Main Street in Smithtown, New York. Photo by Brian Kachejian.
The Town of Smithtown stretches across a large section of Suffolk County’s North Shore, encompassing communities such as Smithtown, Kings Park, St. James, Nesconset, Hauppauge, and part of Commack. Over the years, these communities have produced an impressive group of actors, writers, musicians, athletes, journalists, filmmakers, and public figures whose careers reached far beyond Long Island.
For this article, the standard is the same one used throughout our famous New Yorkers series: these are people who were born in the Town of Smithtown, were raised here, or spent a substantial part of their formative childhood or teenage years here. Simply moving to Smithtown later in life or maintaining a home here as an established adult is not enough.
1. Melissa Joan Hart
Melissa Joan Hart was born in Smithtown in 1976 and began working professionally as a child. She became a familiar face to young television audiences as the star of Nickelodeon’s Clarissa Explains It All before reaching an even larger audience as Sabrina Spellman on Sabrina the Teenage Witch. Hart later starred in Melissa & Joey and built a career that also included directing and producing. Her career began early, but her connection to the Town of Smithtown starts at birth.
2. Bob Costas
Bob Costas grew up in Commack and graduated from Commack High School South in 1970. Sports dominated his childhood, and he has recalled listening to distant baseball broadcasts on the radio and following the Yankees and Mets while growing up on Long Island. Costas went on to become one of the most recognizable sports broadcasters in American television, covering baseball, football, basketball, boxing, and numerous Olympic Games during a career that spanned decades. Long before the national broadcasts and major sporting events, his love of sports was taking shape in the Smithtown area.
3. Craig Biggio
Craig Biggio was born in Smithtown in 1965 and became a standout athlete at Kings Park High School, excelling in both football and baseball. After playing college baseball at Seton Hall University, he was selected by the Houston Astros in the first round of the 1987 Major League Baseball Draft. Biggio spent his entire 20-year major league career with Houston, collecting more than 3,000 hits and earning seven All-Star selections. In 2015, he was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame, completing a remarkable journey that began in Kings Park.
4. Jodi Picoult
Jodi Picoult was born in Nesconset in 1966 and graduated from Smithtown High School East in 1983. She began writing stories as a child and later studied creative writing at Princeton University before launching a career as a novelist. Picoult became one of the most widely read contemporary American authors through books including My Sister’s Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, Small Great Things, and Wish You Were Here. Her novels often explore difficult ethical and social questions, and her path to becoming a bestselling writer began in the Town of Smithtown.
5. Soledad O’Brien
Soledad O’Brien was born and raised in St. James and graduated from Smithtown High School East in 1984. She later attended Harvard University and built a national career in television journalism, working for networks including NBC, MSNBC, and CNN. O’Brien became known for anchoring major news programs, reporting from disaster zones and breaking-news events, and producing documentaries focused on race, identity, and American life. Her early years in St. James and Smithtown schools were a major part of the background that preceded her national broadcasting career.
6. John Petrucci
John Petrucci grew up in Kings Park, where he began playing guitar seriously while still young. After graduating from high school, he attended Berklee College of Music with fellow Kings Park musician John Myung, and the two soon became part of the group that evolved into Dream Theater. Petrucci became one of progressive metal’s most respected guitarists through his technical skill, songwriting, and work as a producer. Dream Theater eventually won a Grammy Award, while Petrucci also developed a successful solo career. His musical story began in Kings Park.
7. Donald “Buck Dharma” Roeser
Donald Roeser, better known as Buck Dharma, attended Smithtown Central High School and played in local bands during his teenage years. He later became the lead guitarist, vocalist, and one of the principal songwriters for Blue Öyster Cult. Roeser wrote and sang some of the band’s most famous songs, including “(Don’t Fear) The Reaper” and “Burnin’ for You.” Blue Öyster Cult became one of the most enduring hard-rock bands to emerge from Long Island, and Roeser’s development as a guitarist can be traced back to his Smithtown high school years.
8. Lori Loughlin
Lori Loughlin was born in Queens but spent important parts of her childhood in Hauppauge and graduated from Hauppauge High School. She began modeling as a young teenager and moved into acting, eventually becoming widely known for her role as Rebecca “Aunt Becky” Katsopolis on Full House. Loughlin later appeared in 90210, When Calls the Heart, and numerous television movies and series. Her professional career started early, but her formative school years belonged to Hauppauge.
9. Ilana Glazer
Ilana Glazer grew up in St. James and graduated from Smithtown High School in 2005 before attending New York University. Glazer later became deeply involved in New York City’s comedy scene through the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. With Abbi Jacobson, Glazer created the web series that became Comedy Central’s Broad City, one of the most distinctive television comedies of the 2010s. Glazer has since worked across stand-up, television, film, writing, and producing, carrying a St. James upbringing into a national comedy career.
10. Albert R. “Cubby” Broccoli
Albert R. Broccoli was born in Queens, but his family later bought farmland in Smithtown, where he spent part of his youth working on the family farm. Broccoli eventually entered the film industry and became one of the most important producers in modern movie history. With Harry Saltzman, he helped launch the James Bond film series through Eon Productions, beginning with Dr. No in 1962. The franchise became one of the longest-running and most successful in cinema, giving Smithtown an unexpected connection to the origins of James Bond on film.
11. Frank Catalanotto
Frank Catalanotto was born and raised in Smithtown and starred at Smithtown East High School before being selected by the Detroit Tigers in the 10th round of the 1992 Major League Baseball Draft. He went on to play 14 seasons in the major leagues with the Tigers, Texas Rangers, Toronto Blue Jays, Milwaukee Brewers, and New York Mets. Known as a skilled contact hitter, Catalanotto finished his career with more than 1,100 hits and a .291 batting average. He later moved into coaching, including serving as a college head coach on Long Island.
12. Val James
Val James was born in Florida but grew up on Long Island and attended Hauppauge High School. He began playing hockey after spending time at Long Island Arena in Commack, where his father worked, and eventually developed into a professional player. In 1981, James made his NHL debut with the Buffalo Sabres and became the first U.S.-born Black player to appear in the National Hockey League. His path from Hauppauge and Commack to professional hockey made him an important figure in both Long Island sports history and the history of the NHL.
13. William F. Weld
William F. Weld was born and raised in Smithtown before attending Harvard College, Oxford University, and Harvard Law School. He later served as U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts and as Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division of the U.S. Department of Justice. Weld was elected governor of Massachusetts in 1990 and served from 1991 to 1997. His political career unfolded primarily in Massachusetts, but his childhood and family roots were in Smithtown.
14. John Myung
John Myung was born in Chicago but grew up in Kings Park alongside future Dream Theater guitarist John Petrucci. He began with violin before switching to bass guitar as a teenager, and after high school he attended Berklee College of Music with Petrucci. There they met drummer Mike Portnoy and formed the nucleus of the band that became Dream Theater. Myung’s highly technical bass playing became a defining element of the group’s progressive-metal sound, making Kings Park the childhood home of two of the band’s founding instrumentalists.
15. Kevin Moore
Kevin Moore grew up in Kings Park and began studying piano at age six, writing his own music by the time he was twelve. After briefly studying classical music at SUNY Fredonia, he returned to Long Island and joined childhood friends John Petrucci and John Myung in the band Majesty, which eventually became Dream Theater. Moore played keyboards on the group’s early albums before leaving after Awake in 1994. He later pursued more experimental work through Chroma Key and OSI. Kings Park played an important role in the formation of Dream Theater’s original musical core.
16. Keith Law
Keith Law was born and raised in Smithtown and later graduated from Harvard University. He became a respected baseball writer and analyst after first working for Baseball Prospectus and then spending time in the Toronto Blue Jays front office. Law later wrote for ESPN and became a senior baseball writer for The Athletic, where his work has focused heavily on prospects, scouting, and player development. He has also published books about baseball and broader subjects. His career in baseball analysis began with roots in Smithtown.
17. Tyler Taormina
Filmmaker Tyler Taormina was born and raised in Smithtown before attending Emerson College in Boston. He became a co-founder of the independent filmmaking collective Omnes Films and developed a distinctive style centered on suburban landscapes, memory, and everyday rituals. Taormina directed films including Ham on Rye, Happer’s Comet, and Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point. Long Island suburbia has remained a major presence in his work, giving his Smithtown upbringing an unusually direct relationship to the films he later created.
18. Stephen Rannazzisi
Stephen Rannazzisi was born in Smithtown in 1977 and graduated from Smithtown High School in 1996. After college, he moved to Los Angeles and entered stand-up comedy and television. Rannazzisi became best known for playing Kevin MacArthur on the FX and FXX comedy series The League, which ran for seven seasons. He also appeared on Punk’d, New Girl, and other television programs while continuing to perform stand-up. His Long Island roots were firmly established in Smithtown before his comedy career took him west.
19. Cooper Andrews
Cooper Andrews was born in Smithtown in 1985 before later growing up in Georgia. He built a career that included work both behind and in front of the camera before becoming widely known as Jerry on AMC’s The Walking Dead. Andrews later appeared as Víctor Vásquez in Shazam! and Shazam! Fury of the Gods and also worked as a voice actor. Although most of his upbringing took place outside New York, his life began in the Town of Smithtown.
20. Vince Giordano
Vince Giordano was born in Brooklyn and raised on Long Island, graduating from Hauppauge High School in 1970. Fascinated with the jazz and dance-band music of the 1920s and 1930s from childhood, he became a multi-instrumentalist and bandleader devoted to preserving that era’s sound. Vince Giordano and the Nighthawks later became closely associated with film and television soundtracks, including HBO’s Boardwalk Empire, and the band won a Grammy Award for its work connected to the series. His early musical development took place during his Long Island school years.
21. Kyle Palmieri
Kyle Palmieri was born in Smithtown in 1991 and spent his earliest years on Long Island before his family moved to New Jersey. He developed into an elite hockey prospect, played for the U.S. National Team Development Program and the University of Notre Dame, and was selected in the first round of the 2009 NHL Draft by the Anaheim Ducks. Palmieri later played for the New Jersey Devils and New York Islanders and represented the United States internationally. Although most of his childhood was spent in New Jersey, his story began in Smithtown.
22. Nick Fanti
Nick Fanti was born in Smithtown in 1996 and became a standout pitcher at Hauppauge High School. During his senior season, he threw consecutive no-hitters and won the Carl Yastrzemski Award as Suffolk County’s top high school baseball player. The Philadelphia Phillies selected Fanti in the 31st round of the 2015 Major League Baseball Draft, and he went on to pitch professionally in the minor leagues. His baseball career was built on a remarkable high school run in Hauppauge.
23. Tom Postilio
Tom Postilio was born and raised in Queens before his family moved to Hauppauge during his teenage years. He graduated from Hauppauge High School in 1988, where he performed in school musicals and developed his singing talent. Postilio later toured as a vocalist with the Glenn Miller Orchestra before building a second career in luxury real estate. Television audiences came to know him through HGTV’s Selling New York. His years in Hauppauge marked an important transition between his Queens childhood and his early professional career.
24. Ian Grushka
Ian Grushka was born in Smithtown in 1977 and spent the first years of his childhood there before his family moved to Florida when he was nine. He later became a founding member and bassist of the pop-punk band New Found Glory. The group emerged in the late 1990s and became one of the most successful bands associated with the pop-punk movement, releasing albums including Sticks and Stones and Catalyst. Grushka’s musical career developed in Florida, but his earliest years were spent in Smithtown.
25. Chris Koepplin
Chris Koepplin was born in Kings Park in 1985 and attended St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington. He became a standout placekicker at the University of Massachusetts, where he set and challenged several school kicking records. Koepplin later spent time with professional teams including the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills. Although his professional football career was brief, his path to college and professional football began in Kings Park.
Readers interested in more notable Long Islanders can continue with our 25 Famous People You Didn’t Know Were From Suffolk County, New York, 25 Famous People You Didn’t Know Went to College on Long Island, and 25 Olympic Gold Medalists With Long Island Roots. For more Long Island history, explore 10 Historic Long Island Towns Where Early American Charm Still Survives.
