List of Famous people born in Waco, United States of America
Jennifer Love Hewitt
Jennifer Love Hewitt is an American actress, producer and singer. Hewitt began her career as a child actress and singer, appearing in national television commercials before joining the cast of the Disney Channel series Kids Incorporated (1989–1991). She had her breakthrough as Sarah Reeves Merrin on the Fox teen drama Party of Five (1995–1999) and rose to fame as a teen star for her role as Julie James in the horror films I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997) and its 1998 sequel, as well as her role as Amanda Beckett in the teen comedy film Can't Hardly Wait (1998).
Steve Martin
Stephen Glenn Martin is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, and musician. Over his distinguished career he has earned 5 Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, and was awarded an Honorary Academy Award at the Academy's 5th Annual Governors Awards in 2013. Among the many honors, he has received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, the Kennedy Center Honors, an AFI Life Achievement Award. In 2004, Comedy Central ranked Martin at sixth place in a list of the 100 greatest stand-up comics.
Ashlee Simpson
Ashlee Nicolle Ross-Næss is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. The younger sister of singer and actress Jessica Simpson, she began her career as a back-up dancer for her sister and appeared in television commercials at the age of 15. She later pursued a career as an actress and had a recurring role on the family drama 7th Heaven. Her breakout came following her appearance on the reality show Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, broadcast on MTV between 2003 and 2005, which focused on Ashlee's older sister Jessica and Jessica's then-husband Nick Lachey. While working on her debut studio album, Simpson became the star of a spin-off reality series, The Ashlee Simpson Show, which was broadcast on MTV between 2004 and 2005. Like her sister before her, Simpson became the center of considerable media attention, much of which focused on her relationship with musician Ryan Cabrera.
Doris Miller
Doris "Dorie" Miller was an American and United States Navy Cook Third Class who was killed in action during World War II. For attending to the wounded and manning an anti-aircraft machine gun, for which he had no training, while serving aboard a battleship during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, he was awarded the Navy Cross.
Joe Barton
Joe Linus Barton is a Republican politician who represented Texas's 6th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1985 to 2019. The district included Arlington, part of Fort Worth, and several small towns and rural areas south of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex. He was also a member of the Tea Party Caucus. In 2014, Barton became the longest-serving member of the Texas congressional delegation.
Pete Sessions
Peter Anderson Sessions is an American politician from Texas who is the Representative for Texas's 17th congressional district. He has served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 11 previous terms. He is a member of the Republican Party. He served as the chairman of the House Rules Committee from 2013 to 2019 and is a former chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee. He was defeated for re-election by Democrat Colin Allred in the November 2018 election. On October 3, 2019, Sessions announced that he was running for Congress again in the 2020 election. He was elected to the 17th district congressional seat on November 3, 2020.
Roy Hargrove
Roy Anthony Hargrove was an American jazz trumpeter. He won worldwide notice after winning two Grammy Awards for differing types of music in 1997 and in 2002. Hargrove primarily played in the hard bop style for the majority of his albums, especially performing jazz standards on his 1990s albums.
Floyd Patterson
Floyd Patterson was an American professional boxer who competed from 1952 to 1972, and twice reigned as the world heavyweight champion between 1956 and 1962. At the age of 21, he became the youngest boxer in history to win the title, and was also the first heavyweight to regain the title after losing it. As an amateur, he won a gold medal in the middleweight division at the 1952 Summer Olympics.
Peri Gilpin
Peri Gilpin is an American actress. She portrayed Roz Doyle in the U.S. television series Frasier, and Kim Keeler in the ABC Family television drama Make It or Break It.
Texas Guinan
Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan was an American actress, producer and entrepreneur. Born in Texas to Irish immigrant parents, she decided at an early age to become an entertainer. After becoming a star on the New York stage, the repercussions of her involvement in a weight loss scam motivated her to switch careers to the film business. Spending several years in California appearing in numerous productions, she eventually formed her own company.