Michigan is the birth place of many illustrious figures in all walks of life. The state can claim innumerable artists, actors, authors, sportsmen, scientists, musicians, innovators as native sons and daughters. Here are just a few!

• Jim Abbott  (baseball pticher)     Detroit
• Florence Ballard  (singer)     Detroit
• Kristen Bell  (actress)     Huntington Woods
• William Boeing  (aviation pioneer)     Detroit
• Kenny Burrell  (jazz guitarist)     Detroit
• Ellen Burstyn  (actress)     Detroit
• Bonnie Jo Campbell  (novelist, short story writer)     Kalamazoo
• Bruce Campbell  (actor)     Royal Oak
• Betty Carter  (jazz singer)     Flint
• Bruce Catton  (historian)     Petoskey   
• Francis Ford Coppola  (film director, screenwriter)    Detroit
• Marshall Crenshaw  (rock singer)     Berkley
• Pete Dexter  (novelist)     Pontiac
• Horace Elgin Dodge  (automotive pioneer)     Niles
• John Francis Dodge  (automotive pioneer)     Niles
• Alden B. Dow  (architect)     Midland
• Loren Estleman  (novelist)     Ann Arbor
• Jeffrey Eugenides  (novelist)     Detroit     
• Edna Ferber  (novelist)     Kalamazoo
• Edsel Ford  (automotive executive)     Detroit
• Henry Ford  (industrialist & automotive pioneer)     Greenfield Township
• Charlie Gehringer  (Hall of Fame Detroit Tiger infielder)     Fowlerville
• Berry Gordy  (founder of Motown Records)     Detroit
• John Grogan  (journalist, writer "Marley & Me")     Detroit
• Sanjay Gupta  (neurosurgeon, CNN medical correspondent)     Novi
• Bill Haley  (rock pioneer)     Highland Park
• Jim Harrison  (novelist, poet)     Grayling
• Tom Hayden  (politcal activist)     Detroit
• John Hughes  (film director)     Lansing
• William Hewlett  (engineer & co-founder Hewlett-Packard)     Ann Arbor
• Magic Johnson  (basketball player, businessman)     Lansing
• John Harvey Kellogg  (physician & ceral pioneer)     Tyrone
• W.K. Kellogg  (industrialist & ceral pioneer)     Battle Creek
• Earl Klugh  (jazz guitarist)     Detroit
• Christine Lahti  (actress)     Birmingham
• Ring Lardner  (short story writer & sports columnist)     Niles
• Betty LaVette  (R & B singer)     Muskegon
• Philip Levine  (poet)     Detroit
• Charles Lindbergh  (aviator)     Detroit
• Thomas McGuane  (novelist)     Wyandotte
• Terry McMillan  (novelist)     Port Huron
• Madonna  (singer)     Bay City
• Michael Moore  (documentary film maker)     Flint
• Hal Newhouser  (Hall of Fame Detroit Tiger pitcher)     Detroit
• Marge Piercy  (poet, novelist)     Detroit
• Gilda Radner  (comedienne & actress)     Detroit
• Sam Raimi  (film director)     Royal Oak
• Burt Reynolds  (actor)     Lansing
• Smokey Robinson  (singer)     Detroit
• Diane Ross  (singer)     Detroit
• Paul Schrader  (screenwriter, film director)     Grand Rapids
• Bob Seger  (rock singer)     Dearborn
• Nate Silver  (statistician)     East Lansing
• Elaine Stritch  (actress & singer)     Detroit
• Alfred Taubman  (real estate developer & philanthopist)     Pontiac
• Marlo Thomas  (actress & writer)     Detroit
• Lily Tomlin  (comedienne  & actress)     Detroit
• Chris Van Allsburg  (writer)     East Grand Rapids
• Mary Wells  (singer)     Detroit
• Stevie Wonder  (singer)     Saginaw
• Serena Williams  (tennis player)     Saginaw