List of people from Washington, D.C.

This is a list of prominent people who were born in, lived in, or are otherwise closely associated with Washington, D. C. and its surrounding metropolitan statistical area, which includes portions of Maryland and Virginia.

Actors

 * Gbenga Akinnagbe (b. 1978), actor; born in D.C.
 * Jonathan Banks (b. 1947), actor; born in D.C.
 * Jon Bernthal (b. 1976), actor; born in D.C.
 * David Birney (b. 1939), actor; born in D.C.
 * Blair Brown (b. 1946), actress; born in D.C.
 * Billie Burke (1884–1970), actress; born in D.C.
 * Dave Chappelle (b. 1973), actor, comedian; born in D.C.
 * Matt Frewer (b. 1958), actor; born in D.C.
 * Ana Gasteyer (b. 1967), actress; born in D.C.
 * Cameron Goodman, actress; born in Texas; raised in D.C.
 * Regina Hall (b. 1967), actress; born in D.C.
 * Alyson Hannigan (b. 1974), actress; born in D.C.
 * Goldie Hawn (b. 1945), actress; born in D.C.; raised in Takoma Park, Maryland
 * Helen Hayes (1900–1993), actress; born in D.C.
 * John Heard (b. 1945), actor; born in D.C.
 * Katherine Heigl (b. 1978), actress; born in D.C.
 * Taraji P. Henson (b. 1970), actress; born in D.C.
 * Edward Herrmann (1943–2014), actor; born in D.C.
 * William Hurt (b. 1950), actor; born in D.C.
 * Samuel L. Jackson (b. 1948), actor; born in D.C.
 * Archie Kao (b. 1973), actor; born in D.C.
 * Erik King, actor; born in D.C.
 * Michael Learned (b. 1939), actress; born in D.C.
 * James McDaniel (b. 1958), actor; born in D.C.
 * Christopher Meloni (b. 1958), actor; born in D.C.
 * Michael Nouri (b. 1958), actor; born in D.C.
 * Madlyn Rhue (1935–2003), actress; born in D.C.
 * Chita Rivera (b. 1933), Broadway musical actress; born in D.C.
 * Corey Parker Robinson (b. 1975), actor; born in D.C.
 * Yeardley Smith (b. 1964), actress; born in Paris, France, raised in D.C.
 * Frances Sternhagen (b. 1930), actress; raised in D.C.
 * Rip Taylor (b. 1934), actor, comedian; born in D.C.
 * Leigh Taylor-Young (b. 1945), actress; born in D.C.
 * Justin Theroux (b. 1971), actor; born in D.C.
 * Tony Todd (b. 1954), actor; born in D.C.
 * Robin Weigert (b. 1969), actress; born in D.C.
 * Kellie Shanygne Williams (b. 1976), actress; born in D.C.
 * Robert Wisdom (b. 1953), actor; born in D.C.
 * Jeffrey Wright (b. 1965), Tony Award-winning stage and film actor; born in D.C.

Artists

 * Richard Artschwager (b. 1923); Minimalist and Pop artist; born in D.C.
 * Robin Bell (b. 1979); art projectionist; lives and works in D.C.
 * F. Lennox Campello (b. 1956); visual artist, critic and author; works in D.C.
 * Allen 'Big Al' Carter (1947–2008); painter; worked and taught art in D.C.
 * Elizabeth Catlett (b. 1915); sculptor; born in D.C.
 * Will H. Chandlee (1865–1955); painter and illustrator; born in D.C.
 * Shanthi Chandrasekar, painter and sculptor; works out of D.C.
 * Manon Cleary (1942–2011), painter and educator; lived in D.C.
 * Rosetta DeBerardinis, visual artist; lives in D.C.
 * Gene Davis (1920–1985); painter; born in D.C.
 * Victor Ekpuk (b. 1964), visual artist; lives in D.C.
 * Joseph Craig English, printmaker; born in Washington, D.C.
 * Catriona Fraser (b. 1972), photographer and art dealer; worked in Washington, DC
 * Sam Gilliam (b. 1933); painter; lives in D.C.
 * Nan Goldin (b. 1953); photographer; born in D.C.
 * Patricia Goslee; painter, lives in Washington, D.C.
 * Michael Janis (b. 1959); glass artist; lives in D.C.
 * Mark Jenkins (b. 1970) street artist; lives in D.C.
 * Wayson R. Jones, visual artist; works in D.C.
 * Eugene J. Martin (1938–2005), visual artist; born in D.C.
 * Nate Lewis, visual artist; works out of D.C.
 * Morris Louis (1912–1962), painter; lived in D.C.
 * Kevin MacDonald (1947–2006), painter; lived in D.C.
 * Percy Martin, visual artist; lives in D.C.
 * Benoit Maubrey (b. 1952), born in D.C.
 * Alexa Meade (b. 1986), visual artist; born in D.C.
 * Michael B. Platt (1948–2019), visual artist and art professor; lived and worked in D.C.
 * Judith Peck, visual artist, works in D.C.
 * Martin Puryear (b. 1941), sculptor; born in D.C.
 * Amber Robles-Gordon, mixed media artist; lives in D.C.
 * Paul Reed (b. 1919), painter; born in D.C.
 * Joe Shannon (b. 1937), painter and educator; worked in D.C.
 * Lou Stovall (b. 1937), printmaker; lives in D.C.
 * Tim Tate (b. 1960), glass and video artist; born in D.C.
 * Erwin Timmers (b. 1964), glass artist; lives in D.C.

Athletes

 * Kevyn Adams (b. 1974), hockey player; born in D.C.
 * Dave Batista (b. 1969), professional wrestler, actor who portrayed Drax the Destroyer in four Marvel Studios films; born in Arlington, Virginia
 * Elgin Baylor (b. 1934), former basketball player; born in D.C.
 * Patrick Clark (b. 1995), professional wrestler; born in D.C.
 * Adrian Dantley (b. 1956), former basketball player; born in D.C.
 * Vernon Davis (b. 1984), football player; born in D.C.
 * Kevin Durant (b. 1988), basketball player; born in D.C.
 * Paul Goldstein (b. 1976), tennis player; born in D.C.
 * Byron Leftwich (b. 1980), football player; born in D.C.
 * Tim Legler (b. 1966), former basketball player; born in D.C.
 * Rollie Miles (1927–1995), former Canadian football player; born in D.C.
 * Jonathan Ogden (b. 1974), football player; born in D.C.
 * Pete Sampras (b. 1971), tennis player; born in D.C.
 * Harold Solomon (b. 1952), former tennis player; born in D.C.
 * James Tillman (1919–2009), Negro League Baseball player; born in D.C.
 * Michael Weiss (b. 1976), figure skater; born in D.C.
 * Delonte West (b. 1983), basketball player; born in D.C.
 * Brian Westbrook (b. 1979), football player; born in D.C.
 * Maury Wills (b. 1932), former baseball player; born in D.C.
 * Willie Wood (b. 1936), former football player; born in D.C.
 * Jerry Porter (b.1978), former football player; born in D.C.

Journalists

 * John Dickerson (b. 1968), journalist; born in D.C.
 * David Frum (b. 1960), journalist, currently newspaper writer of The Atlantic
 * Austin H. Kiplinger (b. 1918), journalist and philanthropist; born in D.C.
 * Frank Rich (b. 1949), newspaper columnist; born in D.C.
 * Cal Thomas (b. 1942), newspaper columnist and author; born in D.C.

Musicians

 * Chuck Brown (1936–2012), musician
 * Tim Buckley (1947–1975), musician; born in D.C.
 * Jack Casady (b. 1944), musician (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna); born in D.C.
 * Eva Cassidy (1963–1996), singer; born in D.C.
 * Clones of Clones, indie-rock band
 * DJ Kool (1958), Rapper
 * Duke Ellington (1899–1974), jazz composer, pianist and bandleader; born in D.C.
 * Marty Friedman (b. 1962), musician; born in D.C.
 * Danny Gatton (1945–1994), musician; born in D.C.
 * Marvin Gaye (1939–1984), singer; born in D.C.
 * Johnny Gill (b. 1966), singer; born in D.C.
 * Goldlink (b. 1993), rapper; born in D.C.
 * Dave Grohl (b. 1969), musician (Nirvana, Foo Fighters); began career as drummer for D.C. area bands
 * Ron Holloway (b. 1953), musician; (Dizzy Gillespie, Susan Tedeschi, Gil Scott-Heron); born in D.C.
 * Shirley Horn (1934–2005), singer; born in D.C.
 * Jorma Kaukonen (b. 1940), musician (Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna); born in D.C.
 * Damian Kulash (b. 1975), musician (OK Go); born in D.C.
 * Stacy Lattisaw (b. 1966), singer; born in D.C.
 * Van McCoy (1940–1979), musician, songwriter and producer; born in D.C.
 * Mýa (b. 1979), singer; born in D.C.
 * Nathan Pacheco, singer-songwriter
 * Henry Rollins (b. 1961), singer-songwriter (Black Flag, Rollins Band); born in D.C.
 * Tim Rose (1940–2002), singer-songwriter; born in D.C.
 * Shy Glizzy (b. 1992), rapper; born in D.C.
 * Kate Smith (1907–1986), singer; born in D.C.
 * John Philip Sousa (1854–1932), composer; born in D.C.
 * Billy Stewart (1937–1970), singer; born in D.C.
 * Peter Tork (b. 1942), musician; born in D.C.
 * Wale (b. 1984), rapper

Political figures

 * Kenneth Bacon (1944–2009), Department of Defense spokesman; later served as president of Refugees International
 * Jean Carnahan, former U.S. Senator from Missouri, born and raised in D.C.
 * Mel Carnahan, former governor of Missouri, raised in D.C.
 * John Foster Dulles (1888–1959), U.S. Secretary of State; born in D.C.
 * Adrian Fenty (b. 1970), mayor of the District of Columbia, 2007–; born in D.C.
 * Al Gore (b. 1948), U.S. Vice President; born in D.C.
 * Tipper Gore (b. 1948), wife of former Vice President Al Gore; born in D.C.
 * Sharon Pratt Kelly (b. 1944), mayor of the District of Columbia, 1991–1995; born in D.C.
 * Ned Lamont (b. 1954), businessman and 89th Governor of Connecticut; born in D.C.
 * Brian Sims (b. 1978), Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives; born in D.C.
 * Walter Nathan Tobriner (1902–1979), Washington, D.C., government official; born in D.C.
 * Paul Wellstone (1944–2002), U.S. Senator from Minnesota; born in D.C.

Scientists

 * Charles R. Drew (1904–1950), physician, medical researcher; born in D.C.
 * Michael Hendricks, psychologist, suicidologist, and advocate for the LGBT community; long-time resident of D.C.

Television and radio

 * Connie Chung (b. 1946), television journalist; born in D.C.
 * Petey Greene (1931–1984), radio and TV talk show host; born in D.C.
 * Tim Gunn (b. 1953), TV personality and fashion expert; born in D.C.
 * Fulton Lewis (1903–1966), radio and TV commentator; born in D.C.
 * Bill Nye ("Bill Nye the Science Guy") (b. 1955), television host, scientist, mechanical engineer; born in D.C.
 * Maury Povich (b. 1939), television talk show host; born in D.C.
 * Diane Rehm (b. 1936), radio talk show host; born in D.C.
 * Tom Williamson (b. 1990), actor from The Fosters; born in D.C.

Writers

 * Edward Albee (b. 1928), playwright; born in D.C.
 * Ann Beattie (b. 1947), short story writer and novelist; born in D.C.
 * Tracy Chevalier (b. 1962), novelist; born in D.C.
 * Jonathan Safran Foer (b. 1977), writer; born in D.C.
 * Mary Downing Hahn (b. 1937), author; born in D.C.
 * Edward P. Jones (b. 1951), author; raised in D.C.
 * George Pelecanos (b. 1957), author of detective fiction; born in D.C.
 * Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (1896–1953), writer; born in D.C.
 * Paula Vogel (b. 1951), playwright; born in D.C.

Miscellaneous

 * Pat Buchanan (b. 1938), author, syndicated columnist, television commentator; born in D.C.
 * Julie Nixon Eisenhower (b. 1948), daughter of President Richard Nixon; born in D.C.
 * Andrew Fastow (b. 1961), chief financial officer of Enron Corporation; born in D.C.
 * Susan Ford (b. 1957), photojournalist and chairman of the Betty Ford Center; born in D.C.
 * Shauntay Hinton, Miss USA 2002
 * J. Edgar Hoover (1895–1972), former FBI director; born in D.C.
 * Charlene Drew Jarvis (b. 1941), educator and president of Southeastern University; born in D.C.
 * Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (b. 1954), environmental lawyer and radio talk host; born in D.C.
 * J.W. Marriott, Jr. (b. 1932), chairman and CEO of Marriott International; born in D.C.
 * Katie Martin, ecofriendly special event planner
 * Clarence Moore (businessman) (1865–1912), businessman; D.C. resident from 1890
 * Queen Noor of Jordan (b. 1951); born in D.C.
 * Buster Olney (b. 1964); sports columnist
 * David Simon (b. 1960), author, journalist; born in D.C.
 * Ben Stein (b. 1944), actor, author, economist, former political speechwriter; born in D.C.; raised in Maryland