Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, New York. Photo by Leonard Zhukovsky / Shutterstock.com.
Whenever I think of Nassau County, I think of the Nassau Coliseum. I think of, well, pizzerias like Dario’s and Umberto’s. I think of more traffic than Suffolk County. Small houses, extremely high taxes, and horrible traffic. But at least the train ride into the city is quicker than in Suffolk.
Nassau County occupies the western half of Long Island outside New York City, bordered by Queens to the west and Suffolk County to the east. Its suburban communities, beach cities, villages, and North Shore enclaves have produced an extraordinary range of comedians, actors, musicians, athletes, writers, broadcasters, and entertainers whose careers reached far beyond Long Island.
For this list, we used the same standard as for Suffolk County: people born in Nassau County, raised here, or who spent a substantial part of their formative childhood here. Simply moving to Nassau later in life or owning a home here is not enough. From Massapequa, Roosevelt, Long Beach, Syosset, Valley Stream, Merrick, Freeport, Jericho, Great Neck, and Rockville Centre, these 25 people have genuine Nassau County roots.
1. Jerry Seinfeld
Jerry Seinfeld was born in Brooklyn in 1954 but grew up in Massapequa, where he attended Massapequa High School. Long before Seinfeld transformed the television sitcom, he was a Long Island teenager fascinated by comedy and the small absurdities of everyday life. After studying at Queens College, Seinfeld began working New York comedy clubs and built the observational style that eventually made him one of the most successful comedians in American television history.
2. Eddie Murphy
Eddie Murphy was born in Brooklyn in 1961 and moved with his family to Roosevelt when he was nine years old. His comedy career began while he was still attending Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School, where his impressions and ability to command an audience were already obvious. At fifteen, Murphy performed at the Roosevelt Youth Center, and within only a few years he was appearing in New York comedy clubs. At nineteen, he joined Saturday Night Live, beginning a career that would make him one of the biggest comedy and movie stars of his generation.
3. Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal was born in Manhattan but moved with his family to Long Beach when he was a toddler. He grew up in a household filled with jazz because his father, Jack Crystal, worked in the record business and promoted jazz concerts. Crystal graduated from Long Beach High School in 1965 and later attended Nassau Community College before transferring to New York University. His Long Beach childhood became a recurring part of his comedy and storytelling, including the autobiographical stage work 700 Sundays.
4. Alec Baldwin
Alec Baldwin was born in Amityville in neighboring Suffolk County in 1958 but was raised in Massapequa, where the Baldwin family became one of Long Island’s most famous show-business families. Baldwin graduated from Alfred G. Berner High School before eventually studying acting in New York City. His career has ranged from films such as Beetlejuice, The Hunt for Red October, and Glengarry Glen Ross to his Emmy-winning role as Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock. Although his birthplace lies just across the county line, his formative years were unmistakably Nassau County.
5. Idina Menzel
Idina Menzel grew up in Syosset and graduated from Syosset High School in 1989. As a teenager and young adult, she sang at weddings and bar mitzvahs around Long Island while developing the vocal power that would eventually make her a Broadway star. Menzel broke through as Maureen in Rent and later won a Tony Award for playing Elphaba in Wicked. Her voice reached an even larger global audience through Elsa in Disney’s Frozen and the song “Let It Go.”
6. Steve Buscemi
Steve Buscemi was born in Brooklyn in 1957 and moved with his family to Valley Stream when he was ten. He graduated from Valley Stream Central High School in 1975, where he wrestled and participated in the school’s drama program. Before becoming an actor, Buscemi served as a New York City firefighter. His career eventually included memorable roles in Reservoir Dogs, Fargo, The Big Lebowski, and Boardwalk Empire. His film Trees Lounge was set in and largely filmed around the Valley Stream community where he grew up.
7. Jim Breuer
Jim Breuer was born in Valley Stream in 1967 and grew up there before entering the New York stand-up comedy scene. Breuer became nationally known after joining Saturday Night Live in the 1990s, where characters such as Goat Boy and his Joe Pesci impression became audience favorites. He later starred alongside Dave Chappelle in Half Baked and continued touring extensively as a stand-up comedian. His comedy career began in the same Nassau County community that produced Steve Buscemi.
8. Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred Schneider in Mineola in 1925 and spent formative years on Long Island before joining the U.S. Navy during World War II. Bruce later became one of the most influential and controversial stand-up comedians in American history. His willingness to confront religion, politics, sex, race, censorship, and social hypocrisy repeatedly brought him into conflict with authorities. His obscenity prosecution in New York became a major chapter in the history of free speech, and in 2003 he received a posthumous pardon from New York Governor George Pataki.
9. Judd Apatow
Judd Apatow was raised in Syosset, where his fascination with comedy became serious while he was still in high school. At Syosset High School, Apatow created a radio program that allowed him to interview professional comedians, including performers he admired and wanted to learn from. He later became one of the most influential comedy writers, producers, and directors of his generation through projects including Freaks and Geeks, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up, and Trainwreck. His professional obsession with comedy can be traced directly back to his teenage years in Nassau County.
10. Billy Joel
Billy Joel was born in the Bronx in 1949, but his family moved to Long Island when he was still very young, and he grew up in Hicksville. He began piano lessons as a child and later became immersed in the Long Island rock scene, playing with groups including the Echoes and the Hassles. His suburban upbringing helped shape the New York perspective that runs throughout his songwriting. From “Piano Man” and “New York State of Mind” to “Scenes from an Italian Restaurant,” Joel became one of the most successful singer-songwriters in American music while remaining closely identified with Long Island.
11. Debbie Gibson
Debbie Gibson was born in Brooklyn in 1970 but grew up in Merrick, where she began writing songs and studying music at a remarkably young age. While attending Calhoun High School, Gibson was simultaneously building a professional recording career. Her 1988 single “Foolish Beat” made her the youngest artist at the time to write, produce, and perform a Billboard Hot 100 number-one single entirely on her own. Her early success turned a Merrick teenager into one of the defining pop stars of the late 1980s.
12. Steve Vai
Steve Vai grew up in Carle Place and began taking guitar lessons as a teenager from another future Long Island guitar legend, Joe Satriani. At Carle Place High School, Vai studied music theory, composition, and performance while developing the extraordinary technical ability that would later define his career. At eighteen, he began working with Frank Zappa before going on to perform with David Lee Roth, Whitesnake, and numerous other artists. Vai later became an acclaimed solo guitarist, composer, producer, and multiple Grammy Award winner.
13. Chuck D
Chuck D, born Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, moved with his family from Queens to Roosevelt when he was a child. He later studied graphic design at Adelphi University in Garden City, where his involvement with campus radio helped lay the groundwork for Public Enemy. As the group’s commanding lead voice and principal lyricist, Chuck D helped transform hip-hop into a vehicle for political commentary and social criticism. Albums such as It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet became landmarks in American music.
14. Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav, born William Jonathan Drayton Jr., was born in Roosevelt in 1959 and raised in Freeport. A naturally musical child, he learned to play multiple instruments before eventually reconnecting with Chuck D through Long Island’s college-radio and hip-hop scene. As Public Enemy’s flamboyant hype man, Flavor Flav provided the comic and theatrical counterweight to Chuck D’s political intensity. His giant clocks, explosive stage presence, and unmistakable voice made him one of hip-hop’s most recognizable personalities.
15. Ashanti
Ashanti Shequoiya Douglas was born in Glen Cove in 1980 and grew up on Long Island. Her musical and performance talents emerged early, and she pursued singing, dancing, and acting before breaking through nationally in the early 2000s. Her self-titled debut album produced hits including “Foolish” and established her as one of the era’s biggest R&B stars. Ashanti’s rise from Nassau County to international fame added another major recording artist to Long Island’s musical history.
16. Jim Brown
Jim Brown was born in Georgia in 1936 but moved to Manhasset as a child and became one of the greatest high school athletes Long Island has ever produced. At Manhasset High School, he earned thirteen varsity letters across football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, and track. Brown carried that extraordinary athletic ability to Syracuse University and then the Cleveland Browns, where he became one of the most dominant running backs in NFL history. He later built a substantial acting career and remained an important cultural and civil-rights figure long after leaving football.
17. Julius Erving
Julius Erving was born in East Meadow in 1950 and grew up in Roosevelt, where he developed the basketball style that eventually made “Dr. J” one of the game’s most revolutionary players. At Roosevelt High School, Erving emerged as a star before continuing his career at the University of Massachusetts. His spectacular above-the-rim play later transformed professional basketball in both the ABA and NBA. Erving won championships with the New York Nets and Philadelphia 76ers and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
18. Sue Bird
Sue Bird was raised in Syosset and became one of the most decorated basketball players in the history of the sport. After beginning high school in Syosset, she transferred to Christ the King in Queens before starring at the University of Connecticut. Selected first overall in the 2002 WNBA Draft, Bird spent her entire WNBA career with the Seattle Storm, winning four league championships. She also won five Olympic gold medals with the United States, making the Syosset-raised point guard one of the most accomplished athletes ever to come out of Nassau County.
19. Sarah Hughes
Sarah Hughes grew up in Great Neck and emerged as an elite figure skater while still in her early teens. She represented the United States at major international competitions before producing one of the great upsets in Olympic figure-skating history at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City. Skating from fourth place after the short program, Hughes delivered a brilliant free skate and won the gold medal at only sixteen years old. She later attended Yale University, but her skating career was built during her childhood and teenage years in Great Neck.
20. Adam Fox
Adam Fox was born and raised in Jericho and grew up as a devoted New York Rangers fan. He developed through Long Island youth hockey before playing at Harvard University and eventually reaching the NHL with the team he had followed as a child. In only his second NHL season, Fox won the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s best defenseman. His journey from Jericho youth hockey to Madison Square Garden gave Nassau County one of its most successful modern hockey players.
21. Howard Stern
Howard Stern was born in Queens in 1954 but spent most of his childhood in Roosevelt after his family moved there when he was an infant. As a teenager, he moved with his family to Rockville Centre and later graduated from South Side High School. Stern’s fascination with broadcasting began early and eventually developed into one of the most influential and controversial careers in American radio. His Nassau County childhood, particularly his years in Roosevelt, became recurring material in his radio programs and autobiography.
22. Nelson DeMille
Best-selling novelist Nelson DeMille was born in New York City in 1943 and grew up in Nassau County. He graduated from Elmont Memorial High School before attending Hofstra University and later serving as an Army officer in Vietnam. After returning home, DeMille completed his college education and built a career as one of America’s best-known thriller writers. Novels including The Gold Coast, Plum Island, The General’s Daughter, and The Lion’s Game frequently drew on the landscapes, institutions, and social worlds of Long Island and New York.
23. Natalie Portman
Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem in 1981 and came to the United States with her family as a young child. After living in other parts of the country, the family settled on Long Island, where Portman attended Syosset High School while simultaneously building an acting career. She made her film debut in Léon: The Professional and later appeared in the Star Wars prequel trilogy before winning the Academy Award for Best Actress for Black Swan. Her adolescence and early professional years were closely tied to Nassau County.
24. Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan was born in New York City in 1986 and grew up in the Long Island communities of Merrick and Cold Spring Harbor. She began modeling and appearing in commercials when she was only three years old and became a major child star after playing twins in Disney’s 1998 remake of The Parent Trap. Films including Freaky Friday and Mean Girls made her one of the most recognizable young actors of the early 2000s. Much of that extraordinary childhood career unfolded while Nassau County was still home.
25. Amy Schumer
Amy Schumer was born in Manhattan in 1981, but after her family’s financial circumstances changed, she spent important formative years on Long Island and graduated from South Side High School in Rockville Centre in 1999. Schumer later developed her stand-up career in New York before creating the Emmy-winning series Inside Amy Schumer and writing and starring in the film Trainwreck. Her comedy frequently draws on personal experience, and her teenage years in Rockville Centre form part of the background that preceded her national career.
For more Long Island history, read History of Levittown and the American Dream, History of Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, History of Belmont Park Racetrack, and Roosevelt Raceway History and Tales.
Sources
Steve Vai Official Website — Vaiography
Adelphi University — Chuck D and His Long Island Roots
Pro Football Hall of Fame — Jim Brown
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame — Julius Erving
U.S. Figure Skating — Sarah Hughes
Nelson DeMille Official Website — Biography
Biography.com — Natalie Portman
Updated September 13, 2026.
