Famous people who grew up or lived in and around Philadelphia

Benjamin Franklin1765–1790

📍 Franklin Court, 317 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA

I was born in Boston, the fifteenth of seventeen children of a candle and soap maker, and left school at ten. At seventeen I ran away to Philadelphia with little more than a few coins and…

Bill Tilden1893–1920

📍 Germantown, Philadelphia, PA, USA

I was born William Tatem Tilden II in February 1893 at Overleigh, my family's large Victorian mansion on McKean Avenue in Germantown, a wealthy, leafy district of Philadelphia. My father…

Grace Kelly1929–1950

📍 3901 Henry Avenue, East Falls, Philadelphia, PA 19129

I grew up in East Falls, a neighbourhood of Philadelphia, in the large stone house of the Kelly family — my father Jack was a self-made millionaire and Olympic gold medallist in rowing who…

John Coltrane1952–1958

📍 1511 N 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19121, USA

In 1952 I bought a three-storey brick row house at 1511 North 33rd Street in Strawberry Mansion, Philadelphia, facing Fairmount Park, for $5,416, using a GI loan from my navy service and my…

Kobe Bryant1991–1996

📍 Wynnewood, Lower Merion, Pennsylvania, USA

I was born in Philadelphia in August 1978, the son of Joe Bryant, a former NBA player known as Jellybean, and Pam, and I spent most of my childhood in Italy, where my father played…

Noam Chomsky1928–1951

📍 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Avram Noam Chomsky was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in December 1928, the elder son of William Chomsky, a distinguished scholar of Hebrew who had emigrated from Ukraine, and Elsie…

Sylvester Stallone1958–1965

📍 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

Sylvester Stallone was born in Hell's Kitchen, New York, in 1946. A difficult birth damaged a facial nerve, leaving him with the slightly drooping lip and slurred speech that became part of…

Will Smith1968–1986

📍 Wynnefield, West Philadelphia, PA 19131, USA

Will Smith was born in Philadelphia in September 1968 and grew up in Wynnefield, a middle-class, largely Black neighbourhood of row houses and leafy streets in West Philadelphia. His…

Wilt Chamberlain1936–1955

📍 Overbrook, West Philadelphia, PA 19151, USA

I was born in Philadelphia in August 1936, one of nine surviving children of William Chamberlain, a welder and handyman, and Olivia, a domestic worker. We lived in a modest row house in…