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Ariel view of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at Point State Park where the Ohio River begins by Popscreenshot –

Top 10 Famous People from Pittsburgh

Pittsburgh is the city of champions, bridges, and steel. It is a city in the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. It is the second most populated city in Pennsylvania after Philadelphia.

The mere mention of Pittsburgh makes one think of the Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Steelers, Duquesne Incline, or the Point State Park Fountain just to name a few things. However, what one might miss is a long list of celebrities who are from Pittsburgh.

This article will therefore look into ten of the most famous people from the so-called city of champions.

1. Wiz Khalifa

Wiz Khalifa on stage in Boston in August 2010 by Weekly Dig –

Cameron Jibril Thomaz. Who is that you ask? That is the birth or official name for the rap and hip-hop legend we know as Wiz Khalifa. He is a rapper, singer, songwriter, and actor.

Khalifa is an Arabic word that means “successor,” and Wiz is an abbreviation for wisdom, which he adopted as a little boy as his stage name. Some of his biggest songs include Work Hard, Play Hard, Remember You, So High, and See You Again Off from the Furious 7 soundtrack.

2. Jeff Goldblum

Goldblum at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival by gdcgraphics –

Jeffrey Lynn Goldblum, born on October 22nd, 1952 is an American actor and musician. He was born in West Homestead, a suburb of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Jeff moved to New York at age 17 to study acting as well as do some stage work. Jeff made his Broadway debut in the musical Two Gentlemen of Verona.

He has starred in some critically acclaimed films such as Jurassic Park (1993), Independence Day (1996), The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014), and Isle of Dogs (2018). Jeff, who is a gifted jazz pianist, claims that he would have pursued a career in music if acting did not work out.

3. Joe Manganiello

Joseph Michael Manganiello is an American actor, author, and director. He was born on 28th December 1976 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Susan and Charles John Manganiello.

His breakthrough performance was in the five seasons of the HBO series True Blood (2008) as the werewolf Alcide Herveaux. He made his feature picture debut in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man (2002) as Flash Thompson. Having studied acting at Carnegie Melon University, Joe went on to star in huge productions such as How I Met Your Mother (2005), Magic Mike (2012), and Rampage (2018).

4. Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban and Governor Doug Ducey speaking with attendees at the 2019 Arizona Technology Innovation Summit by Gage Skidmore –

Mark Cuban is an American entrepreneur, TV personality, and media proprietor. He is a billionaire whose net worth as of early 2023 stood at $4.6 billion.

Mark was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1958 on 31st July. He attended the University of Pittsburgh, where in 1981 he achieved a Bachelor of Science in Management from the Kelley School of Business.

Mark is a co-owner of 2929 Entertainment and the owner of the Dallas Mavericks, a professional basketball franchise in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is also one of the main “sharks” in the ABC reality series Shark Tank.

Additionally, Mark is the owner of Mustang, a town (Yes! TOWN!!) in Texas whose population before Cuban’s acquisition in 2020 was zero (0). He purchased the town for $2 million.

5. Gillian Jacobs

Danny Pudi & Gillian Jacobs speaking at the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con by Gage Skidmore –

Gillian MacLaren Jacobs is an American actress born on October 19th, 1982 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jacobs was raised by her mother in Mt. Lebanon, a township in Pennsylvania. She began studying acting at age four by attending classes at the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

One of Gillian’s most famous roles is Britta Perry from Community (2009). A high school dropout who aspires to become a psychologist. She also has roles in Hot Tub Time Machine 2 (2015), Love (2016-2018), and Amazon’s animated series Invincible (2021).

6. Mac Miller

Miller performing at the 2017 Splash! festival in Germany by Nicolas Völcker –

A legend in his own right, Malcolm James McCormick, stage name Mac Miller forever lives with us. Born in Pittsburgh on 19th January 1992, Mac Miller was an American rapper and record producer.

His breakthrough was a mixtape in 2010 titled K.I.D.S. which was followed by another mixtape in 2011 titled Best Day Ever. Both are worth your time in my (our) opinion. His debut album also came in 2011 and was titled Blue Slide Park. It became the first independently distributed debut album to top the US Billboard 200 since 1995.

Some of his biggest albums include Circles, Swimming, and The Divine Feminine. Sadly, Miller passed away on 7th September 2018 in his home in Studio City, Los Angeles. Later, it was determined that Miller died from an accidental drug overdose due to a “mixed drug toxicity” of fentanyl, cocaine, and alcohol. R.I.P Legend!

7. James Irwin

Apollo 15 Lunar Module Pilot James Irwin by NASA –

James Irwin was a pilot with the US Air Force, an astronaut, and an aeronautical engineer. He was the eighth person to set foot on the Moon and served as the lunar module pilot on Apollo 15’s fourth human lunar landing in 1971.

James was born in Pittsburgh in 1930. The Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and Command Pilot Astronaut Wings are just a few of the accolades he garnered for his work.

8. Meghan Klingenberg

Meghan Klingenberg in action for the USWNT by Agência Brasília –

Meghan Elizabeth Klingenberg is an American soccer or football player. She plays as a left-back for the Portland Thorns as well as the United States women’s national soccer team.

Meghan is a World Cup winner in the 2015 edition of the tournament having started every match in their campaign. At club level, she played for three teams in the Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) league, for Tyresö FF in Sweden’s Damallsvenskan, and for the Houston Dash in the NWSL.

9. Kurt Angle

WWE Raw superstar Kurt Angle (1996 Olympic Gold Medalist) by McPhail –

Kurt Steven Angle is an American former professional wrestler and Olympic gold medalist. For those who watched WWE wrestling in the early 2000s, then Kurt was definitely one of your favorites alongside the likes of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.

Kurt was born on 9th December 1968 in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania (a suburb of Pittsburgh). He has six children and is currently married to Giovanna Yannotti since 2012 following the divorce from his first wife Karen Jarrett in 2008.

10. Richard Baumhammers

Shooter by Sander Sammy on

Unlike the rest of the individuals in this article, Richard’s fame is not for any positive endeavors. Richard Scott Baumhammers is an American former immigration attorney who is famous for his spree killings.

He was born on 17th May 1965 in Pittsburgh. Richard was treated for mental illness in 1993 and voluntarily admitted himself to a psychiatric ward multiple times. On April 28th, 2000, he would begin a killing spree at his neighbor’s house that would last until 3:30 when he was apprehended after killing 5 and brutally injuring one.

After a year, he was convicted after a jury found him guilty of all 19 charges he had been charged with. The same jury demanded that Baumhammers be executed for his crimes after 20 minutes of deliberation. Over 20 years later, Richard is still alive following many legal battles and stayed executions.