A Sampling of Famous and Notable Hoosiers
Entertainment
Leon Ames – actor (Portland)
Anne Baxter – actress (Michigan City)
Avery Brooks – actor (Evansville)
David Canary – actor (Elwood)
Anthony Caruso – actor (Frankfort)
James Dean – actor- (Fairmont)
Joyce Dewitt – actress (Speedway)
Irene Dunne – actress (Madison)
Vivica A. Fox – actress (Indianapolis)
Brendan Fraser – actor (Indianapolis)
Sharon Gabet – actress (Fort Wayne)
Will Geer – actor (New Hope)
Ron Glass – actor (Evansville)
Phil Harris – actor (Linton)
Florence Henderson – actress (Dale)
Janet Jackson – actress/singer (Gary)
Dean Jagger – actor (attended Wabash College)
Ken Kercheval – actor (Wolcottville)
Greg Kinnear – actor (Logansport)
Brian Lamb – founder and CEO of C-Span (Lafayette)
Priscilla Lane – actress (Macy)
David Letterman – comedian and talk show host (Indianapolis)
Elmo Lincoln – actor (Rochester)
Carole Lombard – actress (Fort Wayne)
Shelley Long – actress (Fort Wayne)
Peter Lupus – actor (Indianapolis)
Marjorie Main – actress (Acton)
Karl Malden – actor (Gary)
Ken Maynard – actor (Vevay)
Steve McQueen – actor, (Beech Grove)
Michael Michelle – actress (Evansville)
Betsy Palmer – actress (East Chicago)
Sydney Pollack – director Lafayette)
Herb Shriner – television host and humorist (Fort Wayne)
Red Skelton – radio, film and television comedian (Vincennes)
Forrest Tucker – actor (Plainfield)
Irene Vernon – actress (Mishawaka)
Michael Warren – actor (South Bend))
Clifton Webb – actor (Indianapolis)
Jo Anne Worley – actress and comedian (Lowell)
Dick York – actor (Fort Wayne)
Music
Joshua Bell – violinist (Bloomington)
Jeremy Camp – contemporary Christian musician ( Lafayette)
Hoagy Carmichael – composer. Pianist (Bloomington)
Paul Dresser – songwriter (Terre Haute)
Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds – R&B singer/songwriter (Indianapolis)
Jane Fricke – country music singer (South Whitley)
Bill Gaither – Christian musician/ songwriter (Alexandria)
Crystal Gayle – country music singer (Wabash)
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John Hiatt – rock guitarist (Indianapolis)
Michael Jackson – pop singer/songwriter (Gary)
John Mellencamp – rock singer/ songwriter (Seymour)
Wes Montgomery – jazz guitarist (Indianapolis)
Rich Mullin – Christian singer/songwriter (Richmond)
Cole Porter – composer/songwriter (Peru)
Axl Rose – rock singer (Lafayette)
David Lee Roth – rock singer (Bloomington)
Henry Lee Summer – rock singer/songwriter (Brazil)
Deniece Williams – singer/songwriter (Gary)
The Jackson Five – pop music group (Gary)
The Four Freshman – vocal quartet (Indianapolis)
Sports
William “Dick the Bruiser” Afflis – wrestler (Indianapolis)
Steve Alford – basketball player/coach (NewCastle)
John Andretti – racecar driver (Indianapolis)
Damon Bailey – basketball player (Heltonville)
Larry Bird – basketball player, coach, general manager (French Lick)
Calbert Chaney – basketball player (Evansville)
Len Dawson – football player (West Lafayette
Katie Douglas – basketball player (Indianapolis)
Charles Finley- baseball team owner (LaPorte)
Carl Fisher – built Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indianapolis)
Ford Frick – sportswriter and baseball commentator (Wawaka)
Katie Gearlds – basketball player (Beech Grove)
Jeff Gordon – racecar driver (Pittsboro)
Mark Herrman – football player (Carmel)
Tony Hinkle – basketball player/coach/ athletic administrator (Logansport)
Tony Hulman – owner Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Terre Haute)
Shawn Kemp – basketball player (Elkhart)
Don Lash – track and field athlete (Bluffton/Auburn)
Rick Mount – basketball player (Lebanon)
Ryan Newman – racecar driver (South Bend)
Oscar Robertson – basketball player (Indianapolis)
Scott Skiles – basketball player (Plymouth)
Tony Stewart – racecar driver (Columbus)
Brad Stephens – basketball coach (Zionsville)
Hank Stram – football player (Gary)
Major Taylor – cyclist (Indianapolis)
Bonzi Wells – basketball player (Muncie)
John Wooden – basketball player/ coach (Martinsville)
Mike Woodson – basketball player (Indianapolis)
Rod Woodson – football player (Fort Wayne)
Fuzzy Zoeller – golfer (New Albany)
Miscellaneous
Johnny Appleseed – folk legend (buried in Fort Wayne)
Bill Blass – fashion designer (Fort Wayne)
Frank Borman – astronaut (Gary)
Ambrose Burnside – Civil War general (Liberty)
Charles Conn – musical instrument maker (Elkhart)
George Rogers Clark – Revolutionary War hero (Clarksville)
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Amelia Earhart – fight pioneer (West Lafayette)
Steve Ellis – founder of Chipotle restaurants (Indianapolis)
Jared Fogle – Subway spokesperson (Indianapolis)
Kevin Ford – astronaut (Portland)
Roy Halston Frowock – fashion designer (Evansville)
Richard Gatling – inventor of the Gatling gun (Indianapolis)
Mother George – Civil War nurse (Fort Wayne)
Gus Grissom – astronaut (Mitchell)
Elwood Haynes – automobile inventor (Kokomo)
Jimmy Hoffa – labor leader (Brazil)
Brian Lamb – created C-SPAN television
Eli Lilly – pharmaceutical magnet (Indianapolis)
Jane Pauley – television journalist (Indianapolis)
Sarah Purcell – talk show host (Richmond)
Orville Redenbacher – popcorn manufacturer (Valparaiso
Alvah Curtis Roebuck – cofounder of Sears and Roebuck (Lafayette)
Harlan Sanders – founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken (Henryville)
John Schnatter – founder of Papa John’s Pizza (Jeffersonville)
Will Shortz – New York Times crossword puzzle writer/NPR radio host (Crawfordsville)
Tavis Smiley – talk show host, commentator, writer (Kokomo)
Nancy Snyderman – medical journalist (Fort Wayne)
Katie Stam – Miss America (Seymour)
David and Peter Turnley – international photographers and Pulitzer Prize recipient (Fort Wayne)
David Wolf – astronaut (Indianapolis)
Wilbur Wright – airplane inventor (Millville)
John Poindexter- national security advisor under Reagan (Odon)
Writers
George Ade - (Kentland)
Charles Beard- (Knightstown)
Sarah Bolton – Madison and Indianapolis)
Morman Bridwell – (Kokomo)
Meg Cabot – (Bloomington)
Beatirce Shenk DeRegniers – (Lafayette)
Lloyd Douglas – (Monroeville)
Theodore Dreiser – (Terre Haute)
Edward Eggleston – (Vevay)
Mari Evans - Indianapolis
Karen Joy Fowler – (Bloomington)
John Green – (Indianapolis)
Richard Gruelle – (Indianapolis)
Kin Hubbard – (Indianapolis)
Emily Kimbrough – (Muncie)
Haven Kimmel – (Mooreland)
Kathryn Lasky – (Indianapolis)
Ross Lockridge – (Bloomington)
Charles Major – (Shelbyville)
Meredith Nicholson – (Crawfordsville)
Gene Stratton Porter – (Geneva)
Ernie Pyle – (Dana)
Phyllis Naylor Reynolds – (Poplar)
James Whitcomb Riley – (Indianapolis, Greenfield)
Scott Russell Sanders – (Bloomington)
Sandy Sasso – (Indianapolis)
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Rex Stout – (Noblesville)
Booth Tarkington- author (Indianapolis)
James Alexander Thom – (Indianapolis)
Kurt Vonnegut – (Indianapolis)
Lew Wallace – (Crawfordsville)
Art and Architecture
William Merritt Chase- painter (Nineveh)
Jim Davis – cartoonist (Fairmont)
William Forsyth – painter (Indianapolis)
Marie Goth – painter (Indianapolis)
Michael Graves – architect (Indianapolis)
Robert Indiana – sculptor (New Castle)
John McCutcheon – cartoonist (Lafayette)
Overbeck sisters – potters (Centerville)
Bill Peet – Disney artist/illustrator and author (Grandview)
Janet Scudder – sculptor (Terre Haute)
Otto Stark – painter (Indianapolis)
T.C. Steele – painter (Indianapolis)
Politics
Birch Bayh – U.S. Senator (Terre Haute)
Evan Bayh – governor and U.S. Senator (Indianapolis)
Otis Bowen – governor, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (Bremen)
Schuyler Colfax – Vice President (South Bend)
Eugene V. Debs – union leader and Presidential candidate (Terre Haute)
Charles W. Fairbanks –U.S. senator, Vice President (Indianapolis)
Benjamin Harrison – President of the United States
John Hay – diplomat, secretary to Abraham Lincoln (Salem)
Thomas Hendricks – senator, governor, Vice President (Indianapolis)
Abraham Lincoln – President of the United States (New Salem)
Richard Lugar – U.S. senator (Indianapolis)
Thomas Marshall – governor, Vice President (Columbia City)
Sherman Minton – Supreme Court justice ((New Albany, Georgetown)
John Poindexter – National Security Advisor ((Washington)
Dan Quayle – U.S. Senator, Vice President (Huntington)
John Roberts – Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (Long Beach)
William Ruckelshaus – Head of the EPA, U.S. Attorney General (Indianapolis)
Wendell Willkie – presidential candidate (Elwood)
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