List of Louisiana Creoles

This is a list of notable Louisiana Creole people. To be included in this list, the person must have a Wikipedia article showing they are Louisiana Creoles or must have references showing they are Louisiana Creoles and are notable.

Arts, culture, and entertainment

 * Don Albert (1908–1980) – jazz trumpeter and bandleader
 * Veronica Porché Ali (1955) – actress and psychologist and the former wife of boxing legend Muhammad Ali
 * Debbie Allen (1950) – actress, dancer, choreographer, television director, television producer, member of the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities
 * Nahshon Dion Anderson (1978) - award-winning writer, model, actor, human rights activist from Altadena, California; descendant of Creoles from Lafayette Parish and St. Landry Parish
 * Fernest Arceneaux (1940–2008) – zydeco accordionist and singer from Louisiana
 * Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin (1915–2007) – accordionist
 * Amede Ardoin (1898–1942) – zydeco musician
 * Chris Ardoin (1981) – zydeco accordionist and singer
 * Sean Ardoin (1970) – zydeco musician and singer
 * K.D. Aubert (1978) – actress and fashion model
 * Vernel Bagneris (1949) – playwright, actor, director, singer, and dancer; named after his cousin Vernel Fournier
 * Louis Barbarin (1902–1997) – New Orleans jazz drummer
 * Paul Barbarin (1899–1969) – New Orleans jazz drummer, usually regarded (along with Baby Dodds) as one of the best of the pre-Big Band era jazz drummers
 * Achille Baquet (1885–1955) – jazz clarinetist and saxophonist
 * George Baquet (1881–1949) – jazz clarinetist, known for his contributions to early jazz in New Orleans
 * Blue Lu Barker (1913–1998) – jazz and blues singer; her better known recordings included "Don't You Feel My Leg" and "Look What Baby's Got For You"
 * Danny Barker (1909–1994) – jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, songwriter, ukulele player
 * Richmond Barthé (1901–1989) – sculptor
 * Dave Bartholomew (1920) – musician, band leader, composer and arranger, prominent in the music of New Orleans throughout the second half of the 20th century
 * Jon Batiste (1986) – singer, multi-instrumentalist, educator, and bandleader from Kenner, Louisiana; music director and bandleader for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and its band Stay Human
 * Lionel Batiste (1931–2012) – jazz and blues musician and singer from New Orleans
 * Sidney Bechet (1897–1959) – jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and composer
 * Troian Bellisario (1985) – actress; stars as Spencer Hastings in the ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars
 * E.J. Bellocq (1873–1949) – photographer
 * Jimmy Bertrand (1900–1960) – jazz and blues drummer
 * Barney Bigard (1906–1980) – jazz clarinetist
 * Esther Bigeou (1895–1936) – blues singer; billed as "The Girl with the Million Dollar Smile"; one of the classic female blues singers popular in the 1920s
 * Eddie Bo (1930–2009) – singer and pianist from New Orleans
 * Peter Bocage (1887–1967) – cornet player; also played violin professionally, as well as sometimes trombone, banjo, and xylophone; cousin of New Orleans R&B musician Eddie Bo
 * Denise Boutte (1982) – actress and model
 * John Boutté (1958) – jazz singer
 * Wellman Braud (1891–1966) – jazz upright bassist
 * Dudley Broussard (1916–1998) – Creole zydeco musician, known to have played alongside other great musicians such Clifton Chenier
 * John Brunious (1940) – jazz trumpeter
 * Wendell Brunious (1954) – jazz trumpeter
 * Calvin Carriere (1921–2002) – fiddler
 * Chubby Carrier (1967–present) – zydeco musician
 * Roy Carrier (1947–2010) – zydeco musician
 * Papa Celestin (1884–1954) – jazz bandleader, trumpeter, cornetist and vocalist
 * Leah Chase (1923) – chef, author and television personality
 * Boozoo Chavis (1930-2001) - musician and one of the pioneers of zydeco music
 * Clifton Chenier (1925–1987) – zydeco musician
 * C.J. Chenier (1957–present) – zydeco musician and son of the Grammy Award-winning "King of Zydeco", Clifton Chenier
 * Frank Christian (1887–1973) – early jazz trumpeter
 * Savannah Churchill (1920–1974) – singer of pop, jazz, and blues music
 * Robert Colescott (1925–2009) – painter
 * Warrington Colescott (1921) – artist
 * Florestine Perrault Collins (1895–1988) – photographer
 * Charles Connor (1935) – drummer, best known as a member of Little Richard's band
 * Louis Cottrell, Jr. (1911–1978) – jazz clarinetist and tenor saxophonist
 * Coline Creuzot (1985) – singer and Sony ATV songwriter; granddaughter of Percy Creuzot Jr, founder of Frenchy's Chicken, a popular creole restaurant chain based in Houston
 * Joe Darensbourg (1906–1985) – jazz clarinetist and saxophonist notable for his work with Buddy Petit, Jelly Roll Morton, Charlie Creath, Fate Marable, Andy Kirk, Kid Ory, Wingy Manone, Joe Liggins and Louis Armstrong
 * Damita Jo DeBlanc (1930–1998) – actress, comedian, and lounge music performer
 * Edmonde Dede (1829–1903) – composer
 * Edgar Degas (1834–1917) – artist famous for his paintings, sculptures, prints, and drawings; cousin of Norbert Rillieux; eldest of five children of Célestine Musson De Gas, a Creole from New Orleans, and Augustin De Gas, a banker
 * Harold Dejan (1909–2002) – jazz alto saxophonist and bandleader
 * Geno Delafose (1972) – zydeco accordionist
 * John Delafose (1939–1994) – zydeco accordionist
 * Louis Nelson Delisle (1885–1949) – Dixieland jazz clarinetist
 * Brandon DeShazer (1984) – actor, model
 * Faith Domergue (1924–1999) – television and film actress Faith Domergue 1946.jpg]]
 * Natty Dominique (1896–1982) – jazz trumpeter
 * Fats Domino (born 1928) – classic R&B and rock and roll singer, songwriter and pianist
 * Rockin' Dopsie (1932–1993) – leading zydeco musician and button accordion player who enjoyed popular success first in Europe and later in the United States
 * Lawrence Duhe (1887–1960) – jazz clarinetist and bandleader; member of Sugar Johnnie's New Orleans Creole Orchestra
 * Honore Dutrey (1894–1934) – Dixieland jazz trombonist
 * Sheila E. (1957) – percussionist, singer, composer and producer
 * Mignon Faget (1933) – jewelry designer based in her native New Orleans
 * Lionel Ferbos (1911–2014) – New Orleans jazz trumpeter
 * Lil' Fizz (1985) – rapper, former B2K member
 * Canray Fontenot (1922–1995) – fiddle player
 * Vernel Fournier (1928–2000) – jazz drummer
 * D'Jalma Garnier (1954) – musician and composer
 * Tony Garnier (1956) – bassist (both double bass and bass guitar), best known as an accompanist to Bob Dylan, with whom he has played since 1989
 * Virginie Amelie Avegno Gautreau (1859–1915) – model and socialite
 * Louis Moreau Gottschalk (1829–1869) – composer and pianist, known as a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano pieces
 * George Guesnon (1907–1968) – jazz banjoist, guitarist, composer, and singer
 * George Herriman (1880–1944) – cartoonist, known for his comic strip Krazy Kat
 * Andrew Hilaire (1899–1935) – jazz drummer
 * Julien Hudson (1811–1844) – painter and art teacher
 * Clementine Hunter (1886–1988) – self-taught folk artist from the Cane River region in Louisiana
 * Ice-T (born 1958) – musician, actor
 * Queen Ida (1929) – zydeco accordion player
 * Michelle Jacques – singer and music educator
 * Illinois Jacquet (1922–2004) – jazz tenor saxophonist, best remembered for his solo on "Flying Home", critically recognized as the first R&B saxophone solo
 * Beau Jocque (1953–1999) – zydeco musician
 * Beverly Johnson (1952) – model, actress, and businesswoman
 * Ty Granderson Jones (1964) – actor, screenwriter and producer
 * Leatrice Joy (1893–1985) – actress most prolific during the silent film era
 * Ernie K-Doe (1936–2001) – R&B singer best known for his 1961 hit single "Mother-in-Law" which went to #1 on the Billboard pop chart in the U.S.
 * Freddie Keppard (1890–1993) – jazz cornetist
 * Beyoncé Knowles (born 1981) – R&B singer
 * Solange Knowles (born 1986) – R&B singer
 * Tina Knowles (born 1954) – fashion designer
 * The Knux (born 1982 & 1984) – musicians, rappers, singers, record producers
 * Dorothy LaBostrie (1929–2007) – songwriter, best known for co-writing Little Richard's 1955 hit "Tutti Frutti"
 * Lenny LaCour (1932) – record producer, songwriter and performer, particularly active from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s
 * Delphine LaLaurie (1775–1842) – socialite and murderer
 * Dorothy Lamour (1914–1996) – actress and singer
 * Vilayna LaSalle – model
 * Charles Lucien Lambert (1828–1896) – pianist and composer
 * Lucien-Léon Guillaume Lambert (1858–1945) – pianist and composer
 * Sidney Lambert (born 1838) – pianist and composer
 * Carmen De Lavallade (1931) – choreographer, actress
 * Bianca Lawson (1979) – film and television actress; known for roles in the television series Saved by the Bell: The New Class, Goode Behavior and Pretty Little Liars; had recurring roles in the series Sister, Sister, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The Steve Harvey Show, Dawson's Creek, The Secret Life of the American Teenager, The Vampire Diaries, and Teen Wolf
 * Sabrina Le Beauf (born 1958) – actress; played Sandra on the television series The Cosby Show
 * Jeni Le Gon (1916–2012) – dancer, dance instructor, and actress
 * Rosie Ledet (1971) – zydeco singer and accordion player
 * Harry Lennix (1964–present) – actor; best known for his roles as Terrence "Dresser" Williams in the Robert Townsend film The Five Heartbeats and as Boyd Langton in the Joss Whedon television series Dollhouse
 * George Lewis (1900–1968) – jazz clarinetist
 * Jules Lion (1809–1866) – photographer
 * Branford Marsalis (1960) – saxophonist, composer and bandleader
 * Tristin Mays (1990) – actress and singer; played Shaina in the Nickelodeon series Gullah Gullah Island and Robin Dixon in Alias
 * Victor-Eugene McCarty (born between 1817 and 1823) – composer
 * Rocky McKeon – musician
 * Adah Isaacs Menken (1835–1868) – actress, painter, poet
 * Michel'le (born 1970) – R&B singer, former girlfriend of Dr. Dre; married to Suge Knight
 * Janee Michelle (1946) – actoress, model, and businessperson best known for her role in the 1974 horror film The House on Skull Mountain
 * Lizzie Miles (1895–1963) – blues singer
 * Ziggy Modeliste (1948) – drummer best known as a founding member of the funk group The Meters
 * Allison Montana (1922–2005) – New Orleans cultural icon who acted as the Mardi Gras Indian "chief of chiefs" for over 50 years
 * Deacon John Moore (1941–present) – blues, rhythm and blues and rock and roll musician, singer, and bandleader
 * Morris W. Morris (1845–1906) – American Civil War soldier of the Louisiana Native Guards; stage actor
 * Jelly Roll Morton (1885–1941) – virtuoso pianist, bandleader and composer
 * Archibald Motley (1891–1981) – painter
 * Aaron Neville (1941) – soul and R&B singer and musician
 * Albert Nicholas (1900–1973) – jazz reed player
 * Wooden Joe Nicholas (1883–1957) – jazz trumpeter and cornetist, active in the early New Orleans jazz scene
 * Jimmie Noone (1895–1944) – jazzclarinetist and bandleader
 * Kid Ory (1886–1973) – jazz trombonist and bandleader
 * Jimmy Palao (1879 –1925) – jazz bandleader
 * Jim Parsons (1973) – actor best known for playing Sheldon Cooper on the CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory
 * Ernest "Doc" Paulin (1907–2007) – jazz trumpeter and bandleader
 * Alcide Pavageau (1888–1969) – jazz guitarist and double-bassist
 * Manuel Perez (1871–1946) – clarinetist and bandleader
 * Buddie Petit (1890–1931) – early jazz cornetist
 * Joseph Petit (1873–1945) – jazz trombonist
 * Fats Pichon (1906–1967) – jazz pianist, singer, bandleader, and songwriter
 * Alphonse Picou (1878–1961) – jazz clarinetist
 * De De Pierce (1904–1973) – trumpeter and cornetist; best remembered for the songs "Peanut Vendor" and "Dippermouth Blues", both with Billie Pierce
 * Armand J. Piron (1888–1943) – jazz violinist, band leader, and composer
 * Robin Power – music producer, singer, rapper, actress and songwriter
 * Deborah Pratt (1951) – actress, writer and television producer
 * Prince (1958–2016) – musician
 * Wardell Quezergue (1930–2011) – music arranger, producer, and bandleader
 * Phylicia Rashād (1948) – Tony Award-winning actress and singer, best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the long-running NBC sitcom The Cosby Show
 * Chris Rene (1982–present) – singer-songwriter, musician and producer from Santa Cruz, California
 * Googie Rene (1927–2007) – musician and songwriter
 * Leon Rene (1902–1982) – music composer of R&B and rock and roll songs in the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s
 * Dawn Richard (1983) – singer-songwriter
 * Robert Ri'chard (1983) – actor
 * Nicole Richie (1981) – television personality, fashion designer
 * LaTavia Roberson (1981) – singer, songwriter, and actress
 * Joe Robichaux (1900–1965) – jazz pianist; nephew of John Robichaux
 * John Robichaux (1866–1939) – jazz bandleader, drummer, and violinist; uncle of Joseph Robichaux
 * RuPaul (1960) – actor, drag queen, model, author, television personality, and recording artist
 * Betye Saar (1926) – artist known for her work in the field of assemblage
 * Brytni Sarpy (1987) – actress best known for her portrayal of Valerie Spencer on the ABC Daytime soap opera General Hospital
 * Rockin' Sidney (1938–1998) – R&B, zydeco, and soul musician
 * Omer Simeon (1902–1959) – jazz clarinetist
 * Terrance Simien (1965) – zydeco musician, vocalist, and songwriter
 * Roger Guenveur Smith (1955) – actor, director, and writer
 * Jake Smollett (1989) – actor
 * Jurnee Smollett (1986) – actress; known for the role of Jess Merriweather on the television series Friday Night Lights, as well as roles in the films Eve's Bayou and The Great Debaters
 * Jussie Smollett (1983) – actor, singer and photographer; plays Jamal Lyon in the Fox music-industry primetime soap opera Empire
 * Tracie Spencer (1976–present) – R&B and pop singer-songwriter, actress, and model
 * David Starfire – producer, composer, multi-instrumentalist and DJ based in Los Angeles and San Francisco
 * Johnny St. Cyr (1890–1966) – jazz banjoist and guitarist
 * Raven-Symoné (1985–present) – actress and singer
 * William J. Tennyson Jr. (1923–1959) – jazz musician
 * Andre Thierry (1979) – Grammy-nominated zydeco musician; leads the band Zydeco Magic
 * Lorenzo Tio Jr. (1893–1933) – jazz clarinetist
 * Allen Toussaint (1938–2015) – musician, composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B
 * Mr. T (1952) – actor known for his roles as B. A. Baracus in the 1980s television series The A-Team and as boxer Clubber Lang in the 1982 film Rocky III, and for his appearances as a professional wrestler
 * Vicki Vann (1980) – country music artist, model and actress
 * Little Walter (1930–1968) – blues musician and singer
 * Nathan Williams (1964–present) – zydeco accordionist and singer
 * Shailene Woodley (1991) – actress; portrayed Amy Juergens in the ABC Family series The Secret Life of the American Teenager (2008–2013) and co-starred alongside George Clooney in the 2011 film The Descendants
 * Buckwheat Zydeco (1947–2016) – accordionist and zydeco musician

Business

 * Danny Bakewell (1946) – civil rights activist and entrepreneur; owner of the Bakewell Company, which includes among its holdings the New Orleans radio station WBOK and the Los Angeles Sentinel newspaper; Chairman of the National Newspaper Publishers Association
 * Joseph Eloi Broussard (1866–1956) – pioneer rice grower and miller in Texas
 * Jean Pierre Chouteau (1758–1849) – fur trader, merchant, politician and slaveholder
 * Marie Couvent (1757–1837) – philanthropist and businesswoman
 * Percy Creuzot (1924–2010) – restaurateur who founded Frenchy's Chicken in Houston, Texas; due to his success, he became known as "the black Colonel Sanders"
 * Constant C. Dejoie, Sr. (1881–1970) – publisher and founder of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper
 * Lurita Doan (1958) – businesswoman, political commentator, and former political appointee; administrator of the United States General Services Administration, the government's contracting agency, 2006-2008, during the administration of Republican U.S. President George W. Bush
 * Harold Doley (1947–) – businessman
 * Jean Baptiste Point du Sable (–1818) – businessman and founder of Chicago
 * Roy F. Guste – author of ten Louisiana French-Creole cuisine cookbooks; fifth-generation proprietor of New Orleans' famed Antoine's Restaurant, established in 1840
 * Thomy Lafon (1810–1893) – businessman, philanthropist, and human rights activist
 * Austin Leslie (1934–2005) – internationally famous New Orleans chef whose work defined "Creole Soul"
 * Miriam Leslie (1836–1914) – publisher and author
 * Marie Therese Metoyer (1742–1816) – médecine, planter, and businesswoman in Natchitoches Parish
 * Baroness Micaela Almonester de Pontalba (1795–1874) – businesswoman
 * Mary Ellen Pleasant (between 1814 and 1817–1904) – entrepreneur and human rights activist
 * Iris Rideau (1937–) – winemaker, businesswoman and activist
 * Desiree Rogers (1959–) – former White House Social Secretary and businesswoman
 * Peter A. Sarpy (1804–1865) – businessman
 * Jacques Telesphore Roman (1800–1848) – businessman
 * Virginie de Ternant (1818–1887) – businesswoman

Education

 * Earl Barthe (1922–2010) – plasterer and plastering historian
 * Toi Derricotte (1941) – poet and a professor of writing at the University of Pittsburgh
 * Edouard Dessommes (1845–1908) – French language writer
 * Caroline Durieux (1896–1989) – lithographer, and Professor Emeritus of Fine Arts at Louisiana State University
 * Alcée Fortier (1856–1914) – late 19th-century professor of languages and folklore; influential in preservation of the French language in Louisiana
 * Norman Francis (1931) – president of Xavier University of Louisiana
 * Sheryl St. Germain (1954) – poet, essayist, and professor
 * Andrew Jolivette – author and lecturer; associate professor in American Indian Studies and instructor in Ethnic Studies, Educational Leadership, and Race and Resistance Studies at San Francisco State University
 * Sybil Kein – poet, playwright, scholar and musician
 * Suzette M. Malveaux (1966) – Professor of Law and former Associate Dean of Academic Affairs at the Columbus School of Law, Catholic University of America
 * Camille Nickerson (1888–1982) – pianist, composer, arranger, collector, and Howard University professor from 1926–1962
 * Gilbert L. Rochon – 6th president of Tuskegee University, 2010-2013
 * Neal Ferdinand Simeon (1916–1963) – mechanical engineer and teacher

Journalism

 * Dean Baquet (1956–) – Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist; executive editor of The New York Times
 * Chris Broussard (1968) – sports analyst for ESPN, who mainly covers the NBA; columnist for ESPN Magazine and ESPN.com; makes appearances on ESPN's NBA Fastbreak as an analyst
 * Merri Dee (1936–) – philanthropist and former television journalist
 * Bryant Gumbel (1948–) – television journalist
 * Greg Gumbel (1946–) – television sportscaster
 * Aristide Laurent (1941–2011) – publisher and LGBT civil rights advocate; co-founded The Los Angeles Advocate (now known as The Advocate) in 1967 with Sam Allen, Bill Rau, and Richard Mitch
 * Charlie LeDuff (1966–) – Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer
 * Don Lemon (1966) – television news anchor; host of CNN Tonight
 * Suzanne Malveaux (1966–) – television news reporter
 * Arthel Neville (1962–) – journalist and television personality

Law and politics

 * Caesar Antoine (1836–1921) – Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana, businessman, soldier, editor
 * Larry Bagneris, Jr. (1946) – social and political activist from New Orleans
 * Diana Bajoie (1948) – director of community relations for the LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans; Democratic former member of both houses of the Louisiana State Legislature
 * Sidney Barthelemy (1942–) – former mayor of New Orleans
 * Armand Julie Beauvais (1783–1843) – 7th governor of Louisiana
 * Philip Daniel Bolden - actor and rapper
 * Pierre Evariste Jean-Baptiste Bossier (March 22, 1797–April 24, 1844) – Senator for the Louisiana State Senate from 1833 to 1843
 * Donna Brazile (1959–present) – author, academic, and political analyst; Vice Chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee
 * Allen Broussard (1929–1996) – judge who rose to become a justice of the California Supreme Court
 * Ward Connerly (1939–) – former University of California regent, moderate conservative political activist, and businessman
 * Don Cravins, Jr. (1972–) – Democratic politician from the State of Louisiana
 * Robert DeBlieux (1933–2010) – historian, preservationist, painter, author, businessman, former Democratic mayor of Natchitoches, the oldest city in Louisiana
 * Pierre Derbigny (1769–1829) – 6th governor of Louisiana
 * Dan Desdunes (1870–1929) – civil rights activist and musician in New Orleans and Omaha
 * Rodolphe Desdunes (1849–1928) – civil rights activist, poet, historian, journalist, and customs officer primarily active in New Orleans
 * Jean Noel Destrehan (1754–1823) – politician in Louisiana and one-time owner of Destréhan Plantation, one of Louisiana's most famous antebellum historical landmarks
 * Antoine Dubuclet (1810–1887) – State Treasurer of Louisiana
 * Jacques Dupre (1773–1846) – 8th governor of Louisiana
 * Edwin Edwards (1927–) – served as the 50th governor of Louisiana for four terms (1972–1980, 1984–1988 and 1992–1996), twice as many elected terms as any other Louisiana chief executive
 * Keith Ellison (1963–) – U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district
 * William Freret (1804–1864) – mayor of New Orleans, 1840-1842, and 1843-1844
 * Charles Gayarré (1805–1895) – lawyer, judge, politician, historian, essayist, dramatist and novelist
 * Paul Octave Hebert (1818–1880) – 14th Governor of Louisiana from 1853–56 and a general in the Confederate Army
 * Alexis Herman (1947–) – politician; 23rd U.S. Secretary of Labor, serving under President Bill Clinton; previously Assistant to the President and Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement
 * Valerie Jarrett (1956–) – senior advisor and assistant to the president for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs for the Obama administration; lawyer and businesswoman
 * Paul Lafargue (1842–1911) – French revolutionary Marxist socialist journalist, literary critic, political writer and activist
 * Eric LaFleur (1964) – Democratic member of the Louisiana State Senate; first elected in 2007; previously member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 38 (Evangeline and St. Landry parishes), 2000-2008; first elected without opposition to an open seat vacated by Dirk Deville; re-elected four years later in 2003 with 81% of the vote
 * Pierre Caliste Landry (1841–1921) – Mayor of Donaldsonville, Louisiana
 * Richard W. Leche (1898–1965) – 44th governor of Louisiana, 1936-1939
 * Ivan L. R. Lemelle (1950–) – United States federal judge
 * Bernard de Marigny (1785–1868) – politician
 * François Xavier Martin (1762–1846) – jurist and author, the first Attorney General of State of Louisiana, and longtime Justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court
 * John Willis Menard (1838–1893) – U.S. congressman
 * Ernest Nathan Morial (1929–1989) – political figure and leading civil rights advocate
 * Marc Morial (1958–) – former mayor of New Orleans; son of Ernest Nathan Morial
 * Ray Nagin (1956–) – former mayor of New Orleans
 * Revius Ortique, Jr. (1924–2008) – justice of the Louisiana Supreme Court, and civil rights activist
 * Vincent Pierre (1964) – former businessman from Lafayette, Louisiana; Democratic member of the Louisiana House of Representatives for District 44; has represented a portion of Lafayette Parish since 2012
 * James Pitot (1761–1831) – second mayor of New Orleans
 * Homer Plessy (1863–1925) – plaintiff in the United States Supreme Court case Plessy v. Ferguson
 * Geronimo Pratt (1947–2011) – human rights activist
 * Denis Prieur – 10th mayor of New Orleans
 * Condoleezza Rice (1954–) – 66th United States Secretary of State
 * Andre B. Roman (1795–1866) – 9th governor of Louisiana (cousin of Sen Pierre Bossier; their grandmothers were Barre sisters)
 * A.P. Tureaud (1899–1972) – attorney for the New Orleans chapter of the NAACP
 * Jacques Villere (1761–1830) – 2nd governor of Louisiana
 * Joseph Marshall Walker (1784–1856) – 13th governor of Louisiana, 1850–1853
 * Lionel Wilson (1915–1998) – mayor of Oakland, California, serving three terms, 1977-1991
 * Andrew Young (1932–) – Congressman from Georgia's 5th congressional district, United States Ambassador to the United Nations, and mayor of Atlanta

Literature

 * Arna Bontemps (1902–1973) – poet; noted member of the Harlem Renaissance
 * Anatole Broyard (1920–1990) – native of New Orleans, 20th-century writer and critic who worked in New York City, New York
 * Kate Chopin (1850–1904) – author, forerunner to feminism
 * Marcus Bruce Christian (1900–1976) – poet, writer, historian and folklorist
 * Sidonie de la Houssaye (1820–1894) – writer
 * Armand Lanusse (1810–1867) – poet and educator
 * Willard Motley (1909–1965) – writer
 * Alice Dunbar Nelson (1875–1935) – poet, journalist and political activist
 * Anais Nin (1903–1977) – author
 * Brenda Marie Osbey (1957) – poet
 * John Kennedy Toole (1937–1969) – author; won a Pulitzer Prize for his Picaresque novel A Confederacy of Dunces (1980)
 * Jean Toomer (1894–1967) – poet and novelist
 * Victor Sejour (1817–1874) – writer
 * Fatima Shaik (1952) – writer of children's and adult literature

Military

 * Edward Gabriel Andre Barrett (1827–1880) – Commodore in the United States Navy
 * P. G. T. Beauregard (1818–1893) – general for the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War; writer, civil servant and inventor
 * Renato Beluche (1780–1860) – Venezuelan merchant and privateer
 * Sherian Cadoria (1943) – retired General in the United States Army
 * Andre Cailloux (1825–1863) – officer in the Confederate and Union armies
 * Claire Lee Chennault (1893–1958) – military aviator
 * Jerome G. Cooper (1936) – former officer of the United States Marine Corps; Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Manpower & Reserve Affairs), 1989-1992; United States Ambassador to Jamaica, 1994-1997
 * Russel L. Honoré (born 1947) – commanding general of the U.S. First Army in Fort Gillem, Georgia, and commander of Joint Task Force Katrina responsible for coordinating military relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina-affected areas across the Gulf Coast
 * John A. Lejeune (1867–1942) – 13th Commandant of the Marine Corps
 * Stephen W. Rochon – Rear Admiral; former Director of the Executive Residence; White House Chief Usher

Religion

 * Henriette Delille (1812–1862) – founder of the Sisters of the Holy Family, declared venerable by the Pope in 2010
 * Curtis J. Guillory (1943) – Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Beaumont,Texas
 * Marie Laveau (1794–1881) – practitioner of voodoo
 * Leonard Olivier (1923-2014) - retired auxiliary bishop for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington
 * Harold Robert Perry (1916–1991) – auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of New Orleans
 * John Ricard (1940–present) – prelate of the Roman Catholic Church; fourth Bishop of the Diocese of Pensacola-Tallahassee

Science and technology

 * John James Audubon (1785–1851) – ornithologist, naturalist, and painter
 * Antoine Philippe de Marigny (1721–1779) – geographer and explorer
 * Paul Du Chaillu (1831–1903) – French-American traveler, zoologist, and anthropologist; became famous in the 1860s as the first modern European outsider to confirm the existence of gorillas, and later the Pygmy people of central Africa; researched the prehistory of Scandinavia
 * Barthelemy Lafon (1769–1820) –notable Creole architect, engineer, city planner, and surveyor in New Orleans
 * Jean Alexandre LeMat (1824–1883) – best known for the percussion cap revolver that bears his name (LeMat revolver)
 * Norbert Rillieux (1806–1894) – inventor and engineer



Sports

 * Laila Ali (1977) – former professional boxer who competed from 1999 to 2007; daughter of the late heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali with his third wife, Veronica Porsche Ali; the eighth of her father's nine children
 * Jimmy Doyle (1924–1947) – welterweight boxer
 * Joe Dumars (1963) – retired basketball player in the National Basketball Association; played for the Detroit Pistons 1985-1999
 * Ralph Dupas (1935–2008) – boxer from New Orleans; won the world light middleweight championship
 * Matt Forte (1985) – running back for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League
 * Jermaine Kearse (1990) – football player
 * Oliver Marcelle (1895–1949) – professional baseball player
 * Tyrann Mathieu (1992) – free safety for the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League
 * Boyd Melson (1981) – light middleweight boxer
 * Paul Charles Morphy (1837–1884) – chess master, lawyer
 * Kelly Oubre Jr. (1995) – professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA)
 * Xavier Paul (1985) – professional baseball outfielder; has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds and Arizona Diamondbacks
 * CC Sabathia (1980) – professional baseball pitcher for the New York Yankees
 * Paul Sentell (1879–1923) – professional baseball player

Other

 * Charles Deslondes (1777–1811) – one of the slave leaders of the 1811 German Coast Uprising, a slave revolt that began on January 8, 1811, in the Territory of Orleans
 * Sinnamon Love (1973) – pornographic actress
 * Jean Saint Malo (d. 1784) – leader of a group of runaway slaves, known as maroons, in Spanish Louisiana
 * Betty Reid Soskin (1921) – Park Ranger with the National Park Service, assigned to the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California
 * Lulu White (1868–1931) – brothel madam, procuress and entrepreneur in New Orleans during the Storyville period