List of Famous people born in Knoxville, United States of America
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. His films are characterized by nonlinear storylines, dark humor, aestheticization of violence, extended scenes of dialogue, ensemble casts, references to popular culture and a wide variety of other films, soundtracks primarily containing songs and score pieces from the 1960s to the 1980s, alternate history, and features of neo-noir film.
Trevor Lawrence
William Trevor Lawrence is an American football quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars of the National Football League (NFL). Considered among the best collegiate quarterbacks of all time, he went undefeated as a freshman at Clemson, concluding with a victory in the 2019 National Championship Game. Lawrence set the Clemson record for career quarterback wins, losing only the 2020 National Championship and 2021 Sugar Bowl. Following his collegiate success, he was selected first overall by the Jaguars in the 2021 NFL Draft.
Randy Orton
Randal Keith Orton is an active American professional wrestler and actor. Widely regarded as one of the greatest professional wrestlers of all time, he is currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the Raw brand.
Christina Hendricks
Christina Rene Hendricks is a British-American actress and former model. Her accomplishments include six Primetime Emmy Award nominations, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and two Critics' Choice Awards for Best Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. A 2010 poll of female readers taken by Esquire magazine named her "the sexiest woman in the world," and voted as Best Looking Woman in America the same year.
Jason Witten
Christopher Jason Witten is a former American football tight end who played for the Dallas Cowboys and Las Vegas Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the University of Tennessee, and was drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the 2003 NFL Draft. Witten ranks second in all-time career receptions and receiving yards by an NFL tight end, trailing only Tony Gonzalez. Initially retiring in 2018, he became a color analyst for ESPN's Monday Night Football.
Kelsea Ballerini
Kelsea Nicole Ballerini is an American country pop singer and songwriter. She began songwriting as a child and signed with Black River Entertainment in 2014, releasing her debut studio album the following year, The First Time. Her second studio album, Unapologetically, followed in 2017. Ballerini's first two albums have accounted for seven charted songs on the Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts. She has four No. 1 singles on the latter, starting with her debut single "Love Me Like You Mean It", which made her the first female artist to send a debut single to the top of that chart since Carrie Underwood in 2006. It was followed by "Dibs" and "Peter Pan", whose peaks also made her the first female country artist to send her first three singles to the top of that chart since Wynonna Judd. Ballerini's fourth No. 1 single is "Legends". Her third and fourth studio albums, Kelsea and Ballerini were both released in 2020.
Kenny Chesney
Kenneth Arnold Chesney is an American country music singer, songwriter, and record producer. He has recorded more than 20 albums. He has also produced more than 40 Top 10 singles on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs and Country Airplay charts, 31 of which have reached number one. Many of these have also charted within the Top 40 of the US Billboard Hot 100, making him one of the most successful crossover country artists. He has sold over 30 million albums worldwide.
Johnny Knoxville
Philip John Clapp, known professionally as Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, stunt performer, filmmaker, and comedian. He is best known as a co-creator and star of the MTV reality stunt show Jackass, which aired for three seasons from 2000 to 2002. A year later, Knoxville and his co-stars returned for the first installment in the Jackass film series, with a second and third installment being released in 2006 and 2010, respectively. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa (2013), the first film in the series with a storyline, saw him star as his Jackass character Irving Zisman.
Bruce Hampton
Bruce Hampton was an American musician. In the late 1960s he was a founding member of Atlanta, Georgia's avant-garde Hampton Grease Band. Adopting the moniker Colonel Hampton B. Coles, Retired or alternatively Col. Bruce Hampton Ret., and sometimes playing a sort of dwarf guitar called a "chazoid", he later formed several other bands. Some of those band names include The Late Bronze Age, The Aquarium Rescue Unit, The Fiji Mariners, The Codetalkers, The Quark Alliance, Pharaoh Gummitt, and Madrid Express.
Tyler Summitt
Ross Tyler Summitt is an American college basketball former player and coach. He was the head coach for the Louisiana Tech Lady Techsters from 2014 to 2016.