Keith B. Alexander – four-star general in the Army and director of the National Security Agency
Jabe B. Alford – mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
Will Allen – professional football player
Jeff Altman – stand-up comedian and actor
Maltbie Davenport Babcock – clergyman and author
Dylan Baker – actor
John William Barker – brigadier general in the Army
Marcus H. Barnum – lawyer, businessman, and politician
Bill Beagle – state senator for the 5th district of the Ohio
Kathryn Beare – professional baseball player
John Berendt – author of Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
Carlyle Blackwell – silent film actor, director, and producer
Andray Blatche – professional basketball player
Scott Blewett – professional baseball player
Richard Bock – jazz record producer
Tyvon Branch – professional football player
Charles F. Brannock – inventor and manufacturer
Frederick C. Brower – locksmith, inventor, and businessman
Rick Brunson – professional basketball player and coach
Ben Burtt – sound designer, film director and editor, screenwriter, and voice actor
Marty Byrnes – professional basketball player
Georgia Campbell – professional baseball player
Jean Campbell – professional baseball player
Eric Carle – children's author
Jimmy Cavallo – musician
Rory Cochrane – actor
Michael Cole – professional wrestling commentator
Jimmy Collins – professional basketball player and college coach
Jackie Coogan – actor and comedian
Bruce Coville – children's author
Tom Cruise – Oscar-nominated, Golden Globe Award-winning actor and producer
Rick Cua – singer, songwriter, bassist, author, and ordained minister
Kelly Cutrone – publicist, television personality, and author
Mabel Potter Daggett – writer, journalist, editor, and suffragist
Nina Davuluri – public speaker and Miss America 2014
Robert De Niro Sr. – abstract expressionist painter and father of actor Robert De Niro
Mark Didio – professional football player
Blanche Dillaye – artist
Bill Dinneen – professional baseball player and umpire
Frank DiPino – professional baseball player
Jo-Lonn Dunbar – professional football player
Robert F. Engle – economist and winner of the 2003 Nobel Prize in Economics
Joe English – musician, vocalist, and songwriter
Jeanette Epps – aerospace engineer and NASA astronaut
Walter Farley – author of The Black Stallion
David B. Feinberg – writer and AIDS activist
Thom Filicia – interior designer
Jon Fishman – drummer and founding member of Phish
Eliot Fisk – classical guitarist
Frank Gabrielson – stage, film, and television writer
John L. Gaunt – photographer and winner of the 1955 Pulitzer Prize for Photography
Richard Gere – Golden Globe Award-winning actor
Helena Theresa Goessmann – lecturer, academic, and writer
Bobcat Goldthwait – actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter
David Greenman – actor
Henry Grethel – fashion designer, merchandiser, and marketer
Bob Gualtieri – law enforcement officer, lawyer, and politician
Borys Gudziak – metropolitan-archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia
Jaclyn Hales – actress
Muhammad Hassan – professional wrestler
Michael Herr – writer and war correspondent
Theodore Hesburgh – president of the University of Notre Dame
Mary Dana Hicks – art educator
Siobhan Fallon Hogan – actress and comedian
Bob Holz – drummer and composer
Jimmy Howard – professional ice hockey player
Charley Hyatt – college basketball player
David Jennings – member of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Grace Jones – model, singer, and actress
Mark Kaplan – violinist
John Katko – attorney and politician
Megyn Kelly – journalist and media personality
Mr. Kenneth – world's first celebrity hairdresser
Tom Kenny – actor and comedian
Doris Kenyon – actress
Phyllis Kirk – actress
David Klein – confectioner and developer of Jelly Belly
Zane Lamprey – comedian, actor, writer, editor, and producer
Dorsey Levens – professional football player
Alex Levinsky – professional ice hockey player
Claire Luce – actress
Clifford Luyk – professional basketball player and coach
Gordon MacRae – actor, singer, and television and radio host
Joe Magnarelli – jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist
Post Malone – rapper, singer, songwriter, and record producer
Christopher Maloney – singer-songwriter, bass guitarist, and music educator
Louis Marshall – corporate, constitutional, and civil rights lawyer
Frank Matteo – professional football player
Edna May – actress and singer
Terry McAuliffe – businessman and politician
William McCoy – sea captain and rum-runner
Johnny Messner – actor
Stephen Montague – composer, pianist, and conductor
Darin Morgan – screenwriter
David Muir – journalist and the anchor of ABC World News Tonight
Jonathan Murray – television producer and co-creator of The Real World
James Nachtwey – photojournalist and war photographer
Richard Neer – disc jockey and sports radio personality
Sal Nistico – jazz tenor saxophonist
Joy Osofsky – clinical and developmental psychologist
Camille Paglia – social critic and author
Doe Paoro – singer-songwriter
Greg Paulus – college basketball player and coach
Steve Perry – musician
Marco Pignalberi – politician
Rocco Pirro – professional football player and politician
Jon Ratliff – professional baseball player
Mark Reed – physicist and professor
Jamel Richardson – professional football player
Mike Rotunda – professional wrestler best known as Irwin R. Schyster
Ellis Rubin – attorney
Margaret Olivia Slocum Sage – philanthropist who established the Russell Sage Foundation
Louis J. Salmon – football player and head coach of the University of Notre Dame
Danny Schayes – professional basketball player
George Schuyler – writer, journalist, and social commentator
Scott Schwedes – professional football player
Scorey – rapper, singer, and songwriter
Ray Seals – professional football player
Rod Serling – screenwriter, playwright, television producer, and narrator
Martin Sexton – singer-songwriter and music producer
Craig Shirley – political consultant and author
Edward C. Stearns – entrepreneur and industrialist
Breanna Stewart – professional basketball player
Ed Stokes – professional basketball player
Joseph Stolz – rabbi
Kevin Surace – technology innovator and entrepreneur
Bob Swan – business executive and CEO of Intel
Charles W. Sweeting – businessman and politician
Bill Tanguay – professional football player
Tommy Tanner – professional soccer player
Tsquared – professional gamer
Toosii – rapper and singer
Tony Trischka – five-string banjo player
Jimmy Van Heusen – composer who authored the jazz standard "Darn That Dream"
Frank Whaley – actor, film director, screenwriter, and comedian
John Wilkinson – engineer and inventor
Christopher Woodrow – entrepreneur, financier, and movie producer
T. M. Wright – author
Born or brought up in Greater Syracuse
L. Frank Baum – children's author best known for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Chittenango)
Joey Belladonna – singer best known as the vocalist for Anthrax (Oswego)
Grover Cleveland – served as the 22nd and 24th president of the United States (Fayetteville)
Tim Connolly – professional ice hockey player (Baldwinsville)
Ronnie James Dio – singer and member of Black Sabbath and Rainbow (Cortland)
Pete Dominick – political comedian and talk radio personality (Marcellus)
Joel Farabee – professional ice hockey player (Cicero)
Matilda Joslyn Gage – activist known for her contributions to women's suffrage and abolitionism (Fayetteville)
Irving Gill – pioneer modern architect in Southern California (Tully)
Tim Green – professional football player, radio and television personality, and author (Liverpool)
Thomas Harley – professional ice hockey player (Jamesville)
Mike Hart – professional football player and college coach (Nedrow)
Gary Holland – musician best known for being the original drummer of Great White (LaFayette)
Tim Locastro – professional baseball player (Auburn)
Dave Mirra – professional BMX rider (Chittenango)
Harvey A. Moyer – entrepreneur and founder of H. A. Moyer Automobile Company (Clay)
Bert E. Salisbury – businessman and president of Onondaga Pottery Company (Geddes)
Horatio Seymour – politician and 18th governor of New York (Pompey)
Alex Tuch – professional ice hockey player (Baldwinsville)
John Walsh – television personality and host/creator of America's Most Wanted (Auburn)
Others with ties to the Syracuse area
Hervey Allen – author best known for Anthony Adverse, which was made into a movie of the same name, resided in an extant house on James Street
Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews – author best known for a widely read short story about U.S. president Abraham Lincoln, The Perfect Tribute, resided at Wolf Hollow, the Andrews estate in Taunton
Carmelo Anthony – basketball player at Syracuse University who delivered the program’s first NCAA Championship in 2003
Danny Biasone – founding owner of the NBA's Syracuse Nationals in 1946
Joe Biden – served as the 46th president of the United States; graduated from Syracuse University College of Law in 1968
Lucy Wood Butler – pioneer temperance leader, who was the first president of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union of New York, lived in Syracuse for more than 50 years
DeWitt Clinton – served as mayor of New York City and the sixth governor of New York; played a significant role in the construction of the Erie Canal
Elizabeth Cotten – folk and blues musician who lived much of her later life in Syracuse and for whom a bronze statue is dedicated
Asa Danforth – early settler who built a gristmill and sawmill that contributed to the growth of Onondaga County
Asa Danforth Jr. – early settler, land speculator, and highway engineer
Herbert H. Franklin – entrepreneur and automobile manufacturer for whom Franklin Square is named
James Geddes – engineer, surveyor, and politician instrumental in the planning of the Erie Canal who was also at the forefront of the development of the salt industry at Onondaga Lake beginning in 1794
Theodore E. Hancock – lawyer and politician who served as district attorney of Onondaga County from 1890 to 1892
Bucky Lawless – professional boxer based in Syracuse from the mid-1920s to the mid-1930s
Simon Le Moyne – Jesuit priest who, in 1655, founded a mission known as Sainte Marie de Gannentaha, and for whom Le Moyne College is named
Jermain Loguen – key contributor to the Underground Railroad who helped make Syracuse a leading abolitionist city
Pierre-Esprit Radisson – explorer and coureur des bois who traveled into Onondaga territory to aid Le Moyne and operate his mission
C. Hamilton Sanford – businessman and president of the Syracuse Trust Company and co-founder of Sanford-Herbert Motor Truck Company
Kim Simmonds – musician and founder of the English blues rock band Savoy Brown
Comfort Tyler – early settler, businessman, and politician for whom Comfort Tyler Park is named
William Van Wagoner – bicycle racer and automobile designer
David Foster Wallace – author who wrote much of his landmark novel Infinite Jest while living in an apartment on Kensington Road across from the food co-op
Ephraim Webster – first white settler in Central New York who arrived in 1786 to an area later named Syracuse
John Wilkinson – lawyer and politician who gave Syracuse its name and founded the Syracuse Bank
Steve Wynn – casino and hotel tycoon who attended The Manlius School