You May Be Surprised To Learn These 11 Famous People Are From New Mexico
You’ll be familiar with many of the names on this list. But did you realize that all these famous people are from New Mexico? We’ve got singers, actors, and athletes. Check out these 11 celebrities who hail from the Land of Enchantment and see how many you knew were people born in New Mexico.
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Actor Neil Patrick Harris was born in Albuquerque. As a child, he lived in Ruidoso, a small town in the southern half of the state, but he did return to Albuquerque. He gained fame as the star of Doogie Howser, M.D. and was recently again popularized by his role in How I Met Your Mother, where he played Barney Stinson. He also has had extensive success as a stage performer.
The actress Demi Moore is originally from Roswell and is one of the best-known famous people from New Mexico. She's starred in many high-profile films, including Ghost, A Few Good Men, and Indecent Proposal.
Demi Lovato was born in Albuquerque (though they were then known as Demetria). The child star shot to fame following their roles on the Disney Channel and collaboration with the Jonas Brothers. They subsequently gained even further fame as a solo artist.
"The Preacher's Daughter" Holly Holm was born in Albuquerque and became a champion Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter. She initially got into fighting through her interest in aerobics. Fun fact about this celebrity in New Mexico: she graduated from the University of New Mexico!
Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr. was born in Roswell. You probably know him better by his much easier-to-remember stage name John Denver. He was born into a military family that moved around a lot, so he wasn't long in the Land of Enchantment. This best-selling artist's music was immensely successful on both pop and country charts.
This Santa Fe-born actor and producer is best known for his work on the hit series Entourage. He's also been in several films, such as The Devil Wears Prada.
This one's a bit of a stretch. He was born in Los Angeles, but Freddie Prinze, Jr. spent his early years in New Mexico, so we claim him as one of our own. He graduated from La Cueva High School in Albuquerque. He's popularly-known for portraying Fred Jones in the recent Scooby Doo films.
Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, The Flintstones: any of those all-time great cartoons sound familiar? This famous person from New Mexico was responsible for them! He was born in the tiny village of Melrowse, which is right between Fort Sumner and Clovis. William Hanna won seven Academy Awards and eight Emmy awards with his partner Joseph Barbera.
Conrad Hilton was born in San Antonio on Christmas Day in 1887. New Mexico was actually still just a U.S. territory at that point! Like most of the country, he sustained significant financial losses during the Great Depression. However, he was able to grow his hotel business into one of the biggest and best-known in the world.
Bobby Unser's family is well-known in the American automobile racing industry. The family has won the Indianopolis 500 a record nine times. Bobby was actually born in Colorado, but resided in New Mexico for much of his life after moving there at just a year old. His career started in Roswell.
We told you the Unsers were well-known in racing! Al Unser, Sr. is Bobby's younger brother. He and his family operate the Unser Racing Museum in Albuquerque. The museum is shaped like a steering wheel and displays some of their famous cars.
Can you think of any other famous people from New Mexico? Share your favorite celebrities in New Mexico in the comments.
Who are some more famous people born in New Mexico?
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, was born in Albuquerque. Famed outlaw and cowboy Jose Chavez y Chavez was born in New Mexico, though it wasn’t a state yet at that time.
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