Celebrities are treated as heroes by most in the United States. Whether it's an athlete, movie star or performer, people are motivated and impassioned by their success.
It can be even easier to relate and connect with these famous professionals when they have experienced life just as you did growing up. Turns out, you may have seen some of them walking around Fayetteville's streets in the past.
Here are some celebrities who were born or grew up in Fayetteville, Fort Liberty or Cumberland County.
Brian Tyree Henry
Brian Tyree Henry is a movie and television star who has recently found major success in Hollywood. He has performed in movies like "Bullet Train," "Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse" and "Eternals." He is also well known for the television series "Atlanta," which he stars in with Donald Glover and LaKeith Stanfield.
Henry was nominated for his first Academy Award in 2023 for his role as James in the film "Causeway." He graduated from E.E. Smith High School in 2000.
Victoria 'Porkchop' Parker
Victoria "Porkchop" Parker is a drag star who grew up in Fayetteville. She placed ninth in season one of "RuPaul's Drag Race," and was the first queen ever eliminated. Porkchop, whose real name is Victor Bowling, attended E.E. Smith High School and performed at the Cape Fear Regional Theater throughout childhood.
The Capels
Jeff Capel III is a former Duke University star and current University of Pittsburgh college basketball coach. Prior to his collegiate and coaching career, he was a star at South View High School.
His father, Felton Capel, who died in 2018, was known for his civil rights leadership and his grandfather, Felton Capel Sr., was chosen by Martin Luther King Jr. to help desegregate Southern states.
Jimmy Herring
Jimmy Herring played guitar in a number of popular bands, most notably Widespread Panic. Herring has also been known to play alongside the Allman Brothers Band and the Dead. Herring grew up in Fayetteville and attended Terry Sanford High School.
Affion Crockett
Affion Crockett is a television and movie actor and comedian raised in Fayetteville. He is well-known for his appearances on "MTV's Wild 'N Out" and his performances in films like "A Haunted House 1 & 2," "Pixels" and "A Hip Hop Story." He has also traveled the country as a stand-up comedian and has a comedy special produced by LOL Studios called "Mirror II Society."
Cal Koonce
Cal Koonce, born in Fayetteville and raised in Hope Mills, was a professional baseball player from 1962 to 1971. He played most notably for the 1969 championship-winning New York Mets team. He served as a Hope Mills town commissioner and died of cancer in 1993.
J. Cole
J. Cole, or Jermaine Cole, is a two-time Grammy Award-winning artist who was raised in Fayetteville. His album "2014 Forest Hills Drive" reached triple platinum status, with tracks like "No Role Modelz” and "Fire Squad." He is also the founder of the Dreamville Foundation, which helps disadvantaged urban youth, particularly in Fayetteville. J. Cole also headlines his own Dreamville Festival, which takes place each year in Raleigh.
J. Harrison Ghee
J. Harrison Ghee is an award-winning actor born and raised in Fayetteville. They are known for their Broadway performance as Lola in "Kinky Boots" and Jerry/Daphne in "Some Like It Hot." In 2023, Ghee won a Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical, making history by becoming the category’s first performer identifying as nonbinary to win.
Dennis Smith Jr.
Dennis Smith Jr. plays in the NBA for the Brooklyn Nets. Smith has played as a guard for six teams over seven seasons. Before his professional career, Smith played for Trinity Christian School in Fayetteville. He was then recruited by North Carolina State University, where he played for one season before being drafted ninth overall to the Dallas Mavericks in 2017.
Charles Chesnutt
Charles Chesnutt considered the first Black writer to achieve nationwide acclaim, was born in Cleveland in 1858 to free Black parents from Fayetteville and grew up here. His best-known writings were post-Civil War and Reconstruction stories of the color line, some set in the fictional town of “Patesville” — a thinly disguised Fayetteville.
Jerry Richardson
Jerry Richardson, the former owner of the Carolina Panthers, was born in Spring Lake in 1936. He owned the Panthers from the team's arrival in North Carolina in 1995 to 2017. Under his ownership, the Panthers played in the Super Bowl in 2003 and 2015. Richardson also was drafted by the Baltimore Colts in 1959 and caught a touchdown pass from Johnny Unitas in the Championship Game that same year. He died in March 2023.
Bill Curtis
Bill Curtis is a hip-hop artist from Fayetteville who is well-known for his performances with the Fatback Band. His song “King Tim III (Personality Jock)” predated the Sugarhill Gang’s multi-platinum seller “Rapper’s Delight,” though the latter is often cited as the first commercially released rap song. Curtis founded the Fatback Band in the early 1970s. During his youth, he was a member of the E.E. Smith High School band.
Raymond Floyd
Raymond Floyd is a retired professional golfer and a Fayetteville native. He retired from competition in 2010, winning four majors and 22 PGA Tour wins. Floyd was elected to the Golf Hall of Fame in 1989.
Gallagher
Leo Anthony Gallagher Jr., who was born on then-Fort Bragg, was a 1980s-era comedian known for his prop and observational routines. He was an early staple of MTV and Comedy Central and was also known for his appearances on "The Tonight Show," "The Michael Douglas Show" and "The Merv Griffin Show." Gallagher died in 2022 at the age of 76.
Jimmy Raye
Jimmy Raye is a former professional and collegiate football player and coach from Fayetteville. Raye is an E.E. Smith High School graduate and Michigan State Athletics Hall of Famer. He is known as the South's first Black quarterback to win a national title, on the 1966 Michigan State team.
Elizabeth McRae
Elizabeth McRae was a three-time Academy Award nominee raised in Fayetteville. She is well-known for her performances in soap operas such as "General Hospital" and "Days of Our Lives," and perhaps best known for her role as Lou-Ann Poovie on "Gomer Pyle." McRae also starred in movies like "The Conversation" and "Everything's Ducky." She died in May at Highland House Rehabilitation & Healthcare in Fayetteville. She was 88 years old.
Morray
Morray, or Morae Ruffin, is a rapper from Fayetteville who is signed to Interscope Records. He has collaborated with some of this generation's hottest artists, including J. Cole, 21 Savage and Lil Tjay. Morray's music video for his song titled, "Quicksand" has more than 220 million views on YouTube.
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an Academy Award-winning actress born at what is now Fort Liberty. Her father was a paratrooper, colonel and military judge. Moore has starred in movies like "Far From Heaven," "Boogie Nights" and "The Kids Are All Right." In 2015, she won the best actress Oscar for her performance in "Still Alice," as a professor with Alzheimer's disease. She's been nominated for an Oscar four times.
Chip Beck
Chip Beck is a former professional golfer from Fayetteville. Beck is a four-time winner on the PGA Tour and a three-time All-American at the University of Georgia. He was a former student at St. Patrick Catholic School.
NaTasha Yvette Williams
NaTasha Yvette Williams is an actress, performer and Fayetteville native. She is well-known for her Broadway performances as Zelma in "Tina: The Tina Turner Musical," Sofia in "The Color Purple" and Mama Morton in "Chicago." She was nominated for a Tony award in 2023 for her performance in "Some Like It Hot."
Super Bowl Winners
- Dwayne Allen, tight end for the 2017 Super Bowl-winning New England Patriots.
- Joshua Williams, cornerback for the 2022 and 2023 Super Bowl-winning Kansas City Chiefs.
- Brad Edwards, safety for the 1991 Super Bowl-winning Washington Redskins.
Public safety reporter Joseph Pierre can be reached at jpierre@gannett.com.
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