List of Famous people born in Texas, United States of America
Corky Ballas
Mark Alexander Ballas Sr., known as Corky Ballas, is a retired competitive ballroom dancer of Greek, Mexican, and Spanish descent who holds several Latin dance championship titles. His son, Mark Ballas, is a professional dancer on Dancing with the Stars. His father was George Ballas, who invented the Weed Eater lawn-trimming device.
Sean Williams
Sean Christopher Williams is an American professional basketball player.
William Goyen
Charles William Goyen was an American novelist, short story writer, playwright, poet, editor, and teacher. Born in a small town in East Texas, these roots would influence his work for his entire life.
Victor Willis
Victor Edward Willis is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is best known as the founding member of the disco group Village People and also as lead singer and co-songwriter for all of their most successful singles. In the group he performed costumed as a policeman or a naval officer.
Philece Sampler
Philece P. Sampler is an American film, television and voice actress. She got her start on the serial Days of Our Lives and the soap opera Another World. She has also voiced in various characters in English-language dubs of Japanese anime and animation, sometimes under the alias Dana Hayes.
Shannon Walker
Shannon Walker is an American physicist and a NASA astronaut selected in 2004. She launched on her first mission into space on June 25, 2010 onboard Soyuz TMA-19 and spent over 163 days in space.
Scott Pelley
Scott Cameron Pelley is an American journalist and author who has been a correspondent and anchor for CBS News for more than 31 years. Pelley is the author of the 2019 book, Truth Worth Telling, and a correspondent for the CBS News magazine 60 Minutes. Pelley served as anchor and managing editor of the CBS Evening News from 2011 to 2017, a period in which the broadcast added more than a million and a half viewers, achieving its highest ratings in more than a decade. Pelley served as CBS News’s chief White House correspondent from 1997 to 1999.
Emanuel Cleaver
Emanuel Cleaver II is a United Methodist pastor and an American politician who is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. Cleaver represents Missouri's 5th congressional district, elected in 2005. The district includes the southern three-fourths of Kansas City, including all of the city south of the Missouri River, as well as the more rural counties of Lafayette, Ray, and Saline east of Jackson. Cleaver is a member of the Democratic Party, and in January 2011, he became chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, a position he held until 2013.
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. As both a solo act and member of two successful bands, Stills has combined record sales of over 35 million albums. He was ranked number 28 in Rolling Stone's 2003 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and number 47 in the 2011 list. Stills became the first person to be inducted twice on the same night into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. According to Neil Young, "Stephen is a genius."
Barbara Mandrell
Barbara Ann Mandrell is an American country music singer, musician, and actress. She is known for a long series of country hits in the 1970s and 1980s and her own primetime variety TV show on NBC that helped her become one of country's most successful female vocalists of that period. She gave her last concert at the Grand Ole Opry House on October 23, 1997, and subsequently retired from performing music. Mandrell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2009. Mandrell was also inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2016. Although retired, Mandrell is still a member of the Grand Ole Opry, an honor she has held since 1972.