This is a list of people from Monroe, Louisiana and includes notable persons who were born in and/or have lived in Monroe, Louisiana, United States. For a list of people who have studied at the University of Louisiana at Monroe, see List of University of Louisiana at Monroe alumni.
Actors and entertainers
Clay Jordan, contestant on Survivor Thailand
Valerie Mason, September 2008 Playboy Playmate
Mighty Sam McClain, soul blues singer and songwriter
Mantan Moreland, actor and comic of the 1930s and 1940s
Jesse Pearson, actor and screenwriter; died in Monroe in 1979
Parker Posey, film actress
Monti Sharp, film and soap opera actor
Susan Ward, film and soap opera actress
Jacob Smith (Jacob the Audio Guy), Producer/Co-host of Matt and Mattingly’s Ice Cream Social podcast
Businesspeople
Samuel B. Fuller (1905-1988), entrepreneur and journalist, founder of Fuller Products Company Collett E. Woolman (1889-1966), an original director and founder of Delta Air Service
Journalists
Frank McGee, television journalist
Musicians
Fred Anderson, jazz saxophonist and club owner
Hamid Drake, jazz drummer and percussionist
Doug Duffey, singer, songwriter, pianist, bandleader, music arranger, record producer, music publisher, poet, diarist, photographer and visual artist Carl Fontana, jazz trombonist Kevin Griffin, lead singer of Better Than Ezra Andy Griggs, country music singer Ivory Joe Hunter, rhythm and blues musician Rickey Minor, music director, composer, music producer, and music director and bandleader for The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Webb Pierce, country musician Frank Ticheli, composer, conductor, Professor of Music at University of Southern California
Politicians
Edwards Barham, former member of the Louisiana State Senate from Morehouse Parish William Denis Brown III (1931–2012), attorney, businessman, and state senator, floor leader in first term of Governor Edwin Washington Edwards William Derwood Cann Jr. (1919–2010), World War II lieutenant colonel; interim mayor of Monroe 1978–1979 Donnie Copeland (born 1961), Pentecostal pastor in North Little Rock, Arkansas, and Republican member of the Arkansas House of Representatives, 2015 to 2017, born in Monroe James L. Dennis (born 1936), Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit Jimmy Dimos, former Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives and retired judge William C. Feazel (1895–1965), interim U.S. Senator in 1948; member of the Louisiana House of Representatives 1932–1936; father-in-law of Shady R. Wall W. L. "Jack" Howard (1911–1994), former mayor of Monroe and owner with his brother, Alton Hardy Howard of the former Howard Brothers Discount Stores Marcus Hunter (born 1979), member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 17 in Ouachita Parish Vance McAllister, businessman and U.S. representative elected in Louisiana's 5th congressional district special election, 2013 Newt V. Mills, U.S. representative from Louisiana's 5th congressional district 1937–1943; resided in Monroe Jay Morris, state representative from Ouachita and Morehouse parishes, 2012– Huey P. Newton (1942-1989) co-founder of the Black Panther Party, born in Monroe. James A. Noe, short-term governor of Louisiana in 1936; founder of WNOE and KNOE radio and TV stations Abe E. Pierce III (1934–2021), mayor of Monroe 1996–2000, first African American in the position; Ouachita Parish educator Robert E. Powell (1923–1997), mayor of Monroe 1979–1996 Melvin Rambin (1941–2001), mayor of Monroe 2000–2001, only Republican in the position since Reconstruction; banker in Baton Rouge and Monroe; interred in Baton Rouge Frank Spooner, oil and natural gas producer and Republican politician, moved to Monroe in 1967 Jeff R. Thompson, former insurance agent in Monroe; state representative from Bossier Parish; incoming 26th Judicial District Court judge J. Robert Wooley (born 1953), Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance, 2000–2006; spent his high school and college years in Monroe