List of people from the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

A

• Sir Elkanah Armitage – industrialist and Mayor of Manchester; born in Failsworth
• Mike Atherton – broadcaster, journalist and retired cricketer for Lancashire and England; born in Failsworth

B

• Vera Baird – Labour politician, MP for Redcar, author and barrister
• Bobby Ball – one half of comedy double act Cannon and Ball; born in Boundary Park General Hospital
• Tony Barber − radio and television host and Gold Logie winner
• Lydia Becker – leading 19th-century suffragette, born in Chadderton's Foxdenton Hall
• Hannah Beswick – woman who was so afraid of being buried alive that she insisted on her body being embalmed and kept above ground
• Christopher Biggins – television presenter, pantomime actor and winner of 2007's I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!
• Scholes Birch – first-class cricketer
• Lally Bowers – actress, and next door neighbour to Dora Bryan
• Richard Bowker - railway businessman
• Helen Bradley – 20th-century oil painter born in Lees in 1900
• Benjamin Brierley – Failsworth-born weaver, poet and writer in Lancashire dialect
• Louise Brown – world's first baby conceived by in vitro fertilisation; born in Oldham General Hospital
• Dora Bryan – Parbold-born actress, best known for her role in A Taste of Honey and as Roz in Last of the Summer Wine
• Will Buckley – footballer for Sunderland

C

• Tommy Cannon – one half of comedy double act Cannon and Ball
• Ronald Castree – murderer convicted for the killing of Lesley Molseed
• Laurence Chaderton – one of the original translators of the Authorized King James Version of the Bible
• Brian Clarke – Oldham-born architectural artist and painter known for his work in stained glass
• J. R. Clynes – Labour politician, MP for Manchester North East, Leader of the Labour Party, 1921–22
• Olivia Cooke – TV and film actress known for Bates Motel, Ouija and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl; from Oldham
• Jodie Connor – recording artist, lyricist, fashion model and goodwill ambassador for The Prince's Trust; from Shaw and Crompton
• Nicholas Connor – film director, born in Oldham
• Carl Cox – record producer and DJ, born in Oldham
• Brian Cox – Chadderton-born television presenter, particle physicist, Royal Society research fellow, and professor at the University of Manchester
• Bernard Cribbins – character actor and musical comedian
• Don Cupitt – English philosopher of religion and scholar of Christian theology

D

• Agyness Deyn – Failsworth-raised supermodel
• David Dyson - naturalist, scientific collector, curator and weaver

E

• Paul Edwards – ex-association footballer who played for Manchester United, Oldham Athletic and Stockport County
• Karen Elson – Chadderton-raised supermodel and singer-songwriter

F

• Kate Fenton – Failsworth-born novelist and former BBC radio producer
• Siobhan Finneran – Oldham-born television, film and theatre actress; Happy Valley and The Loch
• George Ford – Oldham-born England rugby union player
• Des Foy – Great Britain, Ireland and Oldham rugby league footballer; Director of Rugby League Ireland
• Roy Fuller – Failsworth-born writer, known mostly as a poet

G

• Ian Greaves – Shaw and Crompton-born association football player and manager; one of the Busby Babes
• Nick Grimshaw – television presenter and DJ; raised in Oldham
• Shobna Gulati – Oldham-born actress, writer and dancer

H

• Terry Hall – pioneering ventriloquist and early children's television entertainer
• Philip Gilbert Hamerton – etcher, painter and art critic; born in Crompton in 1834
• Graham Harding – cricketer
• Paul Harrison – Oldham-born writer on environment and development; founder of the World Pantheist Movement
• Jack Hilton – British novelist, essayist, and travel writer
• John Hogan – Royton-born recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the British and Commonwealth forces
• Prof Arthur Hutchinson – professor of dentistry

I

• Inspiral Carpets – Madchester/indie rock band

J

• Nicole Jackson – professional ice hockey player for Göteborg HC and the Great Britain women's national ice hockey team
• Lee Jasper – race equality activist and champion of over 30 years originally from Manchester
• Suranne Jones – Chadderton-born actress who played Karen McDonald in Coronation Street
• William Joyce – Brooklyn-born fascist politician and Nazi propagandist; short-term resident of Glodwick in Oldham

K

• Annie Kenney – one of the first suffragettes to be imprisoned for protesting for women's suffrage
• Ian Kershaw – historian, regarded by many as one of the world's leading experts on Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany
• Anne Kirkbride – soap opera actress best known for playing Deirdre Barlow in Coronation Street
• Jack Kirkbride – cartoonist who worked for the Oldham Evening Chronicle
• John Kneller – English-American professor and fifth President of Brooklyn College
• Barbara Knox – soap opera actress best known for playing Rita Sullivan in ''Coronation Street''

L

• Sarah Lancashire – Oldham-born television actress
• [John Lees, Greater Manchester|Lees (inventor)|John Lees] – Royton-born inventor who made a substantial improvement to machinery for carding cotton in 1772
• Joseph Lees – regional dialect poet from Glodwick; wrote Jone o Grinfilt
• Ralf Little – television actor, best known for his roles in The Royle Family and Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps
• Eric Longworth – Shaw-born actor, best known for his semi-regular part in sitcom Dad's Army, as the town clerk of Walmington-on-Sea

M

• Michelle Marsh – glamour model and page 3 girl
• Matthew Maynard – former England Test cricketer
• William McDougall – Chadderton-born psychologist and writer of several highly influential textbooks
• Liz McInnes – former Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton North
• Fergus Mills – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
• Simon Moore – cricketer

N

• N-Trance – dance music producers

O

• Kieran O'Brien – actor who gained notoriety for his role in the 2004 film 9 Songs
• Mark Owen – member of boyband Take That; born and raised in Oldham

P

• David Platt – association footballer, formerly captain of the England national football team; born in Chadderton
• Tony Prince – British radio disc jockey and businessman

R

• Tony Radakin – senior Royal Navy officer
• Akke Rahman – British Bengali mountaineer
• Alan Rankle – artist
• Jim Ratcliffe – founder and CEO of Ineos, raised in Failsworth
• Hervey Rhodes, Baron Rhodes – Greenfield-born Labour party politician and life peer
• Andy Ritchie – former Oldham Athletic player and manager
• Roy Rolland – comedian and stage actor who appeared as Old Mother Riley from the 1950s to 1980s
• Alan Rothwell – actor and television presenter
• Clive Rowe – actor

S

• Sahil Saeed – British Pakistani from Shaw and Crompton who was kidnapped for ransom in Pakistan in 2010
• Phillip Schofield – Oldham-born television presenter
• Paul Sculthorpe – England and St Helens RLFC player and captain
• Ruth Shevelen – trampoline gymnast
• Julian Shevlin – violinist; principal Concert Master with Munich Philharmonic
• Edward Sinclair – television actor, Dad's Army
• Kevin Sinfield – England and Leeds RLFC player and captain
• Nicola Stephenson – television actress
• Philip Sydney Stott, 1st Baronet – Chadderton-born architect, civil engineer and surveyor of cotton mills
• William Stott – impressionist painter
• Eric Sykes – comedy writer and actor

T

• Henry Taylor – British Olympic freestyle swimming triple gold medallist and champion
• Kevin Thaw – alpinist, climber; many first and notable ascents, member of the North Face climbing team, Altitude Everest Expedition 2007
• Stephen Timms – British Labour Party politician and MP for East Ham
• Geoff Tootill – Chadderton-born scientist helped create the Manchester Baby in 1948, the world's first wholly electronic stored program computer
• Dame Eva Turner – soprano opera singer; born in Werneth
• Twisted Wheel – punk rock trio; reside in Oldham

W

• Jane Walsh – textile worker and writer
• Paul Walsh – Chadderton-born Chief Executive of Diageo
• Sir William Walton – composer and conductor
• Darren Wharton – keyboardist for rock band Thin Lizzy
• Nicola White – hockey player for England and Team GB
• Annie Whitehead – jazz trombone player
• Ronald Whittam - physiologist
• Ricky Whittle – Oldham-born model and actor
• Jack Wild – Royton-born Academy Award-nominated actor, played the Artful Dodger in the 1968 musical film Oliver!
• Phil Woolas – Lincolnshire-born politician representing Oldham East and Saddleworth; lives in Lees
• Arthur Worsley – Failsworth-born ventriloquist; appeared regularly on British television from the 1950s to the 1970s