This is a list of notable people, past and present who have lived in Ridgefield, Connecticut or are closely associated with the town, listed by area in which they are best known:
Authors, writers, playwrights, screenwriters
Silvio A. Bedini (1917–2007), retired Smithsonian Institution curator, author, born and raised in Ridgefield Rich Cohen (born 1968), non-fiction writer Howard Fast (1914–2003), novelist Ira Joe Fisher (born 1947), CBS weatherman and poet (Some Holy Weight in the Village Air) Robert Fitzgerald (1910–1985), poet, critic and translator; he and his wife Sally called Ridgefield home and many sources repeat the assertion, though their residence was located in neighboring Redding Tom Gilroy, screenwriter, actor and film producer, graduated from Ridgefield High School in 1978 Max Gunther (1926–1998), journalist and writer Tim Herlihy (born 1966), screenwriter, film producer, former head writer of Saturday Night Live Roger Kahn (1927–2020), author Irene Kampen (1923–1998), novelist and journalist Richard Kluger (born 1934), author Clare Boothe Luce (1903–1987), playwright, ambassador, politician, and wife of Henry Luce Andy Luckey (born 1965), children's book author John Ames Mitchell (1844–1918), novelist, founder of Life magazine Allan Nevins (1891–1971), only writer to win the Pulitzer prize for historical biography twice (on Grover Cleveland and Hamilton Fish) Flannery O'Connor (1925–1964), writer often said to have lived in town when she was a boarder of Robert Fitzgerald's from 1949 to 1951, although Fitzgerald actually lived in neighboring Redding Eugene O'Neill (1888–1953), Nobel Prize-winning playwright, owned Brook Farm on North Salem Road from 1922 to 1927 Brad Parks (born 1974), author Cornelius J. Ryan (1920–1974), author Mark Salzman (born 1959), author and actor who wrote about the town in his novel Lost in Place: Growing Up Absurd in Suburbia Richard Scarry (1919–1994), children's author Maurice Sendak (1928–2012), author and artist Fred Stahl (born 1944), Professor (Columbia University), author, pioneer computer scientist, computer security and forensics, science historian, inventor, lexicographer, real estate developer (current resident) Robert Lewis Taylor (1912–1998), Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters, 1959) Alvin Toffler (1928–2016), futurist, author Abigail Goodrich Whittlesey (1788–1858), educator, publisher, editor Max Wilk (1920–2011), author Bari Wood (born 1936), author
Actors, others in the dramatic arts
David Cassidy (1950–2017), actor and singer
Ralph Edwards (1913–2005), producer and host of television show Truth or Consequences Chris Elliott (born 1960), actor, comedian, author Giancarlo Esposito (born 1958), actor (current resident) Harvey Fierstein (born 1954), actor and playwright (current resident) Walter Hampden (1879–1955), actor Carolyn Kepcher (born 1969), appeared on the NBC show The Apprentice and ran Donald Trump's golf course in Briarcliff, New York (current resident) Cyril Ritchard (1897–1977), actor Grant Rosenmeyer (born 1991), actor Erland Van Lidth de Jeude (1953–1987), actor, wrestler, computer engineer and singer, grew up on Short Lane Robert Vaughn (1932–2016), actor
Singers, musicians, composers
Larry Adler (1914–2001), harmonica virtuoso, lived on Pumping Station Road
Judy Collins (born 1939), Grammy Award-winning folk singer (current resident) Aaron Copland (1900–1990), lived on Limestone Road Fanny Crosby (1820–1915), wrote more than 8,000 hymns, lived as a child at the corner of Main Street and Branchville Road Edwina Eustis Dick (1908–1997), contralto, pioneer in the field of music therapy, lived on Old Branchville Road Geraldine Farrar (1882–1967), Metropolitan Opera soprano, lived on West Lane and later New Street, where she died Andrew Gold (1951–2011), singer, songwriter, and musician, lived on St. Johns Road Stephen Jenks (1772–1856), composer and "teacher of psalmody", lived in Ridgefield Ed Kowalczyk (born 1971), singer, songwriter, musician and a founding member of the band Live Jim Lowe (1927–2016) singer, disc jockey and radio host Václav Nelhýbel (1919–1996), composer Alex North (1910–1991), film composer Noël Regney (1922–2002), pianist and songwriter Stephen Schwartz (born 1948), composer and lyricist (current resident) Debbie Shapiro (born 1954), singer (current resident) Maxim Shostakovich (born 1938), conductor (past resident) Jim Steinman (1947–2021), composer, lyricist, record producer, and playwright