List of people from Atlanta

This is a list of famous people who have lived in the area in and near Atlanta, Georgia, including both natives and residents.

Early Settlers

Hardy Ivy - First permanent white settler in Atlanta
Wash Collier - Atlanta's first postmaster and namesake of 'Collier Road'

Politicians and activists

Statesmen

Jimmy Carter - 39th President of the United States (1977–1981), Nobel Peace laureate 2002 and Governor of Georgia (1971–1975)
Woodrow Wilson - 28th President of the United States (1913–1921),
Sam Nunn - United States Senator from Georgia (1972 until 1996), particularly influential in defense
John Lewis - Civil rights leader and Congressman
Joe Scarborough - former US Congressman and MSNBC personality
Johnny Isakson - U.S. Senator from Georgia

Jurists

Griffin Bell - US Attorney General 1976 to 1979 under President Carter, Mr. Blackwell's list of best dressed Americans in 1978
Rowland Barnes - Fulton County Superior Court Judge

Diplomats

Andrew Young - Ambassador to the UN under President Carter, Civil rights activist and former mayor of Atlanta
Dean Rusk - US Secretary of State 1961 to 1969 under Presidents Kennedy and Johnson

Activists

Martin Luther King, Jr. - Civil Rights Leader
Charlotte Laws - Animal Rights
William Luther Pierce - neo-Fascist

Atlanta Mayors

Maynard Jackson - former mayor
Ivan Allen Jr. - former mayor

Military

Generals

Lucius D. Clay - "father" of the Berlin Airlift (1948-49), the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways and the National System of Airports and Airbases - known as "The Man Who Changed America"

Sports figures

Baseball

Hank Aaron - Baseball Hall of Famer and the major leagues' home run leader from April 1974 to August 2007
Chipper Jones - baseball player
Brett Butler, retired MLB baseball player
David Justice, retired MLB baseball player
Phil Niekro, retired MLB baseball player

Basketball

Hubie Brown - NBA legendary coach
Dominique Wilkins - former NBA player
Spud Webb - former NBA player

Football

Deion Sanders - two-sport athlete (MLB and NFL)
Michael Vick - NFL quarterback

Hockey

Jean-Marc Pelletier - Goaltender

Golf

Bobby Jones - only player ever to have won the Grand Slam (golf)

Boxing

Evander Holyfield - heavyweight champion boxer

Wrestling

Raven - professional wrestler
Chris Benoit - professional wrestler
Lita - professional wrestler / valet
William Regal - professional wrestler
Fit Finlay - professional wrestler
Lex Luger - professional wrestler
Buff Bagwell - professional wrestler
Hulk Hogan

Olympians

Dick Buerkle - 1976 Olympian featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated

Musicians, actors, artists and entertainers

Music

Producers

Lil' Jon - rapper, producer ("King Of Crunk")
Keith Sweat-singer/songwriter/producer
Kawan Prather - music producer
Dallas Austin - music executive/producer
DJ Toomp - producer
Mr. Collipark - hip hop producer
Babyface - singer/producer
Jermaine Dupri - rapper, producer
Polow Da Don - music producer

Hip Hop and Rap

Boyz n da Hood - rap group
Big Gee - rapper
Jody Breeze - rapper
Big Duke - rapper
Gorilla Zoe - rapper
Russel(Block) spencer ceo of block ent and bad boy south
Trillville - rap group
Youngbloodz - rap group
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes - rapper, former member of R&B trio TLC
Ludacris - rapper
Lil' Scrappy- rapper
OutKast - hip hop duo
Majesty - rapper
T.I. - rapper
Yung Joc - rapper
Dem Franchize Boyz - rap group
D4L- rap group
Ying Yang Twins- hip hop duo
Killer Mike - rapper
Bonecrusher - rapper
Goodie Mob - rap group
Cee-Lo - rapper
Crime Mob - rap group
Jim Crow - rap group
Kanye West - rapper (born in Atlanta raised in Chicago)
Justin White - rapper
Young Jeezy - rapper
Kihenaton - rapper
Kilo Ali - rapper
The Faculty - Rap music collective based in Sandy Springs, Ga
Unk - rapper
Gucci mane - Rapper
Citty- rapper

Country

Jerry Reed - country singer
Alan Jackson - Country Singer
Travis Tritt - Country Singer
Mark Wills - Country Singer

R&B

Akon- R&B/Hip-Hop Singer - Resides in Atlanta
Blind Willie McTell - famous for his song, "Statesboro Blues" popularized by The Allman Brothers Band and a major influence to the works of Bob Dylan
Ciara - R&B singer - raised in Atlanta.
112 - R&B quartet
Kelly Rowland - R&B singer and actress
Raven-Symoné - R&B singer and actress
Blaque - R&B group
Bobby Valentino - R&B singer
TLC- r&b trio
Sleepy Brown - R&B singer
Usher - singer
Monica - R&B singer and actress

Rock

The Black Crowes - Blues Rock band
Black Lips - Flower Punk band
Collective Soul - Alt Rock band
Deerhunter - Experimental Indie band
Drivin N Cryin - Folk/Rock band featuring Kevn Kinney
Cartel - Punk/Power Pop band
Follow for Now - Black rock band
Mastodon - Metal/Hardcore band
Norma Jean - Metalcore band
The Rock*A*Teens - 90's Indie band
Sevendust - Alt Metal band
State of Man - Alt Rock band
Injected - Alt Metal band
Family Force 5 - Crunk Rock band
Flap
Cat Power
Smoke
Gold Sparkle Band
DQE
Seely
Toenut,
William Carlos Williams
Ultra Babyfat
Hubcap City

Pop

Gladys Knight & the Pips - popular music act
Indigo Girls - Folk and Pop duo
Brenda Lee - Singer
Shawn Mullins - Singer / Songwriter
Evan and Jaron - Pop duo
The Atlanta Rhythm Section - Pop/Rock Band

Jazz

Duke Pearson - jazz pianist and composer
Mary Lou Williams - jazz pianist, composer and arranger

Conductors

Robert Shaw - conductor
Predrag Gosta - conductor and harpsichordist
Robert Spano - Grammy winning conductor Atlanta Symphony Orchestra

Singers and Musicians

Chan Marshall - singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist for Cat Power
Richard Marx - singer
Jennifer Paige - singer
Graham Jackson - the "entertainer of presidents" - seven consecutive - the "Official Musician of the State of Georgia."

Film and Acting

Brittany Murphy - actress
David Cross - stand-up comedian/actor
Jeff Foxworthy - actor & comedian
Oliver Hardy - comedian
Joel Chandler Harris - author of the Uncle Remus tales
Shuler Hensley - Broadway and film actor
Spike Lee - film director
Elijah Kelley - actor
Christopher Massey - actor (Zoey 101)
Kyle Massey - actor, (Thats So Raven!)
Chloe Moretz - child actress
Ty Pennington - actor
Julia Roberts - actress
Chris Tucker - film actor
Robert Patrick - actor, best remembered as the "T-1000" in Terminator 2: Judgment Day
Holly Hunter - actress
Ryan Seacrest - actor
Dakota Fanning - actress
Kip Pardue - actor
Steven Soderbergh - film director
Kenny Leon - former artistic director of the Alliance Theatre Company
Raven Symone - actress
Chris Lowell - actor, Veronica Mars
DeForest Kelley - actor, "Star Trek"
Devon Werkheiser - actor, (Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide)

Visual Arts

Jennifer Allen Craft - Artist & Theologian; best known for her unity murals
Gutzon Borglum - sculptor of Mount Rushmore and the first aborted Stone Mountain carving

Radio and Television

Forrest Sawyer - news anchor and journalist winner of multiple Emmy Awards and the Peabody Award and the Associated Press award and more
Neal Boortz - talk radio host, author with Congressman John Linder, The FairTax Book
Deborah Norville - host of Inside Edition previous co-host of The Today Show with Bryant Gumbel prior to Katie Couric
Clark Howard - talk radio host
Ty Pennington - television personality
Ryan Seacrest - TV/radio personality and host of American Idol
Alicia Leigh Willis - actress on General Hospital
Bert Parks - longtime host of the Miss America Pageant and many television game shows
Patrika Darbo - actress on Days of our Lives

Other

Baton Bob - cross-dressing street performer
The Brothers Chaps - Homestar Runner creators
RuPaul - entertainer
Dominique Simone - adult entertainer
George Wallace (comedian) - comedian

Writers, journalists and photographers

Pulitzer Prize Winners

Margaret Mitchell - 1937 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel Gone with the Wind
Alice Walker - 1983 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction The Color Purple
Alfred Uhry - 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, 1989 Academy Awards for Best Picture and for Writing Adapted Screenplay and more, Driving Miss Daisy
Ralph McGill - 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing editor of the Atlanta Constitution, editorial "A Church, A School...." and for his long, courageous and effective editorial leadership
Daniel Boorstin - 1974 Pulitzer Prize for History The Americans: The Democratic Experience by the Librarian of Congress from 1975 until 1987
Clark Howell - 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for exposing the Atlanta graft ring
Mike Luckovich - 1995 and 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning
George Goodwin - 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting of the Atlanta Journal for his story of the Telfair County vote fraud, published in 1947
Atlanta Constitution - 1931 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for a successful municipal graft exposure and consequent convictions.
Arnold Hardy - 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Photography amateur photographer, Georgia Tech student, for his photo of a woman leaping from a fire in the Winecoff Hotel resulting in national fire safety standards
Jack Nelson - 1960 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting, Edition Time of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution for the excellent reporting in his series of articles on mental institutions in Georgia.
Mike Toner - 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, for "When Bugs Fight Back," a series that explored the diminishing effectiveness of antibiotics and pesticides.
Eugene Patterson - 1967 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing The Atlanta Constitution, for his editorials during the year
Doug Marlette - 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning, Atlanta Constitution and Charlotte Observer

Historians

Franklin Garrett - Atlanta's official historian wrote the massive Atlanta and Environs (1954), the best reference for the city's history.

Journalists

Lewis Grizzard - journalist and author
Celestine Sibley - journalist and author
Henry W. Grady - editor of the Atlanta Constitution

Playwrights and Screenwriters

Pearl Cleage, playwright and author

Contemporary

Belle K. Abbott, novelist author of Leah Mordecai
Pat Conroy, contemporary Atlanta-born author of The Prince of Tides, Beach Music, and The Great Santini.
Walter Sorrells - Edgar winning mystery writer as Ruth Birmingham
Virginia Spencer Carr, noted scholar and biographer of Carson McCullers, Dos Passos, and Paul Bowles
James Dickey
Joel Chandler Harris, author of Uncle Remus
Mary Hood, Townsend Fiction, Robert Penn Warren and Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction winner, wrote How Far She Went, And Venus is Blue and Familiar Heat
Shaunti Feldhahn, author of For Women Only, For Men Only, The Veritas Conflict, and The Lights of 10th Street

Scientists and Technology

Will Wright - computer game designer, best known for creating Simcity and The Sims

Business people

Architecture

John Portman - international architect and developer - designer of the groundbreaking atrium style hotel
Neel Reid - he "made Atlanta beautiful," a student of École des Beaux-Arts who died at the height of his career

Industry

John Pemberton - chemist and inventor of Coca-Cola
Asa Griggs Candler - founder of The Coca-Cola Company
Robert W. Woodruff - Coca-Cola executive
Richard Peters - Early Atlanta Railroad, Real Estate, Atlanta Street Railway
George Adair - Early Atlanta Real Estate
Lemuel Grant - Early Atlanta Railroad

Media

Ted Turner - media mogul
Charles Brewer founder of Mindspring, now known as Earthlink
Anne Cox Chambers - co-owner of Cox Enterprises
Arnie Geller - President and CEO of Premiere Exhibitions with sole rights to recover relics from the RMS Titanic and exhibits both the "Titanic" and "Bodies" shows

Retail

Arthur Blank - Co-founder of Home Depot and the current owner of the Atlanta Falcons
Bernard Marcus - Co-founder of Home Depot and primary funding source for the Georgia Aquarium
S. Truett Cathy - founder of Chick-fil-A

Crime Related

Leo Frank - Jewish lynching victim
Wayne Williams - convicted murderer and suspected serial killer
Jennifer Wilbanks - "the runaway bride"

Other people

John Thrasher - Atlanta pioneer