List of people from Denver
This is a list of famous people who were born in, lived in, or are commonly associated with Denver, Colorado.
Denver natives
- David Aardsma - Major League Baseball pitcher
- Ailee - K-pop singer and actress
- Abdulrahman al-Awlaki – teenager killed in U.S. drone attack
- Tim Allen – comedian and actor, Toy Story, The Santa Clause, Home Improvement[1]
- Victor Amaya – professional tennis player[2]
- India.Arie – neo-soul singer[3]
- Philip Bailey – R&B lead singer with Earth, Wind & Fire
- Chauncey Billups – point guard for the NBA's Detroit Pistons
- Sierra Boggess – stage actress
- Nadia Bolz-Weber - minister
- Chris Brewer - professional football player
- Patrick Cain - professional football player
- Calais Campbell, professional football player
- Joseph Castanon – actor
- Duane "Dog" Chapman – bounty hunter[4]
- Beth Chapman – bounty hunter
- Lyssa Chapman – bounty hunter
- Mary Coyle Chase – playwright, author of Harvey
- Mark Cooney – NFL linebacker for the Green Bay Packers
- Deuce Mob - rap group
- Ashly DelGrosso – professional dancer who appeared on Dancing with the Stars
- Mona Denton – All-American Girls Professional Baseball League player
- John Desmond – architect[5]
- Fannie Charles Dillon - composer
- Tomory Dodge – painter
- John Dolan – writer[6]
- Erin Dolgan - a clinical psychotherapist and a children’s author
- James Smith McDonnell - aviation pioneer and co-founder of McDonnell Douglas Corp.
- Jess E. DuBois – artist, passionate about Indian art
- Jack Earle – silent film actor and sideshow performer, known for his massive height[7]
- John Eisenhower – historian, ambassador, son of Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Douglas Fairbanks – actor, screenwriter, director and producer
- John Fante – author
- David Fincher – music video and film director, directed Gone Girl, Fight Club, Zodiac, Seven
- Flobots - hip-hop group
- Tanner Foust - X games athlete, stunt driver, host of U.S. version of Top Gear
- John Grahame – NHL goaltender for the Carolina Hurricanes
- Rodolfo Gonzales – Chicano Movement activist [now deceased]
- Marie Guiraud - rancher in Park County, lived for a year in Denver during the 1860s
- Hanna R. Hall – actress[8]
- Roy Halladay – Major League Baseball starting pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies
- Robert Heizer - archaeologist
- Pat Hingle – actor
- Virgil Jester – Major League Baseball pitcher
- Mike Johnson – NFL player
- Robert H. Johnson – Wyoming state senator, born in Denver in 1916
- Ameenah Kaplan – actress, musician, choreographer
- Jonathan Kaye – professional golfer
- Joe Klopfenstein – NFL tight end for the St. Louis Rams
- Arnold Kramish (1923–2010), nuclear physicist on the Manhattan Project who was almost killed in a radioactive explosion.[9]
- Terry Kunz, NFL player
- Daniel M. Lewin – mathematician and entrepreneur who died on American Airlines Flight 11 during the September 11, 2001 attacks
- The Lumineers - indie rock group
- Jacqueline Madera – Miss Colorado USA 2006
- Tom Martino – consumer advocate and syndicated talk radio host
- Kevin McDougal – NFL player
- Ostell Miles – football player
- T.J. Miller - actor, comedian
- Seeley G. Mudd – physician, professor, and major philanthropist to academic institutions
- L.H. Musgrove – outlaw lynched by a vigilante committee on November 23, 1868
- James D. Parriott – writer, director, & producer
- Trey Parker – creator of South Park television show
- Wayde Preston – actor (Colt .45 television series)
- Joseph C. Phillips – actor and political commentator
- Dean Reed – actor and singer-songwriter
- Gary Richard – NFL defensive back for the Green Bay Packers
- AnnaSophia Robb – actress
- Jerry Robertson – NASCAR driver
- Paul Romer – economist, major contributor to new growth theory
- Reese Roper – singer-songwriter
- Karl Rove – Deputy White House Chief of Staff to George W. Bush
- Michael Ruffin – professional basketball player in the NBA
- Tim Samaras - engineer and storm chaser who starred on Discovery Channel's documentary reality television series Storm Chasers. He lost his life in Oklahoma City's EF3 wedge tornado on May 31, 2013 with his son, Paul and TWISTEX colleague, Carl Young of South Lake Tahoe, California.
- 2 Cold Scorpio – professional wrestler
- John Searle – philosopher
- Alan K. Simpson – Republican politician who served from 1979–97 as a United States Senator from Wyoming
- Isaac Slade – member of The Fray (band)
- Jill Sobule – singer-songwriter
- Stephen Stohn – Canadian television producer (Degrassi franchise)
- Andre Strode – American player of gridiron football
- Tom Tancredo – former Republican congressman in the U.S. House of Representatives
- The Fray – rock band
- Eve Torres – WWE wrestler and model; 2007 Diva Search winner
- Jan-Michael Vincent – actor
- Tyler Ward - YouTube artist
- Frank Welker, famed cartoon voice actor[10]
- LenDale White – NFL running back, played for the University of Southern California
- Kip Winger – lead singer and bass guitarist of the glam metal band Winger
- Ace Young – pop-music singer-songwriter, American Idol finalist
Born elsewhere, raised in Denver
These people were raised in Denver in their childhood years but were born elsewhere.
- Madeleine Albright - former United States Secretary of State, born in Prague, graduated from Kent Denver High School
- Stan Brakhage – avant-garde filmmaker, raised in Denver, graduated from South High School
- Neal Cassady – beat generation icon, born in Salt Lake City, Utah
- Leland Chapman – bounty hunter, born in Groom, Texas
- Don Cheadle – actor, born in Kansas City, Missouri, graduated from East High School
- Ted Conover – journalist and author, born in Okinawa, Japan
- Judy Collins – folk singer, born in Seattle, Washington, graduated from East High School
- Donnette Thayer – songwriter, singer, graduated from East High School
- Madhuri Dixit – Indian actress married to Dr. Sriram Nene, a heart surgeon, born in Mumbai, India
- Roger Espinoza - soccer player born in Puerto Cortés, Honduras
- Bill Frisell – jazz guitarist and composer, born in Baltimore, Maryland
- John Grant – folk/rock musician
- Pam Grier – actress, born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, attended East High School in Denver
- Joe Guese – guitarist of The Click Five, born in Omaha, Nebraska
- Vance Kirkland- artist, born in Ohio
- Hattie McDaniel – actress, born in Wichita, Kansas
- Dana Perino – White House press secretary under George W Bush, television host, born in Evanston, Wyoming
- Pat Oliphant – editorial cartoonist, born in Adelaide, Australia
- Mamie Eisenhower – former First Lady of the United States, born in Boone, Iowa
- Golda Meir – former Prime Minister of Israel, lived in Denver for a time as a teenager. Born in Kiev, Ukraine
- Michael Ray Richardson – former NBA All-Star point guard, born in Lubbock, Texas, graduated from Manual High School
- Dianne Reeves – jazz vocalist, winner of 4 Grammy awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album, graduated from George Washington High School; born in Detroit, Michigan
- August Skamenca - broadcast journalist, born in Illinois
- Kenneth Walker - brigadier general in the Army Air Force, killed in action in 1943, born in New Mexico
- Lenora Mattingly Weber – writer, born in Missouri
- Michael Winslow - comedian and actor, born in Spokane, Washington, graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School, Denver
- OneRepublic - band. Ryan Tedder was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Zach Filkins spent early life in Spain. Brent Kutzle and Eddie Fisher are both from Orange County. Drew Brown (OneRepublic) is from Broomfield, Colorado
Denver transplants
These people lived in Denver as an adult, but were born and raised elsewhere.
- Charles Adams, United States military officer and foreign minister[11]
- Robert E. Allen - lawyer and Colorado state legislator
- Heather Armbrust - IFBB professional bodybuilder
- Roseanne Barr – comedienne and actress, moved to Denver after high school, worked as waitress, got her start doing stand-up at comedy clubs in Denver
- Anthony R. Barringer – geophysicist and inventor
- Bill Barwick - Western music singer-songwriter and voiceover artist
- Emily Gibson Braerton – vice president of Daughters of the American Revolution, raised in Council Grove, Kansas and Lawrence, Kansas
- Tommy Bolin - guitarist, born in Iowa
- Molly Brown – survivor of Titanic accident, The Unsinkable Molly Brown, born in Hannibal, Missouri
- Carlotta Walls LaNier - one of the Little Rock Nine group of African American students to first enter integrated schools, born Little Rock, Arkansas
- George Elbert Burr – early 20th century artist, known for landscape paintings of the Rocky Mountains
- Jerome B. Chaffee – Colorado senator, born in Cambria, New York, raised in Adrian, Michigan, founded Denver
- Marshall Colt - actor and clinical psychologist, born and reared in New Orleans; former Denver resident; now living in San Diego
- Oscar L. Chapman, University of Denver (1918-1920); United States Secretary of the Interior (1949-1953), born in Virginia
- Ann B. Davis - actress, best known as "Alice" on The Brady Bunch
- Madhuri Dixit – Indian actress married to Dr. Sriram Nene, a heart surgeon; Dixit was born in Mumbai, India
- Lindsey Durlacher – wrestler, born in Evanston, Illinois
- John Lewis Dyer - Methodist Episcopal circuit rider, lived much of his later life in Denver, born in Franklin County, Ohio
- John Elway – NFL Hall of Fame quarterback for the Denver Broncos 1983–98. Born in Port Angeles, Washington
- Frank Freyer – 14th Governor of Guam and Chief of Staff of the Peruvian Navy
- John Frullo – CPA, formerly at PricewaterhouseCoopers in Denver, member of the Texas House of Representatives, originally from Rock Springs, Wyoming
- Noah Eli Gordon - poet, born in Ohio.
- Samuel Hartsel - pioneer cattleman; moved from Park County to Denver in 1907, where he engaged in business
- John Hickenlooper – Governor of Colorado, former mayor of Denver, born in Narberth, Pennsylvania
- Jason Hirsh – Major League Baseball pitcher
- Sheldon Jackson - Presbyterian missionary in the American West, including Colorado and Alaska
- Frances Wisebart Jacobs – philanthropist, born in Kentucky, raised in Ohio, moved to Denver and founded a number of charities
- William Larimer, Jr. – founder of Denver, born in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania
- Bat Masterson – lawman, gunfighter, gambler, journalist, born in Canada
- Thomas MacDonald Patterson – U.S. politician, born in County Carlow, Ireland, raised in New York City and Crawfordsville, Indiana
- Arthur Roy Mitchell – cowboy and western painter, originally from Trinidad, Colorado, spent his last two years of life in Denver, where he is interred
- Federico Peña, born in Laredo, Texas; mayor of Denver (1983–1991); United States Secretary of Transportation (1993–1997); United States Secretary of Energy (1997–1998)
- Alina Popa - IFBB professional bodybuilder, born in Romania
- Rick Reilly - sportswriter and author, moved to Denver in 1981
- Condoleezza Rice – born in Birmingham, Alabama, moved to Denver in 1967; National Security Advisor (2001–2005); United States Secretary of State (2005–2009),
- Andrew J. Rogers (1828–1900) – represented New Jersey's 4th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 1863–1867, and served as Denver's police commissioner after moving here in 1892.[12]
- Joe Sakic – National Hockey League center for the Colorado Avalanche, born in Burnaby, British Columbia
- Patricia Schroeder - former member of the United States House of Representatives, born in Portland, Oregon
- Shannon Sharpe – former NFL player for the Denver Broncos, sports commentator, CBS, born in Chicago, Illinois
- Mark Schlereth – former NFL Pro Bowl offensive guard for the Denver Broncos
- Soapy Smith – Denver crime boss from 1885–96.[13] born in Coweta County, Georgia
- Manick Sorcar – artist, engineer, and entrepreneur
- Anna Blythe Speas - lived her last years in Denver; her tragic life story is told in the book Historic Tales from Park County: Parked in the Past by Laura King Van Dusen[14]
- John Warne – bassist of the Christian rock band Relient K
- Wellington Webb – mayor of Denver (1991—2003), born in Chicago
Other people associated with Denver
See also
- List of people from Colorado
- Music in Denver
References
- ↑ Soylent Communications. "Tim Allen". Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- ↑ ATP Tennis. "Victor Amaya". Archived from the original on February 25, 2006. Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- ↑ America Online. "India Arie". Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- ↑ Internet Movie Database. "Duane Chapman". Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- ↑ 2theadvocate.com | News | Architect Desmond dies — Baton Rouge, LA
- ↑ Dolan's entry at the New Zealand Book Council's directory
- ↑ Internet Movie Database. "Jack Earle". Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- ↑ Internet Movie Database. "Hanna R. Hall". Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- ↑ Hoffman, Jascha. "Arnold Kramish, Expert on Nuclear Intelligence, Dies at 87", The New York Times, July 15, 2010. Accessed July 15, 2010.
- ↑ Internet Movie Database. "Frank Welker". Retrieved June 5, 2006.
- ↑ Who Was Who in America, Historical Volume, 1607–1896. Chicago: Marquis Who's Who. 1963.
- ↑ Andrew Jackson Rogers, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed September 2, 2007.
- ↑ The Soapy Smith Preservation Trust. "Soapy in Denver". Retrieved June 29, 2006.
- ↑ Laura King Van Dusen, "The Short, Tragic Life of Anna Blythe Speas: Belle of Boulder, Suspected Criminal in Como, Dead in Denver at Twenty-eight", Historic Tales from Park County: Parked in the Past (Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2013), ISBN 978-1-62619-161-7, pp. 113-125.
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