This is a list of people who were born in/raised in, lived in, or have significant relations with the American state of Massachusetts. It includes both notable people born in the Commonwealth, and other notable people who are from the Commonwealth. People from Massachusetts are called "Bay Staters" after the Commonwealth's nickname.
Civil Rights and Activists
Abigail Adams, advocate for women's rights and against slavery; second First Lady; wife of John Adams; mother of John Quincy Adams
Susan B. Anthony, social reformist, suffragist
David Bossie, political activist, president of Citizens United
Frederick Douglass, abolitionist, social reformist
Abby Kelley Foster, suffragist and abolitionist
Elizabeth Fox-Genovese, feminist historian and writer
Elizabeth Freeman, slave in Sheffield; sued for and won freedom on basis of state constitution, 1781
Margaret Fuller, journalist and suffragist
William Lloyd Garrison, abolitionist, journalist, and social reformist
Charles Garry, civil rights attorney
Abbie Hoffman, political activist, co-founder of the "Yippies"
Horace Mann, U.S. Congressman, educationist, and abolitionist
Grover Norquist, president of advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform
Nathaniel Raymond, human-rights investigator and anti-torture advocate
Lucy Stone, suffragist and abolitionist
Neera Tanden, president of Center for American Progress
Quock Walker, slave in Worcester County; won freedom on basis of state constitution, 1781
Malcolm X, civil-rights activist
Elizabeth Borden, murderer, acquitted
James J. "Whitey" Bulger, mobster
Albert DeSalvo, criminal
Thomas DeSimone, gangster
"Anthony the Animal" Fiato, mobster
Stephen "The Rifleman" Flemmi, gangster
Jimmy Flynn, mobster
Mark Foley, U.S. Congressman, criminal
David Gilbert, radical activist
George "Boston George" Jung, smuggler
Bernard "Bernie" McLaughlin, gangster
Edward "Punchy" McLaughlin, gangster
James "Buddy" McLean, mobster
James "Spike" O'Toole, mobster
Jacob D. Robida, criminal
"Handsome Johnny" Roselli, mobster
Frank Salemme, mobster
Frank Wallace, gangster
Howie Winter, mobster
Edwin Adams, comedian, stage actor
Orny Adams, comedian, actor, Teen Wolf
Fred Allen, radio comedian
Anthony Barbieri, comedy writer and performer, Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Mike Birbiglia, comedian
Andrew Bowen, comedian, MADtv
Bo Burnham, comedian
Bill Burr, comedian, actor
Louis C.K., comedian, actor, director, Louie
Mario Cantone, comedian
Steve Carell, comedian, actor, The Office US
Robert Carlock, producer, writer, 30 Rock
Jessica Chaffin, comedian and actor, The Heat
Lenny Clarke, comedian and actor, Rescue Me
Jerry Colonna, comedian, singer
Dane Cook, comedian and actor; Retaliation, Harmful If Swallowed (Arlington)
Nate Corddry, comedian, actor, The Daily Show
Rob Corddry, comedian, actor, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
Rob Delaney, comedian, writer
Jamie Denbo, comedian, actress, Terriers
Nick DiPaolo, comedian
Rachel Dratch, comedian, Saturday Night Live
John Ennis, comedian, actor, Mr. Show with Bob and David
Spike Feresten, comedy writer, television personality
Christian Finnegan, comedian, actor, Are We There Yet?
Gary Gulman, comedian
Pete Holmes, comedian, comedy writer, television personality, voice-over actor
Penn Jillette, comedian, illusionist, juggler, writer
Mindy Kaling, comedian, actress The Office US, The Mindy Project
Robert Kelly, comedian, actor, NYC 22
Jen Kirkman, comedian, actress, writer, SuperNews!
John Krasinski, comedian, actor The Office US
Denis Leary, comedian and actor
Jay Leno, comedian and talk show host
Jason Mantzoukas, comedian and writer, The League
Matt Mira, comedian, writer, and podcaster
Eugene Mirman, comedian and writer, Bob's Burgers
BJ Novak, comedian, actor, head writer of The Office US
Conan O'Brien, comedian and talk show host (Cambridge)
Patrice O'Neal, comedian, writer
John Pinette, comedian, actor
Amy Poehler, comedian, actress, Parks and Recreation
Paula Poundstone, comedian
Joe Rogan, comedian, actor
Faith Salie, comedian, actress, radio host, Significant Others
Lew Schneider, comedian, actor, writer, Everybody Loves Raymond
Matt Selman, writer, producer, The Simpsons
Tom Shillue, comedian, host of Red Eye
Jenny Slate, comedian, actress, Saturday Night Live
Doug Stanhope, comedian
Steve Sweeney, comedian and actor
Jimmy Tingle, comedian and actor
Nancy Walls, comedian, actress
Steven Wright, comedian, actor (Burlington)
Television and film
A–H
Ben Affleck, Oscar-winning screenwriter, director and actor; Good Will Hunting, Armageddon, Argo (Berkeley, California)
Casey Affleck, actor (Falmouth)
Jack Albertson, Academy Award-winning actor
Jane Alexander, Emmy and Tony Award-winning actress
Kristian Alfonso, actress
Christopher Allport, actor
Shawn Andrews, actor
John Ashton, actor
Elizabeth Banks, actress
Susan Batson, actress, producer
Michael Beach, actor
Tobin Bell, actor
Paul Benedict, actor
H. Jon Benjamin, voice actor; Bob's Burgers, Archer (Worcester)
Traci Bingham, actress, model
Vail Bloom, actress
Verna Bloom, actress
Eric Bogosian, actor, playwright; Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Talk Radio (Woburn)
Ray Bolger, actor
Walter Brennan, Academy Award-winning actor
Paget Brewster, actress
Clarence Brown, director
Phil Brown, actor
Wally Brown, actor
Jere Burns, actor
Steve Carell, The Office, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Anchorman (Acton)
Richard Carle, actor
Corey Carrier, actor
Max Casella, actor
Peggy Cass, actress, comedian
John Cazale, actor
John Cena, WWE Champion (West Newbury)
Kevin Chapman, actor
Michael Chiklis, actor
Etan Cohen, screenwriter
Misha Collins, actor
Jennifer Coolidge, actress
Nate Corddry, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Studio 60 (Weymouth)
Rob Corddry, The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, (Weymouth)
Marcia Cross, Desperate Housewives (Marlborough)
Monique Gabriela Curnen, actress
Jane Curtin, actress
Matt Damon, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and actor; Good Will Hunting, The Bourne Identity, The Departed (Cambridge)
Bette Davis, actress
Geena Davis, Academy Award-winning actress; Thelma and Louise (Wareham)
Billy De Wolfe, actor, comedian, singer, voice actor Frosty the Snowman
Ken Doane, WWE Superstar (Worcester)
Ed Donovan, Monster, Acts of Mercy (South Boston)
Jeffrey Donovan, actor; Burn Notice (Amesbury)
Illeana Douglas, actress
Rachel Dratch, Saturday Night Live (Lexington)
Anne Dudek, actress
Olympia Dukakis, Academy Award-winning actress
Eliza Dushku, actress
Richard Dysart, actor
Lisa Edelstein, actress
Ben Edlund, producer, writer
Charles H. Eglee, Emmy Award-winning television producer and writer
Lee Eisenberg, producer, writer
John Enos III, actor
Kathryn Erbe, actress
Chris Evans, actor (Boston)
Charles Farrell, actor
Guy Ferland, film and television director
Betty Field, actress
Alison Folland, actress
Ben Foster, actor
Arlene Francis, actress
Samuel Fuller, director, screenwriter
Sabina Gadecki, model, actress
Christos Gage, screenwriter
Pamela Gidley, actress
Ray Girardin, actor
Paul Michael Glaser, actor, director
Nick Gomez, director
Ruth Gordon, actress
Joey Graceffa, YouTube personality, actor
Sprague Grayden, actress
Ari Graynor, actress
Adam Green, actor, director, screenwriter
Lynnie Greene, actress, writer, producer
Clark Gregg, actor, screenwriter
Scott Grimes, actor
Paul Guilfoyle, actor
Jack Haley, actor
Anthony Michael Hall, actor
Pooch Hall, actor
Neil Hamilton, actor
Jane Hamsher, film producer
Ziad Hamzeh, director, writer, producer
Van Hansis, actor
Jay Harrington, actor
Jesse Heiman, actor
G Hannelius, actress
John Michael Higgins, actor
Nichole Hiltz, actress
Marin Hinkle, actress
Judith Hoag, actress
John Hodgman, The Daily Show, "I'm a PC" in Get a Mac (Brookline)
Hal Holbrook, actor
I–P
Marie Jansen, musical actress
Ann Jillian, actress
Amy Jo Johnson, actress
Chris J. Johnson, actor
JoJo, actress, singer
Jennifer Jostyn, actress
Madeline Kahn, actress, singer
Mindy Kaling, actress; The Office, The Mindy Project (Cambridge)
Ben Karlin, Needham (The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, The Colbert Report)
David E. Kelley, Emmy Award-winning writer and producer
Jean Louisa Kelly, actress
Arthur Kennedy, actor
The Klimaszewski Twins, models, actresses
John Krasinski, The Office (Newton)
Ben Kurland, The Artist (Newton)
Denis Leary, Rescue Me (Worcester)
Matt LeBlanc, Friends (Newton)
Rex Lee, actor
Jack Lemmon, Academy Award-winning actor
Jay Leno, The Tonight Show (Andover)
Joseph E. Levine, producer
Richard Libertini, actor
Laura Linney, actress Northfield Mount Hermon School
Alexander Mackendrick, director
Rob Mariano, Survivor contestant
Nora Marlowe, actor
Erica McDermott, actress
Neal McDonough, actor
Richard McGonagle, actor
Melinda McGraw, actress
Ed McMahon, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, Star Search (Lowell)
Terrence E. McNally, actor
Julie McNiven, actress
Maria Menounos, Entertainment Tonight, Extra (Medford)
Jan Miner, actress
Eugene Mirman, voice actor
William Monahan, screenwriter
Agnes Moorehead, Emmy Award-winning actress
David Morse, actor
Robert Morse, actor, singer
Ebon Moss-Bachrach, actor
Bridget Moynahan, actress
Peter Murnik, actor
Donna Murphy, actress
Alexandra Neil, actress
Barry Newman, actor
Julianne Nicholson, actress
Leonard Nimoy, Star Trek, IMAX voiceover (Boston)
Alessandro Nivola, actor
Edward Norton, American History X, The Incredible Hulk (Boston)
B.J. Novak, The Office (Newton)
Conan O'Brien, Late Night with Conan O'Brien (Brookline)
Tricia O'Kelley, actress
Gretchen Palmer, actress
Benjamin John Parrillo, actor
Estelle Parsons, Academy Award-winning actress
Adrian Pasdar, actor
Elizabeth Perkins, actress
John Bennett Perry, actor
Matthew Perry, actor
Rebecca Pidgeon, actress
Joseph Pilato, actor
Maryann Plunkett, actress
Amy Poehler, Saturday Night Live, Parks and Recreation (Burlington)
Ellen Pompeo, Old School, Grey's Anatomy (Everett)
Robert Preston, actor
Q–Z
Alan Rachins, actor
Natalie Ramsey, actress
Kim Raver, actress Northfield Mount Hermon School
Joseph D. Reitman, actor
James Remar, actor
Patrick Renna, actor
Robert Richardson, Academy Award-winning cinematographer
Alex Rocco, actor
Eli Roth, director, screenwriter, actor; Hostel (Newton)
Harold Russell, Academy Award-winning actor
Kurt Russell, actor, Escape from New York (Springfield)
Damien Sandow, born Aaron Haddad, professional wrestler
Alex Schemmer, actor
Taylor Schilling, actress
Fred J. Scollay, actor
Tom Everett Scott, actor
John Slattery, actor
Hillary B. Smith, actress
Paul L. Smith, actor
Talisa Soto, actress
James Spader, Emmy Award-winning actor; The Blacklist, Boston Legal (Boston)
Andrew Stanton, director, screenwriter, producer
David Starzyk, actor
Skipp Sudduth, actor
Erik Per Sullivan, actor
Liam Kyle Sullivan, the "Kelly" Skits (Boston)
Julie Taymor, director
Casey Patrick Tebo, director
Robin Thomas, actor
Uma Thurman, actress, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill (Amherst)
T. J. Thyne, actor
Maura Tierney, actress
Nancy Travis, actress
Jonathan Tucker, actor
Paige Turco, actress
Anne Twomey, actress
Steven Tyler, actor, musician, TV personality (Lynn, Marshfield)
Steven Van Zandt, actor
Donnie Wahlberg, actor and musician
Mark Wahlberg, actor and former musician; Entourage, The Departed, Ted (Dorchester)
Nancy Walls, Saturday Night Live, The Office (Cohasset)
Barbara Walters, television journalist and personality (Boston)
Johnny Washbrook, child actor
Sam Waterston, actor
William A. Wellman, Academy Award-winning director
Lyle R. Wheeler, Academy Award-winning art director (Woburn)
Brian J. White, actor, dancer
Kristen Wilson, actress
Alicia Witt, actress (Worcester)
Kenny Wormald, dancer, actor
George Wyner, actor
Greg Yaitanes, director
Michael Yebba, actor, screenwriter
Rob Zombie, The Devil's Rejects (Haverhill)
Dean Barnett, occasional fill-in radio host for Hugh Hewitt
Liane Hansen, senior host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday
Ray and Tom Magliozzi, of Car Talk
Leslie Marshall, radio talk host
Henry Joseph Nasiff Jr., former Howard Stern Show regular
Ryen Russillo, sports radio host
Paul Sullivan, radio talk host
Hosts, sportscasters, and television personalities
Tom Bergeron, television personality and game show host
Michelle Bonner, ESPN SportsCenter and ESPNEWS anchor
Howard Bryant, sports journalist for ESPN
Susie Castillo, MTV VJ and 2003 Miss USA
Liz Claman, anchor for Fox Business Network's Countdown to the Closing Bell
Bertha Coombs, general assignment reporter for CNBC
S. E. Cupp, conservative pundit and Crossfire panelist
Fred Cusick, play-by-play announcer for the Boston Bruins
Arwa Damon, video correspondent for CNN International and CNN based in Iraq
Damien Fahey, MTV VJ
Josh Gates, explorer and host of Destination Truth on Syfy network
Ed Herlihy, radio and television announcer
John King, CNN chief national correspondent
Steve Kornacki, political commentator on MSNBC and host of Up
Wayne Larrivee, play-by-play announcer for the Green Bay Packers; previously for the Chicago Bears
Josh Lewin, play-by-play announcer for the Texas Rangers
Sean McDonough, sports announcer for ESPN
Maria Menounos, television presenter for Entertainment Tonight and Access Hollywood
Katie Nolan, Emmy-winning television host for Fox Sports 1
Dave O'Brien, ESPN sportscaster
Lawrence O'Donnell, political commentator on MSNBC and host of The Last Word
Don Orsillo, play-by-play announcer for the San Diego Padres
Gil Santos, WBZ, voice of the New England Patriots
John Sencio, host of Cash In The Attic for HGTV, an MTV VJ during the 1990s, actor and musician
George Stephanopoulos, chief political correspondent for ABC News, co-anchor of Good Morning America
Lesley Visser, sportscaster, Boston Globe sportswriter, co-host of The NFL Today
Suzyn Waldman, sportscaster for WCBS-AM and color commentator for the New York Yankees
Mike Wallace, television personality and journalist, 60 Minutes correspondent
Barbara Walters, television personality and journalist, The View creator and co-host
John Adams,—Braintree
Samuel Adams,—Boston
Benjamin Franklin,—Boston
John Hancock,—Braintree
Pilgrims, the first European settlers (Plymouth Colony, 1620)
Puritans, English settlers in the 16th and 17th centuries (Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1628)
Elizabeth Poole, foundress of Taunton, in 1637; the first woman to have founded a town in the Americas
Herbert Baxter Adams, educator, historian
Louisa May Alcott, author, Little Women (Concord)
Horatio Alger, Jr., author
Amelia Atwater-Rhodes, author, In the Forests of the Night, Demon in my View (Concord)
Mike Barnicle, journalist
Peter Beinart, journalist (Cambridge)
Edward Bellamy, author and socialist
James Bennet, editor-in-chief of The Atlantic
Amalie Benjamin, journalist, The Boston Globe
Elizabeth Bishop, poet (Worcester)
Anne Bradstreet, poet
Joseph Breck, author, magazine editor, publisher (Medfield)
William Cullen Bryant, poet
Augusten Burroughs, Running with Scissors (Amherst)
Robert Ellis Cahill, folklorist, author, some three dozen books on New England history and lore (Salem)
John Casey, author
Robert Cormier, author, columnist (Leominster)
Bernard Cornwell, created Richard Sharpe (Chatham)
E. E. Cummings, poet (Cambridge)
Steve Curwood, journalist, author (Boston)
Stephen Daye, printer
Emily Dickinson, poet (Amherst)
E. J. Dionne, liberal op-ed columnist for The Washington Post (Boston)
W. E. B. Du Bois, author, editor, historian, The Souls of Black Folk (Great Barrington)
Andre Dubus III, author
Will Durant, writer, historian, philosopher (North Adams)
Gordon Edes, sports journalist
Dave Eggers, author
Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet, Nature, The Transcendentalist (Concord)
Dan Fitzpatrick, author (Fairhaven, Shelburne Falls)
George Frazier, journalist (Boston)
Robert Frost, poet (Lawrence)
Linda Gaboriau, dramaturg and literary translator (Boston)
Nicholas Gage, writer and journalist (Worcester)
John Kenneth Galbraith, author, educator, and public official
Peter Gammons, sportswriter (Boston)
Khalil Gibran, artist, poet, writer
George Gilder, author, intellectual (Tyringham)
Ellen Goodman, journalist, syndicated columnist
Edward Gorey, author and illustrator
Nathaniel Hawthorne, author, The Scarlet Letter (Salem)
Nat Hentoff, historian, novelist, music critic (Boston)
George V. Higgins, columnist, author, The Friends of Eddie Coyle
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., poet and essayist (Cambridge)
Helen Maria Hunt Jackson, author
Sebastian Junger, author, journalist
Janice Kaplan, novelist, magazine editor
Marina Keegan, author, playwright (Wayland)
Jack Kerouac, author, On the Road (Lowell)
Ronald Kessler, journalist, author, In the President's Secret Service (Belmont)
Richard Kindleberger, reporter, editor, The Boston Globe (Lincoln)
Peter King, sportswriter, author
Jonathan Kozol, author, educator, activist
Stanley Kunitz, poet, Poet Laureate of the United States (Worcester)
Peter Laird, comic book creator of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Timothy Leary, psychologist, author, Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out (Springfield)
Dennis Lehane, author
Mark Leibovich, journalist and author, The New Imperialists (Boston)
Henry Cabot Lodge, author and public official
Amy Lowell, Pulitzer Prize-winning poet
James Russell Lowell, poet (Fireside Poets)
Robert Lowell, poet
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), author
Michael Patrick MacDonald, author, activist, All Souls (South Boston)
William Manchester, author and biographer
William Marston, comic book writer, co-created Wonder Woman
Tony Massarotti, sportswriter, The Boston Globe (Waltham)
Stephen McCauley, The Object of My Affection (Woburn)
Will McDonough, sportswriter for the Boston Globe (South Boston)
Eileen McNamara, columnist, The Boston Globe (Cambridge)
Susan Minot, novelist, short story writer (Boston, Manchester)
Robin Moore, author, The Green Berets (Boston)
Orson Desaix Munn, publisher of Scientific American (Monson)
Marvin Olasky, author, editor-in-chief of WORLD Magazine
Charles Olson, poet (Worcester)
Robert B. Parker, author (Springfield)
Bliss Perry, literary critic, writer, editor (Williamstown)
Charlie Pierce, sportswriter, political blogger, author
Daniel Pipes, author, In the Path of God (Boston, Cambridge)
Sylvia Plath, poet, author, and essayist, The Bell Jar (Boston)
Edgar Allan Poe, author and poet, "The Raven", "The Fall of the House of Usher" (Boston)
Rufus Porter, founder of Scientific American magazine (Boxford)
Douglas Preston, author, The Book of the Dead (Cambridge)
John Rennie, editor-in-chief of Scientific American magazine
R.A. Salvatore, author (Leominster)
George Santayana, philosopher, essayist, poet, novelist, The Life of Reason (Boston)
Daniel Scott, author, Some of Us Have to Get Up in the Morning, Pay This Amount (Braintree)
Horace Scudder, man of letters, editor
Dr. Seuss, born Theodor Seuss Geisel, author, poet and illustrator (Springfield)
Anne Sexton, poet (Newton)
Mark Shasha, author
Dan Shaughnessy, sportswriter (Groton)
Kyle Smith, film critic, novelist, essayist
Jeff Stein, columnist
Sabrina Tavernise, journalist (Granville)
Michelle Tea, Rent Girl (Chelsea)
Henry David Thoreau, philosopher, author, Walden (Concord)
John Updike, author
Edith Wharton, author
John Greenleaf Whittier, poet and abolitionist
Thomas E. Woods, Jr., author, historian (North Andover)
Jane Yolen, author
Clarence Lionel Adcock, US Army, deputy to General Lucius D. Clay in 1946
Nathaniel M. Allen, soldier in Civil War, awarded Congressional Medal of Honor
George Bancroft, Secretary of the Navy and founder of the US Naval Academy
William Francis Buckley, US Army officer and CIA operative; died in 1985 while being tortured by the Islamist group Hezbollah
George W. Casey, Jr., US Army general and Chief of Staff of the United States Army
Christopher Cassidy, US Navy SEAL, NASA astronaut
Joseph Dunford, United States Marine Corps general, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under Barack Obama
John Wesley Emerson, Civil War commander
General John Galvin, retired US Army; former dean of The Fletcher School at Tufts University
Adolphus Greely, Polar explorer, US Army officer and recipient of the Medal of Honor
Cyprian Howe (1726–1806), colonel in the American Revolutionary War
Henry Knox, officer in the Continental Army, 1st United States Secretary of War
Barry McCaffrey, four-star Army General, Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy
Elmer J. Rogers, Jr. (1903–2002), United States Air Force lieutenant general
George Patton IV (1923–2004), major general in the U.S. Army
Charles Pomeroy Stone, soldier, explorer, and engineer
Ralph Talbot (1897-1918), United States Marine Corps pilot during World War I, Congressional Medal of Honor
John Coolidge Adams (born 1947), composer (contemporary classical with strong roots in minimalism)
Samuel Adler, composer and conductor, lived and studied for a time in Massachusetts before moving to New York
Leroy Anderson (1908–1975), composer of short, light concert pieces
Leonard Bernstein, conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist of Ukrainian Jewish descent
Sarah Caldwell (1924–2006), opera conductor, impresario and stage director of opera
Michael Gandolfi, composer of contemporary classical music
Serge Koussevitzky (Russian: Сергей Александрович Кусевицкий), born in Russia, composer and conductor Boston Symphony Orchestra; professor to Leonard Bernstein, Samuel Adler and Sarah Caldwell
Walter Piston (1894–1976), composer, music theorist and professor of Italian-American descent
Roger Sessions (Roger Huntington Sessions, 1896–1985), composer, critic and teacher
Randall Thompson (1899–1984), composer of choral works
Rock and other music
Akrobatik, rapper
Nuno Bettencourt, singer and guitarist of Extreme
Tracy Bonham, alternative rock musician
Bobby Brown, singer
Michael Burkett (also known as Fat Mike), singer, bassist of NOFX and owner of Fat Wreck Chords, born in Massachusetts
Gary Cherone, rock singer and songwriter
Neil Cicierega, singer and internet cult icon
Ray Conniff, easy-listening recording artist
Rich Cronin, singer, LFO
Danny Davis, country musician
Brad Delp (deceased), lead singer of former bands Boston, RTZ
Nicole Fiorentino, bass guitarist of The Smashing Pumpkins
John Flansburgh, half of They Might Be Giants
Thom Gimbel, rhythm guitar, saxophone, flute, keyboards, vocals Foreigner (band)
Barry Goudreau, guitars, backing vocals for Boston, RTZ, Ernie and the Automatics
Norman Greenbaum, singer
Tom Hamilton, bassist for Aerosmith
Kay Hanley, singer (Letters to Cleo)
Sib Hashian, drums, percussion, backing vocals for Boston, RTZ, Ernie and the Automatics
Juliana Hatfield, guitarist, singer-songwriter
Roy Haynes, jazz musician
Pete Francis Heimbold, of Dispatch
JoJo, singer
Sonya Kitchell, singer-songwriter
Joey Kramer, drummer for Aerosmith
Jordan Knight, singer-songwriter
Phil Labonte, singer, All That Remains
Jack Landrón, folk singer, songwriter
Aaron Lewis, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Staind
John Linnell, one half of They Might Be Giants
Mary Lou Lord, singer, guitarist
Taj Mahal, blues musician
Jonah Matranga, singer/songwriter
J Mascis, singer-songwriters, guitarist for Dinosaur Jr
Andrew McMahon, singer, pianist
Jo Dee Messina, country artist
Angie Miller, singer, songwriter
Mike Ness, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter for Social Distortion
Taecyeon Ok, actor, model, and member of South Korean pop group 2PM.
Joe Perry, guitarist, singer for Aerosmith, The Joe Perry Project
Linda Perry, singer-songwriter
Wanda Perry-Josephs, singer
Bobby "Boris" Pickett, singer ("Monster Mash")
Rachel Platten, singer-songwriter
Ruth Pointer, singer-songwriter of the Pointer Sisters
Alisan Porter, singer-songwriter and retired actress; winner of The Voice season 10
Jonathan Richman, singer-songwriter in The Modern Lovers
David Robinson, drummer, The Cars
Tom Scholz, musician, composer for the band Boston
Carly Simon, musician, singer, composer
Slaine, hip-hop MC
Spider One, singer
Billy Squier, rock musician
Donna Summer, singer-songwriter
James Taylor, singer-songwriter, instrumentalist
Meghan Trainor, singer-songwriter
Chad Stokes Urmston, of Dispatch
Brad Whitford, singer, guitarist for Aerosmith
Alan Wilson, guitarist and singer for the band Canned Heat
Rob Zombie, singer, director
Quinn Sullivan, guitarist, singer
King Philip, war chief (Wampanoag)
Crispus Attucks (see below)
Samoset, first Native American to make contact with the Pilgrims (Abenaki)
Squanto, helped the Pilgrims in their first visit to the New World (Wampanoag)
Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, first Native American graduate of Harvard University (Wampanoag)
Passaconaway, Chief of the Pennacook tribe (Pennacook)
Massasoit, Chief of the Wampanoag tribe in 1621 (Wampanoag)
John Adams, Patriot; 2nd President and 1st Vice President of the United States
Samuel Adams, 4th Governor of Massachusetts and Delegate to the Continental Congress
Crispus Attucks, first casualty of the American Revolutionary War
John Glover, Brigadier General in the Continental Army
John Hancock, 1st and 3rd Governor of Massachusetts and President of the Continental Congress
James Otis, lawyer; known for his catchphrase "No taxation without representation"
Robert Treat Paine, signer of the Declaration of Independence and 1st Attorney General of Massachusetts
William Prescott, Colonel during the Battle of Bunker Hill
Paul Revere, silversmith; Patriot; known for his "Midnight Ride"
Deborah Sampson, disguised herself as a man in the Continental Army
Artemus Ward, Major general in the American Revolution; Congressman from Massachusetts
Dr. Joseph Warren, physician; President of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress
Politics and Government
John Adams, 2nd President and 1st Vice President of the United States
John Quincy Adams, 6th President of the United States
Samuel Adams, 4th Governor of Massachusetts and Delegate to the Continental Congress
Joe Arpaio, sheriff of Maricopa County in Arizona
Michael Bloomberg, 108th Mayor of New York City
James Bowdoin, 2nd Governor of Massachusetts
Edward Brooke, U.S. Senator
George H W Bush, 41st President and 43rd Vice President of the United States
Andrew Card, State Rep., U.S. Secretary of Transportation, White House Chief of Staff
Paul Cellucci, governor and U.S. Ambassador to Canada
Calvin Coolidge, 30th President and 29th Vice President of the United States
P.J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs under President Obama
James Michael Curley, 35th Mayor of Boston and 53rd Governor of Massachusetts
Susan Davis, U.S. Representative of California
Bill de Blasio, 109th Mayor of New York City
Paul Douglas, U.S Senator of Illinois (1949–1967)
Michael Dukakis, 65th and 67th Governor of Massachusetts and 1988 Democratic presidential candidate
Edward Everett, 15th Governor of Massachusetts; U.S. Secretary of State; remembered for his two-hour speech at Gettysburg
Thomas Finneran, Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (1996–2004)
Elbridge Gerry, 5th Vice President of the United States, 9th Governor of Massachusetts, namesake of gerrymandering
Richard Goodwin, speechwriter for John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Robert F. Kennedy; congressional investigator
John Hancock, 1st and 3rd Governor of Massachusetts and President of the Continental Congress
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States
Thomas Hutchinson, Colonial Governor
John F. Kelly, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security under President Donald Trump
Edward M. Kennedy, U.S. Senator
John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
Patrick J. Kennedy, U.S. Congressman
Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Attorney General and U.S. Senator
John Forbes Kerry, U.S. Senator, 2004 Democratic nominee, current U.S. Secretary of State
Harold Hongju Koh, Legal Adviser of the Department of State under President Obama
David Kris, Assistant Attorney General under President Obama
Henry Cabot Lodge, U.S. Senator, led the Senate opposition to the League of Nations
Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., U.S. Senator, 1960 Republican nominee for Vice-President
Ed Markey, U.S. Senator, former member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Gina McCarthy, EPA Administrator under President Obama
John W. McCormack, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives
Thomas Menino, longest-serving mayor of Boston
Ernest Moniz, U.S. Secretary of Energy under President Obama
Tip O'Neill, 55th Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1977–1987)
Peter R. Orszag, Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President Obama
Frances Perkins, U.S. Secretary of Labor (1933–1945) and first woman appointed to the U.S. Cabinet
Mitt Romney, 70th Governor of Massachusetts, 2012 Republican nominee for U.S. president
Warren Rudman, U.S. Senator
Theodore Sedgwick, President pro tempore of the Senate, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
Roger Sherman, signer of Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and U.S. Constitution
Charles Sumner, U.S. Senator
Cass Sunstein, Administrator of the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs under President Obama
John E. Sununu, U.S. Senator of New Hampshire
Jane Swift, first and only female Governor of Massachusetts (acting)
Bill Weld, 68th Governor of Massachusetts, 2016 Vice-Presidential nominee
Henry Wilson, 18th Vice President of the United States, U.S. Senator
John A. Volpe, U.S. Secretary of Transportation under President Nixon and 61st and 63rd Governor of Massachusetts
Francis Ellingwood Abbot, philosopher and theologian
Richard Alpert (Ram Dass), spiritual teacher
Russell Conwell, Baptist minister, orator, philanthropist, lawyer, and writer
Mary Dyer, martyr
Mary Baker Eddy, founder of Christian Science
Ralph Waldo Emerson, Unitarian and Transcendentalist
Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader
Edward Everett Hale, religious leader
John Harvard, clergyman and namesake of Harvard University
Bernard Francis Law, archbishop and cardinal
Emmanuel Lemelson, Greek Orthodox priest, investor and philanthropist
Cotton Mather, minister
Increase Mather, minister
Dwight Lyman Moody, evangelist, founder of the Northfield_Mount_Hermon_School
Edmund Sears, Unitarian parish minister who penned "It Came upon the Midnight Clear" in 1849
Samuel Webber, clergyman, mathematician, and academic
Cyrus Alger, metallurgist, arms manufacturer and inventor
Ethan Allen, co-inventor of the single-action revolver
Johnny Appleseed, pioneer nurseryman
Jerome Apt, astronaut
Nima Arkani-Hamed, theoretical physicist
Elliot Aronson, psychologist
Charlotte Barnum, mathematician
Alexander Graham Bell, inventor
Sir Tim Berners-Lee, World Wide Web; MIT professor
Luther Burbank, horticulturist
William Burt, inventor, surveyor, and millwright
Vannevar Bush, engineer, inventor and science administrator
Rachel Fuller Brown, chemist
Roderick Chisholm, philosopher
Noam Chomsky, linguist
Michael Cohen, first doctor to diagnose Proteus syndrome
Morris Cohen, metallurgist
William D. Coolidge, physicist
Elias James Corey, chemist, Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1990.
William Healey Dall, naturalist, malacologist
Daniel Dennett, cognitive scientist and philosopher
Benjamin Franklin, scientist, diplomat, public official
Robert Goddard, inventor
Charles Goodyear, inventor
Temple Grandin, doctor of animal science and professor at Colorado State University
Sylvester Graham, inventor
Crawford Greenewalt, chemical engineer
Frederick Hauck, NASA astronaut
Elias Howe, inventor
Dan Itse, chemical engineer and New Hampshire public official
Melvin Johnson, prominent firearms designer
Richard Karp, computer scientist, computational theorist
Alan Kay, computer scientist
Nathaniel S. Keith, manufacturer, chemist, inventor, and electrical engineer
Robert Lanza, medical doctor, scientist
Lewis Howard Latimer, inventor and draftsman
Erasmus Darwin Leavitt, Jr., mechanical engineer
Henrietta Swan Leavitt, astronomer
Gilbert N. Lewis, physical chemist, discovered covalent bonds
Robert Lindsay, physicist, specializing in acoustics
Richard Lindzen, atmospheric physicist
Arthur Little, chemist and chemical engineer
Percival Lowell, astronomer
Elizabeth Marston, psychologist, co-creator of Wonder Woman
William Marston, psychologist, co-creator of Wonder Woman
John McCarthy, computer scientist, cognitive scientist
Albert Abraham Michelson, physicist, first American to receive the Nobel Prize in science
Samuel Finley Breese Morse, inventor and artist
William T.G. Morton, dentist and physician
Samuel Morse, painter, co-developer of Morse code
Richard Muther, industrial engineer
Lloyd Ohlin, sociologist and criminologist
Robert T. Paine, ecologist
Charles Sanders Peirce, logician, mathematician, philosopher, and scientist
Jacob Perkins, inventor, mechanical engineer and physicist
Gregory Pincus, scientist, developed birth control pill
Rufus Porter, inventor
Cornelius Rhoads, pathologist and oncologist
Albert Sacco, chemical engineer and Payload Specialist for NASA
John Henry Schwarz, theoretical physicist
Samuel Scudder, entomologist and palaeontologist
Andrew Strominger, theoretical physicist
Benjamin Thompson, physicist and inventor
Edward Thorndike, psychologist
Janice E. Voss, engineer, NASA astronaut
An Wang, inventor, computer engineer, co-founder of Wang Laboratories
Worcester Warner, mechanical engineer, astronomer
Samuel Wellman, inventor of the crucible steel furnace
David Ames Wells, engineer, textbook author, economist
Daniel Wesson, firearms designer
Charles Abiathar White, geologist, paleontologist
Frank C. Whitmore, chemist
Eli Whitney, inventor
Kenneth G. Wilson, theoretical physicist
John Winthrop, mathematician, physicist, astronomer
Robert Wood, physicist, inventor
Sewall Wright, geneticist
Henry Adams, historian
F. Lee Bailey, attorney
Clara Barton, founder of the American Red Cross
Nathaniel Bowditch, mathematician
William M. Bulger, former President of the Massachusetts State Senate and former president of the University of Massachusetts
Donald Davidson, philosopher
Isaac Greenwood, mathematician
Kevin Hassett, economist, specializing in macroeconomics and tax policy
Jill Lepore, historian
Corey Lewandowski, campaign manager for Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign
Carroll Quigley, historian and theorist of the evolution of civilizations
Acharya S, internet personality, conspiracy theorist
Monroe_and_Isabel_Smith, Co-Founder - American Youth Hostels
Lothrop Stoddard, political scientist, historian, journalist, anthropologist, eugenicist
List of people from Massachusetts Wikipedia (Text) CC BY-SA
