Top 10 Famous People from Florida

Top 10 Famous People from Florida

Florida is the 3^rd most populous and 22^nd most widespread state. The name Florida means land of flowers and is in the south. Its capital city is Tallahassee.

This southern state is known for its long beautiful coastline that extends to the Gulf of Mexico. Its most populated city is Miami which is a magnet for celebrities. 

Like most states in America, Florida has diverse cultures and ethnicities. The state is home to Native-American, European, Hispanic, Latino and African-American people.

All these people have greatly contributed to what Florida is Today. Some of the people that will be highlighted today are from this century and the previous one.

Their contribution to art, music, academia, science, politics and several other spheres.

In our list today, we will be looking at the top 10 famous people from Florida.

1. Vince Carter – Basketball Player

We start our list with Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. a former professional basketball player. He currently works as a basketball analyst for ESPN.

Vince predominantly played the shooting guard and small forward positions, although he also played power forward later during his NBA career.

In 1999, he was the star of the NBA Rookie of the Year Award. Subsequently, Vince won the Slam Dunk Contest at the 2000 NBA All-Star Weekend.

Carter represented the United States in the 2000 Summer Olympics ad won a gold medal.

That same year, he became the Child Advocate of the Year, a recognition from the Children’s Home Society. 

2. Roman Reigns – Wrestler

Photo by miguel.discart – Wikimedia

Roman was born Leati Joseph “Joe” Anoaʻi but is known by his ring name Roman Reign. He is a professional wrestler, actor, and former professional gridiron football player.

Reigns is presently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Roman Reigns. He is the champion holder of the WWE Universal.

As a prolific champion in WWE, Reign has held the WWE Championship three times and the WWE Universal Championship twice. Additionally, he is a one-time WWE United States Champion.

After a 5-month hiatus, Reigns returned to the ring having been given the Tribal Chief title. He is seen as a villain, a character that his fans and critics love.

3. Pat Boone – Singer

Patrick Charles Eugene Boone is another famous person from the state of Florida.

Pat wears several artistic hats including being a singer, composer, actor, writer, motivational speaker, and spokesman.

His career peaked in the 1950s and 1960s as a successful pop singer in the United States.

As a television host, he had a half-hour show on ABC when he was 23. It was known as the Pat Boone Chevy Showroom. The show had 115 episodes and aired between 1975 and 1960. 

In 1955, Elvis Presley was the opening act for Pat in the Pat Boone show held in Brooklyn, Ohio.

4. Pitbull – Rapper

Photo by Photobra Adam Bielawski – Wikimedia

Pitbull’s real name is Armando Christian Pérez but is known by his stage name. He is a singer and rapper.

His career began in 2000 when he recorded reggaeton, Latin hip hop, and crunk music under different labels. Four years later, he released his debut album M.I.A.M.I.

After a couple of years, he rebranded and released his first album in the English language, Planet Pit in 2011.

The album featured Neyo, Nayer and Afrojack in the single give me everything.

Other hits by Pitbull include Timber ft. Kesha (2013. This song was a number 1 hit in 18 countries.

5. Josh Gad – Actor

If you love animated movies, you probably know Josh from his role as Olaf in Frozen I and II.

He also played Elder Arnold Cunningham in the Broadway musical The Book of Mormon, as well as Le Fou in the live-action adaptation of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

Josh’s first acting career was in the movie Mary and Joe in 2002 while his first TV series was om 2005 in the medical drama ER. 

In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Gad hosted a YouTube series called Reunited Apart. He invited casts from popular shows and movies via video conferencing.    

Casts from Back to The Future and Lord of the Rings were featured.

6. John Young – Astronaut

Photo sourced from Wikimedia

John Young holds the longest career as an astronaut in the United States. He went for six out of space missions in over 40 years of service to NASA.

Young was born in San Francisco, although his family immediately relocated to Orlando when he was a few months old.

At Georgia Institute of Technology, Young graduated with a degree in aeronautical engineering and later served in the Navy during the Korea War.  

After the Korean War, he became a naval pilot and graduated from the US Naval Test Pilot School.

While serving as a test pilot, Young set several world time-to-climb records. He retired in 1976 as a Captain.    

7. Amanda Bearse – Actress

Amanda is best known for playing Marcy D’Arcy in the series Married with Children. She has had a fascinating career on both sides of the camera.

Bearse grew up in Winter Park, Orange County. Her acting career took off after landing a role on All My Children. Amanda came out during that show and she was lauded as an LGBTQ icon.

At the same time, Amanda featured in several low budget films like Protocol (1984), Fright Night (1985) and Fraternity Vacation (1985).

It was in 1987 when she got her big-screen break in the sitcom Married with Children.  

8. Laila Ali – Boxer

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Laila Amaria Ali, Muhammad Ali’s 8^th born daughter, took after her father. She is a retired professional boxer and a TV personality. Her active boxing season was from 1999 to 2007.

When she was 18 years old, Laila started her boxing career after watching Christy Martin during a women’s boxing match.

It was during an interview with Good Morning America, Laila made her first publicized decision to become a professional boxer.  

However, her father was not pleased with her decision to be a boxer citing it as a dangerous profession.

Interestingly, Laila Ali was undefeated in her entire career and holds the WBC, WIBA, IWBF and IBA female super middleweight titles, and the IWBF light heavyweight title.

Just like her father, Laila is greatly regarded as one of the greatest female boxers of all time.

9. Zora Neale Hurston – Author

Zora Neale Hurston was an author, anthropologist, and filmmaker. She wrote about racial struggles in the early-1900s American South. Additionally, Zora published research on hoodoos.

Her most popular novel is Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937. Part of her fictional writing covered contemporary issues in the black community.

Other short stories by Hurston gave an African-American experience and racial division. they were published in anthologies such as The New Negro and Fire!!

Her popular anthologies include Mules and Men (1935), and her first three novels: Jonah’s Gourd Vine (1934); Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937); and Moses, Man of the Mountain (1939).

She died in 1960 at Fort Pierce, Florida.

10. Maya Rudolph – Actress

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Maya Khabira Rudolph is an actress, comedian and singer.

In 2000, she was a cast member on Saturday Night Live and later played supporting roles in films such as 50 First Dates, A Prairie Home Companion, and Idiocracy.

She received two Emmy Award nominations in 2021 for being a host an episodes of SNL and for voice-over as Connie the Hormone Monstress in Big Mouth.

Maya has also worked as a backup singer as well as a keyboardist in the band, Rentals.