There are some famous people, like Chris Farley or Frank Lloyd Wright, who are automatically associated with Madison.
But there are a lot more celebrities past and present who have local ties you might not know about. Even the most devoted fans of sex advice columnist Dan Savage, who was on the City Cast Madison podcast last week, might not have known he spent a couple of formative years in Madison as a young man.
Here’s some other famous folks you might not have realized were hometown heroes.
Kamala Harris
The former U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate spent two years living on Madison’s west side as a young child. She fondly remembers her time here in the late 1960s, including being pushed by her parents in a stroller in protest marches.
Carrie Coon
The acclaimed actress, who starred in the most recent season of “The White Lotus,” studied theater at UW-Madison and acted in several plays at American Players Theatre in Spring Green. “It was an extraordinary time in my life,” she told the Cap Times in 2018.
Yung Gravy
As a UW-Madison student, Matthew Hauri had an eventful senior year in 2017, getting a marketing degree and signing with a record label as the rapper Yung Gravy. “A lot of the business and marketing stuff has really stuck with me and helped me,” he told On Wisconsin.
Georgia O’Keeffe
The famous modernist painter was born on a farm in Sun Prairie in 1897 and attended high school in Madison for a couple of years, before the family moved to Virginia.
Bradley Whitford
If you’ve noticed the “West Wing” speaking out a lot about Wisconsin politics, that’s because he grew up in Madison and attended Madison East High School. Bonus points: he’s married to actress Amy Landecker (“Transparent”), who studied theater at UW-Madison.
Thornton Wilder
The author of the classic play “Our Town” was born in Madison in 1897, but didn’t stay long. His father was a U.S. diplomat, and his kids followed him as he was stationed around the world, including spending part of their childhoods living in China.
Clyde Stubblefield
The former drummer for James Brown has had his beats sampled by literally hundreds of artists, but never got his due. But he lived in Madison for decades until his death in 2017, playing around town and mentoring younger musicians.
Marc Webb
The director of “(500) Days of Summer” and the recent live-action “Snow White” was a big theater kid at Madison West High School before heading to Hollywood.
Stacey Abrams
The Georgia politician and voting rights activist was born in Madison and lived here until she was five years old.
Jim Lovell
The astronaut who manned the Apollo 13 and was played by Tom Hanks in the 1995 film attended UW-Madison from 1946 to 1948 under the U.S. Navy’s Flying Midshipman program.
Phil Hellmuth
Still the world’s most famous poker player, Hellmuth was born in Madison and went to West High School, although he may have gotten his real education and local bars and clubs where he learned how to play cards.
Gena Rowlands
The Oscar-nominated actress known best for her film collaborations with her director-husband, John Cassavetes (“A Woman Under the Influence”) was born in Madison in 1930. The family left when she was nine, but she came back to attend UW-Madison.
Rob Marshall
A film director known for big-screen musicals (“Chicago,” “Mary Poppins Returns”) was born in Madison as the son of a UW-Madison Ph.D. student and his teacher wife, and lived here for four years.
