Famous Connecticuters
These are just a few of the famous people who were either born in Connecticut or spent some important time in Connecticut.
Dean Acheson, U.S. secretary of state
Ethan Allan, patriot
Christopher Andersen, biographer
Benedict Arnold, general and traitor
P. T. Barnum, showman
Amy Jaffe Barzach, creator of Boundless Playgrounds
Kim Knox Beckius, travel writer
Cynthia Bercowetz, consumer advocate
Henry Ward Beecher, clergyman and author
Jeffrey Bewkes, media executive
Sandra Boynton, children's book author and artist
Amy Brennerman, actress
Dan Briody, author
John Brown, abolitionist
Beth Bruno, author, Wild Tulips
William Buckingham, Connecticut governor
Aaron Burr, politician
Bill Burton, gambler and author
George H. W. Bush, CIA director and U.S. president
John C. Calhoun, U.S. senator
Walter Camp, founder of football
Al Capp, cartoonist
Graydon Carter, author and editor
Chuck Close, artist
Nancy Cobb, book author
Sasha Cohen, skater
Steve Cohen, financier
Samuel Colt, inventor of revolver
Prudence Crandall, state heroine, began
the first academy for black women
Christopher Dodd, U.S. senator
Theophilus Eaton, governor of New Haven
Clarence Edwards, general
Oliver Ellsworth, judge
Eileen Farrell, singer
50 Cent, rapper
A. C. Gilbert, toy inventor (Erector Set) and Olympic pole vaulter. Also founded the Toy Manufacturers Association of America.
William Gillette, actor
Charles Goodyear, inventor
Ella Grasso, Connecticut governor. First American woman elected governor in her own right.
Francine Du Plessix Gray, biographer
Sandy Tovray Greenberg, author, Accidental Courage, Boundless Dreams
Florence Griswold, art patron
Jeannette Haien, novelist
Nathan Hale, patriot
Robert N. Hall, inventor
Mel Hathorn, novelist
Katharine Hepburn, actress
Ann Hodgman, author
Josiah Holbrook, educator. Founded first industrial training school.
Elias Howe, inventor of sewing machine
Collis Potter Huntington, banker
Samuel Huntington, signer of the
Declaration of Independence and Connecticut governor
Charles Edward Ives, composer
Robert K. Jarvik, inventor of artificial heart
Kenneth Johnson, actor
Philip Johnson, architect
Evora Jordan, mystery novelist
Brian Jud, marketing author
Susan Kinsolving, poet
Thomas Knowlton, patriot
Patty Kondub, fitness author
Edwin H. Land, inventor of Polaroid camera
Ann Leary, memoirist
Christopher Leffingwell, patriot
Annie Leibovitz, photographer
Madeleine L'Engle, children's author
Maya Lin, architect
Horace Mann, educator
Marcia Reid Marsted, author and photographer
Perla Meyers, cookbook author and teacher
Arthur Miller, author and playwright
Rebecca Miller, author
Wendell Minor, author
John Pierpont Morgan, financier
Frederick Law Olmsted, landscape and park designer
Kenneth H. Olsen, inventor
Susan Omilian, author and editor
David Owen, golf writer
Nathaniel Palmer, discoverer of
Antarctica
Kevin Phillips, biographer
Rosa Ponselle, singer
Adam Clayton Powell Jr., U.S. congressman
Susan Gold Purdy, cookbook author
Israel Putnam, general
Paul Raether, financier
Nan Parson Rossiter, novelist
Philip Roth, novelist
Ahlam Shalhout, poet
Dani Shapiro, author and novelist
Carole Shmurak, mystery novelist
Igor Sikorsky, inventor of first successful helicopter
Marilyn Singer, poet
Joy Smith, cookbook author
Lane Smith, children's author
Benjamin Spock, pediatrician, author, peace activist
Harriet Beecher Stowe, novelist
Alexandra Styron, novelist
William Styron, novelist
Nancy Tafuri, children's author
Jonathan Trumbull Jr., Connecticut
governor
Mark Twain, novelist and humorist
Mike Tyson, boxer
Joe Vojt, science fiction novelist
David von Schlegell, sculptor
Gertrude Chandler Warner, author, The
Boxcar Children series
Michael Weatherly Jr., actor
Michael Weatherly Sr., importer
Noah Webster, lexicographer
Jennifer Weiner, romance novelist
Eli Whitney, inventor of cotton gin
John Winthrop Jr., Connecticut governor
Oliver Wolcott Sr., Connecticut governor
Oliver Wolcott Jr., patriot, banker, Connecticut governor, U.S. secretary of treasury
Roger Wolcott, Connecticut governor
