Huntington Village along Route 25A in Suffolk County, New York. Photo by Brian Kachejian.
The Town of Huntington stretches across a broad section of northwestern Suffolk County, from Huntington Village and Huntington Station to Northport, Greenlawn, Dix Hills, West Hills, Cold Spring Harbor, and other communities that have produced an extraordinary range of actors, musicians, athletes, writers, business leaders, and historical figures. Some were born here, while others spent their childhood and teenage years here, shaping who they became.
For this article, we use the same standard as throughout our famous New Yorkers series: these are people who were born in the Town of Huntington, were raised here, or spent a substantial part of their formative childhood here. Simply moving to Huntington later in life or establishing a home here after becoming famous is not enough. That distinction removes several celebrated Huntington residents while keeping the focus on people whose roots truly began in the town.
1. Mariah Carey
Mariah Carey was born in Huntington and spent her formative years on Long Island’s North Shore, eventually graduating from Harborfields High School in Greenlawn. Music was already central to her life long before she became famous, and she began writing songs and working as a demo singer while still young. After high school, Carey moved to Manhattan to pursue a recording career and soon became one of the most successful singers and songwriters of the modern pop era. Her extraordinary vocal range, songwriting, and string of hit records turned a young woman from Huntington into an international superstar.
2. Walt Whitman
Walt Whitman was born in West Hills in the Town of Huntington in 1819 in the farmhouse that survives today as the Walt Whitman Birthplace State Historic Site. His family moved to Brooklyn when he was four years old, but his Long Island birthplace remained part of the personal and natural landscape that shaped his identity. Whitman went on to become one of the most influential poets in American literature through Leaves of Grass, a work he revised repeatedly throughout his life. His experimental free verse and celebration of American life permanently changed the direction of American poetry.
3. Ralph Macchio
Ralph Macchio was born in Huntington and raised in Dix Hills, where he graduated from Half Hollow Hills High School West in 1979. His acting career began while he was still young, and early television work led to his role as Johnny Cade in Francis Ford Coppola’s The Outsiders. A year later, Macchio became internationally famous as Daniel LaRusso in The Karate Kid. He later appeared in films including My Cousin Vinny and eventually returned to the LaRusso role in the successful television series Cobra Kai. Despite decades in Hollywood, Macchio’s roots remain firmly connected to Dix Hills and the Town of Huntington.
4. Patti LuPone
Patti LuPone was born and raised in Northport, where she attended local schools and discovered the thrill of performing at a very young age. She graduated from Northport High School before entering the first graduating class of Juilliard’s Drama Division. LuPone became one of Broadway’s most celebrated performers, winning Tony Awards and building a career around powerful performances in productions including Evita, Gypsy, and Company. Her unmistakable voice, commanding stage presence, and outspoken personality have made her one of the defining figures of modern American musical theater.
5. Edie Falco
Edie Falco spent much of her childhood on Long Island before her family settled in Northport, where she graduated from Northport High School in 1981. She continued her acting studies at SUNY Purchase and spent years building a career through stage work and smaller film and television roles. Falco eventually became one of the most acclaimed television actresses of her generation as Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos and later as the title character in Nurse Jackie. Her performances earned multiple Emmy Awards and made the Northport High School graduate a major figure in American television drama.
6. Lindsay Lohan
Lindsay Lohan was born in New York City but spent important parts of her childhood and teenage years in Cold Spring Harbor in the Town of Huntington, as well as in Merrick farther west on Long Island. She began modeling and appearing in commercials when she was very young and became a movie star while still a child after playing twins in Disney’s remake of The Parent Trap. Lohan later starred in Freaky Friday and Mean Girls, two films that helped make her one of the most recognizable young actresses of the early 2000s.
7. Aesop Rock
Ian Matthias Bavitz, better known as Aesop Rock, grew up first in Huntington Station before his family moved to Northport in the late 1980s. He graduated from Northport High School and later became one of the most distinctive voices in underground hip-hop. Known for dense lyrics, unusual imagery, and an enormous vocabulary, Aesop Rock emerged during the late 1990s and early 2000s through albums including Labor Days and later None Shall Pass. His years skateboarding and moving through Huntington’s communities became part of the foundation of an artistic identity unlike almost anyone else in hip-hop.
8. Chris Messina
Chris Messina was born in Northport and grew up there, attending Northport High School and becoming involved in theater before pursuing acting professionally. He spent years working on stage and in smaller television and film roles before becoming a familiar face to national audiences. Messina’s credits have included Six Feet Under, The Mindy Project, Argo, Sharp Objects, Air, and numerous other productions. His career developed in New York theater before expanding into film and television, but his earliest acting roots can be traced directly to Northport.
9. Kenny Atkinson
Kenny Atkinson was born in Northport and grew up there as one of eight brothers. He attended St. Anthony’s High School in South Huntington before playing college basketball at the University of Richmond. Atkinson then spent years playing professionally overseas before beginning a coaching career that eventually brought him to the NBA. He served as head coach of the Brooklyn Nets and later became head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers after assistant-coaching stops with several teams. His long basketball journey began in the backyards, gyms, and schools of the Town of Huntington.
10. Tom Gugliotta
Tom Gugliotta was born in Huntington Station and attended Walt Whitman High School, where basketball became the foundation for a career that would eventually take him to the NBA. After playing at North Carolina State, Gugliotta was selected sixth overall by the Washington Bullets in the 1992 NBA Draft. He spent thirteen seasons in the league with several teams and was named an NBA All-Star in 1997 while playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves. His rise from Walt Whitman High School to the highest level of professional basketball made him one of the most accomplished athletes to come out of Huntington Station.
11. Gerry Cooney
Gerry Cooney was born in Manhattan, but his family moved to Huntington when he was two years old, and he grew up in Huntington Station. Boxing became part of his life while he was still young, with his father setting up a ring in the family backyard and pushing his sons into the sport. Cooney attended Walt Whitman High School and developed into a powerful amateur fighter before turning professional. His devastating left hook carried him into the heavyweight championship picture, culminating in his enormously publicized 1982 title fight against Larry Holmes. Few Huntington athletes ever commanded a larger national spotlight.
12. Allie Long
Allie Long was born in Huntington and grew up in Northport, where she became a standout soccer player at Northport High School. She earned All-State and All-County honors and established herself as one of Long Island’s top young players before moving on to college soccer and a professional career. Long eventually became a member of the United States women’s national team and was part of the squad that won the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Her journey from Northport youth soccer to the highest level of the international game made her one of the Town of Huntington’s most accomplished athletes.
13. Paul Scheer
Paul Scheer was born in Huntington and attended St. Anthony’s High School before continuing his education at New York University. He became a major figure in improv and sketch comedy through the Upright Citizens Brigade and later co-created and starred in MTV’s Human Giant. Television audiences know him from shows including The League, Veep, and Black Monday, while podcast listeners know him as one of the hosts of How Did This Get Made?. Scheer’s career has moved across television, film, podcasts, writing, and live comedy, but it began in Huntington.
14. Chris Algieri
Chris Algieri was born in Huntington and graduated from St. Anthony’s High School before continuing his education and developing a career in combat sports. He first achieved success as an undefeated kickboxer before moving into professional boxing. In 2014, Algieri defeated Ruslan Provodnikov to win the WBO junior welterweight championship, earning a major title after entering the bout as an underdog. Later that year, he challenged Manny Pacquiao for the WBO welterweight championship. Algieri’s combination of education, nutrition work, kickboxing, and championship boxing made him one of Huntington’s most unusual and accomplished professional athletes.
15. Mark LoMonaco (Bubba Ray Dudley)
Mark LoMonaco was born in Queens but moved to Dix Hills while he was young and graduated from Half Hollow Hills High School East. Wrestling fans know him best as Bubba Ray Dudley, one half of the Dudley Boyz alongside D-Von Dudley. The team became one of the most successful and recognizable tag teams of its era through its work in ECW, WWE, and other promotions. Their combination of brawling, comedy, and spectacular table-breaking matches made them fan favorites, and the Dudley Boyz were eventually inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame. LoMonaco’s formative years were spent in Dix Hills.
16. Leroy Grumman
Leroy Randle Grumman was born in Huntington in 1895 and graduated from Huntington High School in 1911. Even as a teenager, he was fascinated by aviation and used his high school salutatory address to speak about the future potential of the airplane. After studying engineering at Cornell and serving in naval aviation, Grumman co-founded the company that became Grumman Aircraft Engineering Corporation. The Long Island manufacturer produced some of America’s most famous military aircraft and later built the Lunar Module that carried astronauts from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon. One of America’s great aerospace stories began in Huntington.
17. Jim Wetherbee
NASA astronaut James D. Wetherbee was born in Flushing but raised in Huntington Station. He graduated from Holy Family Diocesan High School in South Huntington in 1970 before attending the University of Notre Dame and beginning a career as a naval aviator and test pilot. NASA selected Wetherbee as an astronaut in 1984, and he eventually flew six Space Shuttle missions. Even more remarkably, he became the first American astronaut to command five space missions. His career took him from Huntington Station to orbit, the Mir space station, and the International Space Station.
18. Jupiter Hammon
Jupiter Hammon was born in 1711 on the Lloyd family’s Manor of Queens Village in what is now the Lloyd Neck area of the Town of Huntington. Born into slavery, Hammon learned to read and write and became the first published African American poet when his poem “An Evening Thought” appeared in 1761. He later wrote religious poetry, prose, and his famous “Address to the Negroes of the State of New-York.” Hammon’s life unfolded within the brutal institution of slavery, but his surviving writings made him an essential figure in early African American literary history and gave Huntington a remarkable connection to the beginnings of Black American literature.
19. Robert LuPone
Robert LuPone was born in Brooklyn but raised in Northport alongside his younger sister Patti LuPone. He trained as a dancer and studied at Juilliard before building a career that crossed Broadway, television, directing, producing, and arts administration. LuPone earned a Tony Award nomination for originating the role of Zach in the original Broadway production of A Chorus Line. He later helped found MCC Theater, which became an important New York theatrical institution. Like his sister, Robert LuPone carried an early Northport connection into a distinguished professional life in the theater.
20. Brendan B. Brown
Brendan B. Brown grew up in Northport, and his Long Island childhood became part of the story behind the band Wheatus. Brown served as the group’s lead singer, guitarist, and primary songwriter, and Wheatus itself formed in Northport during the 1990s. The band’s 2000 single “Teenage Dirtbag” became an international hit and, decades later, found new generations of listeners through streaming and social media. Brown’s songwriting and distinctive voice turned Wheatus into a band with remarkable staying power, and its roots can be traced directly back to Northport.
21. Ryan Star
Ryan Star was born in Huntington and grew up in Dix Hills, where he began making music at a young age. At fourteen he formed the band Stage, which eventually released music through Maverick Records. Star later pursued a solo career and gained national attention as a contestant on the CBS series Rock Star: Supernova. His song “Brand New Day” became the theme for the television series Lie to Me, and his album 11:59 reached the Billboard 200. His professional career stretched far beyond Long Island, but the music started in Dix Hills.
22. Adam Ferrara
Adam Ferrara was born in Queens but grew up in Huntington Station in an Italian American family. He developed into a stand-up comedian and actor, building a career that moved easily between comedy clubs, television, and film. Ferrara became widely known for playing Chief “Needles” Nelson on the FX series Rescue Me and later co-hosted the American version of Top Gear. He also appeared opposite fellow Northport-area product Edie Falco on Nurse Jackie. His humor and performing career were shaped in part by the Long Island community where he grew up.
23. Charles Ludlam
Charles Ludlam was born in Floral Park but raised in Greenlawn, where he attended Harborfields High School. His theatrical instincts were already obvious as a teenager. While still in school, Ludlam became involved in local theater and helped create a student repertory company that performed in Northport. He later moved into New York City’s experimental theater world and founded the Ridiculous Theatrical Company, developing an outrageous comic style that mixed camp, classical theater, old movies, and satire. His best-known work, The Mystery of Irma Vep, became an enduring off-Broadway success. Ludlam’s theatrical imagination began taking shape in Greenlawn and Northport.
24. A.J. Preller
A.J. Preller grew up in South Huntington and graduated from Walt Whitman High School in 1995. He later attended Cornell University and entered professional baseball through internships and front-office work rather than as a player. After working for Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Texas Rangers, Preller was hired as general manager of the San Diego Padres in 2014 and later became the club’s president of baseball operations. His rise to the top levels of Major League Baseball management began with the same Walt Whitman High School community that produced several other notable Huntington sports figures.
25. Dina Meyer
Dina Meyer was born in Queens and moved with her family to Dix Hills before her final year of junior high school, spending important teenage years in the Town of Huntington. She worked as a model while young and later studied business before turning seriously to acting. Meyer became known for film roles in Johnny Mnemonic, Dragonheart, Starship Troopers, and several entries in the Saw franchise. Television audiences also saw her in series including Beverly Hills, 90210 and Birds of Prey. Her acting career developed later, but a significant part of her formative youth was spent in Dix Hills.
Readers interested in more notable Long Islanders can continue with our 25 Famous People You Didn’t Know Were From Suffolk County, 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 and 10 Lost Long Island Aerospace and Technology Giants.
