#1Famous people · Portsmouth
Of the 39 famous people born in Portsmouth, an unusual share are musicians
The best known is the American actor and comedian Patton Oswalt, with articles in 53 languages. Between 1920 and 1969, 26 were born, the most of any period. The earliest on the list is Charles E. Cassell, born in 1838, and the youngest D. D. Guttenplan, born in 2000. The list comes to 4 for every 10,000 residents, against 0.1 in the typical town in Virginia.
Born here
39
notable people
Best known
Patton Oswalt
in 53 Wikipedia languages
First
1838
Charles E. Cassell
Youngest
2000
D. D. Guttenplan
Most common field
Sports
12 people
Also called it home
1
notable residents
What stands out about Portsmouth’s famous people
★ What stands out · Known for
What Portsmouth is known for
Compared with the usual town, ministers and preachers are the most over-represented field, at 4.6 times.
The usual town: the share across everyone born in the towns gathered so far. Tap a field to see its people.
The best known
Born in Portsmouth
Performers take two of the three places.
#1LM#2
#3Film, TV & Stage
Wanda Sykes
born 1964American comedian, writer, actress and voice artist
37 Wikipedia languagesRead more ↗
Through the years
When Portsmouth’s famous people were born
Births peak in the 1950s, with 8 people born in that decade.
SportsFilm, TV & StageMusicWriting & ArtsFaithScience & MedicineNotableMilitaryBusiness
Each dot is a person, stacked by the decade they were born.
Everyone
Everyone else born in Portsmouth
36 more, 11 of them athletes.
Tommy Newsom
1929–2007American saxophonist player in the NBC orchestra (February 25, 1929 - April 28, 2007)
SportsWikipedia ↗
No one matches both filters.
A chosen home
Also called Portsmouth home
One more notable person made the town home: Brian Lewis.
The town’s pick
Town Square →Who’s the most famous person from Portsmouth?
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Next door
Famous people from the towns next door
Newport News has the longest list next door: 60.
From Wikidata and Wikipedia: people whose birthplace is Portsmouth and whose English Wikipedia article agrees, ranked by how many Wikipedia languages cover each person. People known mainly for crimes, and adult performers, aren’t listed. “The usual town” = everyone born in the towns gathered so far.
Photo credits (10)
- Patton Oswalt: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Wanda Sykes: Greg Hernandez, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Ruth Brown: Kingkongphoto & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Radia Perlman: Scientist-100 at English Wikipedia, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Ken Bowersox: NASA/Bill Ingalls, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Mike Watt: Man Alive!, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Ella Fitzgerald: Lewin/Kaufman/Schwartz, Public Relations, Beverly Hills, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
- Allen Iverson: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Alonzo Mourning: Keith Allison, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
- Charlie Byrd: Raymond Fudge Silver Spring, Maryland, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons