10 Most Famous People From Evangeline Parish

Last week we started a new series where we take a look at the most famous people in each Acadiana parish. We started with Acadia Parish and this week move north a little bit to Evangeline Parish.

(Yes, we're making it easy and just going in alphabetical order.)

And just for a bit of background, we've decided to stick to the eight more traditional Acadiana parishes when most people think of the area - Acadia, Evangeline, Iberia, Lafayette, St. Landry, St. Martin, St. Mary and Vermilion.

We mention that because in 1971 Louisiana legislation designated 22 parishes as being a part of "Acadiana," yet most recognize the aforementioned eight parishes as "Cajun Heartland USA."

Now, on to this week's parish we're celebrating - Evangeline Parish.

It sits in the most northwest corner of Acadiana and is one of the most sparsely populated of all eight of the parishes at a total of 32,350 residents in the 2020 census.

The parish was created out of lands formerly belonging to St. Landry Parish in 1910. Ville Platte is the parish seat, but some of the other towns include Basile and Mamou along with the Villages of Chataignier, Pine Prairie, and Turkey Creek.

There aren't a ton of super-famous people from this mostly rural parish, but there are quite a few accomplished individuals who were born and/or raised in this fine parish.

So here you go, our 10 most famous people from Evangeline Parish.