100 Notable alumni of University of California – Santa Barbara
Updated: June 23, 2026 EliteDegrees
University of California – Santa Barbara is ranked #87 in the world and #55 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from University of California – Santa Barbara sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. Many individuals affiliated with University of California – Santa Barbara won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.
1. Denis Dutton
1944-2010 (aged 66)
university teacher
philosopher
Dr Denis Laurence Dutton was an American philosopher of art, web entrepreneur, and media activist. He was a professor of philosophy at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. He was also a co-founder and co-editor of the websites Arts & Letters Daily, ClimateDebateDaily.com, and cybereditions.com.
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2. Marc Grossman
1951-. (aged 75)
diplomat
Marc Isaiah Grossman is an American former diplomat and government official. He served as United States Ambassador to Turkey, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs, and Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs. He was most recently the United States Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan and is currently a Vice Chairman of The Cohen Group, a business strategic...
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3. Viral B. Shah
computer scientist
Viral B Shah is an Indian computer scientist, best known for being a co-creator of the Julia programming language. He was also actively involved in the initial design of the Aadhaar project in India which provides a 12-digit unique identity number to each Indian resident based on their biometric and demographic data. Based on his experiences implementing Aadhaar and other...
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4. Delaine Eastin
1947-2024 (aged 77)
politician
Delaine Andree Eastin was an American politician and educator from California. A professor by education, she was the first woman to be elected California State Superintendent of Public Instruction (1995–2003) since the office was first held in January 1851. Eastin represented parts of Alameda County and Santa Clara County in the California State Assembly between 1986 and 1994. She was...
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5. Soledad Puértolas
1947-. (aged 79)
writer
Soledad Puértolas Villanueva is a Spanish writer, and on 28 January 2010 was named an inmortal or member of the Real Academia Española. She is a recipient of the Premio Planeta de Novela.
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6. Lindsay Taylor
1981-. (aged 45)
basketball player
basketball coach
Lindsay Corine Taylor is an American former professional basketball player. She played in the WNBA, KBSL, LFB, WKBL, Polish Women's League, WCBA, and Angola Women's Basketball League, usually playing the center position. An experienced player, Taylor has played professionally overseas in Europe, Asia, and Africa in 13 basketball seasons between 2005 and 2015.
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7. Benjamin H. Bratton
1968-. (aged 58)
university teacher
designer
sociologist
Benjamin H. Bratton is an American philosopher of technology known for his work spanning social theory, computer science, speculative design, artificial intelligence, and for his writing on "planetary scale computation."
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8. Cori Close
1971-. (aged 55)
basketball player
basketball coach
Cori Rashel Close is an American college basketball coach who has served as the head women's basketball coach for the UCLA Bruins since 2011. Before UCLA, she spent time as an assistant coach at Florida State University and her alma mater, UC Santa Barbara (UCSB). She was a star player for UCSB, serving as a team captain during the 1992...
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9. Jack Bannon
1940-2017 (aged 77)
film actor
actor
television actor
John James Bannon was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Art Donovan on Lou Grant, a role he played for the duration of the series, from 1977 to 1982.
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10. Norris Cochran
1970-. (aged 56)
politician
Norris Whitehouse Cochran IV is an American government official who served as the acting United States Secretary of Health and Human Services from January to March 2021, having also served in this role previously in 2017. He serves as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Budget, and was Acting Assistant Secretary for Financial Resources in the United States Department of Health and...
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11. James Paul Gee
1948-. (aged 78)
linguist
James Gee is a retired American researcher who has worked in psycholinguistics, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, bilingual education, and literacy. Gee most recently held the position as the Mary Lou Fulton Presidential Professor of Literacy Studies at Arizona State University, originally appointed there in the Mary Lou Fulton Institute and Graduate School of Education. Gee has previously been a faculty affiliate...
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12. Chade-Meng Tan
1971-. (aged 55)
engineer
Chade-Meng Tan, known informally as Meng, is an author, philanthropist, motivator, and former software engineer. He was previously employed at Google and greeted celebrities who visited the Google campus. He retired from Google as its "Jolly Good Fellow" at the age of 45. He co-founded the Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute, along with Marc Lesser, and is co-chair of One...
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13. Rob Friend
1981-. (aged 45)
association football player
Robert Douglas Friend is a Canadian former professional soccer player, the president and co-founder of Vancouver FC, the ceo and co-founder of Pacific FC, the founder of Toca Football Canada, the co-founder of Canadian Premier League, the managing partner of SixFive Sport Fund also DRG Investment Group, and currently appointed as chief executive officer for Malaysia national team.
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14. Cynthia Breazeal
1967-. (aged 59)
computer scientist
university teacher
Cynthia Breazeal is an American AI and robotics scientist and entrepreneur. She is a pioneer of social robotics and human-robot interaction. She is the former chief scientist and chief experience officer of Jibo, a company she co-founded in 2012 that developed companion robots for the family at home. Currently, she is a professor of media arts and sciences at the...
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15. Ryan Spilborghs
1979-. (aged 47)
baseball player
Ryan Adam Rene Jean Spilborghs is an American baseball broadcaster for ROCKIES.TV & SiriusXM's MLB Network Radio, and a former professional baseball outfielder. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Colorado Rockies and in Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) for the Saitama Seibu Lions.
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16. Mark di Suvero
1933-. (aged 93)
sculptor
video artist
lithographer
Marco Polo di Suvero, better known as Mark di Suvero, is an abstract expressionist sculptor and 2010 National Medal of Arts recipient.
17. Dacher Keltner
1962-. (aged 64)
university teacher
psychologist
Dacher Joseph Keltner is a Mexican-born American professor of psychology at the University of California, Berkeley, who directs the Berkeley Social Interaction Lab.
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18. Chris Pontius
1987-. (aged 39)
association football player
Christopher Richard Pontius is an American former professional soccer player.
19. Larry Dierker
1946-. (aged 80)
baseball player
Lawrence Edward Dierker is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) pitcher, manager, and broadcaster. During a 14-year baseball career as a pitcher, he pitched from 1964 to 1977 for the Houston Colt.45s/Astros and the St. Louis Cardinals.
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20. Wayne Isham
1958-. (aged 68)
music video director
film director
Wayne Isham is an American film director and music video director who has directed films and music videos of many popular artists.
21. Barbara Bodine
1948-. (aged 78)
diplomat
Barbara K. Bodine is an American international relations scholar and former diplomat. She currently serves as the Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and Director of the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University. Bodine previously directed the Scholars in the Nation's Service Initiative (SINSI) and lectured at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson...
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22. Bruce Allen
1959-. (aged 67)
astrophysicist
astronomer
physicist
university teacher
Bruce Allen is an American physicist and director at the Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics in Hannover, Germany, and founder and leader of the distributed volunteer computing project Einstein@Home project. He is an honorary physics professor at Leibniz University Hannover, an adjunct physics professor at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee, and also the initiator / project leader of smartmontools hard...
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23. CaptainSparklez
1992-. (aged 34)
Minecraft YouTuber
Jordan Maron, known online as CaptainSparklez, is an American YouTuber and Twitch streamer mainly known for his Minecraft videos. As of January 2026, his main YouTube channel has over 11.4 million subscribers.
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24. Robert Duggan
1944-. (aged 82)
business executive
Robert W. Duggan is an American billionaire entrepreneur, biotech and health care executive. He is the former CEO of biopharmaceutical company Pharmacyclics and was previously CEO of surgical systems maker Computer Motion from 1997 to 2003. Duggan is the majority shareholder and CEO of Pulse Biosciences and Summit Therapeutics.
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25. Dillon Tate
1994-. (aged 32)
baseball player
Dillon Michael Tate is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Baltimore Orioles and Toronto Blue Jays. Tate played college baseball at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The Texas Rangers selected him in the first round of the 2015 MLB draft and traded him to...
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26. Matt Welch
1968-. (aged 58)
blogger
author
journalist
pundit
Matthew Lee Welch is an American blogger, journalist, author, and libertarian political pundit.
27. Adam Gray
1977-. (aged 49)
politician
Adam Channing Gray is an American politician who has served as the U.S. representative for California's 13th congressional district since 2025. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the California State Assembly from 2012 to 2022, representing the 21st district, which includes all of Merced County and portions of Stanislaus County.
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28. Leroy Chiao
1960-. (aged 66)
university teacher
entrepreneur
motivational speaker
engineer
astronaut
Leroy Chiao is an American chemical engineer, retired NASA astronaut, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and engineering consultant. Chiao flew on three Space Shuttle flights, and was the commander of Expedition 10, where he lived on board the International Space Station from October 13, 2004 to April 24, 2005. He is also a co-author and researcher for the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in...
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29. Tony Cárdenas
1963-. (aged 63)
insurance broker
real-estate agent
politician
Antonio Cárdenas is an American politician who served as the United States representative for California's 29th congressional district from 2013 to 2025.
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30. Mykel Hawke
1965-. (aged 61)
actor
soldier
writer
Mykel Hawke is a retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer, author, and television and film personality. He is perhaps best known for the television programs he created on Discovery Channel called Man, Woman, Wild and One Man Army. He left Discovery to work on two new programs: Lost Survivors for Travel Channel and Elite Tactical Unit for Outdoor Channel.
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31. Alexei Filippenko
1958-. (aged 68)
astrophysicist
astronomer
physicist
university teacher
Alexei Vladimir "Alex" Filippenko is an American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. Filippenko graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California. He received a Bachelor of Arts in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1979 and a Ph.D. in astronomy from the California Institute of Technology in 1984, where he...
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32. Yau-Man Chan
1952-. (aged 74)
table tennis player
reality television participant
Yau-Man Chan is a Malaysian table tennis player, technology executive, and reality television participant. He was the fourth-place finisher in the reality television series Survivor: Fiji. He returned to the show in Survivor: Micronesia, where he was the third contestant to be ousted. He was born in Hong Kong to ethnic Chinese parents and raised in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.
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33. Kazu Kibuishi
1978-. (aged 48)
comics artist
writer
illustrator
animator
graphic artist
Kazuhiro "Kazu" Kibuishi is a Japanese-born American graphic novel author and illustrator. He is best known for being the creator and editor of the comic anthology Flight and for creating the webcomic Copper. He is also the author and illustrator of the Amulet series.
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34. Edward Feser
1968-. (aged 58)
philosopher
Edward Charles Feser is an American Catholic philosopher. He is a Professor of Philosophy at Pasadena City College in Pasadena, California.
35. Ellen Hopkins
1955-. (aged 71)
writer
children's writer
poet
novelist
Ellen Louise Hopkins is a novelist who has published several New York Times bestselling novels that are popular among the teenage and young adult audience.
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36. Michael Boxall
1988-. (aged 38)
association football player
Michael Joseph Boxall is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a defender for Major League Soccer club Minnesota United and the New Zealand national team.
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37. Carol Folt
1951-. (aged 75)
scientist
biologist
ecologist
dean
Carol Lynn Folt is an American ecologist and academic administrator who served as the 12th president of the University of Southern California from July 2019 to June 2025. She previously served as the 11th chancellor of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 2013 to 2019 and as interim president of Dartmouth College from 2012 to 2013.
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38. Walter Kohn
1923-2016 (aged 93)
university teacher
chemist
physicist
Walter Kohn was an Austrian-American theoretical physicist and theoretical chemist. He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to understanding the electronic properties of materials. In particular, Kohn played the leading role in the development of density functional theory, which made it possible to calculate quantum mechanical electronic structure by...
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39. Joseph M. Acaba
1967-. (aged 59)
hydrogeologist
teacher
astronaut
Joseph Michael Acabá is an American educator, hydrogeologist, and NASA astronaut. In May 2004, he became the first person of Puerto Rican ancestry to be named as a NASA astronaut candidate, when he was selected as a member of NASA Astronaut Training Group 19. He completed his training on February 10, 2006, and was assigned to STS-119, which flew from...
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40. Amy Gumenick
1986-. (aged 40)
film actor
actor
television actor
Amy Jaclyn Gumenick is a Swedish-American actress. She appeared as Natalee Holloway in the television film of the same name (2009) and its sequel, the young Mary Winchester in Supernatural (2008–10), Carrie Cutter / Cupid in Arrow (2014–19) and Philomena Cheer in Turn: Washington's Spies (2014–2017).
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41. Carol Greider
1961-. (aged 65)
geneticist
biologist
biochemist
molecular biologist
Carolyn Widney Greider is an American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate. She is a Distinguished Professor of Molecular, Cell, and Developmental Biology at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
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42. Harry Glicken
1958-1991 (aged 33)
geologist
Harry Glicken was an American volcanologist. He researched Mount St. Helens in the United States before and after its 1980 eruption, and was very distraught about the death of volcanologist David A. Johnston, who was Glicken's mentor and supervisor in Spring 1980 at Mount St. Helens. Glicken was initially assigned to the USGS observation post in the weeks leading up...
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43. Jason Lezak
1975-. (aged 51)
swimmer
Jason Edward Lezak is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive who competed for the University of California, Santa Barbara. Lezak specialized in the 50 and 100-meter freestyle races, and represented the United States in four Olympic Games where he won eight Olympic medals.
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44. Teri Reeves
1981-. (aged 45)
film actor
television actor
stage actor
Teri Lynn Reeves is an American theater and television actress. Her television credits include Chicago Fire, Battleground, and NCIS.
45. Skip Schumaker
1980-. (aged 46)
baseball player
Jared Michael "Skip" Schumaker is an American professional baseball manager and former outfielder and second baseman who currently serves as the manager of the Texas Rangers of Major League Baseball (MLB). He played in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Cincinnati Reds, and has previously managed for the Miami Marlins.
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46. Jenna Lee
1980-. (aged 46)
presenter
columnist
journalist
Jennifer Anne "Jenna" Lee is an American journalist and former anchor on Fox News, where she co-hosted Happening Now with Jon Scott. Lee had previously co-anchored Fox Business' early-morning business news program, Fox Business Morning, with Connell McShane.
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47. Josh Elliott
1971-. (aged 55)
sports commentator
actor
news presenter
Josh Elliott is an American television journalist who most recently worked for CBS News. He has previously worked as the news anchor for ABC's Good Morning America, a sports anchor for NBC Sports and Today, and was a co-anchor for the live telecast of ESPN's morning edition of SportsCenter.
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48. Forrest Galante
1988-. (aged 38)
television personality
biologist
Forrest Galante is an American outdoor adventurer and television personality. He primarily seeks out animals on the brink of extinction. He is the host of the television shows Extinct or Alive and Mysterious Creatures with Forrest Galante on Animal Planet, and has appeared on multiple Shark Week shows.
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49. James Nunnally
1990-. (aged 36)
basketball player
James William Nunnally is an American professional basketball player for AEK Athens of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the FIBA Champions League. He played college basketball for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos.
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50. Alie Ward
1976-. (aged 50)
television presenter
podcaster
television actor
journalist
science communicator
Alison Ann "Alie" Ward is an American writer, actress, and television and podcast host. Born in California, Ward graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a degree in cinema. In 2016, she won an Emmy for Outstanding Writing Special Class for the CBS series Innovation Nation. In 2022, the iHeartRadio Podcast Awards named her podcast Ologies "Best Science...
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51. Saint Levant
2000-. (aged 26)
singer
songwriter
rapper
Marwan Abdelhamid, known professionally as Saint Levant (French: [sɛ̃ ləvɑ̃]; Arabic: سانت ليفانت), is a Palestinian singer-songwriter and rapper. A multilingual artist, he is best known for his song "Very Few Friends".
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52. Faisal bin Fahd
1945-1999 (aged 54)
politician
Faisal bin Fahd Al Saud was the president of Youth Welfare in Saudi Arabia from 1975 to 1999. He was a member of the House of Saud, a son of King Fahd, and one of the grandsons of Saudi's founder King Abdulaziz.
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53. Don Hertzfeldt
1976-. (aged 50)
filmmaker
film director
cinematographer
animator
director
Don Hertzfeldt is an American animator, writer, and independent filmmaker. He is a two-time Academy Award nominee who is best known for the animated films It's Such a Beautiful Day, the World of Tomorrow series, ME, and Rejected. In 2014, his work appeared on The Simpsons. Nine of his short films have competed at the Sundance Film Festival, a festival...
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54. Joseph C. Wilson
1949-2019 (aged 70)
political adviser
writer
diplomat
businessperson
whistleblower
Joseph Charles Wilson IV was an American diplomat who was best known for his 2002 trip to Niger to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase yellowcake uranium; his New York Times op-ed piece, "What I Didn't Find in Africa"; and the subsequent leaking by the Bush/Cheney administration of information pertaining to the identity of his wife Valerie...
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55. Christopher Gavigan
1974-. (aged 52)
writer
Christopher Gavigan is an American entrepreneur, author, and one of the co-founders of The Honest Company. He is also the founder and CEO of Prima and CEO of Healthy Child Healthy World.
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56. Richard Serra
1938-2024 (aged 86)
draftsperson
sculptor
visual artist
painter
television producer
Richard Serra was an American artist known for his large-scale abstract sculptures made for site-specific landscape, urban, and architectural settings, and whose work has been primarily associated with postminimalism. Described as "one of his era's greatest sculptors", Serra became notable for emphasizing the material qualities of his works and exploration of the relationship between the viewer, the work, and the...
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57. Gabe Vincent
1996-. (aged 30)
basketball player
Gabriel Nnamdi Vincent is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Nigerian national basketball team. He played college basketball for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos. Undrafted out of college, Vincent signed with the Stockton Kings of the NBA G League before joining the Miami Heat on a two-way contract. With...
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58. Chanel Miller
1992-. (aged 34)
writer
Chanel Miller is an American writer and artist based in San Francisco and New York City. She was known anonymously in People v. Turner as "Emily Doe" after she was sexually assaulted while unconscious on the campus of Stanford University in January 2015 by Brock Allen Turner. The following year, her victim impact statement at his sentencing hearing went viral...
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59. Gregg Araki
1959-. (aged 67)
film producer
screenwriter
cinematographer
director
film editor
Gregg Araki is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His Teenage Apocalypse film trilogy, consisting of Totally F***ed Up (1993), The Doom Generation (1995) and Nowhere (1997), has been heralded as a cult classic. His film Kaboom (2010) was the inaugural winner of the Queer Palm at the Cannes Film Festival.
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60. Lo Bosworth
1986-. (aged 40)
writer
entrepreneur
actor
film actor
Lauren Ogilvie "Lo" Bosworth is an American former reality television personality, founder and CEO of Love Wellness, and author. Bosworth rose to prominence as a cast member of Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and The Hills, which documented the lives of her and her friends.
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61. Moshe Kasher
1979-. (aged 47)
screenwriter
podcaster
television actor
comedian
actor
Mark Moshe Kasher is an American stand-up comedian, writer and actor based in the Los Angeles area. He is the author of the 2012 memoir Kasher in the Rye: The True Tale of a White Boy from Oakland Who Became a Drug Addict, Criminal, Mental Patient, and Then Turned 16. In 2009, iTunes named Kasher "Best New Comic" and his...
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62. Andrew D. Huberman
1975-. (aged 51)
university teacher
neuroscientist
podcaster
Andrew David Huberman is an American neuroscientist and podcaster. He is an associate professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He has been the host of the popular health and science focused podcast Huberman Lab since 2021. He has drawn criticism from scientists for promoting dietary supplements and for making poorly evidenced health claims.
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63. Barbara Rush
1927-2024 (aged 97)
television actor
stage actor
actor
film actor
Barbara Rush was an American actress of stage, screen, and television. In 1954, she won the Golden Globe Award for most promising female newcomer for her role in the 1953 American science-fiction film It Came from Outer Space. Later in her career, Rush became a regular performer in the television series Peyton Place, and appeared in TV movies, miniseries, and...
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64. Robby Krieger
1946-. (aged 80)
composer
singer-songwriter
guitarist
songwriter
Robert Alan Krieger is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Touch Me", and "Love Her Madly". When the Doors disbanded shortly after the death of lead singer Jim Morrison, Krieger continued to perform and record...
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65. Harris Faulkner
1965-. (aged 61)
television presenter
news presenter
journalist
Harris Kimberley Faulkner is an American conservative television news anchor and host who joined the Fox News Channel in 2005. She anchors The Faulkner Focus, a daily daytime show, and hosts Outnumbered. Additionally, she hosts her own primetime political franchise called Town Hall America with Harris Faulkner.
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66. Charissa Thompson
1982-. (aged 44)
television presenter
sports commentator
Charissa Jean Thompson is an American television host and sportscaster working for Fox Sports and Amazon Prime Video. Previously, Thompson worked for ESPN, Versus, GSN and the Big Ten Network. She was the co-host of SportsNation along with Marcellus Wiley until leaving ESPN for Fox Sports in June 2013. She became the host of Fox Sports Live on the new...
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67. Edi Gathegi
1979-. (aged 47)
television actor
stage actor
actor
film actor
Edi Mūe Gathegi is a Kenyan-American actor. He had his breakthrough playing Dr. Jeffrey "Big Love" Cole on the fourth season of the television series House (2007), followed by his roles as Cheese in the 2007 film Gone Baby Gone, vampire Laurent in the films Twilight and its sequel The Twilight Saga: New Moon, and as Darwin in X-Men: First...
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68. Andrew Schulz
1983-. (aged 43)
actor
comedian
television actor
Andrew Cameron Schulz is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and podcaster. In addition to his stand-up, he is known for his work on MTV2's Guy Code and its two spinoffs, the Flagrant podcast with Akaash Singh, and The Brilliant Idiots podcast. Schulz's first Netflix special, Schulz Saves America, premiered in December 2020. He has been described as part of the...
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69. Aja Naomi King
1985-. (aged 41)
television actor
stage actor
actor
film actor
Aja Naomi King is an American actress. King began her career in guest-starring roles on television, and starred in the short-lived CW medical comedy-drama series Emily Owens, M.D. (2012–2013). She also has starred in the films Four (2012) and Reversion (2015). After her breakthrough as Michaela Pratt in the ABC legal drama series How to Get Away with Murder (2014–2020),...
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70. Katy Tur
1983-. (aged 43)
writer
television presenter
journalist
storm chaser
Katherine Bear Tur-Dokoupil is an American author and broadcast journalist working as a correspondent for MS NOW. She has anchored daytime news coverage for the network since 2017; her show has been named Katy Tur Reports since 2021. She has also reported for the NBC news platforms Early Today, Today, NBC Nightly News, Meet the Press, and WNBC-TV, and for...
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71. Alison Eastwood
1972-. (aged 54)
film producer
model
film actor
designer
film director
Alison Eastwood is an American film director and actress.
72. Jack Johnson
1975-. (aged 51)
composer
record producer
guitarist
singer
surfer
Jack Hody Johnson is an American singer-songwriter. He plays a variety of styles including pop, rock, acoustic, folk and surf rock.
73. Jerry Trainor
1977-. (aged 49)
comedian
television actor
film actor
voice actor
musician
Gerald William "Jerry" Trainor is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as "Crazy" Steve in Drake & Josh and Spencer Shay in the teen sitcom iCarly (both on Nickelodeon) and its Paramount+ revival series of the same name, winning three Kids' Choice Awards for his performances. He also did voice work in T.U.F.F. Puppy as Dudley...
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74. Benjamin Bratt
1963-. (aged 63)
television actor
voice actor
film producer
actor
film actor
Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is known for playing Paco Aguilar in Blood in Blood Out. He had supporting film roles in the 1990s in Demolition Man (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994) and The River Wild (1994). From 1995 to 1999, he starred as NYPD Detective Rey Curtis on the NBC drama series Law & Order, for...
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75. Steve Aoki
1977-. (aged 49)
club DJ
disc jockey
collector
actor
record producer
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki is an American DJ and record producer. In 2012, Pollstar designated Aoki as the highest-grossing electronic dance music artist in North America from tours. In 2024, Gold House recognized him as one of the Most Impactful Asians. He has collaborated with artists such as will.i.am, Alan Walker, Afrojack, LMFAO, Tini, Linkin Park, AGNEZ MO, Iggy Azalea, Grandson,...
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76. Michael Douglas
1944-. (aged 82)
television actor
producer
film producer
actor
film actor
Michael Kirk Douglas is an American retired actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AFI Life Achievement Award.
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77. Gwyneth Paltrow
1972-. (aged 54)
businessperson
film actor
television producer
songwriter
stage actor
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and businesswoman. The daughter of filmmaker Bruce Paltrow and actress Blythe Danner, she established herself as a leading lady appearing in primarily mid-budget and period films during the 1990s and early 2000s, before transitioning to blockbusters and franchises. Her accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
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78. Beverly Archer
1948-. (aged 78)
film actor
actor
screenwriter
Beverly Archer is an American actress and writer who is perhaps best known as Iola Boylen on Mama's Family and Gunnery Sgt. Alva Bricker on Major Dad.
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79. Jose M. Hernandez
1962-. (aged 64)
engineer
businessperson
astronaut
José Moreno Hernández is a Mexican-American engineer and astronaut. He currently serves as a Regent of the University of California.
80. Kevin de León
1966-. (aged 60)
politician
Kevin Alexander Leon, known professionally as Kevin de León and colloquially as KDL, is an American politician who served as the Los Angeles City Council member for District 14 from 2020 until 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, he ran and was defeated in the 2018 United States Senate election in California against incumbent Senator Dianne Feinstein and came...
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81. Salud Carbajal
1964-. (aged 62)
politician
Salud Ortiz Carbajal is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 24th congressional district since 2017. He is a member of the Democratic Party, and his district covers Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.
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82. Grady Booch
1955-. (aged 71)
computer scientist
software developer
engineer
Grady Booch is an American software engineer, best known for developing the Unified Modeling Language (UML) with Ivar Jacobson and James Rumbaugh. He is recognized internationally for his innovative work in software architecture, software engineering, and collaborative development environments.
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83. Harvey Levin
1950-. (aged 76)
television producer
lawyer
reporter
Harvey Robert Levin is an American television producer, legal analyst, journalist and lawyer. He founded the celebrity news website TMZ in 2005 and later briefly served as the host of OBJECTified (2016–present), which aired on the Fox News Channel.
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84. Reza Aslan
1972-. (aged 54)
writer
university teacher
religious studies scholar
television producer
opinion journalist
Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American scholar of sociology, writer, and television host. A convert to evangelical Christianity from Shia Islam as a youth, Aslan eventually reverted to Islam but continued to write about Christianity. He has written five books on religion: No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam; Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age...
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85. Jared Huffman
1964-. (aged 62)
volleyball player
beach volleyball player
lawyer
politician
Jared William Huffman is an American lawyer and politician serving as the U.S. representative for California's 2nd congressional district since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, Huffman represented the 6th district in the California State Assembly from 2006 to 2012. He chaired the Assembly Water, Parks & Wildlife Committee and the Assembly Environmental Caucus. He was elected to Congress...
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86. Alan J. Heeger
1936-. (aged 90)
engineer
physicist
chemist
university teacher
Alan Jay Heeger is an American physicist, academic and Nobel Prize laureate in chemistry.
87. Ron Wyden
1949-. (aged 77)
basketball player
politician
Ronald Lee Wyden is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from Oregon, a seat he has held since 1996. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the United States House of Representatives from 1981 until 1996. Upon the death of Representative Don Young in 2022, Wyden became the dean of the West Coast's Congressional...
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88. Robert Ballard
1942-. (aged 84)
geologist
non-fiction writer
naval officer
oceanographer
academic
Robert Duane Ballard is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is noted for his work in underwater archaeology (maritime archaeology and archaeology of shipwrecks) and marine geology. He is best known by the general public for the discoveries of the wrecks of the RMS Titanic in 1985, the battleship...
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89. Lois Capps
1938-. (aged 88)
nurse
professor
bureaucrat
teacher
nurse educator
Lois Ragnhild Capps is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for California's 24th congressional district from 1998 to 2017. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 22nd District from 1998 to 2003 and the 23rd from 2003 to 2013, includes all of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties and a...
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90. Shuji Nakamura
1954-. (aged 72)
engineer
inventor
physicist
professor
Shuji Nakamura is a Japanese–American electronics engineer and co-inventor of the blue LED, a major breakthrough in lighting technology. For this achievement, Nakamura, together with Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014.
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91. Peidong Yang
1971-. (aged 55)
university teacher
chemist
physicist
Peidong Yang is a Chinese-American chemist, material scientist, and businessman. He is the S.K. and Angela Chan Distinguished Professor of Energy, as well as a Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Materials Science at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley). He is also a Senior Faculty Scientist at the Materials and Chemical Sciences Division at the Lawrence Berkeley...
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92. Alan Williams
1993-. (aged 33)
basketball player
Alan Stephen Williams, SM is an English Roman Catholic prelate and 7th Bishop of Brentwood. He is a member of the Marist Order.
93. Michael Young
1976-. (aged 50)
baseball player
Michael Young is a British industrial designer and creative director with offices in Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Milan. He works in the areas of product, furniture and interior design with studios in Hong Kong and Brussels. He is known for unconventional use of materials and manufacturing processes, and collaborations with brands such as Brionvega, Cappellini, KEF, La Manufacture, and MOKE...
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94. Carla Simón
1986-. (aged 40)
film screenwriter
screenwriter
film director
Carla Simón Pipó is a Spanish film director. Most known for her films Summer 1993 (2017) and Alcarràs (2022), for the latter she received the Golden Bear at the 72nd Berlin International Film Festival.
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95. Milan St. Protić
1957-. (aged 69)
historian
diplomat
university teacher
politician
Milan St. Protić is a Serbian historian, politician and diplomat who served as the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the United States, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. He was also the Mayor of Belgrade in 2000/01.
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96. Yngve Slyngstad
1962-. (aged 64)
chief executive officer
economist
Yngve Slyngstad was the former CEO of Norges Bank Investment Management (NBIM) which is the part of the Norwegian Central Bank that is responsible for managing The Government Pension Fund - Global. In 2021 he was appointed as the CEO and senior partner of Aker Asset Management (AAM).
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97. Finn E. Kydland
1943-. (aged 83)
economist
scientist
professor
university teacher
Finn Erling Kydland is a Norwegian economist known for his contributions to business cycle theory. He is the Henley Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also holds the Richard P. Simmons Distinguished Professorship at the Tepper School of Business of Carnegie Mellon University, where he earned his PhD, and a part-time position at the Norwegian...
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98. Herbert Kroemer
1928-2024 (aged 96)
physicist
university teacher
Herbert Kroemer was a German–American solid-state physicist who, along with Zhores Alferov, received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Physics "for developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics." He was Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research into transistors was a stepping stone to the later development of mobile phone technologies.
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99. Michel Devoret
1953-. (aged 73)
physicist
Michel Henri Devoret is a French-American physicist. He is Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and Professor Emeritus of Applied Physics at Yale University. He serves as the Chief Scientist for Quantum Hardware at Google Quantum AI. He is known for the development of various superconducting quantum computing architectures, including the quantronium, the transmon, and the...
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100. Peter Horton
1953-. (aged 73)
television director
film director
director
actor
Peter Müller, better known by the stage name Peter Horton, was an Austrian guitarist, singer, composer, and writer, noted for representing Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 1967 with the song "Warum es hunderttausend Sterne gibt". The song scored 2 points to finish joint 14th place out of 17 entries.
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