“I grew up in the Bronx, but in Riverdale - not exactly an area of New York that's known for being rough and tumble.” KnownNew YorkGrewGrew UpAreasRoughBronx Author:Maggie Siff
“I grew up in Glen Ellyn, which is about 20 miles west of Chicago. I attended Glenbard South High School and University of Illinois. I didn't study acting until I moved to Los Angeles after college, but the fact that I was raised in the Chicago area set the stage for all of my comedic and acting sensibilities.” FactsSchoolActingStudyStageCollegeGrewGrew UpHigh SchoolAreasMovedWestSouthRaisedUniversityMilesLos AngelesChicagoSensibilityComedicIllinois Author:Ryan McPartlin
“I grew up with 'Cinderella.' So that was my go-to Disney film, definitely. It was princess-related, and coming from a smaller area in Illinois and wanting to do something greater than myself in Broadway, that was a film that I could really relate to.” FilmGreaterGrewGrew UpAreasRelateRelatedPrincessBroadwayIllinoisDisney Film Author:Jodi Benson
“I grew up at the base of a mountain in Virginia, so my comfort zone is that Appalachian area, where all the dudes wear Carhartt and all the women can put on a beautiful sweater with a snowman applique and nobody raises an eyebrow.” BeautifulGrewComfortMountainGrew UpAreasRaisesZoneComfort ZoneEyebrowsVirginiaSweatersSnowman Author:Hilarie Burton
“Well, I grew up in the Bay Area, so I've been in earthquakes before.” WellsGrewGrew UpAreasEarthquakesBay Area Author:Joe Morgan
“I come from nowhere Brooklyn, New York. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These days Williamsburg is kind of a hip area, but when I grew up there, the taxi drivers wouldn't even go over the bridge, it was so dangerous.” KindDangerousNew YorkGrewGrew UpAreasHipsThese DaysBridgesDriversBrooklynTaxiBrooklyn New YorkWilliamsburg Author:Barry Manilow
“I grew up in Ann Arbor, about 25 miles west of Detroit. And when you grow up in that area, you get a healthy dose of Motown automatically.” GrowsGrowing UpGrewHealthyGrew UpAreasWestMilesDetroitDoseMotownArbors Author:Mayer Hawthorne
“I grew up with white parents and until after college, it was a lot of confusion, especially because I grew up in an all-white area. So I never looked around and saw anyone who looked like me.” ParentWhiteSawsCollegeGrewGrew UpAreasLike MeConfusion Author:Gina Prince-Bythewood
“I did have a lot of lack, but I never experienced it. I grew up in the east side of Detroit, in an area where there was very little, except for a lot of scarcity, poverty and hunger. Even growing up in an orphanage, I never woke up saying, "I'm an orphan again today, isn't this terrible? Poor me."” LittlesTodaySidesPoorPovertyGrowing UpGrowingGrewTerribleGrew UpAreasHungerEastDetroitOrphanScarcityOrphanageEast SidePoor Me Author:Wayne Dyer
“I'm not a typical Republican. I am a Republican, I wear the Republican jersey, I've been a Republican my whole life. My dad was a Republican, which is interesting because he was in a union early on. The Republican party was very strong in the area that I grew up in. So I'm a loyalist.” WholeStrongInterestingPartyGrewDadRepublicanGrew UpAreasUnionsMy DadWhole LifeVery StrongTypicalRepublican PartyJerseyLoyalists Author:Anthony Scaramucci
“I grew up in low-income areas and I've seen people take negative energy and just accept it. They give into and end up living a pretty rough life. At a young age, I just knew I wasn't going to give in because I didn't want to end up being one of those people in the neighborhood that didn't have anything and lived a hard life.” PeopleWantGivingEndsHardAgeYoungEnergyAcceptingGrewGrew UpLowsAreasNegativeIncomeNeighborhoodRoughYoung AgeHard LifeLow IncomeNegative Energy Author:LaMarcus Aldridge
“Capricorn was one of the homes of the Southern rock movement with the Allman Brothers and Charlie Daniels and the Marshall Tucker Band. I don't think you can come from that area and not be influenced by that stuff a little bit, no matter what generation you grew up in.” ThinkingLittlesMatterHomeStuffBitsGenerationsRocksMovementBrotherGrewBandLittle BitGrew UpAreasNo Matter WhatSouthernCharlieCapricorns Author:Jason Aldean
“One of the reasons I got into this game was because I wanted to learn how to get myself comfortable in uncomfortable situations. I grew up in a tough area of Dublin, and fighting was just part of your life. Boys fight, and I won some, but I lost a lot too, and I didn't like that, I didn't like that feeling of not knowing whether I was in danger, in trouble.” ReasonFeelingsWantedFightingGamesLostSituationBoysKnowingTroubleDangerGrewComfortableGrew UpToughAreasUncomfortableNot KnowingDublinUncomfortable Situations Author:Conor McGregor
“I love Korean food, and it's kind of like home to me. The area that I grew up in outside Chicago, Glenview, is heavily Korean. A lot of my friends growing up were Korean and when I would eat dinner at their houses, their parents wouldn't tell me the names of the dishes because I would butcher the language.” KindHomeHouseNamesLanguageParentGrowing UpGrowingGrewGrew UpMy FriendsAreasDinnerChicagoDishesKoreanButchersFriends Growing UpKorean Food Author:Patrick Stump
“I've had and probably still have a lot of bad haircuts. My mom just sent me some pictures - I don't know why she did this - but she sent me some pictures of me when I was probably like 12. I grew up in the D.C. area and I used to wear a Redskins jersey just walking around. I just had kind of a bowl haircut for a long time and no sense of style or personal hygiene.” KnowsKindLongStillsUsedStyleGrewMomWalkingGrew UpLong TimeAreasMy MomBowlsJerseyHaircutsHygieneRedskinsPersonal HygieneBad Haircuts Author:Rob Huebel
“I grew up in such a small area that there really weren't any acting classes. So I had to wait till I got to college.” WaitingActingClassCollegeGrewGrew UpAreasActing Classes Author:Mariana Klaveno
“I grew up in an area of a lot of growth, in Orange County, California, and spent most of my youth on the beach. I had witnessed the degradation of our Back Bay and the increased number of closed beach days over the years.” YearsGrowthNumbersYouthGrewGrew UpAreasBeachCaliforniaOrangeCountyDegradationOrange County Author:Aaron Peirsol
“I grew up in such a small area that there really weren't any acting classes. So I had to wait till I got to college, at the University of Washington. I was a theater major there and got my training. Then after college, I packed up my Honda Civic and kind of fulfilled the cliché of driving down to Los Angeles, and literally, brick by brick - you know, the slow and painful way - I built my career.” KnowsWayKindWaitingActingClassCareersCollegeGrewMajorsGrew UpTrainingBuiltAreasTheaterUniversityPainfulDrivingLos AngelesFulfilledBricksCivicsActing ClassesHonda Author:Mariana Klaveno
“My father was brought to this country as an infant. He lost his mother as a teenager. He grew up in poverty.Although he graduated at the top of his high school class, he had no money for college. And he was set to work in a factory but, at the last minute, a kind person in the Trenton area arranged for him to receive a $50 scholarship and that was enough in those days for him to pay the tuition at a local college and buy one used suit. And that made the difference between his working in a factory and going to college.” KindPersonsMadeCountryEnoughSchoolLastsUsedMotherFatherLostDifferencesPayClassPovertyMinutesCollegeGrewGrew UpHigh SchoolAreasLocalsSuitsTeenagerFactoriesInfantScholarshipNo MoneyLast MinuteTuitionGoing To CollegeKind PersonHigh School Class Author:Samuel Alito
“I grew up in a very culturally diverse area of America and I am very proud to come from there.” AmericaGrewProudGrew UpAreasDiverse Author:Steve Clevenger
“I grew up in Orange County, California, all over the beaches of San Clemente and that area.” GrewGrew UpAreasBeachCaliforniaOrangeCountyOrange County Author:Donavon Frankenreiter
“I grew up in the inner city and have spent a lot of time there and have dealt with a lot of patients from that area and recognize that we cannot have a strong nation if we have weak inner cities.” IfsStrongNationsCitiesGrewGrew UpAreasWeakPatientInner City Author:Benjamin Carson
“[Crack epidemic] definitely has impacted folks in my family, most definitely. I think that's true for most, if not all people, regardless of color, that grew up in and around areas that were closer to the nucleus of the crack epidemic.If you look at Baltimore or D.C., Detroit, Chicago, Oakland, like, Los Angeles.” PeopleIfsThinkingLooksColorGrewGrew UpAreasMy FamilyFolksLos AngelesCracksChicagoDetroitEpidemicsBaltimoreNucleusOakland Author:Mahershala Ali
“I was born in Oakland and grew up, probably about five miles from Oakland, in Hayward. And Hayward was OK. Like, Hayward wasn't - very much a working-class area and had definitely went through a decline and is now, seemingly, coming back around, which is nice to see.” BornClassFiveNiceGrewGrew UpAreasMilesDeclineWorking ClassComing BackOakland Author:Mahershala Ali
“All of the films that I've made are about the country I live in and grew up in... And I think if you're going to put an artist's eye to it, you're going to put a critical eye to it. I've always been interested in the gray area that exists between the black and white, or the red and blue, and that's where complexity lies.” IfsThinkingMadeCountryEyeFilmLyingArtistBlackWhiteGrewGrew UpRedAreasBlueCriticalComplexityGrayBlack And WhiteGray AreaRed And Blue Author:Robert Redford
“I grew up within Italian-American neighborhoods, everybody was coming into the house all the time, kids running around, that sort of stuff, so when I finally got into my own area, so to speak, to make films, I still carried on.” StillsRunningKidsFilmRomanceHouseSpeakStuffMy OwnGrewGrew UpAreasNeighborhoodItalianItalian American Author:Martin Scorsese
“I grew up in Rhodesia on my father's ranch and every year he used to take us on safari in some remote area of the wilderness.” YearsUsedFatherGrewGrew UpAreasWildernessSafariRhodesia Author:Wilbur Smith
“I was born in Newark, New Jersey, and grew up in Summit, an upscale town in north Jersey. There was this tiny area of Summit where most of the black families lived. My parents and I lived in a duplex house on Williams Street.” HouseParentBlackBornStreetsGrewGrew UpAreasTownsTinySummitJerseyNew JerseyBlack FamilyNewark Author:Ice T
“Probably the biggest thing that surprises people is that I am obsessed with hockey. I grew up in the Boston area so I am obsessed with hockey since I was a little kid.” PeopleLittlesKidsGrewGrew UpAreasSurpriseObsessionObsessedHockeyLittle KidBoston Author:Rob Zombie
“Sixty percent of all Indians live in urban areas, but nobody's writing about them. They're really an underrepresented population, and the ironic thing is very, very few of those we call Native American writers actually grew up on reservations, and yet most of their work is about reservations.” WritingGrewGrew UpPercentAreasPopulationIndianNativeIronicNative AmericanSixtyUrbanReservationsAmerican WriterUrban AreasIronic Things Author:Sherman Alexie