List of people from Indianapolis

The following is a list of notable people who have been born or lived in Indianapolis, Indiana. Organized alphabetically by field of study and last name.

Actors

• Monte Blue (1887-1963), silent film/character actor
• Connie Booth, actress, screenwriter
• Steve Burton (1970- ), television actor
• Joyce DeWitt, actress, best known for Three's Company
• Mike Epps, stand-up comedian, actor, producer, writer, rapper
• Frances Farmer, actress
• Rhett Fisher, actor, best known for Power Rangers: Lightspeed Rescue
• Brendan Fraser, film actor
• Vivica A. Fox, actress
• Doug Jones, actor
• Brook Kerr (1973- ), actress
• Forrest Landis, actor
• Priscilla Lawson, actress
• Marjorie Main (1890-1975), actress
• Steve McQueen (1930–80), Academy Award-nominated actor
• Julie McWhirter, actress
• Margo Moore, actress
• Dayo Okeniyi, film actor
• Jake Short, actor
• Steve Talley (1981- ), television/film actor
• Clifton Webb, stage/film actor
• Sasheer Zamata, comedian, actress, current cast member on Saturday Night Live

Artists

• Vija Celmins, visual artist
• John Wesley Hardrick, artist
• Ron McQueeney, photographer

Athletes

• Donie Bush, MLB player/manager
• Rodney Carney, NBA player
• Oscar Charleston, baseball player, member of Baseball Hall of Fame
• Mike Conley Jr., NBA player
• Hooks Dauss, MLB player
• Euphrasia Donnelly, swimmer, Olympic gold medalist (1924)
• Stu Douglass (born 1990), basketball player for the Israeli team Ironi Nahariya
• Jeff George, NFL quarterback
• Eric Gordon, NBA player
• Greg Graham, NBA player
• Marcellus Greene, football player
• Gordon Hayward, NBA player
• Oral Hildebrand, MLB All-Star pitcher
• George Hill, NBA player
• Alan Henderson, NBA player
• John F. Hennessey, tennis player (1920s)
• Lauren Holiday, US Women's National Soccer player, Olympic gold medalist, 2015 Women's World Cup champion
• Kenny Irwin, NASCAR driver
• Mathias Kiwanuka, NFL player
• Ken Klee, retired NHL player
• Chuck Klein, MLB player
• Kyle Krisiloff, NASCAR driver
• Courtney Lee, NBA player
• Don Leppert, MLB player
• Lori Lindsey, U.S. Women's National Soccer player, Olympic gold medalist
• Zack Martin, NFL player
• George McGinnis, NBA player
• Frank McKinney, diver, Olympic gold medalist (1960), banking executive
• Eric Montross, NBA player
• Greg Oden, NBA player
• Oscar Robertson, basketball player, member of Basketball Hall of Fame
• Sally Schantz, figure skater, U.S. ice dancing champion (1963)
• Judy Schwomeyer, figure skater, U.S. ice dancing champion (1968–72)
• Sandra Spuzich, LPGA pro golfer
• Brad Stevens, NBA head coach
• Marshall Walter Taylor, cyclist, commonly known as "Major Taylor"
• Jeff Teague, NBA player
• Johnny Weaver, pro wrestler, first to use the sleeper hold "Weaver Lock"
• Randy Wittman, NBA head coach
• Greg Wojciechowski, wrestler
• John Wooden, UCLA coach, Purdue University basketball player, member of College Basketball Hall of Fame
• Sean Woods, college basketball coach (currently Morehead State)

Business and philanthropy

Colonel Eli Lilly (right) with son Josiah K. Lilly Sr. (left) and grandson Eli Lilly (center)

• Steve Bellamy, sports media entrepreneur, founder of The Ski Channel and The Tennis Channel
• Steve Ells, founder, CEO of Chipotle Mexican Grill
• John Geisse, businessman, founder of Target Stores
• Bob Glenalvin, first manager of Detroit Tigers
• Sid Grauman, founder of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, former home of the Academy Awards
• Scott A. Jones, co-founder of ChaCha
• Eli Lilly, founder, president of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company
• Josiah K. Lilly, Sr., president of pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company
• Ruth Lilly, philanthropist
• Kim Ng, Major League Baseball executive
• Freeman Ransom, lawyer, businessman, civic leader^[1]
• Madam C.J. Walker, pioneering African-American businesswoman, first female self-made millionaire in America

Entertainment

• Rupert Boneham, reality show contestant, Survivor: Pearl Islands, Survivor: All-Stars, Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains; politician
• June Cochran, model, Miss Indiana USA 1960, Playboy magazine's Playmate of the Year 1963
• Ken Hixon, screenwriter
• David Letterman, television personality, former host of The Late Show (1993-2015)
• Ryan Murphy, film and television screenwriter, director, and producer, notably Nip/Tuck, 'American Horror Story and Glee
• Marc Summers, game show host, television personality
• Dan Wakefield, screenwriter, novelist
• Marjorie Wallace, Miss World 1973

Journalists and media

• Roy Blount, Jr., journalist, author
• Louis McHenry Howe, reporter for the New York Herald, political advisor to President Franklin D. Roosevelt
• Jack Olsen, journalist and author
• Jane Pauley, television personality, journalist
• Myrta Pulliam, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist

Military

• Thomas A. Morris, railroad executive, civil engineer, Union General in the Civil War
• Norris W. Overton, U.S. Air Force Brigadier General
• Raymond A. Spruance, commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet (1944–1945)

Musicians

• Mark Battles, rapper-songwriter, founder of record label Fly America
• Scrapper Blackwell, blues legend, writer of the earliest version of "Sweet Home Chicago"
• Darrell Clanton, singer^[2]
• Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, R&B music producer/performer
• Jan Garber, bandleader
• Blind Leroy Garnett, boogie-woogie and ragtime pianist and songwriter
• Billy Henderson, singer
• John Hiatt, musician
• Freddie Hubbard, jazz trumpeter
• J. J. Johnson, jazz trombonist
• Josh Kaufman, singer-songwriter, contestant on The Voice (U.S. Season 6)
• Adam Lambert, singer, runner-up of American Idol (Season 8)
• Ted Leo, musician
• Charles Scott Leonard, member of the a cappella group Rockapella
• Margot & the Nuclear So and So's, indie rock band formed in Indianapolis
• Tim McIlrath, musician
• Wes Montgomery, jazz guitarist
• Hal Rayle, voice artist
• Larry Ridley, jazz bassist
• George Shirley, operatic tenor
• Noble Sissle, composer
• Tiara Thomas, singer-songwriter
• Albert Von Tilzer, composer, notably "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"
• Keke Wyatt, R&B singer

Politicians

• Maria Cantwell, U.S. Senator from Washington
• André Carson, member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Indiana, second Muslim to be elected to the U.S. Congress (2008)
• Charles W. Fairbanks, 26th Vice President of the United States (1905–09)
• William T. Francis, United States Ambassador to Liberia (1927–29)^[3]
• Benjamin Harrison, 23rd President of the United States (1889–93); lived and died in Indianapolis
• Thomas A. Hendricks, 21st Vice President of the United States (1863–69)
• Richard Lugar, U.S. Senator from Indiana
• Frank E. McKinney, Democratic Party chairman
• Dan Quayle, 44th Vice President of the United States (1989-1993)
• Ted Stevens, former U.S. Senator from Alaska
• Mark Warner, U.S. Senator from Virginia

Writers

• Margaret C. Anderson, critic, editor and publisher
• Allan Bloom, philosopher and essayist
• Jared Carter, poet
• Janet Flanner, Paris correspondent of The New Yorker
• Hildegarde Flanner, poet
• John Green, award-winning author of The Fault in Our Stars; vlogger
• Joseph Hayes, author
• Charles Major, author
• Booth Tarkington, Pulitzer Prize-winning author
• Kurt Vonnegut, author
• James Whitcomb Riley, poet

Other

• Frank J. Anderson, former Sheriff of Marion County, Indiana (2003-2011)
• Kent Brantly, physician, author, speaker, first American to be treated for the Ebola virus in 2014, TIME Person of the Year 2014
• John P. Donohue, professor, doctor, pioneered treatments for testicular cancer
• John Dillinger, bank robber
• Jared Fogle, Subway restaurant endorser, motivational speaker, and convicted child pornographer
• Ruth M. Gardiner, first nurse killed in action during World War II
• Michael Graves, architect
• Peter Kassig, aid worker, taken hostage and ultimately beheaded by The Islamic State^[4]
• Justin Knapp, Wikipedia editor
• Irvine Page, physiologist, former president of the American Heart Association (1956–57)
• Bill Shirk, escape artist, president of Hoosier Broadcasting Corp.
• Avriel Shull, architect
• Ryan White, poster child for AIDS
• David A. Wolf, astronaut

References

1. "Notable names in local Black history". The Indianapolis Star. February 10, 2000. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
2. Whitburn, Joel (2008). Hot Country Songs 1944 to 2008. Record Research, Inc. p. 94. ISBN 0-89820-177-2.
3. "Chiefs of Mission for Liberia". U.S. Department of State. Retrieved September 11, 2013.
4. Brian Eason, Stephanie Wang and Michael Anthony Adams (October 3, 2014). "Indianapolis native Peter Kassig named next ISIS target". Indystar.com. Retrieved December 21, 2014.