People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Leonia include: •
Ailee (born 1989), singer •
Alan Alda (born 1936), actor •
Arlene Alda (born 1933), photographer and author •
Robert J. Alexander (1918–2010), political activist who studied the trade union movement in Latin America and dissident communist political parties •
Elizabeth Baranger (1927–2019), physicist and academic administrator at the
University of Pittsburgh, whose research concerned
shell model calculations in
nuclear physics •
Freddie Bartholomew (1924–1992), child actor •
Jeff Bell (1943–2018), Republican nominee for U.S. Senate from New Jersey in 2014 •
Robert Birmelin (born 1933), figurative painter, printmaker and draughtsman •
Pat Boone (born 1934), singer •
Anthony Bourdain (1956–2018), chef, author and television personality •
Rutherford Boyd (1884–1951), artist •
Verona Burkhard (1910–2004), artist, known for her murals painted for the U.S. Treasury Department •
Brendan A. Burns (1895–1989), U.S. Army major general •
Carolee Carmello (born 1962), actress •
Charles Shepard Chapman (1879–1962), painter best remembered for his landscape of the
Grand Canyon at the
American Museum of Natural History •
Kathleen Clark, playwright •
Edwin H. Colbert (1905–2001), paleontologist and author •
Dan Colen (born 1979), artist •
Paul Collins (born 1956), rock musician and author, best known for his work in the power pop groups
The Nerves and
The Beat •
Robin Cook (born 1940), physician and novelist •
Sam Coppola (1932–2012), actor who played hardware store owner 'Dan Fusco' in the 1977 film
Saturday Night Fever •
Alexander Dallin (1924–2000), historian, political scientist, and international relations scholar at Columbia University •
John Darrow (1907–1980), actor of the late silent and early talking film eras •
Sammy Davis Jr. (1925–1990), entertainer •
Priscilla Dean (1896–1987), actress popular in
silent film as well as in theatre, with a career spanning two decades •
Dorothy Dinnerstein (1923–1992), feminist activist, author and academic •
Acheson J. Duncan (1904–1995), statistician and authority in
quality control •
Harvey Dunn (1884–1952), illustrator •
Emme (born 1963), plus-size model •
Enrico Fermi (1901–1954), Nobel Prize–winning physicist •
Ralph Fuller (1890–1963), cartoonist best known for his long running
comic strip Oaky Doaks •
Maria Goeppert Mayer (1906–1972), Nobel Prize-winning physicist •
Buddy Hackett (1924–2003), comedian •
Marvin Harris (1927–2001), anthropologist •
Richard Howell (born 1955), a freelance comics artist who drew the second series of
Marvel Comics'
The Vision and the Scarlet Witch, which was primarily set in Leonia •
Toomas Hendrik Ilves (born 1953),
President of Estonia •
Phil Jackson (born 1945), basketball coach •
Leland Jacobs (1907–1992), professor emeritus of education who was known for his education in the field of prose and poetry •
Sid Jacobson (1929–2022), comic books writer who was managing editor and editor-in-chief for
Harvey Comics •
Albert Journeay (1890–1972), football player who was captain of the
Penn Quakers football team in 1914 •
Marshall Kay (1904–1975),
geologist and professor at
Columbia University •
Marvin Kitman (1929–2023), television critic, humorist, and author •
Bob Klapisch, sportswriter •
David Klass,
screenwriter and
novelist •
Perri Klass, pediatrician and writer who has published extensively about her medical training and pediatric practice •
Dick Kryhoski (1925–2007), first baseman who played in Major League Baseball for five different teams between 1949 and 1955 •
George Lefferts (1921–2018), writer, producer, playwright, poet, and director •
Harold Lehman (1913-2006), artist known for his Post-Surrealist paintings, work with the Mexican muralist,
David Alfaro Siqueiros, and mural artist who created
murals for the
WPA at Rikers Island Penitentiary and the
Renovo, Pennsylvania, post office. •
Willard Libby (1908–1980), Nobel Prize–winning scientist who played a lead role in the development of
radiocarbon dating •
Philip Maneval (born 1956), composer •
David Mansfield (born 1956), stringed-instrument musician and composer •
Vera Maxwell (1901–1995), fashion designer •
John C. McCloy (1876–1945), sailor twice awarded the
Medal of Honor •
Bob McFadden (1923–2000), voiceover actor •
Boris Moishezon (1937–1993), mathematician •
J. Vreeland Moore (1824–1903), brigadier general of the 1st New Jersey Regiment who played a major role in the borough's formation •
Robert F. Murphy (1924–1990), anthropologist •
Norman D. Newell (1909–2005), professor of
geology at
Columbia University, and chairman and curator of
invertebrate paleontology at the
American Museum of Natural History •
James Noble (1922–2016), actor •
Christiane Noll (born 1968), singer and actress known for her work in
musicals and on the concert stage •
Frank C. Osmers Jr. (1907–1977), represented
New Jersey's 9th congressional district from 1939 to 1943 and 1951–1965 •
Clara Elsene Peck (1883–1968),
illustrator and painter known for her illustrations of women and children in the early 20th century •
Howard Post (1926–2010), animator, cartoonist and comic strip /comic book writer-artist, known for his syndicated newspaper comic strip
The Dropouts. •
Carmel Quinn (1925–2021), singer •
Will Ramos (born 1993/94), singer who is the lead vocalist of the
deathcore band
Lorna Shore •
Lucinda Rosenfeld (born 1969), novelist •
Ben Ryan (1892–1968),
songwriter who wrote the music and lyrics to the popular song
(The Gang that Sang) Heart of My Heart •
Giorgio Santelli (1897–1985), fencer and
fencing master who was part of the Italian team that won the gold medal in
Men's team sabre at the
1920 Summer Olympics and was the largest mid-20th century influence in raising the quality and popularity of fencing in the United States •
Warner R. Schilling (1925–2013), political scientist and international relations scholar at Columbia University •
Gene Shalit (born 1926), longtime film critic on network television •
Arshavir Shirakian (1900–1973),
Armenian writer who was noted for his assassination of
Said Halim Pasha and
Cemal Azmi as an act of vengeance for their roles in the
Armenian genocide •
Ivory Sully (born 1957),
NFL football player for
Los Angeles Rams and
Tampa Bay Buccaneers •
Al B. Sure! (born 1968), singer, songwriter and producer •
David Syrett (1939–2004), Professor of History at
Queens College and researcher and documentary editor on eighteenth-century British naval history and the
Battle of the Atlantic during
World War II •
Harold Urey (1893–1981), Nobel Prize–winning chemist •
Henry S. Walbridge (1801–1869), member of the
United States House of Representatives from
New York who served from 1851 to 1852 •
Lynd Ward (1905–1985), illustrator and wordless novelist •
Lyndon Woodside (1935–2005), 10th conductor of the
Oratorio Society of New York •
George Yevick (1922–2011), physicist and inventor ==In popular culture==