Famous People From Alabama

Actor, producer, and dancer Channing Tatum has been active in the entertainment industry for around two decades. He is best known for his leading role in the film Magic Mike. After dropping out of college as a young man, he started working as a dancer. Hollywood soon came calling and he proceeded to become a film star.

A prolific author, having written 12 published books and several articles, Helen Keller was the first deaf-blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Her autobiography, The Story of My Life, made Keller famous and was adapted for film and stage. She was also an activist and campaigned for women's suffrage, labour rights, socialism and other such causes.

Rosa Parks, “the first lady of civil rights,” was a pioneer in the American revolution against color segregation and racism. Her refusal to leave her bus seat to a white passenger gave rise to the iconic Montgomery Bus Boycott, which also led her to work with Martin Luther King Jr.

Lionel Richie is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and composer whose work with the band Commodores and his solo career established him as a successful balladeer of the 1980s. Having sold more than 90 million records, Lionel Richie is one of the best-selling musicians of all time. Also a philanthropist, Richie helped raise money for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

American professional basketball player Charles Barkley was a prolific scorer and played for Philadelphia 76ers, Phoenix Suns and Houston Rocket teams of the National Basketball Association. He was part of the US men’s team that won the gold medal in 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympic Games. He was also controversial and was known for his confrontational attitude and physical aggression.

Widely regarded as one of the greatest track and field athletes of all time, Jesse Owens' three world records in less than an hour in 1935 came to be known as the greatest 45 minutes ever in sports. He was credited with destroying Adolf Hitler's myth of Aryan supremacy when he won four gold medals at the 1936 Summer Olympics.

Musician Hank Williams is widely considered one of the most influential and significant American singer-songwriters of the 20th century. Hank Williams influenced several singers, such as Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Johnny Cash, and Charley Pride to name a few. Since his untimely death at the age of 29, many artists have released tribute albums honoring Hank Williams.  

Evander Holyfield is an American retired boxer who reigned as the undisputed champion in the late 1980s under cruiserweight division and in the early 1990s under heavyweight division. The only four-time world heavyweight champion, Holyfield remains the only boxer in the history of boxing to reign as an undisputed champion in two weight classes.

Baseball player Hank Aaron, also known as Hammer or Hammerin' Hank, is remembered for his stint with the MLB teams Milwaukee/Atlanta Braves and Milwaukee Brewers. He also competed as part of the Negro League team Indianapolis Clowns. He was named to The Sporting News 100 Greatest Baseball Players.

Actress, producer, and director, Courteney Cox first gained international popularity in the mid-1990s owing to her appearance in the NBC sitcom Friends. She soon ventured into films, where also she found success. Besides acting, she owns the film and television company, Coquette Productions. She has won the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Women's Image Network.

Harper Lee was an American novelist who wrote the Pulitzer Prize-winning classic To Kill a Mockingbird. Despite publishing only two books, Lee was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom for her contribution to literature, such was her impact in the world of literature. A friend of Truman Capote, Lee has been portrayed by popular actresses in Capote's biographical films.

Deborah Ryan is an American singer and actress who started her career as a child artist before going on to establish herself as a successful adult actress in the TV and film industry. A multi-talented personality, Ryan can also play the guitar, keyboard, and piano. Also a well-known philanthropist, Ryan has been working on various causes, such as ocean conservation.

Former professional baseball and football player Bo Jackson has the distinction of being the only professional athlete in history to be named an All-Star in both the sports. Considered one of the greatest athletes of all time, he pursued his other interests following his retirement from sports in the 1990s. He has acted in a few TV shows, playing minor characters.

Terrell Owens is a former American football player who played for popular teams like San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, and Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League (NFL) in a career spanning 16 years. Considered one of the greatest American footballers of his generation, Terrell Owens was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.

The 66th United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made history in 2005 when she became the first female black Secretary of State. She is also the first female to serve as National Security Advisor, a position which she served from 2001 to 2005. One of the most powerful women in the world at one point of time, she has been depicted in Hollywood films.

Willie Mays is considered one of the all-time greats of baseball. His breathtaking catch of Vic Wertz’s fly ball is etched as a great movement in the history of the sport. Associated with New York / San Francisco Giants for about two decades, the former center fielder with record Major League Football putouts, features in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Octavia Spencer is an American actress, producer, and author. Widely regarded as one of the best actresses of her generation, Spencer has received several prestigious awards, such as a Golden Globe Award, Academy Award, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. Octavia Spencer is the first black actress to have received two successive nominations at the Oscars.

An actor who gained international fame with his role in the TV series, American Gothic, Lucas Black is known for playing versatile roles onscreen. Starting his career with a small film role in the mid-1990s, he has come a long way. He is the winner of one Young Artist Award. 

Walton Goggins is best known for his Emmy-nominated performance in Justified and has also played a long-running role in The Shield. His short film The Accountant won an Academy Award. He is an avid traveler and photographer, too, and also co-owns the spirits company Mulholland Distilling.

A dominant sprinter and long jumper, Carl Lewis has won ten Olympic medals, nine of them gold. From 1981 to 1991, he topped the world rankings in the 100 m, 200 m and long jump events, slowly starting to lose his dominance thereafter, eventually retiring in 1997. Currently a businessperson, he has also appeared in films and television productions.

Jordan Fisher is well-known for his acting, singing, and dancing skills. He won the 25th season of the popular dance competition television series Dancing with the Stars. As a singer, he has released singles, such as All About Us and Lookin' Like That. He also served as a commentator at the 2019 Fortnite World-Cup, an annual e-sports competition.

Activist, philosopher, academic and author, Angela Davis is a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She has worked in the areas of feminism, class, race and the US prison system. She has also received criticism for supporting the erstwhile Soviet Union and has been accused of supporting political violence.

American football player Julio Jones has been an important member of the Atlanta Falcons of the NFL since 2011. Renowned for his leaping and catching ability, Jones is considered one of the greatest receivers ever and the best wide receiver of the current generation. He became the fastest to reach 10,000 receiving yards in the history of NFL in 2018.

Zora Neale Hurston was an author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. As an African American woman, she often depicted racial issues in the films she made. Her works also reflected her struggles as a black woman. In her early career, she conducted anthropological and ethnographic research and focused more on writing and film-making in her later years.

A former basketball and tennis player, Rubin Roberts began her career as a sports anchor and reporter for a Mississippi channel, WDAM-TV, eventually joining ESPN as sportscaster, concurrently serving as a featured reporter for Good Morning America. In 2005, she left ESPN to become a co-anchor for Good Morning America, currently serving as an anchor for the same program.

Legendary baseball pitcher Satchel Paige was part of the MLB and the Negro League Baseball. The National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee began his career playing for the Chattanooga Black Lookouts and later played for teams such as the Cleveland Indians. He was the American League’s first black pitcher.

The American civil rights activist was an ideal foil for her famous husband Martin Luther King Jr. in promoting racial equality. The author and singer led the Women's Movement and fought for the rights of the LGBT community. She was also known for mobilising African-Americans during the 1960 US presidential election. She founded the King Centre, a not-for-profit organization.

Emmylou Harris is an American musician, singer, and songwriter. Apart from being a bandleader, a solo artist, and an interpreter of other artists' works, Harris is also an activist; since 1999, she has been conducting Concerts for a Landmine Free World, an annual benefit tour. She is also an ardent supporter of animal rights organizations, such as PETA.

Michael Rooker is an American actor. A black belt holder in Kyokushin style of karate, Michael Rooker often uses his martial arts skills to play his characters, such as Yondu Udonta in Guardians of the Galaxy, to perfection. He is also known for his performance in popular TV series like The Walking Dead.

Zelda Fitzgerald was a painter, socialite, and novelist. Along with her husband Scott Fitzgerald, Zelda became a prominent personality of the Jazz Age. Renowned for her high spirits and beauty, she was named the first American flapper by Scott. For her work as a novelist and painter, Fitzgerald was posthumously made an inductee to the Alabama Women's Hall of Fame.

Dabo Swinney is an American football coach. The highest-paid coach in college athletics history, Dabo Swinney helped the Clemson Tigers of the Clemson University win two national championships; he is the second-most successful head coach in Clemson history, only behind Frank Howard.

Former NASA astronaut Mae Jemison became the first Black woman to fly into space, as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Endeavour. A qualified physician, she has served as a Peace Corps doctor, too. She has written several books and established a non-profit and a tech research organization.

Kaitlan Collins is one of the most popular and influential American journalists of the current generation. As a White House correspondent for CNN, Collins traveled to at least six different countries with Donald Trump. She made headlines when she questioned Trump about Vladimir Putin, for which she was forbidden from attending a Trump administration press conference in 2018.

Fred Thompson was an American politician, lobbyist, attorney, columnist, radio personality, and actor. From 1994 to 2003, Thompson served as the United States Senator from Tennessee. As an actor, he played important roles in several films and TV series, such as Law & Order and Barbarians at the Gate.

Felicia Day is an American actress, web series creator, and writer. She is credited with creating the popular comedy web series The Guild, which was loosely based on her experiences as a gamer. Also a humanitarian, Felicia Day organized a Twitch charity live-stream to help a nonprofit organization called Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).