List of people from Tucson, Arizona
This is a listing of notable people who were born in, or have lived in, Tucson, Arizona. For people whose only connection with the city is attending the University of Arizona, see: List of University of Arizona people. Coaches of University of Arizona athletic teams should not be included either.
Athletics
- George Arias – baseball player
- Dave Baldwin – major league baseball player, writer, artist
- Michael Bates – National Football League player, sprinter, and 1992 Olympian
- Stanley Berryhill – NFL player
- Chad Beyer – cyclist
- Craig Bjornson – baseball player and coach
- Nat Borchers – soccer player
- Alex Bowman – NASCAR driver
- Henry Brauner – soccer player
- Bryce Cotton – basketball player
- Dominick Cruz – mixed martial artist
- Lum Davenport – baseball player
- Ike Davis – baseball player
- Chris Duncan – baseball player
- Shelley Duncan – baseball player
- Sean Elliott – basketball player
- Cole Ford – football player
- Jim Grabb – tennis player
- J. J. Hardy – baseball player
- Ron Hassey – baseball player
- Gary Hayes – football player
- Alex Kellner – born in Tucson, baseball player
- Walt Kellner – born in Tucson, baseball player
- Mike Kellogg – football player
- Ian Kinsler – baseball player
- Chris Knierim – pairs figure skater
- Hank Leiber – baseball player
- Eddie Leon – born in Tucson, baseball player
- Lafayette Lever – basketball player
- Caitlin Leverenz – Olympic swimmer, born in Tucson, attended Sahuaro High School
- Pete McCaffrey – basketball player
- Roger McCluskey – National Sprint Car Hall of Fame racer
- Alice Greenough Orr – rodeo star, originally from Montana
- Tom Pagnozzi – baseball player
- Allen Pitts – Canadian Football League player
- Bijan Robinson – NFL running back for the Atlanta Falcons
- Sam Sacksen – 2008 Beijing Olympic modern pentathlete
- Anthony Shumaker – baseball player
- Tommy Silva – soccer player
- Michael Smith – NFL running back
- Brad Steinke – Emmy award-winning sportscaster
- Kerri Strug – Olympic gold-medalist gymnast
- Donny Toia – soccer player
- Alex Verdugo – baseball player
- Roman Bravo Young – freestyle and folkstyle wrestler, two-time NCAA champion for Penn State University
- Win Young – Olympic medalist in diving
Business
- Leopoldo Carrillo – Mexican-American entrepreneur, early founder of Tucson
- Arturo Moreno – entrepreneur, owner of Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
- Jeff Rein – chairman and chief executive officer of Walgreens
- Robert Sarver – entrepreneur, principal owner of Phoenix Suns
- Robert Stewart co-founder of GMA Network
Law and order
- Eugene O'Dunne – jurist on the Supreme Bench of Baltimore
- Clay Pell lawyer
Literature
- Edward Abbey – author
- Sue Alexander – children's author
- Jon Anderson – poet
- Byrd Baylor – essayist and children's author
- Michael Blake – author
- Charles Bowden – author
- Ray Bradbury – author
- Erskine Caldwell – playwright
- Max Cannon – author and creator of the comic strip Red Meat
- Mitch Cullin – author
- Charles G. Finney – author
- Frances Gillmor – folklorist, scholar and novelist
- Andrew Greeley – author, scholar and Roman Catholic priest
- Brenda Hillman – poet, translator
- Barbara Kingsolver – novelist
- Joseph Wood Krutch – author
- Todd Miller – journalist
- Tom Miller – travel writer
- Gary Paul Nabhan — author and ethnobotanist
- Adam Rex – children's writer and illustrator
- Stacey Richter – author
- Richard Shelton – poet, author
- Richard Siken – poet, painter, filmmaker
- Leslie Marmon Silko – author
- Susan Sontag – author, critic and public intellectual
- Luci Tapahonso – poet laureate of the Navajo Nation
- David Foster Wallace – author
- Peter Wild – poet, author and professor of English at the University of Arizona
- Ofelia Zepeda – poet laureate of Tucson, author
- Tom Zoellner – nonfiction author
Movies, television, and media
- Rex Allen – actor, musician
- Max Amini – stand-up comedian
- Hailey Baldwin – model
- Mika Boorem – actress
- Lynn Borden – actress and 1957 Miss Arizona
- Roy Brown – actor
- Brooke Burke – model, TV host
- Aaron Chang – photographer
- Kaylee DeFer – actress
- Barbara Eden – actress
- Pablo Francisco – stand-up comedian
- Savannah Guthrie – television personality
- Dan Hicks – sportscaster
- Michael Horse – actor, jeweler, painter
- Pat Hughes – baseball announcer
- Dominic Janes – actor
- Cord Jefferson – screenwriter, director, journalist
- Ben Patrick Johnson – journalist, model, voice-over artist
- Brad Johnson – actor, former Marlboro Man
- Daniel Kennedy – actor
- Gavin MacIntosh – child/teen actor, model
- Taryn Manning – actress
- Clare McNulty – actress
- George Meyer – Simpsons producer and writer
- Bentley Mitchum – actor
- Noel Neill – actress
- Sierra Teller Ornelas – filmmaker and screenwriter
- Larry Pine – actor
- Timothy Reckart – Oscar-nominated filmmaker
- Garry Shandling – comedian and actor
- Tommy Shannon – musician, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble
- W. Eugene Smith – photographer
- Frederick Sommer – photographer
- Martin Spanjers – actor
- Sally Todd – model, actress
- Amber Valletta – actress
- Janet Varney – actress
- Kate Walsh – actress
- Lou Waters – newscaster
- Nick Young – actor
- Parker Young – model, actor
Music, arts
- Panteha Abareshi – multidisciplinary visual artist
- Madeline Heineman Berger – music and arts promoter
- Duane Bryers – painter, illustrator and sculptor
- Joey Burns – musician
- Joseph Byrd – musician
- Luis Coronel – singer, musician
- Jason DeCorse – musician, member of Greyhound Soul
- John Convertino – musician
- James Pringle Cook – Western landscape painter
- Ted DeGrazia – artist
- John Denver – singer, musician
- Daniel Martin Diaz – artist and musician
- Maynard Dixon – artist
- Duane Eddy – musician, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Howe Gelb – musician
- Greg Ginn – musician, founder of Black Flag and SST Records
- Lalo Guerrero – "father of Chicano music"
- Cord Jefferson – writer and film director
- Ulysses Kay – composer
- Katie Lee – folk singer, writer, photographer
- Dan Levenson – old-time musician
- Bob Log III – musician
- Linda McCartney – photographer, musician
- Arizona Muse – model
- Dennis F. Parker – musician, recording engineer
- Raymond Pettibon – artist
- Signe Pierce – multidisciplinary artist
- Rainer Ptacek – composer, musician
- Linda Ronstadt – singer, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
- Ivan and Jane Rosenquist – art gallerists
- Barry Sadler – singer-songwriter
- Pat The Bunny Schneeweis – folk-punk artist
- Sara Tea – musician and DJ
- Randy "R Dub!" Williams – DJ and radio host
- Mark Wystrach – musician
Politics
- Andy Biggs – U.S. representative for Arizona
- J. W. Buchanan – Arizona state senator, member of the Arizona House of Representatives
- Dean Burch – Republican National Committee chairman, 1964–1965; chairman, FCC
- James B. Burkholder – peace activist and retired U.S. Army officer
- Richard Carmona – U.S. Surgeon General
- Tony Carrillo – Arizona state legislator
- Juan Ciscomani – U.S. representative for Arizona
- James N. Corbett – former mayor of Tucson
- Eli Crane – U.S. representative for Arizona
- Terri Cruz – community organizer and political activist
- Dennis DeConcini – U.S. senator
- Randy Fine – U.S. representative for Florida
- Gabby Giffords – U.S. representative for Arizona
- Adelita Grijalva – U.S. representative for Arizona; daughter of Raul Grijalva
- Raul Grijalva – U.S. representative for Arizona; father of Adelita Grijalva
- Alma Hernandez – member of the Arizona House of Representatives
- Don Hummel – politician, former Tucson mayor, businessman
- Mark Kelly – U.S. senator, former astronaut
- Laura Loomer – far-right political activist and white nationalist
- Kyrsten Sinema – U.S. senator for Arizona
- Robert C. Strong – U.S. diplomat
- Mark Udall – U.S. senator from Colorado, former member of the House
- Mo Udall – U.S. representative for Arizona
- Stewart Udall – U.S. Secretary of Interior and U.S. representative
- Tom Udall – U.S. senator from New Mexico
Science and medicine
- David Arnett – astronomer
- Bart Bok – astronomer
- Frank Borman – astronaut, orbited the Moon on Apollo 8
- A. E. Douglass – astronomer, dendrochronologist
- Tom Gehrels – planetary scientist
- Emil Haury – archaeologist
- Rashad Khalifa – biochemist and founder of United Submitters International
- Gerard Kuiper – planetary scientist
- Brian A. Larkins – molecular biologist
- William Rathje – archaeologist, Garbage Project director
- Peter M. Rhee – physician
- Elizabeth Roemer – astronomer
- Peter Smith – scientist, principal investigator of Phoenix Project
- Andrew Weil – doctor who promotes integrative medicine
- Wieslaw Z. Wisniewski – astronomer
Military
- Thad Allen – U.S. Coast Guard admiral
- Frank L. Culin Jr. – United States Army major general
- José de Urrea – Mexican general
Crime
- Robert John Bardo – convicted murderer and stalker of actress and model, Rebecca Schaeffer
- Joseph Bonanno – mobster
- Jared Lee Loughner – convicted mass murderer who perpetrated the 2011 Tucson shooting
- Stephen Paddock – mass shooter who perpetrated the 2017 Las Vegas shooting
- Charles Schmid – killer
Religion
- William M. Branham – minister
- Eusebio Kino – pioneer missionary and explorer
Miscellaneous
- John Dossey – mathematician
- Margaret Sanger – birth control activist; feminist; founder of Planned Parenthood
- María Urquides – educator, "mother of bilingual education"