Our musical legacy in Detroit is untouchable and want no explanation . You already know we set title to the superlative book label of all time ( Motown ) , one of the bang-up pop musician ever ( Madonna ) , and entire genres of euphony ( techno ) . Entertainment is just our game .
Ah , but not just musical amusement . Detroit has also incubated some of the bright star on screen , too , largely due to a number of cistron . In some cases , owing to Detroit ’s height as a boomtown , many future stars were son and daughters of immigrants looking for the American Dream in the Motor City . Some found inspiration in their low beginnings and translated that into their succeeding work . Regardless of the case , Detroit ’s report as a stomping ground for Hollywood ’s ok is under - sung , so let ’s lionise it right now . Here are 13 entertainer you probably did n’t know were from here .
Kristen Bell
Unless there was a scandal at the polar bear display at the Detroit Zoo , Bell plausibly never experienced half as many twists and turns in the sleepy Detroit suburb of Huntington Woods as Veronica Mars did in Neptune , FL .
Sonny Bono
Ever wonder why Chertweetsso much about the many crises going on in Michigan ? Could be because her former telling - diagonal - acting partner was bear in Detroit and drop his other childhood here . Though Bono went into politics , serving both as a mayor and US Congressman , he never had a vocation quite as scandalous as the ones in his home state .
S. Epatha Merkerson
The most notable person to be born in Saginaw , a factory town north of Detroit , and then move to Detroit is Stevie Wonder . decently behind him is everyone ’s favoriteLaw & Orderlieutenant , who got her acting chops at Detroit ’s Cooley High School , a now - fold high school known for graduating several Detroiters engage creative fields .
Judy Greer
That one actress who ’s in all of your favorite film andArrested Developmentbut you never knew her name is an indisputable maven in her hometown of Livonia . Livonia is renowned among our neck of the woodwind instrument for its … well … whatisLivonia ’s claim to fame , anyway ? Guess it ’s Judy Greer now .
Courtney B. Vance
AnotherLaw & Orderfranchise alum , Vance is another hometown favorite who ’s gone on to big things . Now we know him best as a ( shockingly just ) doppelganger for Johnnie Cochran inThe People v. O.J. Simpson .
Selma Blair
permit ’s segue into anotherSimpsonactor ( she was Kris Kardashian , in sheath you missed the plug train of the super - democratic FX serial ) . Blair came up in the Detroit suburb of Southfield , just north of Vance .
Lonette McKee
devotee of Spike Lee may know her as the cuckolded married woman inJungle Fever , and younger multiplication may bang her as a beleaguered mommy in the coming - of - old age flickATL(not to brush aside her many office in between ) , but McKee ’s breakout role was Sister in the ‘ seventy blaxploitation flickSparkle . That movie was afterward remade here in Detroit starring Whitney Houston – just a few naut mi from the westside neighborhood near where McKee called home .
Keegan-Michael Key
If you ’ve ever been to improv Mondays atPlanet Antin Hamtramck , you have Key to thank for this . ( And if you have n’t , this is a great day of the month idea , by the way . ) The Detroit native co - founded Planet Ant back in the day before heading off to Hollywood and link up with Jordan Peele , everlastingly change sketch comedy for the better .
John Witherspoon
We like to lop to impress here in Detroit with our tailor wooing and gator shoe , so it was n’t a surprisal when Witherspoon – a darling local who ’s been a sideman in half of all the pitch-black movies of the ' 90s – showed off his fashion expertise in a far-famed view from the Eddie Murphy comedy , Boomerang . Where do you retrieve he learned it from ? These day , catch him in the hilarious Adult Swim seriesBlack Jesus , coming back for its third season in fall 2016 .
Francis Ford Coppola
When it comes to Detroit on film , you have a go at it us byRoboCop . When it comes to Detroiters on film , it does n’t get any better than this . Coppola ’s Detroit roots incline deep ( c’m on , his middle name is Ford , nominate after the company his beginner exercise for ) , and transmitted associations came full circle when girl Sofia directed an adaptation ofThe Virgin Suicides , based on Jeffrey Eugenides ’ novel set in the suburb of Grosse Pointe .
Sam Raimi
speak of directors of trilogy , Raimi ofSpider - Manlegend followed Coppola ’s Detroit - to - Hollywood path ( although his route took a roundabout way at Michigan State University , where he dropped out to do his first moving picture ) . Raimi grew up in the suburbia of Royal Oak a few miles away .
Lily Tomlin
No " laugh - in " matter ( OK , that was really bad . Sorry . ) – she ’s from Detroit , too . Tomlin go to Cass Technical High School , which has bring forth a lot of notable grade ( Big Sean , Diana Ross , Jack White , anyone ? ) , but it ’s rare those outside Detroit know that she walked among the same sacred halls .
Ray Parker Jr.
OK , he ’s not an player by trade . But since everyone ’s in aGhostbustersmood , permit ’s pay a piddling court to the guy cable who write the originalGhostbusterstheme – a alum of Detroit ’s Northwestern High School who first cut his teeth playing alongside Motown sitting instrumentalist in local club before hitting it big … heavy enough that his song is now played as a cue to the fog machine in curler rinks across America .
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Kristen Bell|Todd Williamson/Getty Images Entertainment/Getty Images
Sonny & Cher|CBS Television
Judy Greer|Flickr/Edward Liu
Selma Blair|Flickr/LG
Flickr/Gage Skidmore
Francis Ford Coppola|Flickr/Gerald Geronimo
Lily Tomlin (right)|Greg Hernandez
