List of Famous people born in District of Columbia, United States of America

David Khari Webber Chappelle is an American stand-up comedian, actor, writer and producer. With his incisive observations, he has been described as "poetically unfiltered and sociopolitically introspective, with an ability to illuminate and interrogate agonizing and poignant topics." Chappelle is the recipient of numerous accolades, including four Emmy Awards and three Grammy Awards as well as the Mark Twain Prize. He is known for his satirical comedy sketch series Chappelle's Show (2003–2006). The series, co-written with Neal Brennan, ran until Chappelle quit the show in the middle of production of the third season. After leaving the show, Chappelle returned to performing stand-up comedy across the U.S. By 2006, Chappelle was called the "comic genius of America" by Esquire and, in 2013, "the best" by a Billboard writer. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked him No. 9 in their "50 Best Stand Up Comics of All Time."

Elizabeth Anne Holmes is a former American businesswoman who founded and was the CEO of Theranos, a now-defunct health technology company. Theranos soared in valuation after the company claimed to have revolutionized blood testing by developing testing methods that could use surprisingly small volumes of blood, such as from a fingerprick. By 2015, Forbes had named Holmes the youngest and wealthiest self-made female billionaire in America, on the basis of a $9-billion valuation of her company. The next year, following revelations of potential fraud about Theranos' claims, Forbes had revised its published estimate of Holmes' net worth to zero, and Fortune had named her one of the "World's Most Disappointing Leaders".

Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. is an American environmental lawyer, activist, and author. Kennedy is the son of Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former U.S. president John F. Kennedy. He is the president of the board of Waterkeeper Alliance, a non-profit environmental group that he helped found in 1999, and is the chairman of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine advocacy group.

Jonathan Edward Bernthal is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Shane Walsh on the AMC horror series The Walking Dead, Frank Castle / The Punisher on the Netflix action series Daredevil (2015–2018) and The Punisher (2017–2019), and as Sgt. Manuel Rodriguez in the miniseries The Pacific (2010). He began his career in theater before guest starring on various television shows. He has also starred in supporting and leading roles in films such as The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), Fury (2014), Sicario (2015), The Accountant (2016), Baby Driver (2017), Wind River (2017), Widows (2018), and Ford v Ferrari (2019).

Goldie Jeanne Hawn is an American actress, producer, dancer, and singer. She rose to fame on the NBC sketch comedy program Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (1968–70), before going on to receive the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Cactus Flower (1969).

Brett Michael Kavanaugh is an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. He was nominated by President Donald Trump on July 9, 2018, and has served since October 6, 2018. He was previously a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and worked as a staff lawyer for various offices of the federal government.

Samuel Leroy Jackson is an American actor and producer. Widely regarded as one of the most popular actors of his generation, the films in which he has appeared have collectively grossed over $27 billion worldwide, making him the highest-grossing actor of all time. He rose to fame with films such as Coming to America (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Patriot Games (1992), Juice (1992), Menace II Society (1993), True Romance (1993), Jurassic Park (1993), and Fresh (1994).

Charles Richard Drew was an American surgeon and medical researcher. He researched in the field of blood transfusions, developing improved techniques for blood storage, and applied his expert knowledge to developing large-scale blood banks early in World War II. This allowed medics to save thousands of lives of the Allied forces. As the most prominent African American in the field, Drew protested against the practice of racial segregation in the donation of blood, as it lacked scientific foundation, and resigned his position with the American Red Cross, which maintained the policy until 1950.

Katherine Marie Heigl is an American actress and former fashion model. She started her career as a child model with Wilhelmina Models before turning her attention to acting, making her film debut in That Night (1992) and later appearing in My Father the Hero (1994) as well as Under Siege 2: Dark Territory (1995). Heigl then landed the role of Isabel Evans on The WB television series Roswell (1999–2002), for which she received nominations for Saturn and Teen Choice Awards.

Justin Paul Theroux is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He gained recognition for his work with director David Lynch in the mystery film Mulholland Drive (2001) and the thriller film Inland Empire (2006). He also appeared in films such as Romy and Michele's High School Reunion (1997), American Psycho (2000), Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003), Strangers with Candy (2005), Wanderlust (2012), The Girl on the Train (2016), The Spy Who Dumped Me (2018), On the Basis of Sex (2018), and Lady and the Tramp (2019).

Taraji Penda Henson is an American actress. She studied acting at Howard University and began her Hollywood career in guest roles on several television shows before making her breakthrough in Baby Boy (2001). She received praise for her performances as a prostitute in Hustle & Flow (2005), for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture nomination; and as a single mother of a disabled child in David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008), for which she received Academy Award, SAG Award and Critics Choice Award nominations for Best Supporting Actress. In 2010, she appeared in the action comedy Date Night, and co-starred in the remake of The Karate Kid.

Jerome Hayden "Jay" Powell is the 16th chair of the Federal Reserve, serving in that office since February 2018. He was nominated to the Board of the Federal Reserve in 2012 by President Barack Obama, and subsequently nominated to the chair of the Fed by President Donald Trump, and confirmed in each case by the United States Senate. During his chairmanship, he was both criticized and praised by Trump.

Jeffrey Wright is an American actor. He is best known for his Tony, Golden Globe, and Emmy winning role as Belize in the Broadway production Angels in America and its acclaimed HBO miniseries adaptation. He also starred as Jean-Michel Basquiat in Basquiat, Felix Leiter in the James Bond films Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace and No Time to Die, Valentin Narcisse in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire, and Beetee in The Hunger Games films. Since 2016, Wright has starred as Bernard Lowe and Arnold Weber in the HBO series Westworld. Wright will portray Commissioner James "Jim" Gordon in the superhero film The Batman (2022) by Matt Reeves.

Sucharit Bhakdi is a retired Thai-German microbiologist. In 2020 Bhakdi became a prominent exponent of ideas about the coronavirus pandemic that ran counter to the scientific consensus.

Kathleen Genevieve Ledecky is an American competitive swimmer. She has won five Olympic gold medals and 15 world championship gold medals, the most in history for a female swimmer. She is the world record holder in the women's 400-, 800-, and 1500-meter freestyle. She also holds the fastest-ever times in the women's 500-, 1000-, and 1650-yard freestyle events.

Frederick Samuel Hiatt was an American journalist and editor. He was the editorial page editor of The Washington Post. He also wrote editorials for the page, as well as a biweekly column which appeared on Mondays.

Cory Anthony Booker is an American politician, attorney, and author who has served as the junior United States Senator from New Jersey since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Booker is the first African-American U.S. Senator from New Jersey. He was previously the 38th Mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013. Before that time, Booker served on the Municipal Council of Newark for the Central Ward from 1998 to 2002.

Delonte Maurice West is an American former professional basketball player who played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Boston Celtics, Seattle SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Dallas Mavericks. He also played professionally for the Fujian Xunxing and Shanghai Sharks of the Chinese Basketball Association and the Texas Legends of the NBA G League. Prior to playing professionally, West played college basketball for Saint Joseph's University.

Susan Elizabeth Rice is an American diplomat, policy advisor, and public official serving as Director of the United States Domestic Policy Council since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Rice served as the 27th U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2009 to 2013 and as the 24th U.S. national security advisor from 2013 to 2017.

Andrew Austen Luck is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons with the Indianapolis Colts. Highly touted during his college football career at Stanford, Luck was the recipient of the Maxwell Award and Walter Camp Award in 2011 and was twice recognized as an All-American. Following his collegiate success, he was selected first overall by the Colts in the 2012 NFL Draft.