Famous People Born in New York a to z

Abigail Breslin is one of the youngest actresses to receive an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the film Little Miss Sunshine.

Self-described ‘street reporter’ Jimmy Breslin wrote columns for a sequence of New York papers. Also a novelist, he won a 1986 Pulitzer Prize for commentary.

Matthew Broderick is an American actor who became a star with his role in Ferris Bueller's Day Off. He's also known for Broadway role in The Producers.

At age 29, Adrien Brody became the youngest person to win the Academy Award for best actor in 2003, for his role in Roman Polanski's The Pianist.

James L. Brooks is an American director, producer and screenwriter, best-known for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Rhoda and Taxi.

Mel Brooks is an iconic filmmaker known for comedies like The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, among other works.

Dr. Joyce Brothers was a famous psychologist and multimedia personality known for dispensing frank advice on relationships, intimacy, sexuality and self-worth.

Michael S. Brown is a molecular geneticist who was co-awarded a 1985 Nobel Prize for his work on the metabolism of cholesterol in the human body.

Lenny Bruce was an American stand-up comic and satirist who became a target for prosecutors and a poster boy for freedom of speech.

Art Buchwald is known for writing humor columns for Paris newspaper The Herald Tribune, and for winning a Pulitzer Prize for Outstanding Commentary in 1982.

William F. Buckley was a writer and political TV personality who helped make conservative politics popular in the 1950s-1970s.

Angelo Buono was a serial killer known as the “Hillside Strangler,” who was convicted of murdering nine women in the late 1970s.

George Burns was a comedian who worked in vaudeville, radio, film and television. His long-time performance partner and wife was comedienne Gracie Allen. Burns lived until age 100.

Steve Buscemi is a popular character actor, director and screenwriter. He's known for his role on the critically acclaimed series Boardwalk Empire.

Former first lady Barbara Bush, wife of George H.W. Bush, founded the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy. She is also George W. Bush's mother.

Actor Red Buttons got his name from the flame-colored hair and uniform as a bellhop. He is best known as a comedian but he had a prolific film career as well.

Actor James Caan gave an Oscar-nominated performance as Sonny Corleone in Coppola’s The Godfather and played a writer held hostage in Stephen King’s Misery.

Sid Caesar is a comedian and the creator of the classic Emmy Award-winning television variety program Your Show of Shows.

James Cagney was an Academy Award-winning actor who was known for playing gangsters and short-fused tough guys.

Sammy Cahn was a U.S. lyricist who composed songs for romantic films and Broadway musicals, including the hit “Three Coins in the Fountain” (1954, Oscar).

Maria Callas was best known for her dramatic operatic performances around the world.

Jazz singer and dancer Cab Calloway performed in Harlem’s Cotton Club in the 1930s. He also appeared on stage and in films, such as 1979’s The Blues Brothers.

Joseph Campbell was a professor and author who focused on comparative folklore with books like The Power of Myth and The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

An advocate of children and families in Harlem, NY, Geoffrey Canada is president of the Harlem Children’s Zone. In 2009, President Barack Obama announced plans to replicate the educational center in 20 cities.

Helen Churchill Candee was a writer and a survivor of the RMS Titanic disaster.

A child from an Italian immigrant family, Al Capone (a.k.a. 'Scarface') rose to infamy as the leader of the Chicago mafia during the Prohibition era.

Former pro-tennis player Jennifer Capriati is known for her incredible comeback after several personal struggles. In 1990 she was the youngest player to ever be ranked in the Women's Tennis Association top ten.

With hits such as "Vision of Love" and "I Don't Wanna Cry," pop diva Mariah Carey holds the record for most No. 1 debuts in Billboard Hot 100 history.

Actor, writer, and comedian George Carlin was known for his stand-up routines as well as TV appearances and roles in such films as 1987's Outrageous Fortune.

Art Carney was an Oscar-winning actor and comedian best known for his role as Jackie Gleason's best friend, Ed Norton, on the pioneering sitcom The Honeymooners.

Reeve Carney is a singer-songwriter and actor known for his work in the Broadway musical Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark and the Jeff Buckley biopic Mystery White Boy.

A master of horror, John Carpenter created the 1978 thriller hit Halloween, which has inspired and influenced countless other filmmakers.

In 1935, actor John Carradine began a non-stop film career. He appeared in 10 films by director John Ford, including The Prisoner of Shark Island.

Nick Carter from the pop group the Backstreet Boys is also known for once dating Paris Hilton, starring in a reality TV show and overcoming drug and alcohol addiction.

David Cassidy is a singer and actor, most notably appearing as one of the stars of the musical television series The Partridge Family in the 1970s.

Anthony Casso is a member of the Lucchese crime family who was the first major crime boss to be kicked out of the witness protection program.

Paul Castellano is best known for becoming the boss of the Gambino crime family in New York City.

Stockard Channing is an award-winning American actress best known for her roles in Grease (1978), Six Degrees of Separation (1993) and The West Wing (2002).

Folk singer-songwriter Harry Chapin, famous in the 1970s for hits like "Cat's in the Cradle," was also a philanthropist dedicated to fighting world hunger.

Chevy Chase is a comedic actor who is best know for his appearances on Saturday Night Live and his starring roles in the films Caddyshack and Fletch.

Broadway playwright Pddy Chayefsky picked up two Academy Awards for his films The Hospital and Network.

Dominic Chianese played aging gangster Corrado "Uncle Junior" Soprano on HBO's The Sopranos.

Shirley Chisholm was the first black congresswoman, and the first African-American woman to make a bid for the U.S. Presidency.

Journalist and editor Francis P. Church is remembered best for his 1897 editorial reply to Virginia O'Hanlon, in which he declares Santa Claus is real.

Dick Clark was a TV personality known for the shows American Bandstand, $25,000 Pyramid and TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, among others.

When Frances Cleveland married Grover Cleveland, she became the youngest first lady ever, and the first to be married in the White House.

Lucille Clifton is a poet whose works generally examine family life, racism and gender issues.

Actor Lee J. Cobb had roles in some eighty movies. Despite his success in Hollywood, he was probably most proud of his stage work in Death of a Salesman.

Ben Cohen is the co-founder of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s.

Mickey Cohen became the West Coast racket boss in 1947, after his mentor and predecessor, Bugsy Siegel, was assassinated.

Scientist Edwin Cohn helped develop a method of separating blood plasma proteins, which provided lifesaving care to many soldiers during World War II.

When the space shuttle Columbia blasted off on July 23, 1999, pilot Eileen Collins became NASA's first female shuttle commander.

Entrepreneur Sean Combs has produced big-name artists like Mariah Carey, created the Sean John clothing line, and recorded his own platinum albums.

Jennifer Connelly is an American actress who started as a child star but gained fame from her role in the film Requiem for a Dream.

Hip-hop artist and actor LL Cool J made it big with Def Jam Records in the late 1980s and '90s with albums like Mama Said Knock You Out.

Anderson Cooper was a news correspondent on ABC and CNN before hosting his own show, Anderson Cooper 360. 

For nearly four decades, American composer Aaron Copland achieved a distinctive musical characterization of American themes in an expressive modern style.

Sofia Coppola is a film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. She directed The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, winning an Oscar for the latter.

Conservative commentator Ann Coulter has insulted Jews, 9/11 widows and a variety of Democratic politicians, yet she continues to have a loyal fan base.

A-list actor and Scientologist Tom Cruise is the star of many box office hits, including Risky Business, A Few Good Men, The Firm, and Jerry Maguire.

Jon Cryer is known for his Emmy-winning role as a single dad on TV's Two and a Half Men as well as his films, especially the '80s teen flick Pretty in Pink.

Billy Crystal came to fame on the sitcom Soap. After a year on Saturday Night Live, he began a successful film career.

Macaulay Culkin is an actor known mostly for his childhood roles in such films as My Girl and Home Alone.

Andrew Cuomo, the 56th governor of New York, is the son of former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and brother of news anchor Chris Cuomo. He formerly served as New York's attorney general and U.S. secretary of HUD.

Chris Cuomo is a lawyer and television journalist, the youngest correspondent ever at 20/20, the son of former New York governor Mario Cuomo and the brother of current New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

From Some Like It Hot to Spartacus, Tony Curtis was the reigning Hollywood heartthrob of the 1950s. He's also known as actress Jamie Lee Curtis's dad.

Film and television actress Claire Danes began her critically acclaimed career as a 15-year-old star in the ABC series, My So Called Life.

Rodney Dangerfield was a stand-up comedian and actor known for his "I don't get no respect" routine. He starred in the hit movie comedies, Caddyshack and Back to School, during the 1980s.

Bobby Darin was an American singer, songwriter and actor who became a ubiquitous presence in pop entertainment in the late 1950s and 1960s.

Music executive and producer Clive Davis has worked with Whitney Houston, Janis Joplin, Jennifer Hudson and Kelly Clarkson among others.

The arrest and trial of Larry Davis, arrested after a 1986 shootout with the NYPD, drew national interest and ignited racial tensions in New York City.

Sammy Davis Jr. was an actor, comedian, singer and dancer, and part of the Rat Pack with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, with whom he starred in several films.

Charlie Day is an American actor best known for his role as Charlie Kelly on the TV show It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Dorothy Day was an activist who worked for such social causes as pacifism and women’s suffrage through the prism of the Catholic Church.

Actress Drea de Matteo played mob girlfriend Adriana La Cerva for five seasons on HBO's The Sopranos.

Legendary award-winning actor Robert De Niro has starred in such films as Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The Godfather: Part II and Silver Linings Playbook.

American politician Howard Dean is best known for running for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination.