ENTERTAINMENT - SPORTS - ART AND LITERATURE - SCIENCE - OTHER
- Musicians
- 9th Wonder (born January 15, 1975 in Winston-Salem)
- Ryan Adams (born 1974 in Jacksonville), singer/songwriter
- Tori Amos (born 1963 in Newton), singer
- Jimmy Capps (born 1939 in Fayetteville), county music studio guitarist
- Travis Cherry (born May 17, 1975 in Raleigh), producer, musician, songwriter
- J. Cole (born January 28, 1985 in Germany, moved to Fayetteville at 8 months old)
- George Clinton (born 1941 in Kannapolis), funk musician
- John Coltrane (born September 23, 1926 in Hamlet)
- Billy "Crash" Craddock (born June 16, 1939 in Greensboro)
- Charlie Daniels (born 1936 in Wilmington), singer/songwriter
- Roberta Flack (born February 10, 1937 in Black Mountain)
- Ben Folds (born September 12, 1966 in Winston-Salem)
- Blind Boy Fuller (1908–1941, born in Wadesboro), blues guitarist and singer
- Ben E. King (born 1938 in Henderson), singer/songwriter
- Del McCoury (born 1939 in Bakersville) bluegrass music legend
- Ronnie Milsap (born January 16, 1943 in Robbinsville)
- Thelonious Monk (1917–1982, born in Rocky Mount), jazz & blues pianist
- Petey Pablo (born July 22, 1973 in Greenville)
- Phonte (born in Greensboro)
- Max Roach (1924–2007, born in Pasquotank County), jazz drummer
- Earl Scruggs (born January 6, 1924 near Shelby, Cleveland County)
- Nina Simone (1933–2003, born in Tryon), singer
- Billy Taylor (born July 24, 1921 in Greenville)
- James Taylor (March 12, 1948, moved to Chapel Hill at age 3)
- Randy Travis (born 1959 in Marshville), country music singer
- Loudon Wainwright III (born 1946, Chapel Hill), songwriter, folk singer, humorist and actor
- Doc Watson (born 1923 in Deep Gap), folk guitarist
- Link Wray (1929–2005, born in Dunn), Pioneering rock musician and songwriter
- American Idol contestants
- Clay Aiken (born November 30, 1978 in Raleigh) runner up
- Fantasia Barrino (born June 30, 1984 in High Point) winner
- Bucky Covington (born November 8, 1977 in Rockingham) 8th place
- Chris Daughtry (born December 26, 1979 in Roanoke Rapids) 4th place
- Anoop Desai (born December 20, 1986 in Cary; raised in Chapel Hill.) 6th, 7th place
- Scotty McCreery (born October 9, 1993 in Garner) winner
- Kellie Pickler (born June 28, 1986 in Albemarle) 6th place
- Actors/Actresses
- Sandra Bullock (attended East Carolina University in Greenville from 1982-1986)
- Billy Crudup (born July 8, 1968, graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- Jennifer Ehle (born December 29, 1969 in Winston-Salem)
- Eileen Fulton (born September 13, 1933 in Asheville)
- Zach Galifianakis (born October 1, 1969 in Wilkesboro)
- Ava Gardner (born December 24, 1922 in Grabtown, Johnston County)
- Pam Grier (born 1949 in Winston-Salem), actress
- Andy Griffith (born June 1, 1926 in Mount Airy)
- George Grizzard (1928–2007, born in Roanoke Rapids), Emmy and Tony-winning actor
- Michael C. Hall (born 1971 in Raleigh) actor
- Andie McDowell (born April 21, 1958 in South Carolina; summer vacation home was in Arden; lived in Asheville from 1998 to 2011)
- Julianne Moore (born 1960 in Fort Bragg), actress
- Soupy Sales (1926–2009, born in Franklinton), comedian
- Amy Sedaris (born March 29, 1961, grew up in Raleigh)
- Ben Vereen (born 1946 in Laurinburg), actor, entertainer
- Evan Rachel Wood (born September 7, 1987 in Raleigh)
- Media
- David Brinkley (July 10, 1920 – June 11, 2003, born in Wilmington) Newscaster
- Carl Kasell (born April 2, 1934 in Goldsboro) National Public Radio
- Howard Cosell (March 25, 1918- April 23, 1995, born in Winston-Salem) Sportscaster
- Cecil B. DeMille (1919–1959, born in Washington) film director
- Gallagher (born 1947 in Fort Bragg), comedian
- Star Jones (born 1962 in Badin) TV personality
- Charles Kuralt (September 10, 1934–July 4, 1997, born in Wilmington) TV journalist
- Doug Marlette (December 6, 1949–July 10, 2007. Born in Greensboro) cartoonist and writer
- Edward R. Murrow (April 25, 1908-April 27, 1965, born in Pole Cat Creek, Guilford County)
- Charlie Rose (January 5, 1942, born in Henderson) TV journalist
- Tom Wicker (June 18, 1926– November 25, 2011, born in Hamlet) journalist
- Clarence Avant (February 25, 1931- , born in Climax), American music executive, film producer and entertainment icon
- Baseball
- Jim "Catfish" Hunter (April 8, 1946– September 9, 1999, born in Hertford)
- Gaylord Perry (born September 15, 1938 in Williamston)
- Jim Perry (born October 30, 1935 in Williamston)
- Jack Scott (Aptil 18, 1892, born in Ridgeway)
- Enos "Country" Slaughter (April 27, 1916- November 30,1959 born near Roxboro)
- Basketball
- Phil Ford (born February 9, 1956 in Kannapolis)
- Bobby Jones (born December 18, 1951 in Charlotte)
- Michael Jordan (born February 17, 1963 in Brooklyn, moved to Wilmington at age 5)
- Meadowlark Lemon (born April 25, 1932 in Wilmington)
- Danny Manning (born May 17, 1966 in Hattiesburg, MS, moved to Greensboro)
- Pete Maravich (attended Broughton High School in Raleigh)
- Fred "Curly" Neal (born May 19, 1942 in Greensboro)
- Jacques Dominique Wilkins (born in Paris on January 12, 1960; moved to Washington)
- James Worthy (born February 27, 1961 in Gastonia)
- Boxing
- Sugar Ray Leonard (born May 17, 1956 in Wilmington)
- Football
- Kelvin Bryant (born September 26, 1960 in Tarboro)
- Roman Gabriel (born August 5, 1940 in Wilmington)
- Charlie "Choo Choo" Justice (born May 18, 1924 in Asheville)
- Sonny Jurgenson (born August 23, 1934 in Wilmington)
- Julius Peppers (born January 18, 1980 in Wilson)
- Racing
- Dale Earnhardt (born April 29, 1951 in Kannapolis)
- Junior Johnson (born June 28, 1931 in Wilkes County)
- Richard Petty (born July 2, 1937 in Level Cross)
- Running
- Marion Jones (born October 12, 1975, 1997 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)
- Soccer
- Mia Hamm (born March 17, 1972 in Alabama)
- Wrestling
- Vince McMahon (born 1945 in Pinehurst) Chairman of the World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE)
- Pulitzer Prize Winners
- Paul Green (born 17 March 1894 in Lillington) Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1927
- Hatcher Hughes (12 February 1881 in Polkville) Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1924
- Vermont Royster (April 30, 1914-July 22, 1996, born in Raleigh) Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Writing 1953
- Michael Skube (Raleigh News and Observer) Pulitzer Prize for Journalism- Criticism 1989
- Claude Sitton (Raleigh News and Observer) Pulitzer Prize for Journalism- Commentary 1983
- Writers
- Maya Angelou (teaching at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem since 1991) Doris Betts (born June 4, 1932 in Statesville)
- Orson Scott Card, sci-fi writer (moved to Greensboro in 1983)
- Thomas Dixon (1864–1946, born in Shelby), author of Birth of a Nation
- Charles Frazier (born November 4, 1950 in Asheville)
- Kaye Gibbons (born May 10, 1960 in Nash County)
- Allan Gurganus (born June 11, 1947 in Rocky Mount)
- O. Henry (September 11, 1862– June 5, 1910, born in Greensboro)
- Michael Malone (born in 1956 in Durham), author of comedic and mystery novels, and television writer
- Jill McCorkle (July 7, 1958 in Lumberton)
- David Payne (born 1955 in Henderson)
- Reynolds Price (born February 1, 1933, Macon)
- Guy Owen (born February 24, 1925–25 July 1981, born in Clarkton, Bladen County)
- Tom Robbins (born 1936 in Blowing Rock), author of the bestselling novel Even Cowgirls Get The Blues and others
- David Sedaris (born December 26, 1956, grew up in Raleigh sometime before 1968)
- Betty Smith (lived in Chapel Hill from 1936-1971) wrote A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, 1943
- Lee Smith (born in 1944, grew up in the Blue Ridge Mountains)
- Nicholas Sparks (lived in New Bern since 1996)
- Timothy Tyson (born 1959 in Raleigh) author of Blood Done Sign My Name
- Thomas Wolfe (October 3, 1900– September 15, 1938, born in Asheville)
- Artists
- Romare Bearden (1911–1988, born in Charlotte), African-American artist and writer
- Harvey Littleton (born 1922, opened studio in 1976 in Spruce Pine) glass artist, founder of the American Studio Glass movement
- Nobel Prize Winners
- Daniel L. McFadden (born July 29, 1937 in Raleigh) The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences 2000
- Kary B. Mullis (born December 28, 1944 in Lenoir) Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1993
- Dr. Oliver Smithies (professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since 1988) Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology 2007
- Robert F. Furchgott (born June 4, 1916. 1937 B.S., Chemistry, University of North Carolina) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998
- Peter Agre (UNC-CH Fellow, hematology/oncology, 1978-1981) Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 2003
- Martin Rodbell (Former UNC-CH adjunct professor) Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 1994
- Rudolph Marcus (UNC-CH post-doctoral fellow, 1951; UNC-CH faculty, 1951-1952) Nobel Prize in Chemistry, 1992
- Gertrude B. Elion and George H. Hitchings (adjunct professors at the UNC School of Medicine) Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine, 1988
- Religion
- Billy Graham (born November 7, 1918 near Charlotte)
- Anne Graham Lotz (born May 1948 in Montreat) daughter of Billy Graham
- Franklin Graham (born July 14, 1952 near Asheville) son of Billy Graham
- Military
- Eugene Gray Payne, Major General, USMC. (graduate of North Carolina State University)
- Astronauts
- Michael J. Smith (April 30, 1945–January 28, 1986, born in Beaufort)
- Dr. William Thornton, (born April 14, 1929 in Faison)
- Dr. Ronald Ervin McNair, (October 21, 1950 – January 28, 1986; born in S.C; graduate of N.C. A &T University, 1971; physicist and astronaut, died in the Space Shuttle Challenger accident)
- Miscellaneous
- Caleb Bradham (1866–1934, born in New Bern) inventor of Pepsi-Cola
- Oscar Scott Woody (April 15, 1868-April 15, 1912, born in Roxboro) Mail clerk on board the SS Titanic