Notable North Carolinians

ENTERTAINMENT - SPORTS - ART AND LITERATURE - SCIENCE - OTHER

ENTERTAINMENT

• Musicians
  • Ryan Adams (born 1974 in Jacksonville), singer/songwriter
  • Tori Amos (born 1963 in Newton), singer
  • George Clinton (born 1941 in Kannapolis), funk musician
  • John Coltrane (born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet)
  • Billy "Crash" Craddock (born June 16, 1939 in Greensboro)
  • Charlie Daniels (born 1936 in Wilmington), singer/songwriter
  • Roberta Flack [2] (born February 10, 1937 in Black Mountain)
  • Ben Folds (born September 12, 1966 in Winston-Salem)
  • Blind Boy Fuller [3] (1908–1941, born in Wadesboro), blues guitarist and singer
  • Ben E. King (born 1938 in Henderson), singer/songwriter
  • Del McCoury (born 1939 in Bakersville) bluegrass music legend
  • Ronnie Milsap (born January 16, 1943 in Robbinsville)
  • Thelonious Monk (1917–1982, born in Rocky Mount), jazz & blues pianist
  • Max Roach [4] (1924–2007, born in Pasquotank County [5]), jazz drummer
  • Earl Scruggs [6] (born January 6, 1924 near Shelby, Cleveland County [7])
  • Nina Simone [8] (1933–2003, born in Tryon), singer
  • Billy Taylor (born July 24, 1921 in Greenville)
  • James Taylor [9] (March 12, 1948, moved to Chapel Hill at age 3)
  • Randy Travis [10] (born 1959 in Marshville), country music singer
  • Loudon Wainwright III (born 1946, Chapel Hill), songwriter, folk singer, humorist and actor
  • Doc Watson [11] (born 1923 in Deep Gap), folk guitarist
  • Link Wray (1929–2005, born in Dunn), Pioneering rock musician and songwriter
  • American Idol contestants
    • Clay Aiken [12] (born November 30, 1978 in Raleigh) runner up
    • Fantasia Barrino [13] (born June 30, 1984 in High Point) winner
    • Bucky Covington [14] (born November 8, 1977 in Rockingham) 8th place
    • Chris Daughtry [15] (born December 26, 1979 in Roanoke Rapids) 4th place
    • Anoop Desai [16] (born December 20, 1986 in Cary; raised in Chapel Hill.) 6th, 7th place
    • Scotty McCreery [17] (born October 9, 1993 in Garner) winner
    • Kellie Pickler [18] (born June 28, 1986 in Albemarle) 6th place
  • Hip Hop artists
    • Phonte [19] (born in Greensboro)
    • 9th Wonder [20] (born January 15, 1975 in Winston-Salem)
    • J. Cole [21] (born January 28, 1985 in Germany, moved to Fayetteville at 8 months old)
    • Petey Pablo (born July 22, 1973 in Greenville)
• Actors/Actresses
  • Sandra Bullock (attended East Carolina University in Greenville from 1982-1986)
  • Billy Crudup (born July 8, 1968, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
  • Eileen Fulton (born September 13, 1933 in Asheville)
  • Zach Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969 in Wilkesboro)
  • Ava Gardner [22] (born December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, Johnston County [23])
  • Pam Grier (born 1949 in Winston-Salem), actress
  • Andy Griffith (born June 1, 1926 in Mount Airy)
  • George Grizzard (1928–2007, born in Roanoke Rapids), Emmy and Tony-winning actor
  • Michael C. Hall (born 1971 in Raleigh) actor
  • Andie McDowell (born April 21, 1958 in South Carolina; summer vacation home [24] was in Arden; lived in Asheville from 1998 to 2011)
  • Julianne Moore (born 1960 in Fort Bragg), actress
  • Soupy Sales (1926–2009, born in Franklinton), comedian
  • Amy Sedaris (born March 29, 1961, grew up in Raleigh)
  • Ben Vereen (born 1946 in Laurinburg), actor, entertainer
  • Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987 in Raleigh)
• Media
  • David Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003, born in Wilmington) Newscaster
  • Carl Kasell [25] (born April 2, 1934 in Goldsboro) National Public Radio
  • Howard Cosell (March 25, 1918- April 23, 1995, born in  Winston-Salem) Sportscaster
  • Cecil B. DeMille (1919–1959, born in Washington) film director
  • Gallagher (born 1947 in Fort Bragg), comedian
  • Star Jones (born 1962 in Badin) TV personality
  • Charles Kuralt (September 10, 1934–July 4, 1997, born in Wilmington) TV journalist
  • Doug Marlette (December 6, 1949–July 10, 2007. Born in Greensboro) cartoonist and writer
  • Edward R. Murrow [26] (April 25, 1908-April 27, 1965, born in Pole Cat Creek, Guilford County [27])
  • Charlie Rose (January 5, 1942, born in Henderson) TV journalist
  • Tom Wicker (June 18, 1926– November 25, 2011, born in Hamlet) journalist

SPORTS

• Baseball
  • Jim "Catfish" Hunter [28] (April 8, 1946– September 9, 1999, born in Hertford)
  • Gaylord Perry (born September 15, 1938 in Williamston)
  • Jim Perry (born October 30, 1935 in Williamston)
  • Jack Scott (Aptil 18, 1892, born in Ridgeway)
  • Enos "Country" Slaughter [29] (April 27, 1916- November 30,1959 born near Roxboro)
• Basketball
  • Phil Ford (born February 9, 1956 in Rocky Mount)
  • Bobby Jones (born December 18, 1951 in Charlotte)
  • Michael Jordan (born February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, moved to Wilmington at age 5)
  • Meadowlark Lemon (born April 25, 1932 in Wilmington)
  • Danny Manning (born May 17, 1966 in Hattiesburg, MS, moved to Greensboro)
  • Pete Maravich (attended Broughton High School in Raleigh)
  • Fred "Curly" Neal (born May 19, 1942 in Greensboro)
  • Jacques Dominique Wilkins (born in Paris on January 12, 1960; moved to Washington)
  • James Worthy (born February 27, 1961 in Gastonia)
• Boxing
  • Sugar Ray Leonard [30] (born May 17, 1956 in Rocky Mount)
• Football
  • Kelvin Bryant (born September 26, 1960 in Tarboro)
  • Roman Gabriel [31] (born August 5, 1940 in Wilmington)
  • Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice [32]  (born May 18, 1924 in Asheville)
  • Sonny Jurgenson (born August 23, 1934 in Wilmington)
  • Julius Peppers (born January 18, 1980 in Wilson)
• Racing
  • Dale Earnhardt [33] (born April 29, 1951 in Kannapolis)
  • Junior Johnson (born June 28, 1931 in Wilkes County [34])
  • Richard Petty [35] (born July 2, 1937 in Level Cross)
• Running
  • Marion Jones (born October 12, 1975, 1997 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
• Soccer
  • Mia Hamm [36] (born March 17, 1972 in Alabama)
• Wrestling
  • Vince McMahon (born 1945 in Pinehurst) Chairman of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)

ART AND LITERATURE

• Pulitzer Prize Winners
  • Paul Green [37] (born 17 March 1894 in Lillington) Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1927
  • Hatcher Hughes (12 February 1881 in Polkville) Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1924
  • Vermont Royster (April 30, 1914-July 22, 1996, born in Raleigh) Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing 1953
  • Michael Skube (Raleigh News and Observer) Pulitzer Prize for Journalism- Criticism 1989
  • Claude Sitton (Raleigh News and Observer) Pulitzer Prize for Journalism- Commentary 1983
• Writers
  • Maya Angelou [38] (teaching at Wake Forest University [39] in Winston-Salem since 1991) Doris Betts (born June 4, 1932 in Statesville)
  • Orson Scott Card, sci-fi writer (moved to Greensboro in 1983)
  • Thomas Dixon [40] (1864–1946, born in Shelby), author of Birth of a Nation
  • Charles Frazier [41] (born November 4, 1950 in Asheville)
  • Kaye Gibbons [42] (born May 10, 1960 in Nash County [43])
  • Allan Gurganus (born June 11, 1947 in Rocky Mount)
  • O. Henry [44] (September 11, 1862– June 5, 1910, born in Greensboro)
  • Michael Malone (born in 1956 in Durham), author of comedic and mystery novels, and television writer
  • Jill McCorkle (July 7, 1958 in Lumberton)
  • David Payne (born 1955 in Henderson)
  • Reynolds Price (born February 1, 1933, Macon)
  • Guy Owen (born February 24, 1925–25 July 1981, born in Clarkton, Bladen County [45])
  • Tom Robbins (born 1936 in Blowing Rock), author of the bestselling novel Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and others
  • David Sedaris (born December 26, 1956, grew up in Raleigh sometime before 1968)
  • Betty Smith (lived in Chapel Hill from 1936-1971) wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1943
  • Lee Smith (born in 1944, grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains)
  • Nicholas Sparks (lived in New Bern since 1996)
  • Timothy Tyson (born 1959 in Raleigh) author of Blood Done Sign My Name
  • Thomas Wolfe [46] (October 3, 1900– September 15, 1938, born in Asheville)
• Artists
  • Romare Bearden (1911–1988, born in Charlotte), African-American artist and writer
  • Harvey Littleton (born 1922, opened studio in 1976 in Spruce Pine) glass artist, founder of the American Studio Glass movement

SCIENCE

• Nobel Prize Winners
  • Daniel L. McFadden [47] (born July 29, 1937 in Raleigh) The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences 2000
  • Kary B. Mullis [48] (born December  28, 1944 in Lenoir) Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1993
  • Dr. Oliver Smithies [49] (professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1988) Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology 2007
  • Robert F. Furchgott [50] (born June 4, 1916. 1937 B.S., Chemistry, University of North Carolina) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998
  • Peter Agre [51] (UNC-CH Fellow, hematology/oncology, 1978-1981) Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2003
  • Martin Rodbell [52] (Former UNC-CH adjunct professor) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1994
  • Rudolph Marcus [53] (UNC-CH post-doctoral fellow, 1951; UNC-CH faculty, 1951-1952) Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1992
  • Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings [54] (adjunct professors at the UNC School of Medicine) Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, 1988

OTHER

• Religion
  • Billy Graham (born November 7, 1918 near Charlotte)
  • Anne Graham Lotz (born May 1948 in Montreat) daughter of Billy Graham
  • Franklin Graham (born July 14, 1952 near Asheville) son of Billy Graham
• Military
  • Eugene Gray Payne [55], Major General, USMC. [56] (graduate of North Carolina State University)
• Astronauts
  • Michael J. Smith (April 30, 1945–January 28, 1986, born in Beaufort)
  • Dr. William Thornton, (born April 14, 1929 in Faison)
• Miscellaneous
  • Caleb Bradham (1866–1934, born in New Bern) inventor of Pepsi-Cola
  • Oscar Scott Woody [57] (April 15, 1868-April 15, 1912, born in Roxboro) Mail clerk on board the SS Titanic