I grew up in Columbia, Maryland. Moved there in 1975 when I was five years old. The town was only built in the late 1960s. As such there has not been a whole lot of opportunity for talent to come from there going back a hundred years or anything. Even so, actor/director Edward Norton, comic book artist Aaron McGruder (
The Boondocks) and Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Michael Chabon (
Wonder Boys, The Adventures of Cavalier & Clay) all grew up in Columbia.
But if you take Baltimore, Maryland as the nearest big city (about fifteen to twenty minutes from Columbia), then there are all kinds of names. The two proud brand-name exports in the movie world are of course writer/directors John Waters (
Pink Flamingos, Hairspray, Serial Mom) and Oscar-winner Barry Levinson (
Diner, Tin Men, Rain Man). But while they are the two most obvious Baltimore natives in regards to cinema, there are plenty of others. Going way back, one of the five Warner Brothers, Sam, was born in Baltimore. Current 20th Century FOX top executive Tom Rothman, too. As for the variety of actors and actresses who hail from Bal'mer, Parker Posey (
Best in Show, Henry Fool), John Astin (
"The Addams Family", "Night Court"), Thomas Jane (
The Punisher, "Hung"), Jada Pinkett Smith (
Collateral, Bamboozled), Howard E. Rollins Jr. (
Ragtime, A Soldier's Story), Anna Faris (
Scary Movie, "Entourage"), Charles S. Dutton (
"Roc", Rudy, Alien³), Dwight Schultz (
"The A-Team", "Star Trek: Voyager"), Julie Bowen (
"Boston Legal", Happy Gilmore, "Ed"), Michael Tucker (
"L.A. Law", Tin Men), Bess Armstrong (
"My So-Called Life", Nothing in Common, Jaws 3-D), John Kassir (voice of The Crypt Keeper on
"Tales from the Crypt"), Mark Rolston (
The Departed, Saw V), Anna Deavere Smith (
Philadelphia, Rachel Getting Married), and David "Don't Hassle The Hoff" Hasselhoff (
"Knight Rider", "Baywatch", "America's Got Talent"). Also John Waters oddball stock company, including Mink Stole and his muse Harris Glen Milstead, better known as Divine! There were also two superstars of the Silent era born in Baltimore, Miriam Cooper (
The Birth of a Nation, Intolerance) and comedian/director/screenwriter/producer Charley Chase.
Some broadcasters I wouldn't call "actors" that come from Baltimore include Jim McKay (
"ABC's Wide World of Sports"), gameshow and talkshow host Garry Moore (
"I've got a Secret", "To Tell the Truth"), NPR and Showtime host Ira Glass (
"This American Life"), Chitlin' Circuit stand-up legend and TV personality Slappy White (
"Sanford & Son", "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In"), reality TV host and narrator Mike Rowe (
"Dirty Jobs", "Deadliest Catch"), daytime talkshow host Montel Williams, and longtime Howard Stern cohort Robin Ophelia Quivers.
A couple other behind-the-scenes names are TV writer/producer Allen Burns (
"The Mary Tyler Moore Show", "The Munsters", "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle") and director Michael Gordon who helmed a bunch of mainstream Hollywood fare in the 1950 and '60s (
Pillow Talk, Cyrano de Bergerac).
A collection of music industry folks - some of who crossed over into other media - who were born in Baltimore include avant-garde legend and free speech champion Frank Zappa, Jazz legend Billie Holiday, Counting Crows frontman Adam Duritz, rapper and sometimes actor DMX, songbird and pop star Mama Cass Elliot, 1980s hitmakers The Cars frontman Ric Ocasek, Jazz drummer and bandleader Chick Webb, the red-haired singer-songwriter-pianist Tori Amos (born in the U.K., but moved to Baltimore when she was only two-years-old), 1990s R&B superstar songstress Toni Braxton, Jazz pianist Cyrus Chstnut, and the prolific minimalist composer extraordinaire Philip Glass. And Talking Heads frontman David Byrne was born in Baltimore County, just outside the city limits.
Some of the authors who hailed from Baltimore include poet and humorist Ogden Nash, famous journalist and essayist H.L. Menken, Pulitzer Prize winner of the revelatory
The Jungle and many others Upton Sinclair, etiquette standard-barer Emily Post, historical fiction master Leon Uris, poet and activist Adrienne Rich, and spy-thriller bestseller Tom Clancy. Dashiell Hammett was born outside of Baltimore, but that's the city where his brief career as a private investigator took place before his fame as an author of such classics as
The Maltese Falcon. A couple names attached to the publishing world that sprang from Baltimore are Henry Holt (founder of Henry Holt books, duh!) and Sylvia Beach, the patron and expatriate founder of the famous Parisian bookstore Shakespeare and Company.
Some of the famous sports figures that were born in Baltimore include the greatest hitter in the history of Baseball George Herman "Babe" Ruth, swimmer and Olympic record-setter Michael Phelps, pro-tennis star turned broadcaster Pam Shriver, Detroit Tigers Hall of Fame first baseman Al Kaline, diminutive but extremely effective NBA star Muggsy Bogues, NFL wide receiver and Green Bay Packers star Antonio Freeman, Miracle Met outfielder Ron Swoboda, Professional Wrestler Stacy Keibler, and Baseball executive John Schuerholz who as President and General Manager of the Atlanta Braves is credited with part of their historic success in the 1990s and into the 21st Century. Of course Hall of Fame Oriole Cal Ripken Jr. was born and raised in Aberdeen, Maryland, which is not far from Baltimore. Cal's father and namesake was a longtime coach and manager in the Orioles system, so he and his brother Billy (who also played in the Majors for twelve season as a second baseman) were raised as Orioles, so you'd have to consider them Baltimorians by default.
Who else? Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, Samuel Chase who was one of the signers of The Declaration of Independence, Quaker philanthropist and University namesake Johns Hopkins, former President of the NAACP Kweisi Mfume, and current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. On the more infamous side, disgraced Nixon Vice President Spiro T. Agnew and convicted McCarthy-era spy Alger Hiss.
And MoFo Holden Pike, 'natch!
Reply to Topic
