Newcomers' Guide to Rhode Island 2022 | Page 12

MEET LITTLE RHODY

CELEBRITY DEGREES

They may not have grown up here , but they sure hit the books at these local universities .
Emma Watson KNOWN FOR : Playing Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter series and Little Women . SCHOOL : Brown University
John Krasinski KNOWN FOR : Playing Jim Halpert in “ The Office ” and A Quiet Place . SCHOOL : Brown University
John King KNOWN FOR : CNN ’ s chief national correspondent SCHOOL : URI
Christiane Amanpour KNOWN FOR : CNN ’ s chief international correspondent . SCHOOL : URI
James Franco KNOWN FOR : Playing Harry Osborn “ The Goblin ” in the Spider-Man series alongside Tobey McGuire . SCHOOL : RISD
Seth MacFarlane KNOWN FOR : Voicing characters and creating Fox ’ s “ Family Guy ” set in the fictional city of Quahog , Rhode Island . SCHOOL : RISD
Emeril Lagasse KNOWN FOR : Food Network celebrity chef and restaurateur . SCHOOL : Johnson and Wales University
Debra Messing KNOWN FOR : Playing Grace in NBC ’ s “ Will and Grace ” and Kat Ellis in The Wedding Date . FROM : East Greenwich
Viola Davis KNOWN FOR : Playing Annalise Keating in ABC ’ s “ How to Get Away with Murder ,” 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 the MLB and managing the Minnesota Twins . FROM : Woonsocket
Jared Haibon KNOWN FOR : Appearing on season 11 of “ The Bachelorette ” and seasons two and three of “ Bachelor in Paradise .” GREW UP IN : Warwick

Famous Faces Just a few celebrities you might not have known were born and / or grew up in Rhode Island .

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 ” and Dale Arbus in both Horrible Bosses films . 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
Paul D . DelVecchio Jr . a . k . a . 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 to reach number one on the Country Billboard Chart at age eleven and coming in second during season eleven of NBC ’ s “ The Voice .” FROM : Westerly / Hope Valley
James Woods KNOWN FOR : Playing Byron De La Beckwith in Ghosts of Mississippi and voicing himself in “ Family Guy .” FROM : Warwick
George M . Cohan KNOWN FOR : Writing and composing “ Give My Regards to Broadway ,” “ The Yankee Doodle Boy ” and “ You ’ re a Grand Old Flag .” FROM : Providence
H . P . Lovecraft KNOWN FOR : Writing horror fiction like the Call of Cthulhu and At the Mountains of Madness . FROM : Providence
GRAPHIC : GETTY IMAGES .
1975 – 2016 Vincent “ Buddy ” Cianci gets 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 ( the city ’ s “ Renaissance era ”) and gets indicted again in 2002 — this time on charges of racketeering , conspiracy , extortion and mail fraud . After five years in federal prison , Buddy returns to the airwaves in 2007 and unsuccessfully runs for mayor a third time in 2014 . Unfortunately , we never got to see what would have come next in his career , as he died at age seventy-four in 2016 .
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 .
2020 Rhode Islanders vote to remove “ and Providence Plantations ” from the official state name .
2021 Former Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo is sworn in as President Joseph R . Biden ’ s commerce secretary .
2021-2022 Daniel McKee takes over as governor and selects Sabina Matos as his lieutenant governor . Matos is the first Afro-Latina woman to hold this position in Rhode Island ’ s history .
10 RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY ’ S NEWCOMERS ’ GUIDE l 2022