Top 10 Famous people from Michigan

Top 10 Famous people from Michigan

Michigan is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. The name Michigan was derived from a Gallicised variant of the original French word meaning large water or large lake.

This state is a great place for fishing in one of the 11,000 lakes and rivers. It also has one of the longest freshwater coastlines in the United States.

Another industry that is flourishing in Michigan other than fishing is forestry. The upper peninsula of the state is fully forested.

As the 26^th American state, Michigan has 83 diverse counties with its capital city being Lansing.

With a great state comes great people. The locals from Michigan have achieved so much both at home and worldwide. Some famous people that come from here have won global acclaim for their contributions.

Here are the top 10 famous people from Michigan.       

1. Henry Ford- Business Magnate

Photo by Hartsook – Wikimedia

Henry Ford was the founder of the Ford Motor Company. He was a business magnate with successful business ventures.

Ford was also the chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production.

He was born in Springwells Township, Wayne County, Michigan, in 1863. Henry was the eldest of 6 siblings. He had three brothers and two sisters.

At an early age, Henry developed an interest in mechanics. He spent most of his spare time in a make-up mechanic shop he built himself. When he turned 15, Henry constructed his first steam engine.

In 1999, Fortune magazine named Henry Ford the Businessman of the Century.

2. Serena Williams – Tennis Player

Serena Jameka Williams is a professional tennis player. She has won 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

This is the most by any player in the Open Era as well as the second-most of all-time behind Margaret Court.

Serena was ranked World No. 1 by the Women’s Tennis Association on 8 different occasions.

This tennis star was born in 1981 in Saginaw, Michigan. Her family moved to Compton when she was 9 years old.

It was there that she was enrolled on a tennis academy and was coached by Rick Macci.

Serena is the 3^rd player to hold all four major singles titles simultaneously after Rod Laver and Graf.

3. Floyd Mayweather Jr. – Professional Boxer

Photo sourced from Wikimedia

Floyd is a professional boxer whose boxing career has been undefeated. This boxing champion was only beaten once, more than two decades ago.

Mayweather was born in 1977 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He came from a family of boxers. His father is a former welterweight contender who fought Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Leonard.

Two of his uncles were also professional boxers. The late Roger Mayweather had won two world championships as well as fought Julio César Chávez, Pernell Whitaker, and Kostya. He trained Floyd.

Floyd won 15 major world championships from super featherweight to light-middleweight.

He is currently retired and has not committed to any future fights. Although he has fought multiple times previously even after publicly announcing retirement.

4. Magic Johnson – Retired Basketballer

Earvin “Magic” Johnson Jr. is a former professional basketball player.

He also served as the president of basketball operations of the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association.

Johnson played 13 seasons for the Lakers and was celebrated as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1996.

Magic won his high school and college championships and was selected first overall in the 1979 NBA draft by the Lakers.

Johnson retired shortly in 1991 after announcing that he had contracted HIV. However, he returned to play in the 1992 All-Star Game, Magic won the All-Star MVP Award.

5. Diana Ross – Singer

Photo by Hans van Dijk – Wikimedia

Diana Ross was born in Detroit, Michigan. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, they were the most successful group during the 1960s. It was also the world’s best-selling girl group of all time.

After a successful stint in the girl’s group, she left and pursued a solo career in 1970. In 1976, she was named the Female Entertainer of the Century by Billboard.

Ross has 25 studio albums, several singles and compilations. She has sold over 75 million records worldwide.

Diana is the only female artist to have number-one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 as a solo artist.

6. Larry Page – Computer scientist

Lawrence Edward Page is one of the co-founders of Google, along with Sergey Brin. He is a computer scientist and Internet entrepreneur.

Page was ranked by Forbes as the world’s 6^th wealthiest person, with a fortune of $117bn.

The popular magazine also stated that Page had stepped down as chief executive of Google’s parent company Alphabet in 2019. However, he was still part of the board and a controlling shareholder.

In 2019, Page’s net worth was estimated to be $129.4 billion. This made him the 5^th wealthiest person in the world.

His interest in computers started when he was a child. His home was filled with technology magazines, something that he enjoyed reading.

7. Kate Upton – Model

Photo sourced from Wikimedia

Katherine Elizabeth Upton first appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2011. In the subsequent years, she was the cover model for 2012, 2013 and 2017 issues.

Additionally, she was the model of the 100th-anniversary Vanity Fair cover.

Kate was born in St. Joseph, Michigan. Her mother is a former Texas state tennis champion, while her father, Jeff Upton was a high school athletics director.

She has a cross tattoo on the inside of her finger. Kate strongly believes in God and the tattoo gives her comfort knowing God is close to her.

8. Ken Jeong – Comedian & Actor

Kendrick Kang-Joh Jeong rose to prominence for playing Leslie Chow in The Hangover film series and Ben Chang in the NBC series Community.

Although he is still a licensed medical doctor in California, Jeong stopped practising and is a full-time actor. While in med school North Carolina, Jeong made several appearances at open mic nights in the Raleigh-Durham circuit

Other than acting, he has been part of the panellist for the music show, The Masked Singer.

Jeong was awarded the Visionary Award by East West Players, the oldest Asian Pacific American theatre company in the United States.

This was because of his role in helping raise the visibility of the Asian Pacific American (APA) community through his skills.

9. Smokey Robinson – Singer

Photo by Gage Skidmore – Wikimedia

William “Smokey” Robinson Jr. was the founder and frontman of the Motown vocal group the Miracles. He was also the chief songwriter and producer.

Smokey led the group from its 1955 origins as the Five Chimes until 1972 when retired from the group. He focused more on his role as Motown’s vice president.

Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2016, he was awarded the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for his lifetime contributions to popular music.

He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame which he got in 1983.

10. Tyron Woodley – Mixed Martial Artist

Tyron Lakent Woodley is a former UFC Welterweight Champion who defended all his titles four times.

His first professional fight was in 2009, against Steve Schnider. Woodley won by way of submission in the first round.

Woodley’s second professional fight was against Jeff Carstens in 2009. He also won via submission in the first round.

Tyron is also an actor when he is not in the boxing ring. He has been featured in several fight scenes of Escape Plan 2: Hades.