100 Notable alumni of Barnard College
Updated: June 13, 2026 EliteDegrees
Barnard College is ranked #1,213 in the world and #307 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Barnard College sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with Barnard College won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Helene D. Gayle
1955-. (aged 71)
pediatrician
Helene D. Gayle is an American physician, and academic and non-profit administrator. She was president of Spelman College until 2024. She formerly was CEO of the Chicago Community Trust, one of the nation's leading community foundations. Earlier in her career she was the director of international humanitarian organization CARE, and spent much of her career in the field of public...
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2. Kang Tongbi
1881-1969 (aged 88)
journalist
poet
Kang Tongbi, also romanized as Kang Tung Pih, was the daughter of Kang Youwei, a Chinese reformer and political figure of the late Qing dynasty and early Republican era.
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3. Marjorie Perloff
1931-2024 (aged 93)
literary critic
university teacher
journalist
philosopher
literary scholar
Marjorie Perloff was an Austrian-born American poetry scholar and critic, known for her study of avant-garde poetry.
4. Nancy Dupree
1927-2017 (aged 90)
archaeologist
anthropologist
historian
Nancy Hatch Dupree was an American historian whose work primarily focused on the history of modern Afghanistan. She was the director of the Afghanistan Center at Kabul University and author of five books that she compiled while studying the history of Afghanistan from 1962 until the late 1970s, writing about tourism and history of Bamyan, Kabul, Kandahar, Herat, Mazar-i-Sharif and...
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5. Elizabeth Hughes Gossett
1907-1981 (aged 74)
philanthropist
Elizabeth Evans Hughes Gossett, the daughter of statesman Charles Evans Hughes, was the first American, and one of the first people in the world, treated with insulin for type 1 diabetes. She received over 42,000 insulin shots over her lifetime.
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6. Peggy Feury
1924-1985 (aged 61)
television actor
stage actor
actor
film actor
Peggy Feury was an American actress on Broadway, in films, and on television. She became a highly regarded acting teacher in New York and then in Los Angeles. Throughout her career, she taught many notable students.
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7. Annie Leonard
1964-. (aged 62)
activist
screenwriter
film director
Annie Marie Leonard is an American proponent of sustainability and a critic of consumerism. She created the animated film The Story of Stuff (2007), which describes the life cycle of material goods. In 2014, she became the executive director of Greenpeace USA.
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8. Loretta Mester
1958-. (aged 68)
banker
economist
businessperson
Loretta Jean Mester was president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
9. Irma Brandeis
1905-1990 (aged 85)
writer
poet
literary critic
university teacher
Irma Brandeis was an American scholar of Dante Alighieri. Her work The Ladder of Vision was acclaimed as a breakthrough in Dantean studies upon its publication in the 1960s.
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10. Rachel Cohn
1968-. (aged 58)
writer
science fiction writer
children's writer
novelist
Rachel Cohn is an American young adult fiction writer. Her first book, Gingerbread, was published in 2002. Since then she has gone on to write many other successful YA and younger children's books, and has collaborated on six books with the author David Levithan.
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11. Sadie Dupuis
1989-. (aged 37)
writer
poet
guitarist
musician
Sarah Elizabeth "Sadie" Dupuis is an American musician who is the guitarist, lead vocalist and lyricist for the band Speedy Ortiz. She has also released two solo albums, Slugger and Haunted Painting, under the name Sad13. Dupuis has published two books of poetry. A portrait of her was featured on the August 22, 2022 cover of The New Yorker. In...
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12. Mary Harriman Rumsey
1881-1934 (aged 53)
activist
Mary Harriman Rumsey was an American social activist and government official. She was the founder of The Junior League for the Promotion of Settlement Movements, later known as the Junior League of the City of New York of the Association of Junior Leagues International Inc, and served as Chair of the Consumer Advisory Board of the National Recovery Administration. Mary...
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13. Nancy Gernter
1946-. (aged 80)
lawyer
judge
Nancy Gertner is an American lawyer and jurist who was a United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts from 1994 until retiring in 2011. She is now a professor of practice at Harvard Law School.
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14. Dean Spade
1977-. (aged 49)
jurist
lawyer
writer
university teacher
LGBTQ rights activist
Dean Spade is an American lawyer, transgender activist, writer, and associate professor of law at Seattle University School of Law. Since graduating from UCLA School of Law in 2001, Spade has organized a number of activist projects such as the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, a non-profit providing free legal services to genderqueer marginalized groups in New York City. Spade entered...
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15. Laura Flanders
1961-. (aged 65)
journalist
radio personality
Laura Flanders is an English broadcast journalist living in the United States who presents the weekly, long-form interview show The Laura Flanders Show. Flanders has described herself as a "lefty person".
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16. Hallie Ephron
1948-. (aged 78)
journalist
novelist
Hallie Elizabeth Ephron is an American novelist, book reviewer, journalist, and writing teacher. She is the author of mystery and suspense novels. Her novels Never Tell a Lie, There Was an Old Woman, Come and Find Me, and Night Night, Sleep Tight were finalists for the Mary Higgins Clark Award. In 2011, Never Tell a Lie was made into a...
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17. Merryl Tisch
Merryl H. Tisch is currently the Chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees, and the former Chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents. She is married to James S. Tisch, an heir to the Loews Corporation. In November 2015, she stepped down from her role after nearly 20 years on the board.
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18. Alexis Sablone
1986-. (aged 40)
skateboarder
architect
artist
Alexis Sablone is a goofy-footed American professional skateboarder, who ranked 12th in the world as of July 2021. She has competed in every X Games competition since 2009, the World Skateboarding Championship, and skated on the Dew Tour. Sablone competed in the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, placing 4th in the women's street final. In addition to being a professional...
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19. Polly Trottenberg
1964-. (aged 62)
politician
Polly Ellen Trottenberg is dean of New York University's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. She was previously an American government official who served as Deputy Secretary of Transportation under Pete Buttigieg from 2021 to 2025, and as the acting administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration from June 2023 to October 2023. She previously served as commissioner of the New...
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20. Agnes E. Meyer
1887-1970 (aged 83)
patron of the arts
activist
political activist
philanthropist
art collector
Agnes Elizabeth Ernst Meyer was an American journalist, philanthropist, civil rights activist, and art patron. Throughout her life, Meyer was engaged with intellectuals, artists, and writers from around the world. Meyer's marriage to the financier Eugene Meyer, son of Marc Eugene Meyer, provided her with wealth and status that enabled her to influence national policy, such as social welfare programs....
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21. Azita Raji
1961-2022 (aged 61)
diplomat
investment banker
Azita Raji was an Iranian-born American diplomat, banker, and philanthropist. She was nominated by President Barack Obama in October 2014 to serve as the United States ambassador to the Kingdom of Sweden, and confirmed unanimously by the United States Senate in February 2016. She presented her credentials to King Carl XVI Gustaf on March 15, 2016, and completed her tour...
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22. Lauren Tarshis
1963-. (aged 63)
writer
children's writer
Lauren Tarshis is an American author of children's books, with several series of fiction, non-fiction and historical fiction works found in thousands of libraries and translated into several languages.
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23. Katherine Boo
1964-. (aged 62)
journalist
writer
Katherine J. "Kate" Boo is an American investigative journalist who has documented the lives of people in poverty. She has received the MacArthur Fellowship (2002), the National Book Award for Nonfiction (2012), and her work earned the 2000 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for The Washington Post. She has been a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine since 2003....
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24. Maria Semple
1964-. (aged 62)
writer
novelist
television producer
screenwriter
Maria Keogh Semple is an American novelist and screenwriter. She is the author of This One Is Mine (2008), Where'd You Go, Bernadette (2012), and Today Will Be Different (2016). Her television credits include Beverly Hills, 90210, Mad About You, Saturday Night Live, Arrested Development, Suddenly Susan, and Ellen. She is a 2013 recipient of the Alex Awards.
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25. Anna Schwartz
1915-2012 (aged 97)
university teacher
economist
writer
Anna Jacobson Schwartz was an American economist who worked at the National Bureau of Economic Research in New York City and a writer for The New York Times. Paul Krugman has said that Schwartz is "one of the world's greatest monetary scholars."
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26. Ellen Willis
1941-2006 (aged 65)
music critic
journalist
essayist
women's rights activist
Ellen Jane Willis was an American left-wing political essayist, journalist, activist, feminist, and pop music critic. A 2014 collection of her essays, The Essential Ellen Willis, received the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.
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27. Ann Brashares
1967-. (aged 59)
children's writer
novelist
writer
Ann Brashares is an American young adult novelist. She is best known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.
28. Audrey Strauss
lawyer
Audrey Strauss is an American attorney who served as the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York from June 20, 2020, to October 10, 2021. Previously the deputy U.S. Attorney, Strauss became the acting U.S. Attorney after the previous U.S. attorney, Geoffrey Berman, was fired by President Donald Trump at the request of Attorney General William Barr....
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29. Leora Dana
1923-1983 (aged 60)
film actor
television actor
stage actor
Leora Dana was an American film, stage and television actress from New York City. Dana appeared in numerous productions across film television and theatre including The Madwoman of Chaillot, Williamsburg: The Story of a Patriot and The Asphalt Jungle (TV series). She won several awards across her career including the Clarence Derwent Award for Most Promising female. Dana died in...
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30. Joan Whitney Payson
1903-1975 (aged 72)
philanthropist
socialite
entrepreneur
art collector
businessperson
Joan Whitney Payson was an American heiress, businesswoman, philanthropist, patron of the arts and art collector, and a member of the prominent Whitney family. She co-founded, and was the majority owner of, Major League Baseball's New York Mets baseball franchise, making her the first woman to own a major league team in North America without inheriting it.
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31. Kristen Roupenian
1982-. (aged 44)
screenwriter
short story writer
writer
Kristen Roupenian is an American writer best known for her 2017 short story "Cat Person" and her 2019 short story collection You Know You Want This.
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32. Sheila Nevins
1939-. (aged 87)
film producer
television producer
film director
Sheila Nevins is an American television producer and former head of MTV Documentary Films division of MTV Entertainment Studios. Previously, Nevins was the president of HBO Documentary Films, where she produced over 1,000 documentary films. She has worked on productions that have been recognized with 35 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, 42 Peabody Awards, and 26 Academy Awards. Nevins has...
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33. Maria Hinojosa
1961-. (aged 65)
journalist
Maria de Lourdes Hinojosa Ojeda is a Mexican-American journalist. She is the anchor and executive producer of Latino USA, a syndicated public radio show devoted to Latino issues. She is also the founder, president and CEO of Futuro Media Group, which produces the show. In 2022, Hinojosa won a Pulitzer Prize.
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34. Hope Portocarrero
1929-1991 (aged 62)
socialite
Hope Portocarrero Debayle, also known as Madame Somoza and Hope Somoza Baldocchi later in life, was an American socialite and, beginning in 1967, the First Lady of Nicaragua as the wife of president Anastasio Somoza Debayle. In 1968, she was named to the International Best Dressed List. She was the mother of Anastasio Somoza Portocarrero and four other children.
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35. Sophia Takal
1986-. (aged 40)
screenwriter
film director
actor
film actor
Sophia Takal is an American actress, writer and director, perhaps best known for her work in independent features such as All the Light in the Sky, Supporting Characters and Gabi on the Roof in July. Filmmaker magazine named Takal one of the "25 New Faces of Film" in 2011. She directed and co-wrote the 2019 remake of the 1974 horror...
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36. Susan Stamberg
1938-2025 (aged 87)
journalist
Susan Phoebe Stamberg was an American radio journalist. She was co-host of NPR's flagship program All Things Considered from 1972 to 1986. In that role Stamberg was the first female host of a national news broadcast. She was considered one of NPR's "Founding Mothers" along with Nina Totenberg, Linda Wertheimer, and Cokie Roberts. She worked for NPR in a variety...
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37. Rana Foroohar
1970-. (aged 56)
journalist
financial analyst
Rana Aylin Foroohar is an American author, business columnist and an associate editor at the Financial Times. She is also CNN's global economic analyst.
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38. Mona Charen
1957-. (aged 69)
writer
journalist
political scientist
columnist
Mona Charen Parker is an American conservative columnist, journalist, and political commentator. Charen has written four books, and is an outspoken critic of the Trump administration.
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39. Kellie Gerardi
1989-. (aged 37)
customer service worker
astronaut
media professional
ship sponsor
Kellie Gerardi is an American social media influencer, defense professional, and commercial astronaut who is known for a sub-orbital spaceflight with Virgin Galactic and her candidacy for the Mars One reality television show.
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40. Sigrid Nunez
1951-. (aged 75)
writer
novelist
Sigrid Nunez is an American author and writer who is best known for her novels. Her seventh novel, The Friend, won the 2018 National Book Award for Fiction. In 2025, Nunez was named as the recipient of a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in the fiction category.
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41. Jeanine Tesori
1961-. (aged 65)
composer
lyricist
Jeanine Tesori, known earlier in her career as Jeanine Levenson, is an American composer and musical arranger best known for her work in the theater. She is the most prolific and honored female theatrical composer in history, with five Broadway musicals, six Tony Award nominations, and five Grammy Award nominations for Best Musical Theater Album. She won the 1999 Drama...
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42. Becca Balint
1968-. (aged 58)
teacher
columnist
politician
Rebecca A. Balint is an American politician who is a member of the United States House of Representatives from Vermont's at-large congressional district. A progressive Democrat, she served as a member of the Vermont Senate from Windham County from 2015 to 2023, as majority leader from 2017 to 2021, and as president pro tempore from 2021 to 2023.
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43. Sana Amanat
1982-. (aged 44)
executive producer
comics writer
comics editor
editor
Sana Amanat is an American comic book editor and an executive of production and development at Marvel Studios, having formerly been the Director of Content and Character Development at Marvel Comics. She has worked on comics such as Captain Marvel, Hawkeye, Ultimate Comics: Spider-Man, and Ms. Marvel. Amanat is known for co-creating Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel, the first Muslim-American...
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44. Aline MacMahon
1899-1991 (aged 92)
film actor
actor
stage actor
Aline Laveen MacMahon was an American actress. Her Broadway stage career began with a small role in Edgar Selwyn's The Mirage in 1920. She made her screen debut in 1931 and worked extensively in film, theater, and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed...
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45. Eileen Ford
1922-2014 (aged 92)
model agent
Eileen Cecile Ford was an American modeling agency executive. Along with her husband Gerard "Jerry" Ford, she co-founded Ford Models in 1946, which emerged as one of the earliest and most successful modeling agencies in the mid and late-20th century.
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46. Janna Levin
1967-. (aged 59)
mathematician
theoretical physicist
physicist
Janna J. Levin is an American theoretical cosmologist and a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in astronomy and physics with a concentration in philosophy at Barnard College in 1988 and a PhD in theoretical physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1993. Much of her work deals with looking for...
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47. Anna Quindlen
1952-. (aged 74)
columnist
novelist
writer
journalist
children's writer
Anna Marie Quindlen is an American author, journalist, and opinion columnist.
48. Petra Costa
1983-. (aged 43)
actor
screenwriter
film director
Ana Petra Costa is a Brazilian filmmaker, screenwriter, producer, and narrator, and a co-founder of the production company Busca Vida Filmes. Petra has been a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences since 2018. She is internationally recognized for her hybrid, essayistic approach, in which intimate themes such as grief, memory, trauma, and identity intertwine with historical...
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49. Rebecca Goldstein
1950-. (aged 76)
biographer
novelist
writer
classical scholar
philosopher
Rebecca Goldstein is an American philosopher and novelist. She has written ten books, both fiction and nonfiction. She holds a Ph.D. in philosophy of science from Princeton University, and is sometimes grouped with novelists such as Richard Powers and Alan Lightman, who create fiction that is knowledgeable of, and sympathetic toward, science.
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50. Jamie Babbit
1970-. (aged 56)
screenwriter
director
film director
writer
film producer
Jamie Merill Babbit is an American director, producer and screenwriter. She directed the films But I'm a Cheerleader (1999), The Quiet (2005), and Itty Bitty Titty Committee (2007). She has also directed episodes of such television series as Russian Doll, Gilmore Girls, Malcolm in the Middle, United States of Tara, Looking, Nip/Tuck, The L Word, Silicon Valley, The Marvelous Mrs....
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51. Helen Gahagan Douglas
1900-1980 (aged 80)
stage actor
actor
film actor
politician
Helen Gahagan Douglas was an American actress and politician.
52. Ntozake Shange
1948-2018 (aged 70)
playwright
actor
writer
poet
novelist
Ntozake Shange was an American playwright and poet. As a Black feminist, she addressed issues relating to race and Black power in much of her work. She is best known for her Obie Award–winning play, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1975). She also penned novels including Sassafrass, Cypress & Indigo (1982), Liliane...
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53. Lydia Davis
1947-. (aged 79)
university teacher
novelist
writer
linguist
translator
Lydia Davis is an American short story writer, novelist, essayist, and translator from French and other languages, who often writes very short stories. Davis has produced several new translations of French literary classics, including Swann's Way by Marcel Proust and Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert.
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54. Jeane Kirkpatrick
1926-2006 (aged 80)
diplomat
political scientist
university teacher
politician
Jeane Duane Kirkpatrick was an American diplomat and political scientist who played a major role in the foreign policy of the Ronald Reagan administration. An ardent anticommunist, she was a longtime Democrat who became a neoconservative and switched to the Republican Party in 1985. After serving as Ronald Reagan's foreign policy adviser in his 1980 presidential campaign, she became the...
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55. Peggy McCay
1927-2018 (aged 91)
television actor
stage actor
actor
film actor
Margaret Ann "Peggy" McCay was an American actress whose career began in 1949, and includes theatre, television, soap operas, and feature films. McCay may be best known for originating the roles of Vanessa Dale on the CBS soap opera Love of Life (a role she played from 1951 to 1955), and Caroline Brady, which she played from 1983 to 2016...
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56. Mozhan Marnò
1980-. (aged 46)
actor
television actor
screenwriter
writer
film actor
Mozhan Navabi is an American film and television actress. She is known for her roles in The Blacklist and House of Cards and played Soraya Manutchehri in The Stoning of Soraya M.. She was previously known as Mozhan Marnò, but returned to her given last name, Navabi, in 2023.
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57. Louise Post
1966-. (aged 60)
composer
singer-songwriter
guitarist
singer
Louise Lightner Post is an American musician. She is best known for being a vocalist and guitarist of the alternative rock band Veruca Salt, which she co-founded with Nina Gordon in 1992.
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58. Sarah Thompson
1979-. (aged 47)
film actor
actor
television actor
Sarah Thompson is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Eve in Angel (2003–2004) and as Rose in 7th Heaven (2005–2006).
59. Zuzanna Szadkowski
1978-. (aged 48)
film actor
television actor
stage actor
Zuzanna Szadkowski is a Polish-American actress known for her role as Dorota Kishlovsky on CW teen drama series Gossip Girl. Szadkowski also appeared on The Knick, Girls, Search Party, The Good Wife, The Sopranos, and Guiding Light. She made her New York Stage debut in Nora Ephron and Delia Ephron's Love, Loss, and What I Wore in which she appeared...
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60. Twyla Tharp
1941-. (aged 85)
film director
ballet dancer
dancer
writer
choreographer
Twyla Tharp is an American dancer, choreographer, and author who lives and works in New York City. In 1965 she formed the company Twyla Tharp Dance, which merged with American Ballet Theatre in 1988. She regrouped the company in 1991. Her work often uses classical, jazz, and contemporary pop music.
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61. Isra Hirsi
2003-. (aged 23)
climate activist
environmentalist
Isra Hirsi is an American environmental activist. She co-founded and served as the co-executive director of the U.S. Youth Climate Strike. In 2020, she was named in the Fortune's 40 Under 40 Government and Politics list. She is the daughter of U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar.
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62. Carol S. Dweck
1946-. (aged 80)
university teacher
psychologist
Carol Susan Dweck is an American psychologist. She holds the Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professorship of Psychology at Stanford University. Dweck is known for her work on motivation and mindset. She was on the faculty at the University of Illinois, Harvard, and Columbia before joining the Stanford University faculty in 2004. She was named an Association for Psychological Science (APS)...
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63. Molly Jong-Fast
1978-. (aged 48)
novelist
political pundit
writer
memoirist
podcaster
Molly Jong-Fast is an American journalist, novelist, and political commentator.
64. Sprague Grayden
1980-. (aged 46)
television actor
stage actor
actor
film actor
Sprague Grayden is an American actress. She played schoolteacher Heather Lisinski in the television drama Jericho, Karen Kawalski in John Doe, first daughter Olivia Taylor in the television thriller 24, and Kristi Rey in the films Paranormal Activity 2 and 3.
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65. Virginia Hall
1906-1982 (aged 76)
intelligence analyst
SOE agent
spy
Virginia Hall Goillot DSC, Croix de Guerre, MBE, code named Marie and Diane, was an American who worked with the United Kingdom's clandestine Special Operations Executive (SOE) and the American Office of Strategic Services (OSS) in France during World War II.
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66. Lionel Shriver
1957-. (aged 69)
novelist
writer
journalist
Lionel Shriver is an American author and journalist. Her novel We Need to Talk About Kevin won the Orange Prize for Fiction in 2005.
67. Erica Jong
1942-. (aged 84)
writer
poet
novelist
women's rights activist
Erica Jong is an American novelist, satirist, and poet known particularly for her 1973 novel Fear of Flying. The book became famously controversial for its attitudes towards female sexuality and figured prominently in the development of second-wave feminism. The Washington Post said in 2013 that it had sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, while by 2022, The New York...
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68. Alexis Stewart
1965-. (aged 61)
television presenter
radio personality
journalist
Alexis Gilbert Stewart is an American television and radio host presenter. She is the only child of Martha Stewart and her ex-husband Andrew Stewart. She was the co-host of Whatever with Alexis and Jennifer on Sirius Satellite Radio, and Whatever with Alexis and Jennifer on the Hallmark Channel alongside co-host Jennifer Hutt.
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69. Jeannette Walls
1960-. (aged 66)
opinion journalist
writer
journalist
Jeannette Walls is an American author and journalist widely known as former gossip columnist for MSNBC.com and author of The Glass Castle, a memoir of the nomadic family life of her childhood. Published in 2005, it had been on the New York Times Best Seller list for 421 weeks as of June 3, 2018. She is a 2006 recipient of...
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70. Jane Wyatt
1910-2006 (aged 96)
television actor
stage actor
actor
film actor
Jane Waddington Wyatt was an American actress. She starred in a number of Hollywood films, such as Frank Capra's Lost Horizon, but is likely best known for her role as homemaker and mother Margaret Anderson on the CBS and NBC television comedy series Father Knows Best, and as Amanda Grayson, the human mother of Spock on the science-fiction television series...
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71. Laurie Anderson
1947-. (aged 79)
composer
choreographer
poet
director
performance artist
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American avant-garde artist, musician and filmmaker whose work encompasses performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and sculpting, Anderson pursued a variety of performance art projects in New York City during the 1970s, focusing particularly on language, technology, and visual imagery. She achieved unexpected commercial success when her song "O...
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72. Kelly McCreary
1981-. (aged 45)
voice actor
stage actor
actor
film actor
Kelly J. McCreary is an American actress, best known for her role on the ABC drama series Grey's Anatomy as Dr. Maggie Pierce, the half-sister of series protagonist Meredith Grey. She joined the series as a guest at the end of the tenth season, becoming a series regular in the eleventh season. She has reprised her role on the spin-off...
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73. Jhumpa Lahiri
1967-. (aged 59)
novelist
university teacher
screenwriter
actor
translator
Nilanjana Sudeshna "Jhumpa" Lahiri is a British-American author known for her short stories, novels, and essays in English and, more recently, in Italian.
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74. Christy Carlson Romano
1984-. (aged 42)
actor
singer
voice actor
Christy Carlson Romano is an American actress, podcaster, and singer. On the Disney Channel, she played Ren Stevens on Even Stevens and voiced the titular character from Kim Possible.
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75. Zora Neale Hurston
1891-1960 (aged 69)
folklorist
historian
civil rights advocate
writer
anthropologist
Zora Neale Hurston was an American writer, anthropologist, folklorist, and documentary filmmaker. She portrayed racial struggles in the early-20th-century American South and published research on Hoodoo and Caribbean Vodou. The most popular of her four novels is Their Eyes Were Watching God, published in 1937. She also wrote more than 50 short stories, plays, an autobiography, ethnographies, and many essays....
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76. Maya Soetoro-Ng
1970-. (aged 56)
teacher
Maya Kasandra Soetoro-Ng is an Indonesian-American academic, who is a faculty specialist at the Spark M. Matsunaga Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution, based in the College of Social Sciences at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She is also a consultant for the Obama Foundation, working to develop the Asia-Pacific Leaders Program. Soetoro-Ng is the maternal half-sister of Barack...
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77. Cassandra Clare
1973-. (aged 53)
film producer
screenwriter
writer
children's writer
novelist
Judith Lewis, better known by her pen name Cassandra Clare, is an American author of young adult fiction, best known for her bestselling series The Mortal Instruments.
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78. Margaret Mead
1901-1978 (aged 77)
curator
film director
writer
anthropologist
poet
Margaret Mead was an American cultural anthropologist, author and speaker, who appeared frequently in the mass media during the mid-twentieth century.
79. Suzanne Vega
1959-. (aged 67)
singer
playwright
guitarist
writer
singer-songwriter
Suzanne Nadine Vega is an American singer-songwriter of folk-inspired music. Vega's music career spans 40 years. In the mid-1980s and 1990s, she released four singles that entered the Top 40 on the UK singles chart, "Marlene on the Wall", "Left of Center", "Luka" and "No Cheap Thrill".
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80. Frankie Shaw
1986-. (aged 40)
film director
television actor
television producer
actor
film actor
Rachel Frances Shaw is an American actress, writer and director. She is best known for playing Bridgette Bird on the Showtime series SMILF, based on the 2015 short film of the same title, which she wrote, directed and starred in. Shaw is also known for playing Mary Jo Cacciatore on the 2010–2011 Spike TV series Blue Mountain State, and her...
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81. Vinessa Shaw
1976-. (aged 50)
film director
model
television actor
actor
film actor
Vinessa Elizabeth Shaw is an American film actress and model. She began her career as a child actress, making her feature film debut in the slasher film Home Sweet Home (1981). She had her breakout role in Disney's Halloween comedy-fantasy film Hocus Pocus (1993). Shaw also appeared in Ladybugs (1992) and L.A. Without a Map (1998).
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82. Lee Remick
1935-1991 (aged 56)
stage actor
television actor
character actor
actor
film actor
Lee Ann Remick was an American actress. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for the film Days of Wine and Roses (1962) and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her role in Wait Until Dark (1966) in addition to earning seven Emmy Award nominations.
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83. Patricia Highsmith
1921-1995 (aged 74)
writer
comics writer
novelist
screenwriter
Patricia Highsmith was an American novelist and short story writer widely known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. She wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories in a career spanning nearly five decades, and her work has led to more than two dozen film adaptations. Her writing was influenced by existentialist...
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84. Chelsea Peretti
1978-. (aged 48)
television actor
film director
actor
voice actor
stand-up comedian
Chelsea Peretti is an American comedian, actress, and writer. She portrayed Gina Linetti in the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine and has written for various TV series, including Parks and Recreation, Saturday Night Live and Kroll Show.
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85. Cynthia Nixon
1966-. (aged 60)
actor
poet
film actor
stage actor
slam poet
Cynthia Ellen Nixon is an American actress, activist, and theatre director. During her career, she received various accolades, including two Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and a Grammy Award, making her one of the few actresses to have won three of the four major American entertainment awards (EGOT). She has also been nominated for six Golden Globe Awards. Nixon...
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86. Joan Rivers
1933-2014 (aged 81)
director
film actor
film producer
film director
voice actor
Joan Alexandra Molinsky, known professionally as Joan Rivers, was an American comedian, actress, producer, writer and television host. She was noted for her blunt, often controversial comedic persona that was heavily self-deprecating and acerbic, especially towards celebrities and politicians, delivered in her signature New York accent. She is considered a pioneer of women in comedy. She received an Emmy Award...
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87. Martha Stewart
1941-. (aged 85)
model
writer
television producer
interior designer
blogger
Martha Helen Stewart is an American retail business woman, writer, and television personality. As the founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, focusing on home and hospitality, she gained success through a variety of business ventures, encompassing publishing, broadcasting, merchandising and e-commerce. She has written numerous bestselling books, was the publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine and hosted two syndicated television...
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88. Greta Gerwig
1983-. (aged 43)
playwright
film screenwriter
film producer
film actor
film director
Greta Celeste Gerwig is an American actress, screenwriter, and film director. Initially known for working on various mumblecore films, such as Baghead (2008) and Yeast (2008), in which she became an important figure in the movement. Since then she has expanded from acting in and co-writing independent films to directing major studio films. Gerwig was included in the annual Time...
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89. Kesha
1987-. (aged 39)
composer
singer-songwriter
designer
actor
songwriter
Kesha Rose Sebert, formerly stylized as Ke$ha, is an American singer and songwriter. In 2009 she was featured on rapper Flo Rida's number-one single, "Right Round".
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90. Liz Moore
1983-. (aged 43)
writer
university teacher
Liz Moore is an American novelist, screenwriter, and producer. She is a Professor of English at Temple University where she directs the MFA program in Creative Writing. After a brief time as a musician in New York City, which inspired her first novel, Moore shifted her focus to writing. She received the 2015 Rome Prize in Literature from the American...
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91. Judith Miller
1948-. (aged 78)
writer
war correspondent
journalist
Judith Miller is an American journalist and commentator who is known for writing about Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD) program both before and after the 2003 invasion, but her writings were later discovered to have been based on fabricated intelligence. She worked in the Washington bureau of The New York Times before joining Fox News in 2008.
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92. Kathleen Neal Cleaver
1945-. (aged 81)
activist
lawyer
journalist
professor
Kathleen Neal Cleaver is an American law professor and activist known for her involvement with the Black Power movement and the Black Panther Party.
93. Grace Lee Boggs
1915-2015 (aged 100)
civil rights advocate
editor
social activist
writer
feminist
Grace Lee Boggs was an American author, social activist, philosopher, and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1960s she and her husband, James Boggs, took their own political direction, turning their focus to civil rights and Black Liberation, Asian American, and...
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94. Ottessa Moshfegh
1981-. (aged 45)
novelist
screenwriter
writer
Ottessa Charlotte Moshfegh is an American author and novelist. Her debut novel, Eileen (2015), won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was a fiction finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Moshfegh's subsequent novels include My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Death in Her Hands, and Lapvona.
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95. Lauren Graham
1967-. (aged 59)
novelist
film producer
film actor
television actor
actor
Lauren Graham is an American actress and author. She is best known as Lorelai Gilmore on Gilmore Girls, for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Television Series Drama, and Sarah Braverman on Parenthood (2010–15). She also appeared in the films Sweet November (2001), Bad Santa (2003), The Pacifier (2005), Because I Said So...
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96. Park Yeon-mi
1993-. (aged 33)
human rights defender
writer
journalist
Yeonmi Park is a North Korean defector, author, and American conservative activist, described as "one of the most famous North Korean defectors in the world".
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97. Suki Kim
1970-. (aged 56)
teacher
writer
journalist
Suki Kim is a Korean American journalist and writer. She is the author of two books: the award-winning novel The Interpreter and a book of investigative journalism, Without You, There Is No Us: Undercover Among the Sons of North Korea's Elite. Kim is the only writer ever to have lived undercover in North Korea to conduct immersive journalism. Kim is...
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98. Fatima Bhutto
1982-. (aged 44)
poet
writer
journalist
Fatima Bhutto is a Pakistani writer and columnist. She is the daughter of politician Murtaza Bhutto, and grand-daughter of former Pakistani prime minister and president Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto. Born in Kabul, she was raised in Syria and Karachi, and received her bachelor's degree from Barnard College in New York City, followed by a master's degree from the SOAS, University of...
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99. Edwidge Danticat
1969-. (aged 57)
novelist
university teacher
short story writer
writer
children's writer
Edwidge Danticat is a Haitian American novelist and short story writer. Her first novel, Breath, Eyes, Memory, was published in 1994 and went on to become an Oprah's Book Club selection. Danticat has since written or edited several books and has been the recipient of many awards and honors. Her work has dealt with themes of national identity, mother-daughter relationships,...
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100. Lis Wiehl
1961-. (aged 65)
lawyer
Lis Wiehl is a New York Times bestselling American author of fiction and nonfiction books, and a legal analyst. She is the author of twenty books, including, most recently, A Spy in Plain Sight: The Inside Story of the FBI and Robert Hanssen―America's Most Damaging Russian Spy, published by Pegasus Books.
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