Main Street in Port Washington, New York, in the Town of North Hempstead. Photo by LINYperson615, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The Town of North Hempstead has one of the most unusual origin stories of any Long Island township. During the American Revolution, many residents in the northern part of Hempstead supported independence from British rule, and local leaders declared their separation from Hempstead in 1775. After the British occupation ended, the New York State Legislature formally recognized North Hempstead as a separate town in 1784. The town later became part of Nassau County when the eastern Long Island towns separated from Queens County in 1899.
North Hempstead stretches from the Queens border to Long Island Sound and includes communities such as Great Neck, Manhasset, Port Washington, Roslyn, Westbury, Mineola, and New Hyde Park. Its shoreline around Manhasset Bay and Hempstead Harbor, combined with fast rail access to New York City, helped make the North Shore one of the most desirable residential areas in the metropolitan region. Great Neck in particular became an extraordinary incubator of actors, filmmakers, writers, scientists, musicians, designers, and broadcasters, while Manhasset, Port Washington, Roslyn, and Westbury produced their own remarkable group of national figures.
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 North Hempstead, were raised here, or spent a substantial part of their formative childhood or teenage years here. Simply moving to North Hempstead later in life or maintaining an estate here after becoming established does not qualify.
1. Jim Brown
Jim Brown was born in Georgia 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 varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball, lacrosse, and track before graduating in 1953. Brown went on to star at Syracuse University and became one of the most dominant running backs in NFL history with the Cleveland Browns. After retiring from football, he also built a substantial acting career and remained one of the most recognizable athletes of the 20th century.
2. Francis Ford Coppola
Francis Ford Coppola spent important childhood years in Great Neck and graduated from Great Neck High School in 1956. As a boy recovering from polio, he became fascinated with mechanical devices, puppetry, and 8mm filmmaking, interests that pointed toward the career ahead. Coppola later directed some of the most celebrated films in American cinema, including The Godfather, The Godfather Part II, The Conversation, and Apocalypse Now, and became one of the defining directors of the New Hollywood era.
3. Andy Kaufman
Andy Kaufman grew up in Great Neck, attended local elementary schools, and graduated from Great Neck North High School in 1967. Even as a child he was drawn to performance, creating characters and staging shows long before audiences knew what to make of his unconventional comedy. Kaufman later became famous through appearances on Saturday Night Live, his role as Latka Gravas on Taxi, his Elvis Presley impersonation, and the elaborate fictional persona Tony Clifton. His refusal to draw a clear line between comedy and performance art made him one of the most singular entertainers of his generation.
4. Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton grew up in Roslyn and attended Greenvale Elementary School, East Hills Elementary School, and Roslyn High School. He later studied at Harvard and became both a physician and one of the most commercially successful authors of his era. Crichton’s novels included The Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, Sphere, and Disclosure, while his work in film and television included creating ER and writing and directing Westworld. His fascination with science, medicine, and technology developed long before those themes made him internationally famous.
5. Sarah Hughes
Sarah Hughes grew up in Great Neck and graduated from Great Neck North High School in 2003. She began skating at age three and rose quickly through national and international competition while still attending school. At the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Hughes delivered the performance of her career and won the gold medal in women’s figure skating at age sixteen. She later attended Yale University and remained closely associated with the Long Island community where her skating career began.
6. Talia Shire
Talia Shire grew up in Great Neck as part of the Coppola family and graduated from Great Neck South High School in 1964. She later built a film career independent of her famous brother, Francis Ford Coppola, earning Academy Award nominations for her performances as Connie Corleone in The Godfather Part II and Adrian in Rocky. Shire continued playing Adrian throughout much of the Rocky series, becoming part of two of the most recognizable film franchises in American cinema.
7. George Segal
George Segal spent his formative years in Great Neck before becoming one of the most versatile actors of his generation. He emerged as a major film star during the 1960s and earned an Academy Award nomination for his performance in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Segal later appeared in films including Where’s Poppa?, A Touch of Class, and California Split, and reached a new generation of television viewers through Just Shoot Me! and The Goldbergs. His Long Island upbringing came before a career that lasted more than six decades.
8. John Cassavetes
John Cassavetes spent his teenage years in Port Washington and attended Port Washington High School, now Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School. He later became both an acclaimed actor and one of the central figures in the development of American independent filmmaking. Films including Shadows, Faces, A Woman Under the Influence, and Opening Night rejected conventional studio storytelling in favor of intimate, emotionally raw performances. Cassavetes’ work influenced generations of filmmakers who followed him.
9. Kenneth Cole
Kenneth Cole grew up in Great Neck and graduated from Great Neck North High School in 1972. After working in the family shoe business, he founded Kenneth Cole Productions in 1982 and built the company into an internationally recognized fashion brand. Cole became known not only for footwear and clothing but also for provocative advertising campaigns that frequently addressed public health and social issues. His interest in combining business with social messaging became a defining feature of his career.
10. Billy Crudup
Billy Crudup was born in Manhasset in 1968 before his family later moved through several states during his childhood. He developed into one of the most respected stage and screen actors of his generation, appearing in films including Almost Famous, Big Fish, Watchmen, Spotlight, and 20th Century Women. Crudup also built an acclaimed Broadway career and won Emmy Awards for his performance as Cory Ellison on The Morning Show. His life began in North Hempstead before his family moved away from Long Island.
11. Kevin Conroy
Kevin Conroy was born in Westbury in 1955 and spent part of his childhood on Long Island before his family moved to Connecticut. After studying at Juilliard, he built a career in theater and television before landing the role that would define him for generations of fans. Beginning with Batman: The Animated Series in 1992, Conroy became the definitive voice of Batman for many viewers, continuing in animated films, television series, and the acclaimed Arkham video games.
12. David Baltimore
David Baltimore graduated from Great Neck High School in 1956 before studying at Swarthmore College and Rockefeller University. He became one of the most important molecular biologists of the 20th century and shared the 1975 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries concerning the interaction between tumor viruses and the genetic material of cells. Baltimore later taught at MIT and Rockefeller University and served as president of the California Institute of Technology.
13. Bob Simon
Bob Simon was born in the Bronx but raised in Great Neck, graduating from Great Neck High School in 1958. He became one of CBS News’ most accomplished foreign correspondents, reporting from Vietnam, the Middle East, Africa, and numerous conflict zones around the world. During the 1991 Gulf War, Simon and members of his crew were captured and imprisoned by Iraqi forces for forty days. He later became a longtime correspondent for 60 Minutes, where his international reporting reached millions of viewers.
14. David Seidler
David Seidler’s family settled in Great Neck after leaving wartime Britain, and he graduated from Great Neck High School in 1955. Seidler struggled with a severe stutter as a child, an experience that decades later became central to his best-known work. He wrote the screenplay for The King’s Speech, the story of King George VI’s effort to overcome his own speech impediment, and won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 2011.
15. Dawn Steel
Dawn Steel graduated from Great Neck South High School in 1964 and went on to become one of the most important female executives in modern Hollywood. After working in marketing at Paramount Pictures, she rose to become the studio’s president of production and later became president of Columbia Pictures. Steel was the first woman to run a major Hollywood studio, opening doors in an industry whose executive ranks had long been dominated by men.
16. Mary Cleave
Mary Cleave grew up in Great Neck and graduated from Great Neck North High School in 1965. She earned advanced degrees in microbial ecology and civil and environmental engineering before joining NASA’s astronaut corps in 1980. Cleave flew aboard the space shuttle on two missions, logging more than 260 hours in space, and later served as NASA’s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate. Her path from Great Neck to the space program made her one of the town’s most accomplished scientists.
17. Bruce Paltrow
Bruce Paltrow was born in Brooklyn but raised in Great Neck and graduated from Great Neck South High School in 1961. He became a television producer and director whose credits included the influential series The White Shadow and St. Elsewhere. Paltrow earned multiple Emmy nominations and remained active in television and film throughout his career. He was also the father of actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
18. Ken Howard
Ken Howard grew up in Manhasset, where he attended Manhasset High School and became an outstanding basketball player. His height and role as the only white starter on the school team helped earn him the nickname “The White Shadow,” a phrase that later became the title of the television series in which he played a former professional basketball player turned high school coach. Howard also enjoyed a long Broadway, film, and television career and later served as president of SAG-AFTRA.
19. Jeanine Tesori
Jeanine Tesori grew up in Port Washington and attended the local public schools before studying at Barnard College. She became one of the most important contemporary composers in American musical theater, writing music for productions including Violet, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Shrek the Musical, Caroline, or Change, Fun Home, and Kimberly Akimbo. Tesori won Tony Awards for Fun Home and Kimberly Akimbo, establishing a remarkable Broadway career that began with childhood piano lessons in Port Washington.
20. Katie Lowes
Katie Lowes grew up in Port Washington and graduated from Paul D. Schreiber Senior High School in 2000. She participated extensively in local theater and music programs before studying acting at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. Lowes became widely known as Quinn Perkins on the television series Scandal and later appeared in Inventing Anna and numerous film and television projects. She has often credited Port Washington’s arts programs with helping shape her early interest in performing.
21. Chris Jericho
Chris Jericho was born Christopher Keith Irvine in Manhasset in 1970 while his father, hockey player Ted Irvine, was playing for the New York Rangers. His family later returned to Canada, where Jericho grew up and entered professional wrestling. He became one of the most recognizable wrestlers of his generation through major runs in WCW, WWE, and AEW, while also building a music career as lead singer of the rock band Fozzy. His New York connection began with his birth in Manhasset.
22. Patrick McEnroe
Patrick McEnroe was born in Manhasset in 1966 and went on to become an accomplished professional tennis player, broadcaster, and coach. He won the French Open men’s doubles championship in 1989 and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open singles tournament in 1991. McEnroe later served as captain of the United States Davis Cup team and became a familiar television commentator on major tennis broadcasts.
23. David Eigenberg
David Eigenberg was born in Manhasset in 1964 before his family later moved to Illinois. He became widely known for playing Steve Brady on HBO’s Sex and the City, a role he later reprised in And Just Like That…. Eigenberg also developed a long-running second television role as Christopher Herrmann on NBC’s Chicago Fire. Although he did not spend most of his childhood in North Hempstead, his birthplace connects him directly to Manhasset.
24. Andrew Barth Feldman
Andrew Barth Feldman was born in Manhasset in 2002 and developed an interest in musical theater while still very young. After winning the 2018 Jimmy Award for Best Performance by an Actor, he made his Broadway debut at age sixteen in the title role of Dear Evan Hansen. Feldman later moved into film, appearing in No Hard Feelings opposite Jennifer Lawrence while continuing to work in theater and music.
25. Nikki Blonsky
Nikki Blonsky grew up in Great Neck and graduated from the Great Neck Village School in 2006. The following year, she made a dramatic entrance into the film industry when she was selected from an international search to play Tracy Turnblad in the movie adaptation of Hairspray. Her performance earned widespread attention and led to additional television and film roles. Before the breakthrough, Blonsky had already been performing in local Great Neck theater productions and community events.
Readers interested in more notable Long Islanders can continue with our 25 Famous People You Didn’t Know Were From Nassau County, New York, 25 Famous People You Didn’t Know Were From the Town of Hempstead, New York, and 25 Famous People You Didn’t Know Went to College on Long Island. For more Long Island history, explore 10 Historic Long Island Towns Where Early American Charm Still Survives.
