This is a list of notable persons who were born in and/or have lived in the American city of Asheville, North Carolina.

Architecture

Douglas Ellington (1886–1960), architect Rafael Guastavino (1842–1908), builder and engineer; buried at the Basilica of St. Lawrence, Asheville Doan Ogden (1908–1989), nationally noted landscape architect during the 20th century Richard Sharpe Smith (1853–1924), supervising architect of Biltmore Estate

Art Murphy Anderson (1926–2015), comics artist James Barnhill (born 1955), artist and sculptor Aubrey Vanderbilt Cecil (born 1990), jewelry designer Andrea Clark (1945–2025), photographer Evan Dahm (born 1987), webcomic creator James Daugherty (1889–1974), modernist painter, muralist, children's book author and illustrator Spencer Herr (born 1974), artist Hope Larson (born 1982), Eisner Award-winning illustrator, cartoonist, and author of graphic novels Salamander Dream and Chiggers Greg London (born 1966), musician Las Vegas headliner George Masa (1881–1933), professional large-format photographer Kenneth Noland (1924–2010), abstract painter, one of the best-known American Color Field painters Isaiah Rice (1917–1980), documentary photographer Stone Roberts (born 1951), painter Donald Sultan (born 1951), painter, sculptor, and printmaker George Washington Vanderbilt II (1862–1914), art collector, founder of the Biltmore Estate

Business

George Henry Vanderbilt Cecil, owner and chairman of Biltmore Farms William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil, operator of the Biltmore Estate through his company, The Biltmore Company John Fleer, chef, cookbook author, and restaurateur Edwin Wiley Grove (1850–1927), patent medicine inventor, builder and owner of the Grove Park Inn Howard Kester (1904–1977), author and organizer of the Southern Tenant Farmers Union Howard W. Mattson, executive vice president of the Institute of Food Technologists and director of corporate public relations for Monsanto Company George Willis Pack, lumberman, philanthropist, and railroad president Irving Jacob Reuter, general manager and president of Oldsmobile Fred L. Seely, built the Grove Park Inn with his father-in-law Edwin Wiley Grove Ashleigh Shanti, chef David Webb (1925–1975), jeweler and founder of the David Webb company George Francis Willis, founder of International Proprietaries, Inc., who made a fortune selling a patent medicine called Tanlac

Education

Elizabeth Barnes, professor of philosophy at the Corcoran Department of Philosophy, University of Virginia Rebel A. Cole, professor of finance in the College of Business at Florida Atlantic University Jane Sherron De Hart (born 1936), feminist historian and women's studies academic Sarah Ann Douglas, professor of computer and information science and a member of the Computational Science Institute at the University of Oregon Edythe J. Gaines (1922–2006), educator and school superintendent Matthew Hughey, professor of sociology at the University of Connecticut R. P. Hunnicutt, one of the founders of the U.S. Army Ordnance Museum at Aberdeen Proving Ground and historian Kenneth Lieberthal, professor and political scientist known as an expert on China's elite politics Edward Hart Lipscombe, professor at Shaw University Robert Allen Phillips, professor in Business Ethics, professor of Strategic Management and Public Policy at the Schulich School of Business; York University Emily Wheelock Reed, director of the Alabama Public Library Service Division during the civil rights movement John Andrew Rice, founder and first rector of Black Mountain College Debbie Ricker (born 1965), reproductive biologist and interim president of Hood College Richard M. Weaver, scholar who taught English at the University of Chicago Luigi Zande, stonemason, educator, and builder who contributed to the settlement school movement of the early 20th century

Entertainment Harry Anderson (1952–2018), actor, starred in NBC's Night Court Clint Basinger (born 1986), YouTuber Ira Bernstein, dancer and teacher Mark Boswell (born 1960), film director Joe Bowman (1925–2009), bootmaker and marksman of American West entertainment; grew up in Asheville but left for Houston, Texas, in 1937 Chris Chalk, television, film, and theater actor, born in Asheville and graduated from Asheville High School Jim David, stand-up comedian and playwright, both in Asheville Jim Eason (born 1935), radio talk show host Jennifer Ehle, actress Maria Fletcher (born 1942), Miss America 1962 Eileen Fulton (born 1933), actress, starred on the CBS soap As the World Turns, 1960–2010; born in Asheville Joel Goffin (born 1981), film composer, music producer Flamy Grant (born 1982), drag queen and Christian singer Perla Haney-Jardine (born 1997), actress Dorothy Hart (1922–2004), screen actress, known mostly for supporting roles William S. Hart (1864–1946), cowboy actor in early Hollywood; resided in Asheville around 1900 and coached shows at the Asheville Opera House Shirley Hemphill (1947–1999), stand-up comedian and actress, best known for What's Happening!!, 1976–79 Alina María Hernández, better known in the entertainment world as "Cachita", Cuban transgender television actress Charlton Heston (1923–2008), Oscar-winning actor, managed the Asheville Community Theatre with his wife Lydia in 1947 Sam Irvin, film and television director, producer, and screenwriter Taras Kulakov (born 1987), YouTuber Daliah Lavi (1942–2017), German singer who lived the last 27 years of her life in Asheville Barbara Loden, actress and director of film and theater Stephen Andrew Lynch, early motion picture industry pioneer Andie MacDowell (born 1958), actress, lived for several years in Biltmore Forest, a suburb of Asheville Sierra McCormick (born 1997), actress Caelynn Miller-Keyes, television personality, model, and beauty pageant titleholder Caleb Pressley (born 1992), blogger, podcaster, and interviewer for the sports and pop culture blog Barstool Sports Margaret Qualley, actress Marjorie Rambeau (1889–1970), Hollywood actress; was married to Francis A. Gudger, a resident of Asheville; resided in Asheville in the winter from 1932 to the mid-1940s Adam Reed (born 1970), voice actor, animator, screenwriter, television producer and television director Chase Rice, country music singer, songwriter, and contestant on Survivor: Nicaragua Eric Rosen, theater director and playwright Paul Schneider (born 1976), actor Angela Shelton (born 1972), actress and producer Drew Starkey (born 1993), actor, Outer Banks Threadbanger, YouTube DIY duo consisting of Corinne Leigh and Rob Czar, who reside and own an art gallery in Asheville Duncan Trussell (born 1974), actor and comedian Bellamy Young (born 1970), actress, co-star of television series Scandal; born and raised in Asheville Collier Young, film and television writer and producer

Government

Lewis M. Branscomb, head of the National Bureau of Standards Moe Davis, director of the Air Force Judiciary Julius Patton, superintendent of the Dahlonega Mint Reuben B. Robertson Jr., U.S. deputy secretary of defense William J. Trent, part of U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Black Cabinet, serving as adviser on Negro Affairs

Law

Fred H. Caplan, former justice of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia Judy Clarke, criminal defense attorney Harry Martin, associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court

Literature and journalism

Edward Johnston Alexander, author known by the pen name Katie Gallagher Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author Alfred Horatio Belo, founder of The Dallas Morning News Ruth and Latrobe Carroll (1899–1999; 1894–1996), children's authors and illustrators Nancy Sales Cash, novelist Andrea Long Chu, writer and critic C. A. Conrad (born 1966), poet and author Olive Tilford Dargan (1869–1968), proletarian novelist of the 1930s under the pen name Fielding Burke Gavin Geoffrey Dillard, poet, author, and songwriter Pamela Duncan, novelist Wilma Dykeman (1920–2006), author John Ehle (1925–2018), author Zelda Fitzgerald (1900–1948), writer and wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald; died in a fire with eight other women at Highland Hospital, an Asheville mental institution in the Montford district Charles Frazier (born 1950), author Gail Godwin (born 1937), novelist, spent her early years in Asheville Ward Greene, writer, editor, journalist, playwright, and comic strip writer O. Henry (1862–1910), pen name of author William Sydney Porter; lived for a while in Asheville and is buried in Riverside Cemetery Denise Kiernan, journalist, producer and author Horatio Sheafe Krans, writer and editor Grey Wolfe LaJoie, writer and O. Henry Award recipient; born in Asheville Michael McFee, poet Berniece Baker Miracle (1919–2014), writer and half-sister of Marilyn Monroe William Dudley Pelley, fascist activist, journalist, writer and occultist Stephanie Perkins, novelist Marisha Pessl, novelist Terry Roberts, novelist and writer Jonathan Williams (1908–1929), poet and publisher Michael G. Williams, novelist Allan Wolf, poet and young adult author Thomas Wolfe (1900–1938), author, born and raised in Asheville, buried in Riverside Cemetery

Medicine and science Dorothy Hansine Andersen, physician; first person to identify cystic fibrosis; inducted into National Women's Hall of Fame in 2002 for scientific work Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910), the first recognized woman doctor in the United States Lena Northern Buckner, pioneer in social work at the Oteen Veterans Administration Hospital Betty Collette, veterinary pathologist John E. Exner, psychologist William Glenn, cardiac surgeon who co-created an early version of an artificial heart Madelon Battle Hancock, nurse during World War I and the "most decorated woman of World War One" J. Larry Jameson, interim president of University of Pennsylvania Howard W. Mattson

Military Donald V. Bennett (1915–2005), former commanding general of the US Army Pacific Command Kathleen M. Gainey (born 1956), retired US Army lieutenant general Hugh B. Hester (1895–1983), retired Army general who opposed the Vietnam War and the Cold War Dorothy Swain Lewis, aviator who trained Navy pilots and flew with the Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP) program during World War II Homer I. Lewis, major general in the United States Air Force who served as commander of the United States Air Force Reserve Command Robert Morgan (1918–2004), pilot of the Memphis Belle, the famed World War II B-17 bomber Kiffin Rockwell (1892–1916), aviator; pilot in the Lafayette Escadrille; first American to shoot down an enemy aircraft John E. Sloan (1887–1972), US Army major general, commanded 88th Infantry Division in World War II Francis Bowditch Wilby, major general in the United States Army; 39th superintendent of the United States Military Academy Zachary Taylor Wood (1860–1915), assistant commissioner of North-West Mounted Police and commissioner of Yukon Territory Robert Nicholas Young, lieutenant general in the United States Army

Musicians Eric Bachmann, musician and producer Noah Bendix-Balgley, classical violinist Lisa Bevill (born 1961), contemporary Christian musician Greg Cartwright (born 1970), rock musician; relocated to Asheville Luke Combs (born 1990), country music singer-songwriter, graduated from A.C. Reynolds High School Indigo De Souza (born 1997), musician Jermaine Dupri (born 1972), rapper Backwards Sam Firk (1943–2007), country blues singer, fingerstyle guitarist, songwriter, and record collector Roberta Flack (1937–2025), Grammy Award-winning singer, born in Asheville Sallie Ford, of Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside, singer Rayna Gellert (born 1975), fiddler, acoustic guitarist, singer, and songwriter specializing in old-time music River Guerguerian, multi-percussionist and composer Ash Gutierrez (born 2005), musician, rapper