' which closed after only four performances in 1944."
34. Staff. "Birds Hope To Lanch On One Of Best Years", The Gamecock, November 7, 1958. Accessed October 21, 2015. "Up front the Gamecocks have a solid line, anchored by two of the conference's best tackles, Ed Pitts of Clinton and Don Rogers of South Orange, N. J."
35. Oser, Alan S. "About Real Estate New Project by Sagner Reflects Weakness in Jersey Sales", The New York Times, November 28, 1980. Accessed March 28, 2016. "Mr. Sagner lives in South Orange and he is producing customized homes meant to appeal to many of his affluent neighbors -- those who have perhaps tired of caring for their finely landscaped private houses."
36. Zimbabwe RPCV Andrew Shue founds "Do Something", Horizon magazine, September 1, 2003. "Shue and Do Something president Sanchez grew up together in South Orange, N.J., where, at 14, Shue became a Boy Scout dropout, mostly because the troop's weekend excursions cramped his soccer schedule."
37. A new Shue, South Orange Journal, June 27, 2006. "Belated congratulations to South Orange's own Elisabeth Shue and her husband, film director Davis Guggenheim--they recently became third-time parents with the birth of their daughter Agnes."
38. Madigan, Nick. "Producer honoree Silver agonizes over 'the process': The 'gyroscopic force of inertia' in films make filmmaking difficult", Variety (magazine), August 27, 2001. Accessed July 30, 2007. "Silver acknowledges that his movies may not leave the same legacy as the classics he watched growing up in South Orange, N.J., like The Guns of Navarone, Lawrence of Arabia or The Dirty Dozen."
39. Tony Smith Sculpture Project, Lennie Pierro Memorial arts Foundation. Accessed August 31, 2011. "Today Kiki Smith, Tony’s daughter, is one of the foremost artists of her generation. Her sister, Seton, a photographer, is also well known in the art world. Both grew up in South Orange and attended Columbia High School."
40. McGlone, Peggy. "Tony Smith's sculpture 'TAU' installed in South Orange", The Star-Ledger, November 19, 2008. Accessed July 28, 2011. "Despite the set-back, Judy Wukitsch is extactic [sic]. Co-founder (with her husband, the late Lennie Pierro) of the town's municipal art gallery, Wukitsch is the driving force behind the effort to bring a Tony Smith sculpture to South Orange. Smith -- renowned teacher, architect, sculptor and painter -- was born, raised, lived and worked in South Orange. To have his massive work installed in the town park is a dream that's six years in the making."
41. "Kevin Spacey: The unusual suspect", BBC News, February 5, 2003, accessed April 22, 2007. "Kevin Spacey was born Kevin Spacey Fowler in South Orange, New Jersey in 1959, the son of a secretary and a technical writer."
42. Jeff Van note, database Football. Accessed December 23, 2007.
43. Caldwell, Dave. "HOCKEY; Wall Street Executive To Purchase Devils", The New York Times, March 3, 2004. Accessed October 21, 2015. "Vanderbeek said he had been a Devils season-ticket holder for about 15 years. Before he moved to Warren, N.J., Vanderbeek lived in South Orange, not far from the team training complex in West Orange."
44. Suhay, Lisa. "Jerseyana; Uncovering the Tracks Left by State's Women", The New York Times, December 12, 1999. Accessed March 26, 2008. "So such prominent New Jerseyans as the author Judy Blume from Elizabeth; the choreographer Ruth St. Denis and the ballerina Patricia McBride of Newark; the singers Lauren Hill and Dionne Warwick of South Orange, Whitney Houston, Connie Francis and Sarah Vaughan, all of Newark; the actresses Brooke Shields of Englewood and Daisey Fuentes of Newark, and the author Ann Morrow Lindbergh must die before qualifying for a stop on the tour."
45. Hoffman, Jan. "PUBLIC LIVES; A Drummer on a Roll Revisits His Past Life", The New York Times, June 29, 2000. Accessed July 28, 2011. "But when Mr. Springsteen bade the band adieu, Mighty Max reverted to Max Weinberg from South Orange, N.J., becoming just another unemployed drummer with a sore back and seven hand surgeries."
46. Moss, Irv. "Lonnie Wright, who played for both the Broncos and Nuggets, dies at the age of 67", The Denver Post, March 24, 2012. Accessed March 25, 2012. "One word was standard Friday for everyone who talked about Lonnie Wright, who died earlier in the day at his home in South Orange, N.J., from congestive heart failure at age 67."
47. Burkhart, Ford. "Aaron D. Wyner, 58; Helped Speed Data Around the Globe", The New York Times, October 13, 1997. Accessed February 11, 2012. "Aaron D. Wyner, an information theorist at Bell Laboratories whose research is central to the way data move through modem or satellite network, died on Sept. 29 at Morris Hills Nursing Home in Morristown, N.J. He was 58, and lived in South Orange, N.J."