Notable People from North Carolina

Andrew Johnson

President of the United States from 1865 to 1869

James K. Polk

President of the United States from 1845 to 1849 (1795–1849)

O. Henry

American short story writer (1862–1910)

Ava Gardner

American actress (1922–1990)

Nina Simone

American singer, songwriter and pianist and civil rights activist (1933–2003)

Billy Graham

American Christian evangelist (1918–2018)

John Coltrane

American jazz saxophonist (1926–1967)

Kary Mullis

American biochemist (1944–2019)

Thelonious Monk

American jazz pianist and composer (1917–1982)

George Floyd

African American man who was a victim of police violence in the United States, killed by Derek Chauvin

Thomas Wolfe

American writer

William R. King

vice president of the United States from March to April 1853 (1786–1853)

Gallagher

American stand-up comedian

Roberta Flack

American singer (1937–2025)

Ben E. King

American singer (1938–2015)

Dolley Madison

First Lady of the United States from 1809 to 1817

Robert Byrd

American politician (1917–2010)

Edward R. Murrow

American broadcast journalist (1908–1965)

Andy Griffith

American actor, comedian, television producer, singer, and writer (1926–2012)

James E. Webb

administrator of NASA in 1961–1968 (1906–1992)

Fred Brooks

American computer scientist (1931–2022); author of The Mythical Man-Month and 'No Silver Bullet' (1986), which distinguished essential from accidental complexity in software engineering

Max Roach

American jazz percussionist, drummer, and composer (1924–2007)

Kathryn Grayson

American actress and coloratura soprano (1922–2010)

Michael J. Smith

American astronaut (1945-1986)

Link Wray

American guitarist (1929–2005)

Richard Jordan Gatling

American firearm designer (1818–1903)

Tom Robbins

American writer (1932–2025)

Jesse Helms

American politician (1921–2008)

James Buchanan Duke

American businessman (1856-1925)

Harriet Jacobs

American slave, writer, and abolitionist (1815-1897)

Braxton Bragg

Confederate Army general (1817–1876)

John Cocke

American computer scientist (1925-2002)

Kenneth Noland

American artist (1924–2010)

Sam Jones

American basketball player and coach (1933–2021)

Dale Earnhardt

American racing driver (1951-2001)

Viscera

American professional wrestler

Earl Scruggs

American musician (1924–2012)

Charlie Daniels

American singer and musician (1936–2020)

George Christopher Williams

American evolutionary biologist (1926–2010)

Walt Bellamy

American basketball player (1939-2013)

Kay Hagan

American politician (1953-2019)

Afeni Shakur

American political activist (1947–2016)

Anna J. Cooper

African-American author, educator, speaker and scholar (1858–1964)

Doc Watson

American musician (1923–2012)

Dorothy Hansine Andersen

American physician (1901-1963)

Anne Jeffreys

American actress and singer (1923-2017)

Barbara Loden

American actress and director (1932–1980)

Elizabeth Cotten

American blues and folk musician, singer and songwriter (1893-1987)

Little Eva

American singer (1943–2003)

Lou Donaldson

American saxophonist (1926–2024)