New Jersey Among Top States for Producing Most Famous People
Can one’s place of origin impact one’s potential for fame? It’s probably not a significant factor, but TicketSource, an event ticketing platform, analyzed data to determine which states have been home to the most famous people.
America’s biggest stars in music, acting, sports, and comedy.
They compiled lists of America’s biggest music, acting, sports, and comedy stars to identify which U.S. states have produced the most talented people. This research involved sourcing information about celebrities originating from each state in categories like actors and actresses, singers and rappers, comedians, and athletes, including basketball, American football, baseball, and hockey players.
For each category, they counted the number of celebrities born in each state to create rankings. They then combined the results from all four categories to create an overall ranking. It’s worth mentioning that the category of singers and rappers does not include musical groups, as band members may come from different states.
New Jersey ranks among the top states that produced the most famous people.
In ninth place is New Jersey, home to a total of 3,854 celebrated celebrities who were born in the state. This group includes 559 actors and actresses featuring well-known names such as John Travolta, Queen Latifah, Paul Rudd, Kirsten Dunst, Meryl Streep, and Jack Nicholson. Interestingly, New Jersey has produced a greater number of athletes (2, 349) compared to singers and rappers (537). Some of their more famous names are Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick, Jon Bon Jovi, and Shaquille O’Neal.
Meanwhile, California stands out as the top producer of talent, with nearly 12,800 famous people being born in the state. This includes over 6,100 actors and actresses, featuring names such as Angelina Jolie, Ben Affleck, Zendaya, and Zac Efron. The state has also given rise to more than 2,600 singers and rappers, including Kendrick Lamar, Billie Eilish, Frank Ocean, and Cher.
Furthermore, California has a large representation in the athlete category, with over 3,400 athletes originating from the state.
These Celebrities Don't Go By Their Real Names
In the entertainment industry, every aspect needs to be marketable. Some celebrities have really catchy names, while others have had to get their creative juices flowing to come up with a unique name to be known for the rest of their lives. Meanwhile, there are some cases where there are other successful people in media who have the same name, and someone’s got to change their name to follow SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) rules. This guild that represents actors stipulates that no two members can have identical working names. An actor whose name has already been taken must choose a new name. SAG-AFTRA allows any new member to keep their legal name as their stage name, even if another member has the same stage name already, as long as they sign a waiver.
Why Use a Stage Name?
Furthermore, a middle name may be adopted in preference to changing a name to avoid confusion. In some cases, attaching a generational suffix is sufficient for guild rules. A person hoping to become successful as an entertainer who has a name identical to a name already familiar to the public (in any field of endeavor) may change their name to avoid having their name evoke the other person with the same name. When it comes to musicians spanning all genres, artists have come up with some pretty unique stage names. Some artists, like Sean Combs, use several aliases (P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Diddy, Puffy). Other reasons a performer will take a stage name is because their real name is considered unattractive, dull, hard to pronounce or spell, or even to retain anonymity. The Weeknd, whose real name is Abel Tesfaye, started releasing his music anonymously on YouTube in 2009.
See which celebrities don’t go by their real name in the entertainment industry.
Kayla is the midday host on Detroit’s 105.1 The Bounce. She started her career in radio back in 2016 as an intern at another Detroit station and worked her way here. She's made stops in Knoxville, TN, Omaha, Ne and other places before returning to Detroit. She’s done almost everything in radio from promotions to web, creating content on social media, you name it.
She’s a true Michigander, born and raised. So, you can catch her camping or vacationing up north to exploring the downtown Detroit or maybe even catching a sports game. During her free time, Kayla enjoys watching movies, roller-skating, crafting, and music festivals. She and her husband together dip into many of the great things Michigan has to offer. Together they also like to travel.
A few hobbies of hers include wine and beer tastings, crafting, hiking, roller skating, movies, home improvement projects, gardening, and festivals. She’s always looking to take on more local events happening in the community.
She loves connecting with the community. When writing, Kayla covers topics including lifestyle, pop culture, trending stories, hacks, and urban culture.
