# The 13 Greatest Philadelphians of All Time

> Founders, ballplayers, comedians and one actual princess, all out of the same city.

*By YPB Team · Published August 11, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-13-greatest-philadelphians-of-all-time*

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## Current results (0 votes)

1. **Benjamin Franklin**
   Boston-born, but he made Philadelphia his city and gave it a library, a hospital, a fire company and a university.
2. **Will Smith**
   West Philadelphia rapper turned Fresh Prince turned box-office fixture.
3. **Wilt Chamberlain**
   Scored 100 points in a single NBA game and grew up in West Philadelphia.
4. **Kobe Bryant**
   Born in Philadelphia and raised on the Lower Merion courts before five NBA titles.
5. **Grace Kelly**
   Philadelphia society daughter who won an Oscar and became Princess of Monaco.
6. **Marian Anderson**
   Contralto whose 1939 Lincoln Memorial concert became a civil rights landmark.
7. **Patti LaBelle**
   Philadelphia soul singer with a six-decade run from Bluebelles to solo stardom.
8. **Noam Chomsky**
   Philadelphia-born linguist who rewrote the field and became a political dissident.
9. **Julius Erving**
   Dr. J brought the 76ers a championship and made the dunk an art form.
10. **Kevin Hart**
   North Philadelphia comic who turned stand-up arenas into stadium shows.
11. **Questlove**
   Drummer and bandleader of The Roots, and an Oscar-winning documentary director.
12. **Thomas Eakins**
   Painter of unsparing Philadelphia realism, including The Gross Clinic.
13. **Sylvester Stallone**
   Not born there, but Rocky made his run up the Art Museum steps the city's own myth.

Tags: usa, celebrities, philadelphia