LITTLE RHODY
MEET
LITTLE RHODY
A BRIEF HISTORY
OF LITTLE RHODY
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Famous Faces
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Just a few celebrities you might not have known were born and / or grew up in Rhode Island.
1842 In response to restrictive suffrage laws, the Dorr Rebellion results in the state’ s first individual constitution.
1952 Mr. Potato Head is born at Hasbro( the toy company, not the hospital!) in Pawtucket and becomes the first toy advertised on American television.
1953 John F. Kennedy, the thirty-fifth president of the United States, marries Jackie Lee Bouvier at St. Mary’ s Church in Newport.
1975 – 2016 Vincent“ Buddy” Cianci is elected Providence mayor in 1975 but is forced to resign in 1984 due to a felony assault conviction. He then runs a popular radio talk show from 1984 to 1991, serves as Providence mayor again from 1991 to 2002 and gets indicted again in 2001 on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, mail fraud and witness tampering. Once out of prison, Buddy returns to the airwaves in 2007 and unsuccessfully runs for mayor a third time in 2014. Two years later, he dies at age seventy-four.
2014 Gina Raimondo becomes Rhode Island’ s first female governor.
2016 America’ s first offshore wind farm is built off the coast of Block Island.
Debra Messing KNOWN FOR: Playing Grace in NBC’ s“ Will and Grace.” FROM: East Greenwich
Viola Davis KNOWN FOR: Playing Annalise Keating in ABC’ s“ How to Get Away with Murder,” Aibileen Clark in The Help, Rose Maxson in Fences and Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey’ s Black Bottom. GREW UP IN: Central Falls
Peter and Bobby Farrelly( the Farrelly Brothers) KNOWN FOR: Writing and directing Dumb and Dumber, There’ s Something About Mary and Me, Myself and Irene. FROM: Cumberland
Rocco Baldelli KNOWN FOR: Playing outfield in Major League Baseball and managing the Minnesota Twins. FROM: Woonsocket
Jared Haibon KNOWN FOR: Appearing on“ The Bachelorette” and“ Bachelor in Paradise.” GREW UP IN: Warwick
Olivia Culpo KNOWN FOR: Being crowned Miss Rhode Island, Miss USA and Miss Universe in 2012. FROM: Cranston
Charlie Day KNOWN FOR: Playing Charlie Kelly in“ It’ s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.” GREW UP IN: Middletown
Mat Franco KNOWN FOR: Being the first magician to win NBC’ s“ America’ s Got Talent.” FROM: Johnston
Richard Hatch KNOWN FOR: Winning the first season of CBS’ s“ Survivor.” FROM: Newport County
THE UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND John King KNOWN FOR: CNN’ s chief national correspondent.
Christiane Amanpour KNOWN FOR: CNN’ s chief international correspondent.
JOHNSON & WALES UNIVERSITY Emeril Lagasse KNOWN FOR: Celebrity chef and restaurateur.
Paul DelVecchio Jr. aka DJ Pauly D KNOWN FOR: Being a cast member in MTV’ s reality series“ Jersey Shore.” FROM: Providence
Meredith Vieira KNOWN FOR: Being a broadcast journalist and television personality on shows like“ Today,”“ The View” and“ Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” FROM: Providence / East Providence
Billy Gilman KNOWN FOR: Becoming the youngest artist on Billboard’ s Country chart at age eleven. FROM: Westerly / Hope Valley
H. P. Lovecraft KNOWN FOR: Writing horror fiction like The Call of Cthulhu. FROM: Providence
CELEBRITY DEGREES They may not have grown up here, but they sure hit the books at these local universities.
BROWN UNIVERSITY Emma Watson KNOWN FOR: Playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series and Little Women.
John Krasinski KNOWN FOR: Playing Jim Halpert in“ The Office” and starring in A Quiet Place.
Caroline Kepnes KNOWN FOR: Author of bookturned-hit TV show“ You” and books Hidden Bodies and Providence.
RHODE ISLAND SCHOOL OF DESIGN James Franco KNOWN FOR: Playing Harry Osborn“ The Goblin” in the Spider-Man series alongside Tobey Maguire.
Seth MacFarlane KNOWN FOR: Voicing characters and creating Fox’ s“ Family Guy” set in the fictional city of Quahog, Rhode Island.
GRAPHIC: GETTY IMAGES.
12 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY’ S NEWCOMERS’ GUIDE l 2025