William Aiken, governor of South Carolina
Judah P. Benjamin, U.S. Senator, treasurer of the Confederate States of America
James Francis Byrnes, U.S. Senator, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, Secretary of State
John C. Calhoun, U.S. Representative, U.S. Senator, Vice President, Secretary of State, Secretary of War,
Mark W Clark, U.S. Army general of World War II and the Korean War
Septima Poinsette Clark, educator, civil rights activist; "grandmother of the American civil rights movement"
Stephen Colbert, comedian
Beth Daniel, professional golfer
Andy Dick, comedian
William Drayton, born near the Ashley River, associate justice of South Carolina Supreme Court
Arthur Freed – Hollywood producer, composer, writer
Robert Furchgott – chemist
Christopher Gadsden – American Revolutionary War leader
James Gadsden – diplomat
Thomas Gibson – actor
Dubose Heyward – writer and lyricist, most famous for Porgy and Bess.
Thomas Heyward, Jr. – signer of the United States Declaration of Independence
Fritz Hollings – United States Senator
Benjamin Huger – army general of the Confederate States of America
Lauren Hutton – model
Robert Jordan – novelist, author of the bestselling The Wheel of Time Fantasy series.
Ernest Everett Just – biologist
Mabel King, actress
Sallie Krawcheck, Citigroup chief financial officer
Henry Laurens, American Revolutionary War leader
Francis Marion, Continental Army general, nicknamed the "Swamp Fox"
Samuel Maverick, firebrand rancher from whom the term "maverick" was coined.
Burnet Maybank, lawyer, Charleston mayor, South Carolina governor, and United States Senator
Burnet Maybank II, lawyer and lieutenant governor of South Carolina; made unsuccessful bid for governor; later served in Charleston County Council
Christopher Memminger, Confederate Minister if the Treasury, proponent of public schools
William Porcher Miles, lawyer, U.S. Representatives member of the Confederate Congress, designed Confederate battle flag
Robert Mills, architect
Vanessa Minnillo, Miss USA 1998, MTV VJ, Entertainment Tonight correspondent.
Bud Moore, NASCAR driver
William McGillivray Morrison, Depression-era mayor of Charleston
Will Patton, actor
Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, American Revolutionary War leader, Minister to France, Federalist candidate for President in the 1804 and 1808 elections
Joel Roberts Poinsett, botanist, politician, and diplomat; U.S. Representative, Minister to Mexico, Secretary of War, founded precursor to the Smithsonian Institution; namesake of the poinsettia
Stephanie Rennane – 18th-century New England footwear enthusiast
Carew Rice – silhouettist, "America's greatest silhouettist" per Carl Sandburg
Joseph P. Riley, Jr. – mayor of Charleston since 1975
Alexandra Ripley, author
Robert N. Rosen – lawyer, historian, author
Darius Rucker – singer - Hootie & the Blowfish.
Henry William de Saussure – second director of United States Mint, intendant (mayor) of Charleston
Philip Simmons – blacksmith, designer, folk artist
William Gilmore Simms – poet, novelist, historian
James Skivring Smith, president of Liberia from 1871-1872
Thomas Sully, painter
Melanie Thornton, R&B/pop singer, former member of La Bouche
George Alfred Trenholm, Confederate politician
Denmark Vesey, freedman tried and executed for allegedly plotting a slave revolt
J. Waites Waring, United States District Court for the District of South Carolina judge; was part of three-judge panel that heard the school desegregation case Briggs v. Elliott
William Charles Wells, physician