Americans love celebrities – especially movie stars. We look to them for entertainment, cultural leadership, and – for better or worse – political guidance. Any way you look at it, actors have an inordinate amount of influence in our society.
That influence generally emanates from Los Angeles and New York City – the two main hubs of the entertainment industry. Yet only a fraction of actors actually come from these cities. Our nation’s star thespians originate from all across our vast nation.
Further exploring this notion, 24/7 Wall St. has identified the most famous actor from each state. Each actor’s level of fame was determined by creating an index based Internet Movie Database popularity, Wikipedia page views, and audience ratings of his or her work.
Click here to see the most famous actor from each state.
Click here to see our methodology.
Many of the country’s most famous actors have earned their status over years of hard work. John Goodman – who was born in Affton, Missouri – has been working steadily for 43 years. He currently has 155 acting credits to his name and is the most famous actor to originate in Missouri.
Still, an entertainer’s level of fame is not directly correlated with how prolific or formally accomplished they are. A number of actors on the list are younger and have had shorter careers. These include Damon Wayans Jr., who hails from Vermont, and Matthew Fox, who comes from Wyoming. Both actors have less than 30 credits to their names yet represent their respective states on our list.
1. Alabama
> Actor: Octavia Spencer
> Total acting credits: 127
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,275,846
[in-text-ad]
2. Alaska
> Actor: Darby Stanchfield
> Total acting credits: 47
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 234,607
3. Arizona
> Actor: Emma Stone
> Total acting credits: 42
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,854,694
4. Arkansas
> Actor: Billy Bob Thornton
> Total acting credits: 89
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,551,143
[in-text-ad-2]
5. California
> Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio
> Total acting credits: 42
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 6,355,562
6. Colorado
> Actor: T.J. Miller
> Total acting credits: 74
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,152,671
[in-text-ad]
7. Connecticut
> Actor: Meg Ryan
> Total acting credits: 49
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,919,595
24/7 Wall St.
8. Delaware
> Actor: Aubrey Plaza
> Total acting credits: 65
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,522,399
9. Florida
> Actor: Bella Thorne
> Total acting credits: 71
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 4,260,691
[in-text-ad-2]
10. Georgia
> Actor: Chloë Grace Moretz
> Total acting credits: 64
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,887,771
11. Hawaii
> Actor: Jason Momoa
> Total acting credits: 28
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 8,764,490
[in-text-ad]
12. Idaho
> Actor: Aaron Paul
> Total acting credits: 76
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,715,934
24/7 Wall St.
13. Illinois
> Actor: Harrison Ford
> Total acting credits: 75
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 4,217,405
14. Indiana
> Actor: Jenna Fischer
> Total acting credits: 46
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,477,543
[in-text-ad-2]
15. Iowa
> Actor: Michelle Monaghan
> Total acting credits: 45
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,363,389
16. Kansas
> Actor: R. Lee Ermey
> Total acting credits: 124
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,841,932
[in-text-ad]
17. Kentucky
> Actor: Johnny Depp
> Total acting credits: 84
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 5,917,490
18. Louisiana
> Actor: Reese Witherspoon
> Total acting credits: 57
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 4,810,000
19. Maine
> Actor: Anna Kendrick
> Total acting credits: 49
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,978,820
[in-text-ad-2]
20. Maryland
> Actor: Anna Faris
> Total acting credits: 49
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,752,956
21. Massachusetts
> Actor: Matt Damon
> Total acting credits: 79
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,383,071
[in-text-ad]
22. Michigan
> Actor: Kristen Bell
> Total acting credits: 92
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,684,761
24/7 Wall St.
23. Minnesota
> Actor: Chris Pratt
> Total acting credits: 49
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 5,386,720
24. Mississippi
> Actor: Lacey Chabert
> Total acting credits: 135
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,638,045
[in-text-ad-2]
25. Missouri
> Actor: John Goodman
> Total acting credits: 155
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,519,371
26. Montana
> Actor: Michelle Williams
> Total acting credits: 54
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 021,244
[in-text-ad]
27. Nebraska
> Actor: Jaime King
> Total acting credits: 56
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 809,105
28. Nevada
> Actor: Jena Malone
> Total acting credits: 70
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 794,757
29. New Hampshire
> Actor: Mandy Moore
> Total acting credits: 70
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,351,224
[in-text-ad-2]
30. New Jersey
> Actor: Zoe Saldana
> Total acting credits: 57
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,386,247
31. New Mexico
> Actor: Demi Moore
> Total acting credits: 60
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,121,681
[in-text-ad]
32. New York
> Actor: Scarlett Johansson
> Total acting credits: 62
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 6,436,034
24/7 Wall St.
33. North Carolina
> Actor: Evan Rachel Wood
> Total acting credits: 50
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,671,248
34. North Dakota
> Actor: Leslie Bibb
> Total acting credits: 69
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,738,659
[in-text-ad-2]
35. Ohio
> Actor: Maggie Grace
> Total acting credits: 47
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 920,080
36. Oklahoma
> Actor: Brad Pitt
> Total acting credits: 80
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 4,825,661
[in-text-ad]
37. Oregon
> Actor: River Phoenix
> Total acting credits: 25
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,686,290
24/7 Wall St.
38. Pennsylvania
> Actor: Will Smith
> Total acting credits: 75
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 5,144,554
39. Rhode Island
> Actor: Mena Suvari
> Total acting credits: 70
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 869,203
[in-text-ad-2]
40. South Carolina
> Actor: Chadwick Boseman
> Total acting credits: 30
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 5,112,603
41. South Dakota
> Actor: January Jones
> Total acting credits: 29
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 1,259,319
[in-text-ad]
42. Tennessee
> Actor: Morgan Freeman
> Total acting credits: 122
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 4,091,654
24/7 Wall St.
43. Texas
> Actor: Woody Harrelson
> Total acting credits: 93
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,827,378
44. Utah
> Actor: Roseanne Barr
> Total acting credits: 31
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,218,052
[in-text-ad-2]
45. Vermont
> Actor: Damon Wayans Jr.
> Total acting credits: 27
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 612,103
46. Virginia
> Actor: Sandra Bullock
> Total acting credits: 57
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,578,143
[in-text-ad]
47. Washington
> Actor: Jeffrey Dean Morgan
> Total acting credits: 67
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 3,071,153
48. West Virginia
> Actor: Brad Dourif
> Total acting credits: 168
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 768,436
49. Wisconsin
> Actor: Mark Ruffalo
> Total acting credits: 68
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 2,161,641
[in-text-ad-2]
50. Wyoming
> Actor: Matthew Fox
> Total acting credits: 23
> Annual Wikipedia page views: 503,363
Methodology:
To determine the most famous actor from each state, 24/7 Wall St. created an index based on each actor’s STARmeter ranking on the Internet Movie Database, the number of audience user ratings of all films and television shows in which the actors appear, and the number of page views of each actor’s Wikipedia pages from May 2017 to May 2018. To be considered, each actor had to appear in the top 10,000 rankings on IMDb’s STARmeter.
Each actor’s place of birth was the reference point for determining where they are from. Actors who have gained the majority of their fame for reasons other than acting, such as Meghan Markle, were excluded from consideration.
Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.
Latest from 24/7
