List of Famous people born in New Jersey, United States of America
Shaquille O'Neal
Shaquille Rashaun "Shaq" O'Neal is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program Inside the NBA on TNT. He played for six teams over his 19-year career in the National Basketball Association (NBA). At 7 ft 1 in (2.16 m) tall and 325 pounds (147 kg), O'Neal is regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time.
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst is an American actress. She gained recognition for her portrayal of the child vampire Claudia in the horror film Interview with the Vampire (1994), which earned her a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She also had roles in her youth in Little Women (1994) and the fantasy films Jumanji (1995) and Small Soldiers (1998).
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer, actor and producer who was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.
Paul Rudd
Paul Stephen Rudd is an American actor, screenwriter, and producer. He studied theater at the University of Kansas and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts before making his acting debut in 1992.
Linda Tripp
Linda Rose Tripp was an American civil servant who played a prominent role in the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal of 1998. Tripp's action in secretly recording Monica Lewinsky's confidential phone calls about her relationship with President Bill Clinton caused a sensation with their links to the earlier Clinton v. Jones lawsuit and with the disclosing of intimate details. Tripp claimed that her motives were purely patriotic, and she was able to avoid a wiretap charge in exchange for handing in the tapes. She then claimed that her firing from the Pentagon at the end of the Clinton administration was vindictive, while the administration called it standard procedure for a political appointee. From 2004, Tripp and her husband, Dieter Rausch, owned and ran a year-round holiday store called The Christmas Sleigh in Middleburg, Virginia.
Kal Penn
Kalpen Suresh Modi, known professionally as Kal Penn, is an American actor and former White House staff member in the Barack Obama administration. As an actor, he is known for his role portraying Lawrence Kutner on the television program House, as well as the character Kumar Patel in the Harold & Kumar film series. He is also recognized for his performance in the film The Namesake. Penn has taught at the University of Pennsylvania in the Cinema Studies Program as a visiting lecturer.
Willie Garson
William Garson Paszamant is an American actor. He has appeared in over 75 films, and more than 300 TV episodes. He is known for playing Stanford Blatch on the HBO series Sex and the City and in the related films Sex and the City and Sex and the City 2, and for his role as Mozzie in the USA Network series White Collar from 2009 to 2014. He appears on Hawaii Five-0 as Gerard Hirsch. He also played the character Martin Lloyd in the sci-fi series Stargate SG-1.
James Gandolfini
James Joseph Gandolfini Jr. was an American actor and producer. He was best known for his role as Tony Soprano, the Italian-American crime boss in HBO's television series The Sopranos, for which he won three Emmy Awards, three Screen Actors Guild Awards, and one Golden Globe Award. Gandolfini's portrayal of Tony Soprano is widely regarded as among the greatest performances in television history.
Joe Rogan
Joseph James Rogan is an American comedian, podcast host, and mixed martial arts color commentator. He has also worked as a television host and an actor.
Halsey
Ashley Nicolette Frangipane, known professionally as Halsey, is an American singer, songwriter, and activist. Gaining attention from self-released music on social media platforms, she was signed by Astralwerks in 2014 and released her debut EP, Room 93, later that year.
John Travolta
John Joseph Travolta is an American actor and singer. He rose to fame during the 1970s, appearing on the television sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter (1975–1979) and starring in the box office successes Carrie (1976), Saturday Night Fever (1977), and Grease (1978). His acting career declined throughout the 1980s, but he enjoyed a resurgence in the 1990s with his role in Pulp Fiction (1994), and has since starred in the films Get Shorty (1995), Broken Arrow (1996), Face/Off (1997), Swordfish (2001), The Punisher (2004), Hairspray (2007), Bolt (2008), and The Taking of Pelham 123 (2009).
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer and actress. She was certified as the most awarded female artist of all time by Guinness World Records and is one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have been certified diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She is regarded as one of the greatest artists of all time. Her crossover appeal on the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV influenced several African-American female artists.
Jack Nicholson
John Joseph Nicholson is an American actor and filmmaker whose career has spanned more than 60 years. He is known for having played a wide range of starring or supporting roles, including comedy, romance, and darkly comic portrayals of anti-heroes and villainous characters. In many of his films, he played the "eternal outsider, the sardonic drifter", someone who rebels against the social structure.
Kevin Spacey
Kevin Spacey Fowler is an American actor, producer, and singer. Spacey began his career as a stage actor during the 1980s, obtaining supporting roles in film and television. Spacey's first roles in film were in Mike Nichols' Heartburn (1986), and Working Girl (1988). He gained critical acclaim in the 1990s, with an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the neo-noir crime thriller The Usual Suspects (1995) and an Academy Award for Best Actor for the midlife- crisis themed drama American Beauty (1999). Spacey's other starring roles have included Glengarry Glen Ross (1992), the comedy-drama film Swimming with Sharks (1994), the psychological thriller Seven (1995), the neo-noir crime film L.A. Confidential (1997), the drama Pay It Forward (2000), the science fiction-mystery film K-PAX (2001), the musical biopic Beyond the Sea (2004), the superhero film Superman Returns (2006), and the action film Baby Driver (2017).
Rachel Zegler
Rachel Anne Zegler is an American singer, actress, and YouTuber. She plays the lead role of María in the upcoming film West Side Story, directed by Steven Spielberg, scheduled to be released in theaters on December 10, 2021.
Jon-Erik Hexum
Jon-Erik Hexum was an American actor and model, known for his lead roles in the TV series Voyagers! and Cover Up, and his supporting role as Pat Trammell in the biopic The Bear. He died by an accidental self-inflicted blank cartridge gunshot to the head on the set of Cover Up.
Meryl Streep
Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep is an American actress and singer. Often described as the "best actress of her generation", Streep is particularly known for her versatility and accents. She has received a number of accolades, including being nominated for a record 21 Academy Awards, of which she has won three, and a record 34 Golden Globe nominations, winning nine.
Vera Farmiga
Vera Ann Farmiga is an American actress, director, and producer. She began her professional acting career on stage in the original Broadway production of Taking Sides (1996). Farmiga made her television debut in the Fox fantasy adventure series Roar (1997), and her feature film debut in the drama-thriller Return to Paradise (1998).
Peter Dinklage
Peter Hayden Dinklage is an American actor and producer. He received acclaim for portraying Tyrion Lannister on the HBO television series Game of Thrones (2011—2019), for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series a record four times. He also received a Golden Globe Award in 2011 and a Screen Actors Guild Award in 2020 for the role.
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen is an American singer, songwriter, and musician who is both a solo artist and the leader of the E Street Band. Originally from the Jersey Shore, he received critical acclaim for his early 1970s albums and attained worldwide fame upon the release of Born to Run in 1975. During a career that has spanned five decades, Springsteen has become known for his poetic, socially conscious lyrics and energetic stage performances, sometimes lasting up to four hours in length. He has been given the nickname "The Boss". He has recorded both rock albums and folk-oriented works, and his lyrics often address the experiences and struggles of working-class Americans.