Baton Rouge, Louisiana has birthed an incredibly long list of celebrities. The city has produced lists of famous musicians, artists, athletes, actors, and actresses. Although there is far more than what we can list here, we’re going to talk about a few of our favorites.
Randy Jackson – Randy is a well-known record producer and musician. He’s probably best known for his role as a judge on the popular show, “American Idol”. Before “American Idol” he was a record producer with MCA Records as well as Columbia Records. He even recorded and toured with super stars like Bruce Springsteen, Mariah Carrey, and Madonna.
Randy was the youngest of 3 children and was born on June 23rd, 1956 in Baton Rouge. At 13 years old he started playing the bass guitar. When he was growing up, he was known to sneak out of his family’s home to play at local clubs.
Cameron Richardson – Cameron is a famous actress who was born in Baton Rogue on September 11th, 1979. She moved from Baton Rouge to New York to pursue a modeling career, but it was not long before she was encouraged to enter the acting world.
She’s played in shows like “House” on FOX, “Entourage” on HBO, and “Harper’s Island”. She appeared in “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” and the popular series, “Shameless”. Cameron was also in “Alvin and the Chipmunks”. These are only a few of her long list of shows and movies that she is acted in as well as modeling for magazines like Cosmopolitan and many others.
Stephen Gostkowski – Stephen Gostkowski, who was born in Baton Rouge, is known for being an NFL placekicker for the Tennessee Titans. He was originally chosen in the 4th round of the NFL Draft by the New England Patriots in 2006.
He’s played in six Super Bowls and won 3 while with the Patriots. Gostkowski holds many NFL records like the one for averaging the most points per game scored over a career. He also became the all-time leading scorer for the Patriots and not only that, he is the eighth most accurate kicker in NFL history.
Lynn Whitfield – Lynn Whitfield is a famous American actress and producer. She started out in theatre and television and later moved on to starring in films. She got her start on screen in the NBC dram “Hill Street Blues” and then played in a comedy called “Doctor Detroit”. A movie called “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate” was her highest grossing film in 1996.
Her most popular role would probably be “The Josephine Baker Story” which was in 1991. She’s won a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding lead actress and won a Golden Globe Award for her performance in “The Josephine Baker Story”.
Whether they were born here, grew up here, or currently live here – It’s fun to look at all the talent that was birthed and developed here in the Baton Rouge area.