List of Famous people born in Joplin, United States of America

James Mercer Langston Hughes was an American poet, social activist, novelist, playwright, and columnist from Joplin, Missouri. One of the earliest innovators of the then-new literary art form called jazz poetry, Hughes is best known as a leader of the Harlem Renaissance. He famously wrote about the period that "the Negro was in vogue", which was later paraphrased as "when Harlem was in vogue."

Pauline Starke was an American silent-film actress.

Jane Grant was a New York City journalist who co-founded The New Yorker with her first husband, Harold Ross.

John Beal was an American actor.

William Dennis Weaver was an American actor and former president of the Screen Actors Guild, best known for his work in television and films from the early 1950s until just before his death in 2006. Weaver's two most famous roles were as Marshal Matt Dillon's trusty partner Chester Goode/Proudfoot on the CBS western Gunsmoke and as Deputy Marshal Sam McCloud on the NBC police drama McCloud. He starred in the 1971 television film Duel, the first film of director Steven Spielberg. He is also remembered for his role as the twitchy motel attendant in Orson Welles's film Touch of Evil (1958).

Charles Clarence Robert Orville Cummings was an American film and television actor known mainly for his roles in comedy films such as The Devil and Miss Jones (1941) and Princess O'Rourke (1943), but was also effective in dramatic films, especially two of Alfred Hitchcock's thrillers, Saboteur (1942) and Dial M for Murder (1954). Cummings received five Primetime Emmy Award nominations, and won the Primetime Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Single Performance in 1955. On February 8, 1960, he received two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contributions to the motion picture and television industries. The stars for motion picture and television are, respectively, at 6816 Hollywood Boulevard, and at 1718 Vine Street.

Carl Bernard Pomerance is an American number theorist. He attended college at Brown University and later received his Ph.D. from Harvard University in 1972 with a dissertation proving that any odd perfect number has at least seven distinct prime factors. He joined the faculty at the University of Georgia, becoming full professor in 1982. He subsequently worked at Lucent Technologies for a number of years, and then became a distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College.

Victor J. Miller was the 33rd Mayor of Saint Louis, serving from 1925 to 1933.

James Christopher McMurray, nicknamed Jamie Mac, is an American former professional stock car racing driver and currently an analyst for Fox NASCAR. He raced in the NASCAR Cup Series on a full-time basis from 2003 to 2018. He is currently competing part-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 77 Chevrolet in a one off at the Daytona 500 for Spire Motorsports.