Daytonians who’ve made us proud
Local artists have made good on their talents.
Awards are a big measure of success in the entertainment business. And tons of former and current Miami Valley residents have been nominated for Grammys, Oscars, Golden Globes, Emmy’s and SAG Awards. Some have even won big.
Check out these former and current Daytonians who have been honored by Hollywood for their contributions to the entertainment industry.
BIG WINNERS Allison Janney
Emmy? Check. Golden Globe? Check. SAG Award? Check. Oscar? We’ll see!
This Oakwood-raised star of the big screen and small screen has tons of awards on her shelf (including a 2017 induction into the Dayton Region Walk of Fame). She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well.
Janney, a graduate of the Miami Valley School, has been nominated for a 2018 Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role as Tonya Harding’s mother in “I, Tonya.” She won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild award for the same role, and is considered the one to beat for the Oscar.
If she wins, she would be the first local actor to win an Oscar for one of the major acting categories.
She has won seven Primetime Emmy Awards, including best supporting actress in a comedy series in 2014 and 2015 for her role on CBS’ “Mom.” She won an Emmy for her role as a guest actress on “Masters of Sex” in 2014. She won several Emmy awards for her role as C.J. Cregg on “The West Wing” including lead actress in a drama series in 2004 and 2002, as well as supporting actress in 2001 and 2000.
Beyond the wins, she received several additional Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her roles on “Mom” and “The West Wing.” She was nominated for a People’s Choice Award in 2014 as favorite actress in a new TV series. She received two Tony Award nominations for her work on Broadway.
Ensemble cast awards: She, along with fellow Daytonians Rob Lowe and Martin Sheen, were “West Wing” cast members when the TV show won a SAG for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series awards in 2001-2002.
Jonathan Winters
The legendary Dayton-born, Springfield-raised comic genius won an Emmy award in 1991 for supporting actor in a comedy series for his role on “Davis Rules.” He won a Grammy in 1976 in the “Best Recording for Children” category with Richard Burton and Billy Simpson. He won another Grammy in 1996 for Best Spoken Comedy Album for “Crank(y) Calls.” Career highlights: With a career spanning more than six decades, Winters appeared in hundreds of TV shows and
films. Winters hosted several TV shows in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s, and appeared on a long list of shows that includes “Laugh-In,” “Twilight Zone,” “The Muppet Show,” “Hee Haw,” “Mork & Mindy” and “Hollywood Squares.” He was in more than 50 movies including “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad World” and “The Loved One.”
Other big award nominations: In 1964, he was nominated for a Golden Globe award for his role as Lennie Pike, a furniture mover, in the comedy “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.”In 2003, he was nominated for an Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series Emmy for his role on the TV series “Life with Bonnie.”He received a total of 8 Grammy nominations for Best Comedy Album throughout his career.
John Legend
The Springfield native and Dayton favorite has a ton of music awards on his shelf, including an Oscar, a Golden Globe and 10 Grammys, including Best New Artist in 2006.
Legend and musician/ actor Common won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Original Song in a Motion Picture for “Glory” from the movie “Selma.” The duo won the Golden Globe in the same category.
Legend’s Grammy wins include:
■ 2015 Best Song Written for Visual Media for “Glory” from “Selma” in collaboration with Common and Rhymefest
■ 2011 Best R&B Album with The Roots for “Wake Up!”; Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance with The Roots for “Hang On In There”; and Best R&B song for “Shine.”
■ 2009 Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group along with Al Green for “Stay with Me (By the Sea).
■ 2007 Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Sly and the Family Stone, Joss Stone and Van Hunt for “Family Affair”; and Best Male R&B Performance for “Heaven.”
■ 2006 Best New Artist; Best R&B Album for “Get Lifted” and Best Male R&B Vocals for “Ordinary People.”
Legend received a total of 28 Grammy nominations from 2006 through 2016.
Martin Sheen
Born Ramon Estevez in Dayton, Sheen has scores of acting credits on TV and the big screen including Capt. Benjamin L. Willard in “Apocalypse Now” and President Josiah Bartlet on TV’s “The West Wing.”
He has won Emmy awards, Golden Globes, SAG awards and in addition to multiple nominations.
His top honors include: A Golden Globe in 2001 for Best Actor in a TV Series-Drama for his role on “The West Wing” as well as an Emmy for Guest Actor in a Comedy in 1994 for an appearance on “Murphy Brown.”
Along with fellow Daytonians Allison Janney and Rob Lowe, Sheen was a “West Wing” cast members when the TV show won Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series awards in 2001 and 2002.
He won the SAG award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series in both of those years.
He currently plays Robert Hanson on the Netflix series “Grace and Frankie.”
COMEDY Dave Chappelle
Dave Chappelle, who lives just outside of Yellow Springs, just won a 2018 Grammy in the Best Comedy Album category for his “The Age Of Spin” and “Deep In The Heart Of Texas.”
Chappelle won an Emmy in 2017 for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role hosting “Saturday Night Live” just after Donald Trump’s election.
He received Emmy nominations in 2004 and 2005.
He is best known for “Chappelle’s Show,” which aired on Comedy Central from 2003-06.
He began his comeback in 2017 and most recently signed a “20 million per release” comedy special deal with Netflix in 2016.
MUSIC Keith Harrison
Dayton native Keith Harrison helped form the group that would be known as the Dayton funk band Faze-O while in high school.
The group would later record the hit “Riding High.”
The lifelong Miami Valley resident performed with renowned acts like Morris Day and the Time and Dayton funk godfathers the Ohio Players, among others. He was a member of the Dayton funk band Heatwave and the Cleveland-based group the Dazz Band, for which he penned the hit “Let It All Blow.”
Harrison won a Best R&B Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal Grammy Award with the Dazz Band for “Let It Whip” in 1982. He was inducted into the Dayton Region’s Walk of Fame in September 2015.
Don Pendleton
Kettering-based artist Don Pendleton was part of the team that won the Grammy in the “Best Recording Package” category in 2015 for work on Pearl Jam’s “Lightning Bolt.”
Pendleton is a native of Ravenswood, W.Va.
The Ohio Players
The celebrated Dayton funk band won the 1976 Grammy in the Best Album Package Category for Honey ( Jim Ladwig was the art director).
Formed in 1959 as the Ohio Untouchable, The Ohio Players are best known for the songs “Fire,” “Love Rollercoaster,” “I Wanna be Free,” “Pain,” “Funky Worm,” “Skin Tight,” “Honey” and “Sweet Sticky Thing.”
The band was nominated for the Best Rhythm & Blues Vocal Performance - Duo, Group Or Chorus Grammy for “Fire” in 1975, but lost to Earth Wind and Fire’s “Shining Star.”