A true city of stars
These 10 famous idols were born in Chicagoland
Image: Chait Goli
When Chicagoans mention which city they come from, the same big names are always brought up: Oprah Winfrey, Michael Jordan, and even Al Capone. These are huge public figures known worldwide, of course. But none of them were born anywhere near Chicagoland ! In an attempt to highlight the city’s ability to produce incredible talents, here is a list of 10 icons who were indeed born in the Chicago area—whether they made history there or elsewhere.
1
Harrison Ford
Image: Chris Nguyen
The face of Indiana Jones was born in 1942 in the Windy City. A Boy Scout from Illinois , he attended school in the suburbs before moving to Wisconsin for college and later to California to pursue acting. There, he became a self-taught professional carpenter to support his family. Everything changed for him when writer and director George Lucas took a liking to him and started including him in small roles in his films. Lucas finally gave him a leading role as Han Solo in his space opera, Star Wars (1977).
Ford is one of the most recognizable actors in the world. His long career includes critically acclaimed performances in films like Blade Runner (1982), The Fugitive (1993), and Witness (1985), for which he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor .
2
Walt Disney
Image: Charlottees
Yes, the father of Mickey Mouse was born far from California’s Disneyland. Walt Disney was born in 1901 in the Hermosa neighborhood of Chicago. He grew up in the city until his family moved to Missouri when he was a young boy, but he later returned to study at the then-called Chicago Academy of Fine Arts (now the School of the Art Institute of Chicago). In 1956, Disney purchased his birth home in Chicago with the intention of restoring it, though his plans for the house were never fully realized.
Of course, the founder of The Walt Disney Company was an imaginative mind who led projects that revolutionized the film industry . His endeavors pioneered the introduction of synchronized sound in animation, the production of full-length animated films, and, most notably, the creation of Disneyland, the world’s first theme park of its kind.
3
Bob Fosse
Image: Pixabay
Bob Fosse was one of the most celebrated choreographers and directors in both Broadway and film history. He was born in 1927 on the North Side of Chicago and grew up in the Ravenswood neighborhood. A revolutionary creator who brought a signature Chicago-jazz style to musical theater, Fosse had been exposed to the city’s vaudeville and burlesque scenes, which were popular in the 1930s and 1940s and attended many dance studios in the city during his youth.
His experience as a performer in Chicago probably influenced the recurring theme of showbiz’s dark side , evident in musicals like Cabaret , Chicago , and Sweet Charity , which he directed and choreographed. He also won an Academy Award for Best Director for the film Cabaret and is the only person to have ever won an Oscar, a Tony, and an Emmy in the same year (1973).
4
Quincy Jones
Image: sam99929
Quincy Delight Jones Jr., one of the most influential musicians of modern times, was born on the South Side of Chicago , a rich cultural hub in the city. Though his family moved from Chicago when he was 10, it was in the city that he was first exposed to musical neighbors and the culture of religious singing. Later, as a teen, he picked up a trumpet and thus began his incredible musical career.
Quincy Jones is most famous for producing Michael Jackson’s albums , not least of which is Thriller , the best-selling album of all time. He’s also known for his work as a film and TV producer, creating the music for iconic films like The Color Purple and The Wiz , as well as TV shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air . In 1985, he produced and conducted the charity single "We Are the World" to fight famine in Africa. Jones has won 28 Grammy Awards.
5
Ray Bradbury
Image: Vanessa Sezini
Ray Bradbury, the author of Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and The Martian Chronicles (1950), was also a Chicagoland native. He was born in Waukegan , about 35 miles north of Chicago, in 1920. Despite leaving Chicago early in life, his childhood in Waukegan is reflected in some of his work, particularly in scenes depicting small-town America—nostalgic, yet sometimes eerie.
Bradbury managed to weave Waukegan repeatedly into his fiction by transforming it into his imagined Green Town, Illinois . This fictional town serves as the setting for his semiautobiographical trilogy consisting of Dandelion Wine , Something Wicked This Way Comes , and Farewell Summer , and it appears in several of his short stories. Most of the narrations set in Green Town evoke summer scenes led by children in a small town at the beginning of the century.
6
Bill Murray
Image: Blake Guidry
The famous comedic actor Bill Murray was born in Evanston, Illinois, a suburb north of Chicago. He grew up nearby, attending Loyola Academy, and in the early '70s, he was invited by his brother Brian to join the improvisational comedy troupe The Second City . This helped launch the career of a talented comedic writer and actor, known for his roles in Saturday Night Live , which he joined in 1977, as well as films like Ghostbusters (1984), Groundhog Day (1993), and Lost in Translation (2003).
Murray is a devoted fan of several Chicago sports teams, including the Chicago Cubs , the Bears, and the Bulls . In the '80s, he served as a guest commentator for a Cubs game, and he was famously emotional in 2016 when the Cubs won the World Series after a 108-year drought.
7
Michelle (Robinson) Obama
Image: Sonder Quest
Michelle Obama, née Robinson, was born in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago. She grew up in a working-class family and attended Whitney M. Young Magnet High School, a prestigious public school in Chicago, where she excelled academically. She later went on to study at Princeton University and Harvard Law School before returning to Chicago to work at a law firm, where she met future President Barack Obama.
While she is most famous for being First Lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017, before having that role she held several positions in Chicago’s public service . For instance, she served as an assistant commissioner for the city mayor and she directed the city’s office for Public Allies, a leadership development organization. She also worked at the University of Chicago and at the University of Chicago Medical Center.
8
Robin Williams
Image: V
The late and beloved actor Robin Williams was originally from the Lake View neighborhood of Chicago, where he was born in 1951. He spent his childhood in the North Shore, where his father was a senior executive at Ford until the family relocated to Michigan. Williams's legendary quick wit and his knack for improvisation and making people laugh landed him one of his first gigs, a TV commercial for Illinois Bell, shown in the Chicago area, in which he already showcased his talent for goofy voices. He also made guest appearances at the Second City stage where he performed memorable improvisational acts.
Williams had an incredible ability to jump from character to character in an instant, and he soon won the hearts of the audience as both a comedic and dramatic actor in films like Aladdin (1992), Mrs. Doubtfire (1993), and Good Will Hunting (1997).
9
Ernest Hemingway
Image: Dan Price
Another writer from the suburbs of Chicago was Ernest Hemingway, born in 1899 in Oak Park. He spent his early years in this upper-middle-class neighborhood. Though he left Chicago as a young man, the Hemingway Birthplace Museum in Oak Park still stands as a tribute to his legacy, and the area honors him with numerous literary festivals and events every year.
During his childhood, he spent summer days in the woods and lakes of Northern Michigan, experiences that likely forged his love for nature and adventure, which are reflected in many of his works. Hemingway is best known for his timeless contributions to American literature, including The Old Man and the Sea (1952) and For Whom the Bell Tolls (1940). In 1954, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
10
Betty White
Image: Day_Photo
The "Golden Girl," Betty Marion White, was born in Oak Park, just like Hemingway. Even though she was still a toddler when her family moved to California, and she was considered a national treasure, she liked to remind people that her roots were at Oak Park , which made fans from the area very happy.
The village had prepared to celebrate her 100th birthday on January 17, 2022, but sadly, the star passed away just weeks before. Oak Park then proceeded to celebrate her life and career at an event that gathered hundreds of fans despite the freezing weather. White held the Guinness World Record for the longest TV career by an entertainer, starred in iconic shows like The Mary Tyler Moore Show and The Golden Girls , and was also a pioneering female producer behind the camera.
