The following list includes people who were born in, lived in or are otherwise closely connected with Hartford, Connecticut.
Academia
August Coppola, academic, film executive and father of Nicolas Cage Michael C. FitzGerald (born 1953), art historian and Picasso scholar at Trinity College in Hartford Stephen Cole Kleene (1909–1994), mathematician and professor Spencer Shaw (1916–2010), librarian and professor at the University of Washington
Art and architecture
A. Everett "Chick" Austin (1900–1957), arts innovator and director of the Wadsworth Atheneum Nadine M. DeLawrence (1953–1992), African-American visual artist; born and raised in Hartford Dorothea H. Denslow (1900–1971), sculptor, educator George Keller (1842–1935), architect, noted for Hartford's Soldiers' and Sailors' Arch and Hartford Union Station Kathleen Kucka (born 1962), abstract painter Frederick Law Olmsted (1822–1903), landscape architect and urban planner, noted for many of the New York City parks and Stanford University's campus
Business Samuel Colt (1814–1862), firearm inventor and industrialist J. P. Morgan (1837–1913), financier and industrialist Albert A. Pope (1843–1909), manufacturer of Pope Manufacturing Company automobiles and bicycles Amos Whitney (1832–1920), mechanical engineer, inventor and co-founder of Pratt & Whitney company
Entertainment
Film and television
Robert Ames (1889–1931), stage and screen actor Julie Banderas (born 1973), Emmy Award-winning, television news anchor David Alan Basche (born 1968), actor Ed Begley (1901–1970), actor Amy Brenneman (born 1964), actress, best known for the television series Judging Amy Christopher Briney (born 1998), actor, best known for Dalíland and The Summer I Turned Pretty Brooke Burke (born 1971), television personality, model and dancer Ben Cooper, best known for western films and television appearances in the 1960s and 1970s Ann Corio (1914–1999), burlesque star Anthony Crane (born 1963), former pornographic actor Peter Dante (born 1968), actor Jenna Dewan (born 1980), actress Linda Evans (born 1942), actress, best known for Dynasty Totie Fields (1930–1978), comedian Will Friedle (born 1976), actor and voice actor Arty Froushan (born 1993), actor William Gillette (1853–1937), actor, director, famed for playing Sherlock Holmes on stage Tyrone Giordano (born 1976), actor Thomas Ian Griffith (born 1962), actor, producer, screenwriter, musician and martial artist; best known for playing Terry Silver in The Karate Kid Part III and Cobra Kai Katharine Hepburn (1907–2003), Oscar-winning actress; buried in the Hepburn family plot in Cedar Hill Cemetery Elyse Knox (1917–2012), model and actress; wife of Tom Harmon and mother of Mark Harmon Eriq La Salle (born 1962), actor known for the television show ER Norman Lear (1922–2023), television producer Ken Ober, host of Remote Control Peter Paige (born 1969), actor Charles Nelson Reilly (1931–2007), actor, director and TV personality Ken Richters (born 1955), stage actor, playwright, and voice actor, known for impersonations of Mark Twain Michael Schur (born 1976), producer, actor and director Michael Stefano (born 1969), pornographic actor Tony Todd, Broadway, film and television actor Wavy Gravy, hippie icon, entertainer, and peace activist Emily Wright (born 1980), songwriter, producer and engineer Kim Zolciak (born 1978), star of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, country music singer
Music Igor Buketoff (1915–2001), conductor Kurt Carr, gospel music composer and performer Fates Warning, progressive metal band formed in 1982 Charles Flores (1970–2012), jazz bassist and member of the Michel Camilo Trio Grayson Hugh, singer-songwriter Natália Kelly, singer Barbara Kolb (born 1939), composer Mark McGrath (born 1968), lead singer of Sugar Ray Jackie McLean (1931–2006), jazz alto saxophonist and educatorDixon, Ken, "Music Hall of Fame proposed for state ", article in Connecticut Post in Bridgeport, Connecticut, April 26, 2007 ("Other famous state residents include the late jazz saxophonist Jackie McLean of Hartford") Notch, R&B, dancehall and Reggaeton artist Gene Pitney (1940–2006), singer Jeff Porcaro (1954–1992), of the rock band Toto Joe Porcaro, jazz drummer; father of Jeff and Steve Porcaro Mike Porcaro (1955–2015), of the rock band Toto Steve Porcaro (born 1957), of the rock band Toto Doobie Powell, gospel musician and pastor Sophie Tucker (1884–1966), "last of the red-hot mamas," singer and comedian
Radio
Jason Jackson, hosted a local sports radio show on ESPN Radio Phil Tonken (1919–2000), announcer at New York station WOR-AM-TV
Law
Frank A. Hooker, chief justice of the Michigan Supreme CourtMichigan Supreme Court Historical Society - Frank Hooker
Literature and journalism Steven Anzovin, non-fiction writer best known for his Famous First Facts book series Bill Branon, novelist Oliver Butterworth (1915–1990), children's author and educator Suzanne Collins (born 1962), author of the Hunger Games trilogy Lyn Crost (1915–1997), World War II correspondent Tom Curry (1900–1976), pulp fiction writer Mary Ann Hanmer Dodd (1813–1878), poet Dominick Dunne (1925–2009), writer John Gregory Dunne (1932–2003), writer Austin Gary, novelist Stephenie Meyer (born 1973), author of Twilight series novels Jim Murray (1919–1998), Pulitzer Prize-winning sports columnist of the Los Angeles Times Greensbury Washington Offley (1808–1896), slave narrative author and minister Lydia Sigourney (1791-1865), poet Wallace Stevens (1879–1955), poet; insurance executive Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896), author of Uncle Tom's Cabin, settled in Hartford during the 1870s; her Nook Farm home is open to the public and adjoins Mark Twain's Mark Twain (real name Samuel Langhorne Clemens) (1835–1910), author known for The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn Ocean Vuong (born 1988), poet and novelist, author of On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous
Military
William Bryden (1880–1972), U.S. Army major general John H. Fenimore V (born 1941), born in Hartford, Adjutant General of New York John H. Griebel (1901–1969), Marine Corps general Joseph B. Murdock (1851–1931), US Navy rear admiral Sherwood C. Spring (born 1944), United States Army colonel, test pilot and astronaut Griffin Alexander Stedman (1838–1864), Union Army colonel Alfred Terry (1827–1890), Union army general Robert O. Tyler (1831–1874), Union army general Donald M. Weller (1908–1985), Marine Corps general and pioneer in Naval gunfire support
Politics Parmenio Adams (1776–1832), United States congressman; born in Hartford James J. Barbour (1869–1946), Illinois lawyer and state legislator; born in Hartford'Illinois Blue Book 1941-1942,'Biographical Sketch of James J. Barbour, pg. 126-127 L. Paul Bremer (born 1941), ex-administrator of US-occupied Iraq and foreign service officer Harold V. Camp (1935–2022), Connecticut lawyer, state legislator, and businessman Charles R. Chapman, mayor of Hartford, served in both houses of Connecticut legislature Ezra Clark Jr. (1813–1896), US representative Horace S. Cooley, Illinois secretary of state William A. DiBella, majority leader of the Connecticut State Senate Frank Fasi, major of Hawaii George A. French, Minnesota state legislator and lawyerMinnesota Legislators: Past & Present-Georhe A. French Elizabeth Bartlett Grannis (1840–1926), suffragist, social reformer, editor Thomas Hooker, founder of Connecticut Bruce Hyer, Green Party of Canada Member of Parliament Wilfred X. Johnson (1920–1972), first African American elected to the Connecticut General Assembly John B. Larson (born 1948), U.S. representative for Connecticut A. Lucille Matarese, Connecticut state legislator and Roman Catholic Benedictine nun Edward Ralph May (1819–1852), only delegate to the Indiana Constitutional Convention of 1850 to vote in favor of African American suffrage Elizabeth May, former Sierra Club of Canada president and former leader of the Green Party of Canada Alice Merritt (1876–1950), first woman to serve in the Connecticut State Senate (1925–1929); represented Hartford Rachel Taylor Milton, community activist and Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame inductee Chris Murphy (born 1973), U.S. senator, U.S. congressman Lewis Rome (1933–2015), Connecticut State Senate leader and Republican Party nominee in the 1982 Connecticut gubernatorial election Maria W. Stewart, abolitionist Thomas A. Sullivan, Wisconsin state assemblyman Elmer Watson, US Army officer and Connecticut State Senate majority leader
Religion Horace Bushnell (1802–1876), Congregational minister and theologian Mary E. Van Lennep (1821–1844), missionary, school founder, memoirist
Science and medicine Ring Cardé (born 1943), entomologist Barbara McClintock (1902–1992), cytogeneticist, awarded the 1983 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Frederick E. Olmsted (1872–1925), forester and one of the founders of American forestry Alexander Rich (1925–2015), biologist and biophysicist Paul Schimmel (b. 1940), biophysical chemist and translational medicine pioneer Theodore Wirth (1863–1949), horticulturalist and park planner
Sports Michael Adams (born 1963), NBA player Steve Berthiaume, ESPN anchor Nick Bonino (born 1988), NHL player Marcus Camby (born 1974), NBA player John Carney (born 1964), NFL placekicker Jacob Conde (born 1992), soccer player who represented the Puerto Rico national team Mike Crispino, sportscaster for WVIT and WRCH, and ESPN Andre Drummond (born 1993), NBA player for the Los Angeles Lakers Jayson Durocher (born 1974), MLB player for the Milwaukee Brewers Johnny Egan (1939–2022), NBA player Dwight Freeney (born 1980), NFL player Craig Janney (born 1968), NHL player Tyrique Jones (born 1997), basketball player for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israeli Basketball Premier League Rick Mahorn (born 1958), NBA player Eric Mangini (born 1971), head coach of Cleveland Browns and New York Jets Mike McGuirl (born 1998), basketball player for Hapoel Haifa in the Israeli Basketball Premier League Stephanie McMahon, businesswoman, professional wrestling personality Alex Mighten (born 2002), footballer Cliff Olander (born 1955), player of gridiron football Steve Potts (born 1967), former West Ham United footballer, current U21 coach Ryan Preece (born 1990), NASCAR driver Eugene Robinson (born 1963), NFL player Will Solomon (born 1978), basketball player Charley Steiner, Los Angeles Dodgers sportscaster John Sullivan (born 1961), NFL player Roderick G. (Rod) Taylor (1943–2014), Olympic skierThe Republican-American: Roderick G. Taylor, former U.S. Olympic ski team member : retrieved July 17, 2014 Tony Younger (born 1980), American-Israeli basketball player in the Israeli National League
Other Nathaniel Bar-Jonah (1957–2008), convicted child molester and a suspected serial killer and cannibal Howard Long (1905–1939), convicted murderer and child molester Martha Bulloch Roosevelt (1835–1884), mother of president Theodore Roosevelt and grandmother of Eleanor Roosevelt
See also List of people from Connecticut List of people from Bridgeport, Connecticut List of people from Brookfield, Connecticut List of people from Darien, Connecticut List of people from Greenwich, Connecticut List of people from New Canaan, Connecticut List of people from New Haven, Connecticut List of people from Norwalk, Connecticut List of people from Redding, Connecticut List of people from Ridgefield, Connecticut List of people from Stamford, Connecticut List of people from Westport, Connecticut
Notes