List of people from Rhode Island
This is a list of prominent people who were born in the state of Rhode Island or who spent significant periods of their lives in the state.
Academia
- James Burrill Angell – educator, academic administrator, and diplomat
- Glen Bowersock – scholar of the ancient world and the history of ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near East
- David Carlin – professor of sociology and philosophy at Community College of Rhode Island
- Robert Carothers – president of the University of Rhode Island
- Ronald Champagne – president of Elmira College, Merrimack College, and Shimer College
- Sarah Doyle – educator and reformer
- Paula Fredriksen – historian and scholar of religious studies
- Henry Giroux – radical educator and cultural critic
- Neil Lanctot – historian
- Francis Leo Lawrence – educator, scholar of French literature, and university administrator
- Edward T. Lewis – president of St. Mary's College of Maryland, president of the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, writer, and poet
- Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf – founder and director of the Rhode Island School of Design
- Barry Mills – fourteenth president of Bowdoin College
- Salvatore D. Morgera – Professor of Electrical Engineering at University of South Florida
- Wilfred Harold Munro – historian
- Richard Vangermeersch – economist, Emeritus Professor of Accounting at the University of Rhode Island
- Minton Warren – classical scholar
Activism, civil rights, and philanthropy
- Susan Hammond Barney – social activist
- Josephine Byrd – civil rights activist in Woonsocket, RI
- Zechariah Chafee – judicial philosopher, civil rights advocate
- Elizabeth Buffum Chace – activist in the anti-slavery, women's-rights, and prison-reform movements of the mid-to-late 19th century
- Ann Keefe – social activist and nun
- Richard Holcomb — human rights advocate, street outreach worker, HIV prevention counselor, and co-founder of Project Weber/Renew
- Cornelia Bryce Pinchot – Newport native who became a conservationist, Progressive politician, women's rights activist, and First Lady of Pennsylvania
- Mary Reilly — teacher, leader, advocate for girls and women living in poverty
- Abby Aldrich Rockefeller – philanthropist
- Marvin Ronning — education and environmental advocate; senior administrator at the Rhode Island Free Clinic
- Juanita Sánchez — social worker and social activist
- Robert Ellis Smith – publisher and consumer activist, Privacy Journal; civil rights journalist in Alabama
- Dorcas James Spencer – social activist and writer
- Marjorie van Vliet – teacher and aviator
Art, literature, and design
- Jacob M. Appel – novelist
- John Noble Barlow – painter
- Lee Bontecou – sculptor and printmaker
- Mary H. Gray Clarke — author, correspondent, and poet
- George M. Cohan – playwright, composer, and vaudeville performer
- Paul Di Filippo – science fiction author and critic
- Denise Duhamel – poet
- Judith Dupré – author
- C. M. Eddy Jr. – author
- Jeanpaul Ferro – poet, short fiction author, novelist
- F. Burge Griswold — author
- John Hawkes – novelist
- Greta Hodgkinson – ballet dancer
- Ann Hood – novelist and short story writer
- Raymond Mathewson Hood – architect
- Galway Kinnell – poet
- Eleanor Kirk — author, publisher
- Christopher La Farge – novelist and poet
- Jhumpa Lahiri – Pulitzer Prize-author
- H. P. Lovecraft – author
- Maxwell Mays – painter
- David Macaulay – author
- Cormac McCarthy – novelist
- Don McGregor – comic book writer
- Edwin O'Connor – novelist
- S.J. Perelman – humorist, critic
- Peter Pezzelli – author
- David Plante – novelist
- George Schuyler – author
- Bert Shurtleff – author
- Gilbert Stuart – painter
- Philemon Sturges – architect and children's author
- Cynthia Taggart — poet
- Thomas Alexander Tefft – architect
- Chrysanthemum Tran — poet
- Trav S.D. — author, playwright, arts journalist
- Don Winslow – author
Athletics
;A-G- Lou Abbruzzi – football player
- Pat Abbruzzi – football player
- Noel Acciari – ice hockey player
- Gary Albright – wrestler
- Bill Almon – baseball player
- Deon Anderson – football player
- Billy Andrade – golfer
- Demetrius Andrade – boxer
- Earl Audet – football player
- Rocco Baldelli – baseball player, manager
- Marvin Barnes – basketball player
- Elizabeth Beisel – Olympic swimmer
- Jeff Beliveau – baseball player
- Curt Bennett – ice hockey player
- Harvey Bennett – ice hockey player
- John Bennett – ice hockey player
- Bryan Berard – ice hockey player
- Will Blackmon – football player
- Brian Boucher – ice hockey player
- Pedro Braz – soccer player
- Paul Briggs – football player
- Ellison "Tarzan" Brown – two-time Boston Marathon champion and U.S. Olympian
- Brian Burke – ice hockey executive
- Ernie Calverley – basketball player
- Dave Capuano – ice hockey player
- Jack Capuano – ice hockey player, head coach
- Keith Carney – ice hockey player and U.S. Olympian
- Marissa Castelli – Olympic pairs figure skater
- Tom Cavanagh – hockey player
- Malcolm Chance – Hall of Fame tennis player
- Mike Cloud – football player
- Fred Corey – baseball player
- Miguel Cotto – boxer
- Jill Craybas – tennis player
- Sara DeCosta – Olympic ice hockey champion and silver medalist
- Al Del Greco – football player, radio personality
- Ernie DiGregorio – basketball player
- Clark Donatelli – ice hockey player and U.S. Olympian
- Allen Doyle – golfer
- Pat Duff – baseball player
- David Duke Jr. – basketball player
- Anthony Durante – professional wrestler
- Joe Exter – ice hockey player
- Brad Faxon – golfer
- Claire Waters Ferguson – ice skating executive
- Melissa Fiorentino – boxer
- Steve Furness – football player, coach
- Tom Garrick – basketball player
- Rob Gaudreau – ice hockey player
- Dave Gavitt – basketball coach
- Billy Gonsalves – soccer player
- Lou Gorman – baseball executive
- Paul Guay – ice hockey player
- Gabby Hartnett – baseball player
- Joe Hassett – basketball player
- Tom Healey – baseball player
- Anne Hird — pioneering marathon runner
- P. H. Horgan III – golfer
- Tony Horton – physical fitness expert
- Robert Howard – 1996 and 2000 U.S. Olympic Track & Field Team
- John Hynes – ice hockey head coach
- Matt Hyson – wrestler
- Chris Iannetta – baseball player
- Drew Inzer – football player
- Jeff Jillson – ice hockey player
- Steven King – ice hockey player
- Tyler Kolek – basketball player
- Paul Konerko – baseball player
- Clem Labine – baseball player
- Nap Lajoie – Hall of Fame baseball player
- Clara LaMore – International Swimming Hall of Fame inductee
- Lou Lamoriello – ice hockey executive
- Rick Lancellotti – baseball player
- John LaRose – baseball player
- Brian Lawton – hockey player
- Ricky Ledo – basketball player
- Ed Lee – ice hockey player
- David Littman – ice hockey player
- Davey Lopes – baseball player and coach
- Peter Manfredo – boxer
- Joe Mazzulla - basketball coach
- Ken McDonald – basketball player, coach
- John Mellekas – football player
- Tom Mellor – hockey player and U.S. Olympian
- Ray Monaco – football player
- Chet Nichols Jr. – baseball player
- Bill Osmanski – College Football Hall of Fame inductee
- Chuck Palumbo – wrestler
- Don Panciera – football player
- Michael Parkhurst – soccer player, U.S. Olympian, and Rhode Island FC co-founder
- Les Pawson – two-time Boston Marathon winner
- Kwity Paye – football player
- Vinny Paz – boxer, five-time world champion
- Gerry Philbin – football player
- David Quinn – ice hockey player
- Joe Reed – football player
- Aileen Riggin – swimmer
- Bill Sandeman – football player
- Mathieu Schneider – professional ice hockey player
- Bobby Sewall – football player
- Bert Shurtleff – football player
- Jamie Silva – football player
- Jim Siwy – baseball player
- A. J. Smith – football executive
- Hank Soar – football player
- Joe Soares – rugby player
- Sean Soriano – mixed martial artist
- Andre Soukhamthath – mixed martial artist
- Mike Stefanik – NASCAR driver
- Bill Summers – Major League Baseball umpire
- Cole Swider – basketball player
- Chris Terreri – NHL goalie, two Stanley Cups and U.S. Olympian
- Mark Van Eeghen – NFL Pro Bowl running back
- Dan Wheeler – baseball player
- Cody Wild – ice hockey player
- Mason Williams – baseball player
- Ron Wilson – ice hockey player, head coach
- Jeff Xavier – basketball player
Business
- Zachariah Allen – textile manufacturer, scientist, lawyer, writer, inventor and civil leader
- Everett M. "Busy" Arnold – comic book publisher
- F. Nelson Blount – industrialist and railroad enthusiast, founder of the Blount Seafood Corporation and Steamtown, USA
- John Brown – merchant and slave-trader, original owner of the John Brown House, co-founder of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
- Moses Brown – co-founder of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
- Nicholas Brown Jr. – businessman and philanthropist for whom Brown University is named
- Robert Crandall – former president and chairman of American Airlines
- Glenn Creamer – senior managing director of Providence Equity Partners
- Marcel Desaulniers – chef and director emeritus of the Culinary Institute of America
- Wylie Dufresne – celebrity chef, owner of wd~50 restaurant in Manhattan
- Ann Smith Franklin – publisher
- Darius Goff – Pawtucket textile mill owner
- Catherine Littlefield Greene – wife of Nathanael Greene
- Daniel Harple – entrepreneur, investor, inventor
- Brad Jacobs – chairman and chief executive officer of XPO Logistics
- Laura Lang – former chief executive officer of Time Inc.
- Aaron Lopez – slave merchant and philanthropist, wealthiest person in Newport
- Edward J. McElroy – labor union executive
- James McNerney – business executive
- David Nason – president and CEO of GE Energy Financial Services
- Jonathan M. Nelson – businessman and investor, founder of Providence Equity Partners
- Carolyn Rafaelian – designer, philanthropist, and business woman, founder of Alex and Ani
- Samuel Slater – industrialist, "father of the industrial revolution"
- Henry J. Steere – textile industrialist, philanthropist
- Judah Touro – businessman
- William Kissam Vanderbilt – member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family, original owner of Marble House in Newport
- William Vernon – trader
Crime
- Thomas Tew – pirate
Film and television
;A-L- Norm Abram – carpenter and television performer
- Robert Aldrich – film director
- Gianna Amore – model and actress
- Harry Anderson – actor, Night Court
- David Angell – television producer
- Nadia Bjorlin – actress
- Billy Bush – radio and TV host, Access Hollywood, Today
- Ruth Buzzi – comedian, Laugh-In
- Sean Callery – film and television composer
- Robert Capron – actor
- Marilyn Chambers – pornographic film actress
- Zoë Chao – actress
- Harry Cicma – Emmy Award-winning sports anchor, professional tennis player
- Amanda Clayton – actress, City on a Hill
- Nicholas Colasanto – actor and director, Cheers
- Michael Corrente – film director and producer
- Olivia Culpo – Miss Rhode Island USA 2012, Miss USA 2012, Miss Universe 2012
- Sam Daly – actor
- Viola Davis – Academy Award-winning actress
- Charlie Day – actor, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
- Vin Di Bona – television producer
- Eddie Dowling – actor
- Alice Drummond – actress
- Jack Duffy – film actor
- Nelson Eddy – actor and singer
- Susan Eisenberg – voice actress
- Mark Famiglietti – actor
- Bobby Farrelly – film director
- Peter Farrelly – film director
- Mat Franco – magician, America's Got Talent winner
- Matt Fraser – psychic and television personality
- Peter Frechette – actor
- Peter Gerety – actor
- Joanna Going – actress
- Spalding Gray – actor and writer
- Richard Hart – actor
- Elisabeth Hasselbeck – television personality
- Sam Hyde – comedian
- Richard Hatch – reality television contestant
- Jason Hawes – television actor
- David Hedison – actor
- Brian Helgeland – screenwriter, film producer and director
- Ruth Hussey – Academy Award-nominated actress
- Thomas Harper Ince – film producer, director, actor
- Richard Jenkins – Academy Award-nominated actor
- Joyce Jillson – actress, author, and astrologer
- Van Johnson – actor, The Caine Mutiny, Brigadoon
- Claudia Jordan – Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 1997
- Ted Knight – actor, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Caddyshack
- Geoffrey Lewis – actor
- Eric Lutes – actor
- Seth MacFarlane – voice actor, creator of Family Guy, American Dad!, The Cleveland Show, and Ted
- George Macready – actor
- Mike Maronna – actor
- Jason Marsden – actor
- Louis B. Mayer – film producer and MGM studio mogul
- Matt McCarthy – comedian, actor
- Ron McLarty – actor, playwright, novelist
- Michaela McManus – actress, Law & Order: SVU, One Tree Hill
- Caroline McWilliams – actress
- Debra Messing – actress, Will and Grace
- Shanna Moakler – Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 1992, Miss New York USA 1995, Miss USA 1995
- Mark Morettini – actor, Prison Break
- Christopher Murney – actor
- Arden Myrin – actress
- Brendan O'Malley – actor and writer
- Vincent Pagano – actor
- Pauly D – television personality, DJ, cast member of Jersey Shore
- David Petrarca – film, television and theatre director
- Ben Powers – actor, Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
- Ford Rainey – actor
- Don Reo – television producer
- Kali Rocha – actress
- Charles Rocket – actor
- Josh Schwartz – television producer
- Dave Shalansky – actor
- Chris Sparling – screenwriter and director
- Christopher Stanley – actor, Henry Francis on Mad Men
- Mena Suvari – actress, American Beauty
- Saucy Sylvia – comedian, singer, radio personality
- Erika Van Pelt – American Idol finalist
- Meredith Vieira – television personality
- David S. Ward – film director, Academy Award-winning screenwriter
- Desiree Washington – model
- James Woods – Academy Award-nominated actor
Journalism
- Allen Bestwick – sportscaster
- Angelo Cataldi – sportscaster
- David Hartman – actor, television personality
- Irving R. Levine – journalist
- Walter Mossberg – columnist
- Al Rockoff – photographer
- George Schuyler – author, journalist
- A. O. Scott – film critic
- Jeff Stein – columnist, blogger
- Doug White – television newscaster
- Jack White – journalist
Military
- William Henry Allen – Navy officer
- John Nicholas Brown II – United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy
- Ambrose Burnside – Army officer
- Stephen Champlin – Navy officer
- Godfrey Chevalier – Navy officer
- Nathanael Greene – Continental Army officer, considered George Washington's most gifted officer
- Esek Hopkins – Commander in Chief of the Continental Navy during the American Revolutionary War
- Leon J. LaPorte – Army officer, former U.S. Forces Korea commander
- George Luz –- member of famed Easy Company 506th, 101st.
- Matthew C. Perry – Navy officer
- Oliver Hazard Perry – Navy officer
- Elisha Hunt Rhodes – Army
- Isaac P. Rodman – Army officer
- James Mitchell Varnum – general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War
- Samuel Ward Jr. – American Revolutionary War soldier and delegate to the secessionist Hartford Convention
- Frank Wheaton – Army officer
- Abraham Whipple – Continental Navy commander-in-chief
- David B. Champagne – Medal of Honor recipient
Music
- Greg Abate – jazz musician
- Stevie Aiello – founding member of Monty Are I, and touring musician with Thirty Seconds to Mars
- AraabMuzik – record producer and DJ
- Dicky Barrett – popular musician, frontman of The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, announcer for Jimmy Kimmel Live!
- David Blue – singer-songwriter
- John Cafferty – musician known for work with The Beaver Brown Band and for the Eddie and the Cruisers soundtrack
- Blu Cantrell – musician
- Wendy Carlos – composer and electronic music pioneer
- George M. Cohan – entertainer, singer, dancer, subject of the film, Yankee Doodle Dandy
- Bill Conti – film music composer, Rocky
- Bill Cowsill – musician
- Tanya Donelly – musician
- John Dwyer – multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, songwriter, visual artist, and record label owner
- Eileen Farrell – opera singer
- Sage Francis – musician
- Billy Gilman – musician
- Al Gomes – record producer and songwriter
- Lukasz Gottwald – songwriter
- Bobby Hackett – jazz musician
- Scott Hamilton – jazz tenor saxophonist
- Kristin Hersh – musician
- Jon B. – musician
- Jesse Leach – popular musician
- Mapei – recording artist
- Alexis Marshall – vocalist for the experimental rock band Daughters
- Dave McKenna – jazz pianist
- Paul Motian – jazz drummer, composer, bandleader
- Nico Muhly – contemporary classical music composer
- David Narcizo – musician
- David Olney – musician
- Jeffrey Osborne – musician
- Mike Renzi – pianist
- Duke Robillard – blues musician
- Kim Schifino – musician
- Carol Sloane – jazz singer
- Mike Stud – rapper, former athlete
- Erika Van Pelt – singer
- Leon Wilkeson – bassist for Lynyrd Skynyrd
- Don Wise – tenor saxophonist, music producer, songwriter
- Arizona Zervas – rapper, composer, singer
- Jvke - singer, songwriter, producer
Politics and government
;A-L- Lincoln Almond – former governor
- Thomas Angell – co-founder of the Providence Plantations
- Jonathan Earle Arnold – member of the Wisconsin Territorial Council
- Peleg Arnold – lawyer, tavern-keeper, jurist, and statesman
- Joshua Babcock – physician, American Revolution general, state Supreme Court justice, and postmaster
- Latimer Whipple Ballou – member of the House of Representatives
- Sullivan Ballou – state representative and Army officer
- Oliver Belmont – charter member of the Rhode Island Society of Sons of the Revolution, Representative for New York
- Charles R. Brayton – politician and lobbyist whom The New York Times called the "Blind Boss of Rhode Island"
- Samuel W. Bridgham – first mayor of Providence
- Frank Caprio – judge and television performer
- John Chafee – U.S. Senator
- Lincoln Chafee – U.S. Senator, governor of Rhode Island, presidential candidate
- Vincent "Buddy" Cianci Jr. – former mayor of Providence
- David Cicilline – Representative and Mayor of Providence
- William Coddington – magistrate of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Judge of Portsmouth, Judge of Newport, Governor of Portsmouth and Newport, Deputy Governor of the entire colony, and governor of the colony
- Thomas Corcoran – member of President Franklin Roosevelt's "Brain Trust" during the New Deal and an advisor to President Lyndon B. Johnson
- Percy Daniels – Populist politician
- Edward D. DiPrete – former governor of Rhode Island
- Thomas E. Donilon – National Security Adviser under President Barack Obama
- Thomas A. Doyle – Mayor of Providence for eighteen years
- Job Durfee – Congressman
- Elisha Dyer Jr. – 45th Governor of Rhode Island, mayor of Providence
- William Ellery – a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence as a representative of Rhode Island
- Arthur Fenner – fourth governor of Rhode Island
- Michael Flynn – retired Army lieutenant general and National Security Advisor
- Theodore Foster – one of the first two United States senators from Rhode Island
- Samuel Gorton – settled Warwick
- Daniel L. D. Granger – Representative and mayor of Providence
- Theodore F. Green – United States Senator, 57th Governor of Rhode Island, and namesake of T. F. Green Airport
- Christopher R. Hill – diplomat, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs
- Stephen Hopkins – Governor of Rhode Island, RI Supreme Court justice, Signatory of the Declaration of Independence
- Joseph B. Keenan – Chief Prosecutor in the International Military Tribunal for the Far East
- Ambrose Kennedy – Congressman
- Kat Kerwin – former politician who served as the youngest member of the Providence City Council from 2019 until 2023
- Pat LaMarche – Green Party presidential candidate
- William C. Lovering – Congressman
- Tiara Mack – State Senator
- James McAndrews – Congressman
- William McCormick – diplomat, United States Ambassador to New Zealand
- J. Howard McGrath – Governor of Rhode Island, Solicitor General, Senator, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and Attorney General of the United States
- Edwin D. McGuinness – first Irish-Catholic mayor of Providence
- Florence K. Murray – officer in Women's Army Corps, first female state senator in Rhode Island, first female judge in Rhode Island, and first female member of the Rhode Island Supreme Court
- Dee Dee Myers – White House Press Secretary
- Annette Nazareth – commissioner of the Securities and Exchange Commission
- Joseph R. Paolino Jr. – U.S. Ambassador to Malta, former mayor of Providence
- John O. Pastore – Governor of Rhode Island, Senator
- Claiborne Pell – Senator, diplomat, sponsor of Pell grants
- Aram J. Pothier – Governor of Rhode Island, banker
- Jack Reed – Senator
- Dennis J. Roberts – 63rd Governor of Rhode Island
- Christopher Robinson – congressman
- James Y. Smith – mayor of Providence and 29th Governor of Rhode Island
- Sean Spicer – White House Press Secretary for President Donald Trump
- William Sprague – 14th Governor, a U.S. Representative, and a Senator
- William H. Sullivan – U.S. Ambassador
- Bruce Sundlun – former governor
- Charles Tillinghast James – U.S. Senator
- Pat Toomey – Senator for Pennsylvania
- Samuel Ward – RI Supreme Court justice, Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, and a delegate to the Continental Congress
- William West – American Revolution general, Lieutenant Governor, RI Supreme Court justice, Anti-Federalist leader
- Sheldon Whitehouse – state Attorney General, Senator
- Charles C. Van Zandt – former governor
Religion
- Alfred W. Anthony – author, Free Will Baptist leader, and religion professor at Bates College
- Emeline S. Burlingame — president, Rhode Island Woman’s Christian Temperance Union; president, Free Baptist Woman‘s Missionary Society
- William Ellery Channing – Unitarian theologian
- John Clarke – Baptist minister, co-founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, author of its influential charter, and a leading advocate of religious freedom in America
- Maurice Davis – Rabbi and human-rights activist
- Ernest Fortin – Assumptionist and professor of theology at Boston College
- Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe – Episcopal Church bishop
- Anne Hutchinson – early settler of Newport, catalyst of the Antinomian Controversy
- James Manning – American Baptist minister, co-founder and first president of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
- Edwards Amasa Park – theologian
- Ezra Stiles – Congregationalist minister and co-founder of the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations
- Roger Williams – founder of the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, influential author, considered the first proponent of separation of church and state
Science
- Aaron T. Beck – psychiatrist
- George Brayton – mechanical engineer
- Joseph Brown – astronomer
- Rita Charon – physician
- Solomon Drowne – physician, academic, and surgeon during the American Revolution
- Sylvester Gardiner – physician
- Stuart Gitlow – psychiatrist
- Frederic Poole Gorham – bacteriologist
- Nathanael Herreshoff – naval engineer
- Domina Jalbert – inventor
- Melanie Sanford – chemist
- Sherwood C. Spring – astronaut
- Robert Henry Thurston – first president of the ASME
- Frank E. Winsor – civil engineer