The following is a list of notable people from Jamaica. The list includes some non-resident Jamaicans who were born in Jamaica and also people of predominantly Jamaican heritage.
Artists
- Carl Abrahams, painter
- Hope Brooks, painter
- John Dunkley, painter and sculptor
- Gloria Escoffery, painter and art critic
- Laura Facey, sculptor and installation artist
- Christopher González, painter and sculptor
- Ras Daniel Heartman, artist
- Albert Huie, painter
- George "Fowokan" Kelly, sculptor
- Edna Manley, painter, sculptor and arts educator
- Alvin Marriott, sculptor
- Ronald Moody, sculptor; Moody crater on Mercury was named after him
- Keith Anthony Morrison, painter, printmaker, educator, critic, curator and administrator
- Petrona Morrison, sculptor and media artist
- Ebony Patterson, visual artist and educator
- David Pottinger, painter
- Mallica Reynolds, painter and sculptor
- Margaret Rose Vendryes, multimedia artist
- Barrington Watson, painter
- Basil Watson, painter and sculptor
- Donnette Zacca, fine arts photographer, lecturer, and artist.
Beauty contest winners
- Cindy Breakspeare, Miss World 1976
- Carole Joan Crawford, Miss World 1965
- Lisa Hanna, Miss World 1993, politician
- Toni-Ann Singh, Miss World 2019
Business and law
- Alexander Aikman, printer, publisher, and landowner
- Chris Blackwell, president and CEO of Island Records and Palm Pictures, NYC
- Morris Cargill, lawyer and businessman
- G. Raymond Chang, co-founder of CI Financial and the third chancellor of Ryerson University
- Alexandra Chong, founder and CEO of Jacana
- Tanya Chutkan, Jamaican born American lawyer and jurist serving as a United States district court for the District of Columbia. She is the judge overseeing the criminal trial of former president Donald Trump over his attempts to overturn the 2020 general election including events leading up to the January 6, 2021, United States Capitol attack.
- Gloria Cumper, barrister, first black woman to study at the University of Cambridge
- Jak Beula Dodd, entrepreneur and inventor of the board game Nubian Jak
- Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, businessman, farmer and founder of "The Black Farmer" range of food products
- Renatha Francis, circuit Judge in Palm Beach County, Florida
- Alfred Constantine Goffe, The Banana King of Port Maria
- Claudia L. Gordon, lawyer, the first deaf black female attorney in the United States
- Ephraim and Lowell Hawthorne, founders of Golden Krust Caribbean Bakery
- Joseph John Issa, founder of Cool Group
- Michael Lee-Chin, Chairman/CEO of AIC Limited, Chairman of NCB Jamaica
- Henry Lowe, owns and manages a variety of businesses in the health industry
- Val McCalla, accountant and media entrepreneur; he is the founder of The Voice, a British weekly newspaper aimed at the Britain's black community
- Caroline Newman, entrepreneur and the first black solicitor to be elected to the Council of the Law Society of England and Wales
- Philip Ernest Housden Pike, barrister and judge who served as the second Chief Justice of Borneo
- Heather Rabbatts, businesswoman, solicitor and broadcaster; became the youngest council chief in the UK and was the first ethnic minority person to serve as a Football Association director
- Patrick Lipton Robinson, member of the International Court of Justice
- Tracy Robinson, lawyer and lecturer in the Faculty of Law at the University of the West Indies
- Lascelles Robotham, lawyer and Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court
- Levi Roots, Chairman of Reggae Reggae Sauce
- David P. Rowe, lawyer
- Jewel Scott, first woman and first Caribbean-American District Attorney for Clayton County[1]
- Adam Stewart
- Gordon "Butch" Stewart
- George Stiebel, trader and entrepreneur who became Jamaica's first black millionaire
- Tom Tavares-Finson, lawyer
- Gail Vaz-Oxlade, financial adviser, TV personality
- James S. Watson, one of the first Black Americans elected as a judge in the state of New York
- Dame Sharon White, businesswoman and Second Permanent Secretary at HM Treasury from 2013 to 2015 She was the first black person, and the second woman, to become a Permanent Secretary at the UK HM Treasury
- Damian Williams, first African-American U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York
Bands
- Black Uhuru, Grammy Award winners
- Bob Marley and the Wailers
- Byron Lee and the Dragonaires
- Culture
- Inner Circle
- Morgan Heritage, Grammy Award winners
- The Pioneers
- Skatalites, ska band
- Sly and Robbie
- Third World
- T.O.K., a crew of deejays
- Toots and the Maytals, double Grammy Award Winners
Journalists, poets and writers
- Opal Palmer Adisa, writer
- Louisa Wells Aikman, writer
- Gwyneth Barber Wood, poet
- Edward Baugh, poet
- Lindsay Barrett, writer, playwright, journalist
- Louise Bennett-Coverley, poet
- Evon Blake, journalist
- Barbara Blake Hannah, author and journalist. She was the first black person to be an on-camera reporter and interviewer on British television
- Jean "Binta" Breeze, poet
- Erna Brodber, novelist
- Charles Hopel Brown, writer, author
- Lady Colin Campbell, writer, socialite
- Morris Cargill, journalist
- Margaret Cezair-Thompson, novelist
- Colin Channer, novelist, co-founder of Calabash
- Staceyann Chin, poet and writer
- Michelle Cliff, writer
- Aston Cooke, playwright, artistic director
- Carolyn Cooper, writer and cultural theorist
- Christine Craig, poet and short story writer
- Patricia Cumper, playwright
- Kwame Dawes, Ghana-born writer, co-founder of Calabash
- Jean D'Costa, professor, linguist, and children's novelist
- Ferdinand Dennis, writer, broadcaster, journalist and lecturer
- Nicole Dennis-Benn, novelist
- John Figueroa, poet
- Ryan Fraser, writer
- Malcolm Gladwell, writer, journalist
- Thomas Glave, Bronx-born writer
- Lorna Goodison, writer
- Hubert Henry Harrison, writer, philosopher
- Victor Headley, author
- John Hearne, journalist, novelist
- Perry Henzell, writer, director
- Marlon James, novelist
- Vere Johns, writer, broadcaster, actor
- Linton Kwesi Johnson, dub poet
- Roger Mais, novelist
- Louis Marriott, playwright, actor, director, journalist
- Una Marson, writer, broadcaster
- Claude McKay, writer
- Alecia McKenzie, writer
- Anthony McNeill, poet
- Brian Meeks, novelist
- Kei Miller, writer
- Pamela Mordecai, poet
- Mervyn Morris, poet
- Mutabaruka, poet
- Oku Onuora, writer
- Geoffrey Philp, writer
- Patricia Powell, novelist
- Claudia Rankine, poet
- Barry Reckord, playwright
- Victor Stafford Reid, writer
- Leone Ross, novelist, editor, short story writer, journalist, academic
- Andrew Salkey, writer
- Dennis Scott, poet and playwright
- Olive Senior, writer
- Malachi Smith, poet
- Pamela Colman Smith, artist and writer
- Michael Thelwell, writer
- Vivian Virtue, poet
- Sylvia Wynter, writer
- Kerry Young, author
Models
- Tyson Beckford, model
- Martine Beswick, model, actress
- Carla Campbell, model
- Naomi Campbell, model
- Winnie Harlow, model
- Grace Jones, model, musician, actress
- Venice Kong, Playboy playmate
- Stacey McKenzie, supermodel, actress and model coach
- Rachel Stuart, model, television personality
- Karin Taylor, former Playboy model
Musicians, actors and filmmakers
- Aidonia, dancehall, rap DJ
- DJ Akademiks, blogger
- Alaine, singer
- Monty Alexander, jazz pianist and composer
- Cherine Anderson, singer, actress, director
- Esther Anderson, actress, filmmaker, photographer
- Buju Banton, reggae singer
- Roxanne Beckford, actress and producer
- Beenie Man, DJ; Grammy winner
- Thom Bell, musician, singer-songwriter, arranger and producer
- Barbara Blake Hannah, filmmaker, festival organiser
- Bounty Killer, reggae musician
- Carl Bradshaw, actor, film producer
- Yvonne Brewster, actress, theatre director
- Brigadier Jerry, reggae musician, dancehall DJ
- Dennis Brown, reggae singer
- Burning Spear, real name Winston Rodney, reggae musician
- Busy Signal, dancehall and reggae musician DJ
- Canibus, rapper
- Shalkal Carty, dancehall musician
- Charlie Chaplin, reggae singer
- Clive Chin, record producer
- Tessanne Chin, singer-songwriter, winner of NBC's The Voice Season 5 in 2013
- Vincent "Randy" Chin, record producer, co-founder of VP Records
- Chipmunk, rapper, songwriter
- Chubb Rock, rapper, radio personality
- Tami Chynn, singer-songwriter
- Jimmy Cliff, singer, reggae musician
- Count Ossie, Rastafari drummer and band leader
- Patricia Cumper, producer, director, theatre administrator, critic and commentator
- Yvonne Curtis, reggae singer-songwriter
- Desmond Dekker, ska and reggae singer
- Demarco, reggae and dancehall musician
- Coxsone Dodd, record producer
- Clancy Eccles, ska and reggae singer, record producer
- Eek-a-Mouse, reggae singer
- Elephant Man, reggae singer
- Horace Faith, reggae singer
- Chuck Fenda, singer
- Honor Ford-Smith, actress, playwright, poet
- Dean Fraser, reggae musician
- Kirk Fraser, film director, film producer, screenwriter
- Ghetts, grime MC
- Joe Gibbs, record producer
- Andrew Gourlay, conductor
- Mona Hammond, actress
- Dahlia Harris, actress and television personality
- Heavy D, rapper
- Sean Paul Henriques, dancehall musician
- Toots Hibbert, reggae musician
- Joseph Hill, reggae musician and band leader, Culture
- Deni Hines, singer
- Marcia Hines, singer
- Stephen Hopkins, film director
- Giggs, rapper
- Grace Jones, singer and actress
- K-Anthony, gospel singer
- Ini Kamoze, reggae musician
- Kano, rapper, actor
- Koffee, reggae musician
- Vybz Kartel, dancehall musician, rapper, DJ
- Wynton Kelly, jazz pianist
- Joseph Hoo Kim, record producer
- Diana King, reggae musician
- King Tubby, dub musician
- Sean Kingston, singer
- Sean Paul, singer
- Kiprich, DJ
- DJ Kool Herc, DJ
- Major Lazer, DJ
- Byron Lee, ska and soca musician
- Rusty Lee, actress, singer, television personality
- Barrington Levy, reggae singer
- Mad Cobra, dancehall DJ
- Bob Marley, reggae singer
- Damian Marley, reggae musician
- Ky-Mani Marley, reggae musician
- Rita Marley, reggae singer; wife of Bob Marley
- Stephen Marley, singer
- Ziggy Marley, reggae musician; son of Bob Marley
- Mavado, dancehall and reggae musician
- Winston McAnuff, Reggae and Dub singer and composer aka Electric Dread
- Carmen McRae, singer
- Mr. Vegas, DJ
- Hugh Mundell, reggae singer-songwriter
- Augustus Pablo, reggae singer
- Patra, dancehall musician
- Dawn Penn, reggae singer
- Lee "Scratch" Perry, reggae musician
- Leigh-Anne Pinnock, singer
- Prince Buster, ska singer and producer
- Ernest Ranglin, jazz, ska, rocksteady and reggae guitarist
- Ras Droppa, reggae artist
- Lloyd Reckord, actor, producer, director, playwright
- Duke Reid, record producer
- Wayne Rhoden, singer-songwriter
- Tarrus Riley, singer
- Tenor Saw, reggae artist
- Sasha, DJ
- Lady Saw, reggae musician
- Serani, reggae singer
- Shabba Ranks, reggae musician
- Shaggy, singer-songwriter
- Shenseea, rapper
- Madge Sinclair, Emmy winning actress
- Sister Nancy, dancehall DJ
- Sizzla, reggae and dancehall deejay
- Millie Small, singer-songwriter
- Mikey Smith, dub poet
- Spice, dancehall musician
- Spot, rapper
- Spragga Benz, reggae and dancehall DJ
- Neville Staple, singer
- Stefflon Don, rapper
- Peter Tosh, reggae musician
- Ruby Turner, singer-songwriter and actress
- Tyga, rapper
- Bunny Wailer, reggae singer
- Willard White, operatic bass-baritone
- Peter Williams, actor
- Wretch 32, rapper
- Yellowman, reggae and dancehall DJ
Politicians
- Kenneth Baugh, Minister of Health and Deputy Prime Minister
- Barbara Blake-Hannah, first Rastafarian representative in the Jamaican parliament
- Alexander Bustamante, trade unionist and Prime Minister, national hero
- R. James deRoux, longest-serving Custos Rotulorum
- Bruce Golding, Prime Minister
- Lisa Hanna, Minister of Youth & Culture, former Miss World
- Andrew Holness, Prime Minister
- Hyman Isaac Long, Deputy Inspector General of the Grand Consistory of the twenty-five degree "Rite of the Royal Secret" (11 January 1795)
- Michael Manley, Prime Minister
- Norman Manley, Prime Minister and Jamaican national hero
- Earle Maynier, first Jamaican High Commissioner to Canada
- Henry Moore, colonial governor
- Trevor Munroe, trade unionist and politician
- P. J. Patterson, Prime Minister
- Edward Seaga, Prime Minister
- Portia Simpson-Miller, Prime Minister
- Tom Tavares-Finson, President of the Senate of Jamaica.
Religious leaders
- S. U. Hastings, first Jamaican bishop of the Moravian Church
- Rev Rose Josephine Hudson-Wilkin, Bishop of Dover and first black woman to become a Church of England bishop. She was the first black female to hold the role of Queen's Chaplain. She also served as Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons from 2010 to 2019
- Oliver Lyseight, founder of one of Britain's largest black majority churches, and spiritual leader to the "Windrush generation"[2][3]
- Neville Neil, bishop of the Moravian Church in Jamaica
Science and medicine
- Evan Dale Abel, Jamaican-born endocrinologist
- Maydianne Andrade, Jamaican-born Canadian ecologist
- Simone Badal-McCreath, Jamaican chemist and cancer researcher
- Walt Braithwaite, Jamaican-born American engineer and former executive at Boeing
- Aggrey Burke, Jamaican-born psychiatrist and the first black consultant psychiatrist appointed by Britain's National Health Service (NHS)
- Nira Chamberlain, mathematician and the first black mathematician to join the exclusive list of distinguish living British mathematicians who feature in the biographical reference book Who’s Who. He is also the creator of a mathematical cost capability trade-off model for HMS Queen Elizabeth
- Paul R. Cunningham, Jamaican-born surgeon and medical educator
- Patricia Daley, Jamaican-born British human geographer and academic
- Patricia DeLeon, Jamaican reproductive geneticist who specialists in the male reproductive system
- Tashni-Ann Dubroy, Jamaican science academic and university administrator in the United States
- Kevin Fenton, epidemiologist and a regional director at Public Health England
- Yvette Francis-McBarnette, Jamaican-born paediatrician
- Bertram Fraser-Reid, Jamaican synthetic organic chemist
- Neil Gardner, Jamaican chiropractic neurologist, former athlete
- Thomas J. Goreau, Jamaican biogeochemist and marine biologist
- Neil Hanchard, Jamaican physician and clinical investigator
- Odette Harris, Jamaican-born professor of neurosurgery at Stanford University and the Director of the Brain Injury Program for the Stanford University School of Medicine
- Jacqueline Hughes-Oliver, Jamaican-born statistician
- Hedley Jones, Jamaican audio engineer and astronomer
- Thomas Lecky, Jamaican scientist who developed several new breeds of cattle
- Elsa Leo-Rhynie, Jamaican science academic
- Henry Lowe, Jamaican scientist, philanthropist and businessman
- Camille McKayle, Jamaican-born mathematician
- Harold Moody, Jamaican physician
- Ludlow Moody, Jamaican physician
- Errol Morrison, Jamaican scientist who has carried out pioneering work in the field of diabetes
- Karen E. Nelson, Jamaican-born American microbiologist
- Geoff Palmer, Jamaican-born scientist
- Donald Richards, statistician
- Mercedes Richards, Jamaican-born pioneering astronomy and astrophysics professor
- Robert Robinson, Jamaican-born engineer
- Mary Seacole, Jamaican-born woman of Scottish and Creole descent who set up a "British hotel" behind the lines during the Crimean War
- Jean Springer, Jamaican mathematics professor
- Garth Taylor, Jamaican ophthalmologist, professor, and humanitarian
- Manley West, Jamaican pharmacologist who developed a treatment for glaucoma
- Cicely Williams, identified the protein deficiency disease kwashiorkor
- Henry Vernon Wong, Jamaican-American physicist known for his work in plasma physics
Sports
- Alia Atkinson, OD, multiple time Olympic swimmer[4]
- Donovan Bailey, Jamaican-born Canadian, world champion sprinter
- Leon Bailey, Jamaican footballer playing for Aston Villa FC
- John Barnes, Jamaican-born English football player; played for the England national football team and Liverpool F.C.
- Trevor Berbick, champion boxer
- Atari Bigby, former football player
- Andre Blake, professional MLS goalkeeper
- Yohan Blake, sprinter
- Usain Bolt, world and Olympic record holder, 100m and 200m
- Walter Boyd, former professional footballer
- Steve Bucknor, international cricket umpire
- Veronica Campbell-Brown, sprinter
- Alicia Ashley, former women's boxing champion
- Omar Cummings, Jamaican-born MLS and Jamaica national football team football player
- Chili Davis, Jamaican-born American, former star Major League Baseball player
- Leon Edwards, Jamaican-born, British mixed martial artist and UFC welterweight champion
- Patrick Ewing, Jamaican-born American, former NBA star
- Junior Flemmings, professional footballer
- Heather Foster, Jamaican-born American professional bodybuilder
- Shaun Francis, former professional footballer
- Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, sprinter, 100m and 200m World and Olympic record holder (Beijing 2008 and London 2012), fondly known as "The Pocket Rocket"
- Ricardo Fuller, Jamaican-born Premier League and Jamaica national football team football player
- Ricardo Gardner, Jamaican-born Premier League and Jamaica national football team football player
- Chris Gayle, Captain of West Indian International Cricket Team
- Ian Goodison, former professional footballer
- Owayne Gordon, professional footballer
- George Headley, cricketer
- Sek Henry, basketball player
- Wavell Hinds, cricketer
- Michael Holding, cricketer
- Shericka Jackson, Olympic medalist
- Kamara James, Jamaican-born American, Olympic fencer
- Ben Johnson, Jamaican-born Canadian, disgraced champion sprinter
- Glen Johnson, champion boxer
- Ryan Johnson, former professional footballer
- Jerome Jordan, NBA player, New York Knicks center #44
- Andrew Kennedy, professional basketball player
- Brynton Lemar (born 1995), American-born Jamaican basketball player for Hapoel Jerusalem of the Israeli Basketball Premier League
- Rajiv Maragh, jockey
- Tyrone Marshall, Jamaican-born MLS and Jamaica national football team football player
- Darren Mattocks, Jamaican-born MLS and Jamaica national football team football player
- Mike McCallum, champion boxer
- Merlene Ottey, Jamaican-born Slovenian sprinter, the world's most winning female athlete
- Asafa Powell, sprinter, former 100m world record holder
- Donald Quarrie, sprinter
- Shawn Rhoden, bodybuilder
- Sanya Richards-Ross, Jamaican-born American sprinter, 400m
- Donovan Ricketts, Jamaican-born MLS and Jamaica national football team football player
- Tessa Sanderson, Jamaican-born former British Javelin gold medalist and Heptathlon
- Trecia-Kaye Smith, former Triple Jump World Champion
- Raheem Sterling, Jamaican-born English football player; currently plays for Chelsea FC
- Shavar Thomas, Jamaican-born MLS and Jamaica national football team football player
- Elaine Thompson-Herah, OD, multiple Olympic champion
- Stephen Tulloch, National Football League middle linebacker for Detroit Lions and N.C. State Wolfpac; born in Miami of Jamaican heritage
- Peter-Lee Vassell, professional footballer
- Melaine Walker, sprinter, 400m Olympic record holder (Beijing 2008)
- Courtney Walsh, cricketer
- Nicholas Walters, professional boxer, former WBA (Super) World Featherweight champion
- Devon White, baseball player
- Theodore Whitmore, former professional footballer, coach
- Arthur Wint, OD MBE, Olympic former 400m gold medalist
Others
- Diane Abbott, first female member of the African-Caribbean community to be elected to the UK House of Commons in 1987
- Hope Arthurine Anderson, national chess champion and Olympian
- Emily Rose Bleby (1849-1917), temperance reformer
- Dawn Butler, Labour MP since 2015. Butler became the first black woman to speak from the despatch box in the House of Commons in December 2009
- Alan Eyre, geographer and environmentalist
- Michael Fuller, Britain's first black Police Chief Constable and Chief Inspector of the Crown Prosecution Service
- Marcus Garvey, founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA)
- St. William Grant, trade unionist and activist
- Henry Gunter, civil rights campaigner, trade unionist and the first black delegate to be elected to the Birmingham Trades Council
- Stuart Hall, cultural theorist, political activist and co-founder of New Left Review
- Thomas Duffus Hardy, archivist and antiquary
- Donald J. Harris, economist
- Lenford "Steve" Harvey, AIDS activist
- Barrington Irving, pilot who previously held the record for the youngest person to pilot a plane around the world solo
- Baroness Lawrence, campaigner
- Ian McKnight, founder of Jamaica AIDS Support for LIFE (JASL)
- Bill Morris, General Secretary of the Transport and General Workers' Union from 1992 to 2003, and became the first black leader of a major British trade union
- Colin Powell, politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005; first African-American Secretary of State
- Roxroy Salmon, Jamaican-American immigration activist
- Oliver Samuels, comedian and actor
- Legrek Parond, Author and Journalist
- Tony Simpson, Businessman and Broadcaster
See also
References
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