Notable residents
Notable current and former residents of Jamaica include:
- 50 Cent, rapper and entrepreneur
- Cecily Adams, actress
- Khandi Alexander, actress and dancer
- Lloyd Banks, rapper and member of hip-hop group G-Unit
- Bob Beamon, Olympian and world record holder for long jump
- Fritz Billig, stamp dealer and author of Billig's Philatelic Handbooks
- Don Blackman, jazz-funk pianist, singer and songwriter
- Paul Bowles, writer and composer
- Jimmy Breslin, author and columnist
- Harvey Brooks, musician and composer
- Camille A. Brown, Tony nominated Choreographer
- Cal Bruton, basketball player
- Increase Carpenter Minuteman, Revolutionary war veteran
- Tina Charles, WNBA player current with the New York Liberty
- Sri Chinmoy, philosopher and spiritual teacher
- Chinx, rapper
- Buck Clayton, jazz trumpeter
- Desiree Coleman, singer, actress
- Mario Cuomo, former governor of New York 1983–1995
- Nelson DeMille, author
- Rocco DiSpirito, chef
- Alan Dugan, poet
- Ann Flood, actress
- Ashrita Furman, holder of the most Guinness World Records, with 88 Guinness World RecordsAlonzo Holt, singer
- Scott Ian, rhythm guitarist for Anthrax
- Marc Iavaroni, basketball player, former head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies
- K. Sparks, Christian hip hop musician
- Kamara James, Olympic fencer
- James P. Johnson, "stride" pianist and composer
- William T. Kane, physicist
- Crad Kilodney, writer
- Len Kunstadt, jazz/blues historian, record label owner
- Gerald S. Lesser psychologist, Sesame Street programming developer
- Sally Marr, stand-up comic, dancer, actress and talent spotter, mother of comic Lenny
- Bruce, whose act she influenced
- Debi Mazar, actress
- Darryl McDaniels (DMC), rapper
- Marcus Miller, jazz composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist
- Nicki Minaj, rapper, born in Trinidad, brought to Queens at 5 years old
- Charles Mingus, jazz bassist, composer and autobiographer
- Lamar Odom, NBA star, former reality TV star
- Walter O'Malley, former owner of the Brooklyn and L.A. Dodgers. Lived in Jamaica from 1917 to 1920.
- Richard Parsons, former chairman of Citigroup and former chairman and CEO of Time Warner Letty Cottin Pogrebin, writer/journalist
- Khalid Reeves, former NBA Player
- Freddie Roman, comedian
- Salt-n-Pepa, rappers
- Al Sears, jazz saxophonist
- Assata Shakur, activist and convicted murderer
- Joseph Simmons (Run), rapper/pastor
- Russell Simmons, entrepreneur/producer
- Heathcliff Slocumb, former pitcher
- Fredro Starr, actor, rapper and member of hip-hop group Onyx
- William Grant Still, "dean of American black composers"
- Sticky Fingaz, actor, rapper and member of hip-hop group Onyx
- Eva Taylor, 20s vocalist known as the "Dixie Nightingale"