List of Famous people born in Rhode Island, United States of America
Michaela McManus
Michaela McManus is an American actress, known for her portrayals of Lindsey Strauss on One Tree Hill, A.D.A. Kim Greylek on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, and Grace Karn on the NBC drama Aquarius.
Shanna Moakler
Shanna Lynn Moakler is an American model, actress, and reality television star. She was the winner of the Miss New York USA pageant in 1995 and was the first runner-up at Miss USA 1995. After winner Chelsi Smith won the Miss Universe 1995 pageant, Moakler succeeded her as Miss USA. Moakler began modeling at age 15 and was later chosen as a Playmate of the Month for Playboy magazine in December 2001.
Michael Flynn
Michael Thomas Flynn is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who was the 25th United States National Security Advisor for the first 22 days of the Trump administration until his resignation. Flynn's military career included a key role in shaping U.S. counterterrorism strategy and dismantling insurgent networks in the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and he was given numerous combat arms, conventional, and special operations senior intelligence assignments. He became the 18th Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency in July 2012 until his forced retirement from the military in August 2014. During his tenure he gave a lecture on leadership at the Moscow headquarters of the Russian military intelligence directorate GRU, the first American official to be admitted entry to the headquarters.
Aaron T. Beck
Aaron Temkin Beck was an American psychiatrist who was a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He is regarded as the father of cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). His pioneering methods are widely used in the treatment of clinical depression and various anxiety disorders. Beck also developed self-report measures for depression and anxiety, notably the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), which became one of the most widely used instruments for measuring the severity of depression. In 1994, he and his daughter, the psychologist Judith S. Beck, founded the nonprofit Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which provides CBT treatment and training and conducts CBT research. Beck served as President Emeritus of the organization up until his death.
Wendy Carlos
Wendy Carlos is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores. Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving to New York City in 1962 to study music composition at Columbia University. Studying and working with various electronic musicians and technicians at the city's Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, she helped in the development of the Moog synthesizer, the first commercially available keyboard instrument created by Robert Moog.
Demetrius Andrade
Demetrius Cesar Andrade is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO middleweight title since 2018, and previously the WBA (Regular) and WBO light middleweight titles between 2013 and 2017. As an amateur he won the U.S. national championships and Golden Gloves twice each, a gold medal at the 2007 World Championships, and represented the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics; all in the welterweight division.
Damien Chazelle
Damien Sayre Chazelle is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is best known for his films Whiplash (2014), La La Land (2016), and First Man (2018). For La La Land, he received several accolades, including the Golden Globe Award and the Academy Award for Best Director; making him the youngest person to win either award at age 32.
Vinny Paz
Vinny Paz, formerly Vinny Pazienza, is an American former professional boxer who held world titles at lightweight and light middleweight. The 2016 film Bleed for This is based on his comeback from a spinal injury.
Olivia Culpo
Olivia Frances Culpo is an American fashion influencer and social media personality. After winning the Miss Rhode Island USA competition, she went on to be crowned Miss USA, and then Miss Universe in 2012. She has also ventured into modeling and acting.
Elisabeth Hasselbeck
Elisabeth DelPadre Hasselbeck is an American retired television personality and talk show host. Hasselbeck first rose to prominence in 2001 as a contestant on the second season of the American version of Survivor, where she finished in fourth place. She married NFL quarterback Tim Hasselbeck the following year.