Top Celebrity Tweeters from RI
Monday, June 21, 2010
Twitter began with celebrities, and there's no reason RI shouldn't host its own A-list. Are you following these home-grown (or RI-connected) celebrities?
Lamar Odom
Handle: realLamarOdom
Followers: 749,159
National profile: Forward with the LA Lakers
RI connection: After an academic scandal at University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Odom transfered to URI, where he sat out the 1997-98 season. The following season he scored 17.6 points per game and led the Rams to conference championship in 1999.
Elizabeth Hasselbeck
Handle: ehasselbeck
Followers: 150,762
National profile: Co-host on daytime talk show The View, since 2003; contestant on Survivor: The Australian Outback, in 2001.
RI connection: Elisabeth DelPadre Filarski was born in Cranston, attended St. Mary school there, and then St. Mary Academy - Bay View, in East Providence.
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Shanna Moakler
Handle: ShannaMoakler
Followers: 77,805
National profile: Model, actress, reality television star, and Miss USA in 1995. She was married to Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and their married life was the basis of Meet the Barkers on MTV.
RI connection: Born in Providence, Moakler attended Barrington High School. She represented Rhode Island in the Miss Teen USA pageant in 1992.
Walter Mossberg
Handle: waltmossberg
Followers: 68,876
National profile: High-profile journalist and principal technology columnist for The Wall Street Journal. He co-created, produces and hosts the Journal's annual D: All Things Digital conference.
RI connection: Mossberg is from Warwick and went to high school there.
Photo Walt Mossberg and Steve Jobs at All Thing Digital 5, photo by Joi
Charlie Day
Handle: TheCharlieDay
Followers: 62,756
National profile: A TV and film actor, Day is best known for his role as Charlie Kelly on the FX series, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
RI connection: A Middletown native, Day graduated from Portsmouth Abbey School. His father, Thomas Day, is an English/Music professor at Salve Regina University in Newport.
Kristin Hersh
Handle: kristinhersh
Followers: 40,816
National profile: Singer/songwriter who performs solo acoustic concerts but may be best known for her singing and guitar work for the alternative rock group Throwing Muses. She currently leads the hardcore punk-influenced power trio 50 Foot Wave. Her memoir, Rat Girl, is being published this August by Penguin Books.
RI connection: Hersh formed Throwing Muses with her stepsister Tanya Donelly when they were students at Rogers High School in Newport.
Photo Billy O'Connell
Josh Schwartz
Handle: JoshSchwartz76
Followers: 24,290
National profile: Screenwriter and TV producer, Schwartz has created and helmed two of teen TV's biggest hits: The O.C. and Gossip Girl.
RI connection: Born in Providence, Schwartz grew up on the East Side and attended The Wheeler School before heading to California for college. His scripts often incorporate details from his life and friends in Rhode Island.
Claudia Jordan
Handle: ClaudiaJordan
Followers: 19,703
National profile: A model, TV and radio personality, Jordan has held Case #1 on the immensely popular Deal or No Deal TV game show. She appeared on Celebrity Apprentice and now hosts a weekly radio show on Sirius/XM's The Foxxhole, called "The Claudia Jordan Show." She also co-hosted Miss Universe Pageant.
RI connection: Born in Providence, Jordan held the Miss Rhode Island Teen USA 1990 title and went on to earn the Miss Rhode Island USA title. She placed in the Top 10 in the national pageant in 1997.
Nadia Bjorlin
Handle: RealNadiaB
Followers: 16,699
National profile: Days of Our Lives star, film actress, singer. She is slated to star in the Web series Venice.
RI connection: Born in Newport, although her family moved to her father's native Sweden when she was two months old.
Tim Daly
Handle: TimmyDaly
Followers: 8,197
National profile: Actor on stage, film, and TV. Best known for his leading role on the NBC sitcom Wings, as well as drug-addicted screenwriter J.T. Dolan on The Sopranos, for which he was nominated for an Emmy. Currently starring as Pete Wilder on ABC's Private Practice.
RI connection: Performing with Trinity Repertory Theatre in the early 1980s, Daly moved back to Providence with his wife, actor Amy Von Nostrand, in the 1990s.
And don't miss the fact that local band Deer Tick has a building Twitter presence (2,057 followers), and while Family Guy creator (and RISD grad) Seth MacFarlane is currently overhauling his Twitter account, two of his animated characters are actively Tweeting: Peter Griffin and Brian Griffin, each with followers in the mid-2,000s.
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