Aside from the realms of the superstars, fame tends to be one of those subjective criteria, where you may never have heard of the lead singer of the band (nor the band, for that matter) that your teenage daughter's obsessed with, while she's never heard of that legendary pitcher whose autograph you've been treasuring since you were half her age.
For those of you with an interest in sports, Las Vegas has raised a fair number of nationally known names across the athletic spectrum, including football, basketball, baseball, wrestling, NASCAR, and gymnastics. Some are more famous than others, but probably the most internationally known Vegas-born personality of all is tennis player Andre Agassi, who still resides here with Steffi Graf, his equally famous wife.
A number of well-known people are sometimes erroneously referred to as Las Vegans born and bred, when in fact they were born elsewhere, but raised in Vegas. These include Samuel A. "Sam" Boyd (born in Enid, Oklahoma), Greg Maddux (born in San Angelo, Texas), Jimmy Kimmel (born in New York), and Carey Hart (born in Seal Beach, California).
We endeavored to make the list that follows as comprehensive as possible, but doubtless we may have missed a name or two. If you think of someone that we didn't, drop us a line via the "Submit a Question" link and we'll add him or her to the list, once we've verified the facts. The criterion, as implemented in the following list, is that the person was born in Las Vegas, as per the question.
William Harrell Nellis – 1916-1944 – Former United States Army Air Corps First Lieutenant who was killed during the World War II Battle of the Bulge. (Nellis Air Force Base is named for him.) Jack Kramer – 1921 – tennis player Abby Dalton – 1935 – actress ("Hennesey," "Falcon Crest," etc.) James Hubert Bilbray – 1938 – politician and lawyer Ted Davidson – 1939-2006 – baseball player (Cincinnati Reds and Atlanta Braves) Bruce L. Woodbury – 1944 – politician and lawyer (the Bruce Woodbury Beltway is named in honor of his service to the county) Lee White – 1946 – football player (New York Jets, Los Angeles Rams, and San Diego Chargers) Susie Allanson – 1952 – musician and actress David Henry Humm – 1952 – football player (Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders, Buffalo Bills, and Baltimore Colts) William (Willie) C. Smith – 1955 – basketball player (Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Portland Trail Blazers, and Cleveland Cavaliers) William Campfield – 1956 – football player (Philadelphia Eagles and New York Giants) Rico Constantino – 1961 – professional wrestler (WWE) Charles Wright – 1961 – professional wrestler (WWE) Michele Greene – 1962 – actress ("LA Law") Keith Kartz – 1963 – football player (Denver Broncos) James Ronald Whitney – 1964 – film and television director and writer ("Games People Play", "America Undercover") Lily Mariye – 1964 – actress ("ER", "Judging Amy", "Ally McBeal", "Chicago Hope", etc.) Mark Slaughter – 1964 – musician (co-founder of hard rock band Slaughter) Cleto Escobedo – 1966 – musician (leader of the "Jimmy Kimmel Live" houseband) Greg Anthony – 1967 – former basketball player and current personality on the ESPN family of networks. Loren Dean – 1969 – actor (Space Cowboys, The Bronx Is Burning, Mumford, etc.) Stephanie Romanov – 1969 – actress ("Angel" and she appeared in ELLE,Vanity Fair and French Vogue) Martin Kevin "Marty" Cordova – 1969 – baseball player (Toronto Blue Jays, Cleveland Indians, Baltimore Orioles, and Minnesota Twins) Charles Bock – 1970 – novelist Andre Agassi – 1970 – tennis player Charisma Carpenter – 1970 – actress ("Angel," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Veronica Mars," etc.) Brian Dallimore – 1973 – baseball player (San Francisco Giants) Tommy Bennett– 1973 – football player (Arizona Cardinals and Detroit Lions) Jenna Jameson – 1974 – former adult star (top earning porn actress of all time)
