The following list includes notable people who were born or have lived in

Grand Forks, North Dakota Grand Forks is a city in and the county seat of Grand Forks County, North Dakota, United States. The city's population was 59,166 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in North Dakota, third-most populous ...

Arts and entertainment

* Liz Anderson (1927–2011), country singer; grew up in Grand Forks * Lynn Anderson (1947–2015), country singer; born in Grand Forks *

Maxwell Anderson James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Anderson faced many challenges in his career, frequently losing jobs for expressing his opinions or supporting ...

, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, author, poet, reporter, lyricist * Tom Brosseau, singer and songwriter, folk guitarist * Tony Fontane, gospel singer * Joel Harlow, Academy Award-winning makeup effects artist * Kam Heskin, actress * Hillary Kempenich, painter and studio artist * Ezra Kire, guitarist for

Choking Victim Choking Victim was an American punk band formed in New York City, which lasted from 1992 to 1998. They played a mix of hardcore punk and ska (sometimes known as ska-core). Following the breakup of the band, which occurred the same day as the ...

and

Leftöver Crack Leftöver Crack is an American punk rock band formed in 1998, following the breakup of Choking Victim. The band is currently signed to Tankcrimes for CD releases, and Alternative Tentacles for vinyl releases. Leftöver Crack spans several diffe ...

* Nicole Linkletter, winner of the 5th Cycle of ''

America's Next Top Model ''America's Next Top Model'' (abbreviated ''ANTM'' and ''Top Model'') is an American reality television series and interactive competition in which a number of aspiring models compete for the title of "America's Next Top Model" and a chance to b ...

'' * Stuart McDonald, former editorial cartoonist, '' Grand Forks Herald'' * Dickie Peterson, founding member of heavy metal rock band Blue Cheer (" Summertime Blues") * Alan Ritchson, actor, singer, model * James Rosenquist, artist * Richard St. Clair, classical composer * Margaret Strobel, academic * Corin Tucker, singer songwriter in Sleator-Kinney * Natalie West, actress, ''

Roseanne ''Roseanne'' is an American television sitcom created by Matt Williams (producer), Matt Williams that originally aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from October 18, 1988, to May 20, 1997, and briefly revived from March 27, 2018, to May ...

Business

* Greg Brockman, co-founder, chairman, and President of OpenAI * Thomas D. Campbell, 1928 Time Magazine "Man of the Year," and largest U.S. farmer at the time * Ralph Engelstad, Las Vegas casino owner, philanthropist * Andrew Freeman, invented the

block heater A block heater is used in cold climates to warm an engine prior to starting. They are mostly used for car engines; however, they have also been used in aircraft engines. The most common design of block heater is an electrical heating element embe ...

; manager of Minnkota Power Cooperative * Sally J. Smith, president and CEO of Buffalo Wild Wings

Law, politics, and government

* Rick Clayburgh, North Dakota Tax Commissioner * Ronald Davies, federal judge, ordered the integration of

Little Rock Central High School Little Rock Central High School (LRCH) is an accredited comprehensive education, comprehensive public high school in Little Rock, Arkansas, Little Rock, Arkansas, Secondary education in the United States, United States. The school was the Little ...

* Jerry Gaetz, North Dakota state senator * Jon Godfread, North Dakota Insurance Commissioner * James D. Gronna, North Dakota Secretary of State *

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 29th List of governors of New Mexico, governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republica ...

, state congressman for

Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...

* Howard A. Knutson, Minnesota state legislator and lawyer * Walter Maddock, 15th

governor of North Dakota The governor of North Dakota is the head of government of North Dakota and serves as the commander-in-chief of the state's North Dakota National Guard, military forces. The Constitution of North Dakota specifies that "the executive power is ves ...

* Leonard Peltier, American Indian activist; convicted of murder in the deaths of two FBI agents * Dale V. Sandstrom, justice on the North Dakota Supreme Court * Arthur G. Sorlie, 14th

Literature and journalism

* James M. Edie, philosopher * Marilyn Hagerty, author and writer for the Grand Forks Herald * Al McIntosh, newspaper editor, columns were featured in ''The War'' * Jennie Shortridge, novelist * Edward Kramer Thompson, editor of ''

Life Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, Structure#Biological, organisation, met ...

'' * Era Bell Thompson, editor of ''

Ebony Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, coming from several species in the genus '' Diospyros'', which also includes the persimmon tree. A few ''Diospyros'' species, such as macassar and mun ebony, are dense enough to sink in water. Ebony is fin ...

'' * George H. Walsh, newspaper editor, publisher, founding role with the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

* Walter Wangerin, Jr., author of religious novels and children's books

Military

* Charles W. Lindberg, Marine, part of the first raising the flag on Iwo Jima

Science

Mancur Olson Mancur Lloyd Olson Jr. (; January 22, 1932 – February 19, 1998) was an American economist and political scientist who taught at the University of Maryland, College Park. His most influential contributions were to new institutional economics, ...

, economist, social scientist

Sports

* Brooks Bollinger,

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player * T. J. Frier, American football player * Andrew Hampsten, champion cyclist * Virgil Hill, boxer, Olympic silver medalist (1984) * Ken Hunt, Major League Baseball outfielder * Tim Johnson, Major League Baseball player and manager * Tyler Johnson, basketball player with the NBL's

Brisbane Bullets The Brisbane Bullets are an Australian professional men's basketball team in the National Basketball League (NBL) based in Brisbane, Queensland. They competed from 1979 to 2008, and returned to the league in 2016. Brisbane were one of ten NBL ...

* Jocelyne Lamoureux, women's ice hockey Olympic gold medalist * Monique Lamoureux, women's ice hockey Olympic gold medalist * Roger Maris, right fielder with the

New York Yankees The New York Yankees are an American professional baseball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of the Bronx. The Yankees compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Am ...

, hit record-breaking 61 home runs in 1961 * Doug McDermott, basketball player with the NBA's

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA ...

Lute Olson Robert Luther "Lute" Olson (September 22, 1934 – August 27, 2020) was an American basketball coach, who was inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the National Collegiate Basketball Hall of Fame. He was the head co ...

, NCAA Champion college basketball coach of Arizona Wildcats * Tim Olson, baseball player with the

Colorado Rockies The Colorado Rockies are an American professional baseball team based in Denver. The Rockies compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Division. Th ...

* Ryan Potulny, assistant coach for the University of Minnesota men's ice hockey * Cliff Purpur, first North Dakota native to become an

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

player * Andy Schneider, defenseman with the Adler Mannheim * Andrew Towne, member of the team that completed the first human-powered transit of the Drake Passage

References

{{Grand Forks *

Grand Forks