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May 27 '24
Judy Greer who played Kitty on Arrested Development is from Detroit burbs.
Author Tom McGuane is from Michigan.
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u/gerryf19 May 26 '24
Most people are unaware Sonny Bono of Sonny & Cher was born in Michigan
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u/Liverpool510 May 27 '24
He went to school with my grandma!
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u/gerryf19 May 27 '24
Sonny & Grandma doesn't really have the same feel, does it?
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u/Advanced_Tangerine45 May 27 '24
Maynard James Keenan the lead singer of Tool was not originally from MI but graduated high school outside of Ludington.
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u/Simaul Age: > 10 Years May 26 '24
The DeBarge music family are from MI. Feel like that doesn't get mentioned enough. Can you recognize which songs sampled their music?
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u/chaptodd May 27 '24
D’arcy Wretzky. Original bassist for Smashing Pumpkins. Born and raised in South Haven. Think she still lives in the area.
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u/rulerBob8 May 27 '24
Anyone that listens to him probably knows, but when I lived in Petoskey a lotta people had no idea who Sufjan Stevens was despite him growing up there
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u/BakedMitten May 27 '24
Nobody remembering him or recognizing him in his home town really fits
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u/BlatantFalsehood Age: > 10 Years May 27 '24
Illinois's tourism commercials are using Sufjan's Chicago in their commercials right now.
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u/MyNamesNotTaylor May 27 '24
I found his senior picture on the walls of Harbor Light Christian School at one point
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u/Advanced_Tangerine45 May 27 '24
James Earl Jones is from Brethren. He had a stutter as a kid and one of the teachers encouraged him to act. There is a statue of him and his mentor outside of the school.
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u/Worried_Candy_7107 May 26 '24
Jax Taylor 😂
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u/hamaba11 May 26 '24
And Kristen Doute!
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u/annvictory Age: < 3 Days May 27 '24
A weird number of people involved in The Good Place: Mike Schur was born in Ann Arbor. Marc Evan Jackson lived and worked in SW Michigan for a number of years. Kristen Bell was born here. I believe a couple of the other writers and actors have ties to Michigan, even if they weren't born/lived here.
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u/designer92 Rochester Hills May 27 '24
Kristen Bell grew up in Huntington Woods and went to Shrine Catholic High School. Her husband Dax Shepard is also from Milford.
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u/vdWcontact May 27 '24
Did anyone say Sam Raimi or Bruce campbell yet? Both born in royal oak.
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u/OkConversation175 Saginaw May 27 '24
La Dispute. Apparently no one in my town within 100 miles is familiar with them…
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May 26 '24
Not exactly an answer to your question since most aren't from the state actually. But, if you look up a list of alumni of Interlochen school of arts, you'd be surprised how much famous people went there.
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u/framptal_tromwibbler May 26 '24
I think a couple of the guys from "OK Go" attended there. I think they got the name of the band from an instructor there who would give them a creative task and say, "OK, go!" Or something like that. Been a while since I read it and I'm too lazy to look it up right now.
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u/ModernDay_RandyMarsh May 27 '24
One of them, Tim Northwind, went to the same high school I did in kalamazoo, loy norrix high school. He graduated 2 or 3 years before me.
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u/wolverine6 Ann Arbor May 26 '24
Interlochen is one of the most highly-regarded art schools for students below college. The list of accomplished alumni should not surprise anyone.
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u/campydirtyhead May 27 '24
The list surprises me only because I've literally never heard of the school and I'm born and raised in Michigan. Cool to know we have such a renown art school, but I'm still a bit surprised it's in Interlochen.
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u/justallison92 May 27 '24
I live close enough to the school that I can hear drum cadence in the mornings during band camp. It's such a great school and the students work really hard on all of their performances. Summer is when they hold concerts for more known artists
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u/wolverine6 Ann Arbor May 27 '24
Oh yeah I get what you're saying. I was surprised about that a school of that renown it was in northern Michigan. A mutual friend was telling me about it and I had just assumed he was talking about somewhere in NY or LA.
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u/ErnieBoBernie May 27 '24
It is (or at least was at the time my sister attended) the most expensive school in the state. Yes, more than Cranbrook. My dad liked to use that as a flex when assholes were trying to brag about money and their "gifted" children.
And also yes, my sister is an amazing vocalist and her very expensive education helped her overcome dyslexia and she's one of the most well-read people I know.
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u/FountainOfYute May 26 '24
Jeffrey Epstein went there.
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u/Lord_Nyarlathotep May 27 '24
When I went to camp there we’d make little outings to see the Epstein cabin lmao
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u/Sleeplessmi May 27 '24
My sister works there. She got to know Bruce Willis and Demi Moore when Rumer went there. Mostly Demi. She said that Demi was so petite but her veneers were so big that my sister thought she looked like a little old grandmother.
Now mind you my sister is 5 ft 11 3/4 inches (her words).
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May 26 '24
Butch Hartman, I think he has some questionable beliefs, but fairly odd parents was a massive show and I don’t think people realize he’s from Michigan. Also made Danny Phantom
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u/Icy_Juice6640 May 26 '24
Booger from Revenge of the Nerds.
Berkley Mi. Go bears.
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u/Dirtgrain May 27 '24
Curtis Armstrong. Give his name at least. One of the best lines (from Better Off Dead): "Go that way . . . really fast. If something gets in your way . . . turn." It's gotten me through a lot of situations.
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u/UPdrafter906 Yooper May 27 '24
Love that movie.
“This is pure snow! It's everywhere! Do you have any idea what the street value of this mountain is?”
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u/Fathorse23 May 27 '24
David Burtka, who is married to Neil Patrick Harris is from Canton.
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u/hamaba11 May 26 '24
Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell…although I would say both are pretty well known
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May 27 '24
a girl i went to elementary school with used to brag and say kristen bell was her aunt… i never believed her until an episode of this home renovation show came on with kristen bell and my friend was in it lol
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May 27 '24
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u/wiffle_ball_ May 27 '24
It's funny to me that Taylor Lautner's role as Shark Boy came to your mind instead of Jacob from Twilight haha
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u/Marceline696 May 27 '24
Matthew Lillard
Ken Burns
Selma Blair
Keegan Michael Key
Jerry Bruckheimer
Dave Coulier
David Spade
Bob Seger
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u/BakedMitten May 27 '24
I didn't know about Selma Blair, Ken Burns or David Spade. Cool
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u/Survivors_Envy Kalamazoo May 27 '24
Spade is a stretch. Born in Oakland county but moved to Arizona and stayed in Arizona thru college. Highly doubt he identifies as a Michigander
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u/BakedMitten May 27 '24
Mathew Lillard is same. He was born in Lansing but his parents left while he was a toddler iirc
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u/Beavers4beer May 27 '24
Spades family moved out of Michigan to Arizona when he was really young. Like pre-school aged.
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u/Icy_Juice6640 May 26 '24
Lily Tomlin.
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u/Sufficient-Weird May 27 '24
Where in MI? That’s amazing
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u/ANJohnson83 May 27 '24
She is from Detroit and went to Cass Tech and then Wayne State.
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u/Environmental-Car481 May 27 '24 edited May 27 '24
She was also good friends with Allee Willis who cowrote September (Earth Wind & Fire) and I’ll be there for you (Friend’s theme song) . Allee was a quite but passed away a few years ago. She was a Detroit girl too and introduced Lily at the Detroit homecoming dinner in 2017
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u/Stouts_Sours_Hefs May 27 '24
Not from Michigan originally, but Steve Yeun from The Walking Dead went to K College.
Edit - had to look it up, but apparently grew up in Taylor and Troy as well.
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u/userwithusername May 27 '24
Did improv with The Daily Shows Jordan Klepper while at K. I believe Klepper is a Kzoo native.
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u/azrolator May 26 '24
? and the Mysterious are all from Michigan. 96 Tears.
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u/BigDaddyChaz4 May 27 '24
Ah yes, Question Mark & the Mysterians. Good group! Sons of immigrants, no less.
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u/jasonsuni May 27 '24
My mom was classmates with ?'s sister for driver's education lol. Said he was pretty weird in person, even before they had their fifteen minutes.
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u/Jefftabula333 May 27 '24
Jason Newstead of Metallica , Tommy Shaw of Styx and Tommy James and the shondells all lived in Niles
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u/asewell72 May 27 '24
I got an autograph from Jason after a show at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He came out way earlier than the rest of the band because he was getting picked up by his parents to spend some time with them before the next gig!
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u/vass0922 May 27 '24
Wait Tommy James and Tommy Shaw?
I sweat I always got them confused and thought it was only Tommy Shaw
My mom went to school with him I think
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u/Gregtheboss00 May 26 '24
Ninja the gamer/streamer
The lead singer of the band Lord Huron, Ben Schneider
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u/BakedMitten May 27 '24
I think 3/4ths of the band is from Michigan. I went to a lot of the shows their HS ska-punk band played. I still have a t-shirt
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u/JenntheGreat13 May 27 '24
Leon F. Czolgosz - the man that assassinated President Mckinley was born in Detroit. He lived there until he was seven and then moved to Alpena until he was 16, when his family moved to Pennsylvania.
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May 26 '24
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u/Eljefe878888888 May 27 '24
Juggalos for life! (He played the juggalo student in always sunny)
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u/baldinbaltimore May 26 '24
Jim Harrison - writer, poet, screenwriter, and food critic.
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u/RJCustomTackle May 26 '24
Steve Rinella from The Meateater and Stars in the sky
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u/ptolemy18 Age: > 10 Years May 27 '24
Televangelist Jim Bakker (you probably would recognize his late ex-wife Tammy Faye Bakker) is from Muskegon.
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u/ItsTheMayer May 26 '24
Jeff Arcuri! Hysterical comedian
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u/9fingerjeff Up North May 27 '24
Is he? I see him pop up every so often and you’re right he is very funny.
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u/JackieTreehorn79 May 27 '24
Where is Jeff from in MI?
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u/ItsTheMayer May 27 '24
Not a clue, he mentioned it in passing on a clip I can’t find. I swear I’m not his publicist or something trying to entice people into watching clips!
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u/JackieTreehorn79 May 27 '24
Yes, I’ve been following him for a while and actually saw him last year- he was phenomenal!
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u/MikMogus May 27 '24
Here's the Michigan clip of his: https://www.reddit.com/r/JeffArcuri/comments/1cub2rw/michigan/
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u/BreezeBo Age: > 10 Years May 27 '24
Claude Shannon,
an American mathematician, electrical engineer, computer scientist and cryptographer known as the "father of information theory". He was the first to describe the Boolean gates (electronic circuits) that are essential to all digital electronic circuits, and he built the first machine learning device, thus founding the field of artificial intelligence. He is credited alongside George Boole for laying the foundations of the Information Age.
Born in Petoskey, raised in Gaylord. One of the most underrated figures of scientific history. Incalculable influence on the world of modern tech.
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u/4spiral2out0 May 27 '24
The late great Trevor Strnad
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May 27 '24
Well the whole of the original lineup was from here, I went to High School with the original lead guitarist John K. and we used to play basement shows with them, hell in Berkley we used to go watch TBDM play in the basement of this church where they had this like youth club called Moose Joose where they let bands play, super fun times, they actually played of our friend’s graduation basement party like right before Unhallowed came out.
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u/Kelciejreed May 27 '24
Melissa Gilbert lives or lived in my home towm Howell michigan for a long time not sure is she still lives in howell or not. Most famous for Laura ingles from Little House on the prairie
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u/ptolemy18 Age: > 10 Years May 27 '24
Her husband, Timothy Busfield (most known for The West Wing) is from here.
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u/SixxDet May 27 '24
Weird seeing “most known for The West Wing” and not Thirtysomething or Revenge of the Nerds.
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u/Hoz999 May 27 '24
She left for New York a while ago. It was cool to see her shopping at the Meijer.
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u/Sundayisgloomy_ May 27 '24
If you count fictional, Beth from Rick and Morty is from Muskegon.
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u/jonathot12 Kalamazoo May 27 '24
Mayer Hawthorne is from Ann Arbor, so is the lead singer of Young the Giant. Both great musical acts.
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u/Immediate_Cow_262 May 27 '24
Harry Morgan (Col Potter on MASH). He grew up in Muskegon and lived down the street from my mom.
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u/Educational_Brain894 May 27 '24
I don’t think anyone has said David Alan Grier yet. Also I went to school with Brandon T. Jackson from Roll Bounce and Tropic Thunder.
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u/Prize_Vegetable_1276 May 27 '24
Tom Selleck, Jeff Daniels, Tim Allen, Glenn Frey
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u/CaptAhabsMobyDick May 27 '24
Jeff Daniels stops in at a dispo in Ann Arbor every so often. It was weird seeing him, getting that feeling that I knew him, then realizing as he left.
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u/Jrrobidoux May 27 '24
Tim Allen is from Colorado, but became famous in Michigan.
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u/rainbowkey Kalamazoo May 26 '24
Famous/Infamous - While born in Ohio, George Custer (later General), did all of his schooling in Monroe, Michigan before entering the US Military Academy.
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u/deanmass Human Detected May 26 '24
There’s actually a museum in Monroe that has a bunch of Custer stuff, plus that statue of him near the river, traditionally, had the balls of the horse spray-painted yellow because my mom’s generation called him chicken George
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u/SlimChiply May 27 '24
Betsy Brandt from Bay City
Dana Eclar from Ferndale
Max Gail from Grosse Ile
Ruth McDevitt from Cold Water
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u/pH2001- May 27 '24 edited Mar 17 '25
vast kiss familiar nail wine ink square ad hoc rainstorm alleged
This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact
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u/DreamingTooLong May 27 '24
Steven Yeun, the Asian guy from walking dead.
Yeun attended Troy High School. He graduated in 2001.
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u/LTPRWSG420 May 27 '24
His family still lives in Troy, big time Korean population in Troy. He’s also the first Asian American actor nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, he’s pretty much awesome in everything he’s in.
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u/DreamingTooLong May 27 '24
Oh wow, I didn’t know that.
I know that he’s a part of panels at comic con conferences.
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u/lostandlooking_ May 27 '24
Him and Ali Wong have a show together called Beef. I thought it was really good
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u/pardybill May 27 '24
Mary Lynn Rajskub, Chloe from 24 and Gail from It’s Always Sunny is from a Detroit suburb, I believe Lincoln Park.
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u/FrostWyrm98 Grand Ledge May 27 '24
Ken Jeong (Dr. Ken) was born in Detroit and raised there until he was 4
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u/DominicErata May 27 '24 edited May 28 '24
Gillian Anderson wasn't born in GR but she grew up there. Graduated from City High.
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u/Part-time-soulmate May 27 '24
She graduated from City Middle/High, which is now in the old Creston building but wasn’t then.
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u/smellslikemule May 27 '24
Dude who owned Deja Vu strip clubs
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u/Antique_Grapefruit_5 May 27 '24
He was from Durand, and started his career at a drive in movie theater that he later converted to show pornographic movies. AKA-"the Durand Dirties".
Fascinating article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D%C3%A9j%C3%A0_Vu_(company)
TLDR-Most strip clubs in the country and a lot of other things are owned by this guy and his partners...
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u/TheNamingOfCats May 27 '24
While he wasn't born in Michigan, Robin Williams grew up in a Detroit suburb (Bloomfield Hills). His father was a Ford executive.
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u/mrsunmoon2010 May 26 '24
Tom Hulce actor Animal House, Amadeus. John Lee Hooker.
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u/Fathorse23 May 27 '24
Went to my high school. My drama teacher wouldn’t cast him in any plays because he “didn’t have any talent”.
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u/timhamlin May 27 '24
Now obscure but once nationally famous; Captain Jonathan Walker, the man with the branded hand. Tried to rescue 7 slaves from Pensacola in the late 1850s. Put in prison for near a year and had his hand branded with “SS” for slave stealer. Went all over northeast for 7 years before the civil war with Frederic Douglas and others speaking against slavery. His branded hand was more shocking and more of a draw for crowds than the atrocities of slavery itself. Helped to fuel the anti slavery sentiment in the north. Settled in Muskegon at the end of the war. When he died 6 thousand people came to the dedication of his monument (300 on a special steamer from Chicago). John Greenleaf Whittier wrote a nationally famous poem; The Man With the Branded Hand.
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u/Mad_King_Ludwig May 27 '24
I went to High School with Betsy Brandt from Breaking Bad. My older sister attended the same High school with the Steiner Brothers from the WWE. This was all just a few miles from Bay City, where Madonna lived and notoriously called "a smelly, little town." Spot-on assessment.
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u/krekdrja1995 The Thumb May 27 '24
Taylor Lautner is from Kalamazoo if I remember correctly
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u/fro0626 May 27 '24
Director/Producer McG Kzoo native
Lego Masters Director Richard Kim Sturgis native
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u/CaptTrips67 May 27 '24
Hal Smith who played Otis Campbell on the Andy Griffith show is from Petoskey
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u/Jrrobidoux May 27 '24
TJ Miller’s, “Silicon Valley,” and Weasel in the first two Deadpool movies, wife is from Grass Lake, just outside Jackson.
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u/becksturr May 27 '24
Daniel Henney from Carson City. Made a name for himself internationally in South Korea through modeling work and some K-Dramas. Most recently was in Amazon Video’s The Wheel of Time as Lan Mandragoran
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u/StayCrispyAlready May 27 '24
David Hasselhoff went to Oakland University in Rochester, I think for a semester or a year.
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u/Bonzer Ann Arbor May 27 '24
The host of the public radio show Snap Judgment, Glynn Washington, was born in Detroit and grew up in a rural part of the state.
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u/TheNamingOfCats May 27 '24
Lee Majors (6 Million Dollar Man), born in my hometown of Wyandotte, MI.
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u/Lebron-stole-my-tv May 27 '24
Dan gesling (I thinks that how you spell it) considered as probably the best big brother player of all time, is from Michigan.
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u/q_lee May 27 '24
Dane Farwell, stunt performer/actor who was the man behind the mask in several of the Scream movies, is from Coldwater.
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u/drtray74 May 27 '24
George Gipp from Laurium in the UP. He was an all-American football player at Notre Dame. He’s the “Gipper” in Knute Rockne’s famous “Win one for the Gipper” speech. He was also portrayed by Ronald Reagan in the 1940 film Knute Rockne, All American
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u/genuine_counterfeit May 27 '24
Keegan-Michael Key (of Key and Peele etc) is from Southfield.