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100 Notable alumni of University of California – Santa Cruz

Updated: June 22, 2026 EliteDegrees

University of California – Santa Cruz is ranked #192 in the world and #84 in United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from University of California – Santa Cruz 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 Cruz won Nobel Prizes for Peace, in Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, and Economics.

Ron Gonzales

1. Ron Gonzales

1951-. (aged 75)
politician
Ronald R. Gonzales is an American politician and member of the Democratic Party, who served as the 63rd Mayor of San Jose, California. Gonzales was the first Hispanic to serve as Mayor of San Jose since 1845.
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Gershom Gorenberg

2. Gershom Gorenberg

journalist historian
Gershom Gorenberg is an American-born Israeli journalist and historian specializing in Middle Eastern politics and the interaction of religion and politics. He is currently a senior correspondent for The American Prospect, a monthly American political magazine. Gorenberg self-identifies as "a left-wing, skeptical Orthodox Zionist Jew".
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Patricia Nelson Limerick

3. Patricia Nelson Limerick

1951-. (aged 75)
historian university teacher journalist
Patricia Nelson Limerick is an American historian, author, lecturer and teacher, considered to be one of the leading historians of the American West.
Jim Kent

4. Jim Kent

1960-. (aged 66)
biologist bioinformatician
William James Kent is an American research scientist and computer programmer. He has been a contributor to genome database projects and the 2003 winner of the Benjamin Franklin Award.
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Tracy Fullerton

5. Tracy Fullerton

1965-. (aged 61)
computer scientist designer university teacher
Tracy Fullerton is an American game designer, educator and writer, best known for Walden, a game (2017). She is a Professor in the USC Interactive Media & Games Division of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and Director of the Game Innovation Lab at USC.
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Ron Yerxa

6. Ron Yerxa

1947-. (aged 79)
film producer
Ron Yerxa is an American film producer. He is known for the films Little Miss Sunshine, Somewhere in Queens, Hamlet 2 and Cold Mountain.
Rebecca Cokley

7. Rebecca Cokley

1978-. (aged 48)
disability rights activist manager
Rebecca A. Hare Cokley is an American disability rights activist and public speaker who is currently the first U.S. Disability Rights Program Officer for the Ford Foundation. Prior to joining Ford, Cokley was the founding director of the Disability Justice Initiative at the Center for American Progress. During the Obama administration, Cokley served as the executive director of the National...
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Deborah Madison

8. Deborah Madison

chef
Deborah Madison is an American chef, writer, food activist, and cooking teacher. She has been called an expert on vegetarian cooking, although she is not a strict vegetarian. Her gourmet repertoire showcases fresh garden produce. Her work also highlights Slow Food, local foods and farmers' markets.
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Chela Sandoval

9. Chela Sandoval

1956-. (aged 70)
women's rights activist theorist artivist
Chela Sandoval, associate professor of Chicana Studies at University of California, Santa Barbara, is a noted theorist of postcolonial feminism and third world feminism. Beginning with her 1991 pioneering essay 'U.S. Third World Feminism: The Theory and Method of Oppositional Consciousness in the Postmodern World', Sandoval emerged as a significant voice for women of color and decolonial feminism.
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Lisa Winter

10. Lisa Winter

1986-. (aged 40)
roboticist
Lisa Winter is an American engineer, roboticist, and television personality. She is best known for her work on the television series BattleBots, where she competed with numerous robots and is currently a judge.
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Lorna Dee Cervantes

11. Lorna Dee Cervantes

1954-. (aged 72)
poet writer
Lorna Dee Cervantes is an American poet and activist, who is considered one of the greatest figures in Chicano poetry. She has been described by Alurista as "probably the best Chicana poet active today."
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Joseph DeRisi

12. Joseph DeRisi

1969-. (aged 57)
virologist researcher molecular biologist
Joseph Lyman DeRisi is an American biochemist, specializing in molecular biology, parasitology, genomics, virology, and computational biology.
Rubén Valtierra

13. Rubén Valtierra

1964-. (aged 62)
composer keyboardist
Rubén Valtierra is an American keyboardist best known for recording and touring with "Weird Al" Yankovic. The two met at the Dr. Demento 20th Anniversary special in October 1991, and shortly after Valtierra joined his band.
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Steven G. Krantz

14. Steven G. Krantz

1951-. (aged 75)
mathematician
Steven George Krantz is an American scholar, mathematician, and writer. Krantz is Professor Emeritus of Mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis. He has authored more than 350 research papers and published more than 150 books. Additionally, Krantz has edited journals such as the Notices of the American Mathematical Society and The Journal of Geometric Analysis.
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Lawrence Weschler

15. Lawrence Weschler

1952-. (aged 74)
journalist writer
Lawrence Weschler is an American author of works of creative nonfiction.
Art Torres

16. Art Torres

1946-. (aged 80)
politician
Arthur A. Torres is an American former politician who served as a member of the California State Legislature. He is the vice chair of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). CIRM, established in 2005 following the passage of Proposition 71, is charged with allocating US$3 billion to California universities and...
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Chris Tashima

17. Chris Tashima

1960-. (aged 66)
screenwriter film director actor film actor
Christopher Inadomi Tashima is an American actor and director. He is co-founder of the entertainment company Cedar Grove Productions and Artistic Director of its Asian American theatre company, Cedar Grove OnStage. Tashima directed, co-wrote, and starred in the 26-minute film Visas and Virtue for which he and producer Chris Donahue won the 1998 Academy Award for Live Action Short Film.
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Rachel Goslins

18. Rachel Goslins

1969-. (aged 57)
film director film producer
Rachel Eva Goslins is an American non-profit leader, museum director and documentary film director. As of August 2025, she is the Executive Director of the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream, a cultural center in Washington, D.C. Prior to this, she was Director of the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building. She was previously head of the President's Committee on...
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Natalie Batalha

19. Natalie Batalha

1966-. (aged 60)
astrophysicist astronomer physicist university teacher
Natalie M. Batalha is professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz. Previously she was a research astronomer in the Space Sciences Division of NASA Ames Research Center and held the position of Science Team Lead (2010 - 2012), Mission Scientist (2012 - 2016), and Project Scientist (2016 - 2018) on the Kepler Mission, the first mission capable of...
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Yoav Freund

20. Yoav Freund

1961-. (aged 65)
computer scientist engineer
Yoav Freund is an Israeli professor of computer science at the University of California San Diego who mainly works on machine learning, probability theory and related fields and applications.
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Dana Priest

21. Dana Priest

1957-. (aged 69)
journalist
Dana Louise Priest is an American journalist, writer and teacher. She has worked for nearly 30 years for the Washington Post and became the third John S. and James L. Knight Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at the University of Maryland's Philip Merrill College of Journalism in 2014. Before becoming a full-time investigative reporter at the Post, Priest specialized in...
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John Laird

22. John Laird

1950-. (aged 76)
politician
John Laird is an American politician who is serving as the California State Senator for District 17 since December 7, 2020. A Democrat, Laird was Secretary of the California Natural Resources Agency from 2011 to 2019 and represented the 27th District in the California State Assembly from 2002 to 2008. The 27th District included parts of Santa Clara, Santa Cruz...
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Julie Packard

23. Julie Packard

1952-. (aged 74)
conservationist marine biologist
Julie E. Packard is an American ocean conservationist and philanthropist. She helped create the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the early 1980s and is its executive director, a position she has held since its opening in 1984. She speaks at conferences and symposia related to ocean conservation and writes online about current issues. She is a fellow of the American Academy...
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Tyler MacNiven

24. Tyler MacNiven

documentary filmmaker
Tyler Kingsley MacNiven is an American filmmaker and reality television contestant.
Héctor Tobar

25. Héctor Tobar

1963-. (aged 63)
novelist writer journalist
Héctor Tobar is a Los Angeles author, novelist, and journalist, whose work examines the evolving and interdependent relationship between Latin America, Latino immigrants, and the United States. In 2023, he was named a Guggenheim Fellow in Fiction.
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Jonah

26. Jonah

1959-. (aged 67)
Eastern Orthodox priest
Metropolitan Jonah is a retired American Eastern Orthodox bishop who served as the primate of the Orthodox Church in America (OCA) with the title The Most Blessed Archbishop of Washington, Metropolitan of All America and Canada from his election on November 12, 2008, until his resignation on July 7, 2012. Metropolitan Jonah was the first convert to the Orthodox faith...
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Lisa Lutz

27. Lisa Lutz

1970-. (aged 56)
novelist screenwriter writer
Lisa Lutz is an American author. She began her career writing screenplays for Hollywood. One of her rejected screenplays became the basis for a popular series of novels about a family of private investigators, the Spellmans. She is a 2020 recipient of an Alex Award.
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Vince Girdhari Chhabria

28. Vince Girdhari Chhabria

1969-. (aged 57)
lawyer judge
Vince Girdhari Chhabria is an American lawyer and jurist who is a United States district judge of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. He was appointed in 2014 by President Barack Obama. Chhabria was formerly a deputy city attorney at the San Francisco City Attorney's Office.
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Reyna Grande

29. Reyna Grande

1975-. (aged 51)
novelist
Reyna Grande is a Mexican-American author.
Marge Frantz

30. Marge Frantz

1922-2015 (aged 93)
women's rights activist university teacher peace activist
Marge Frantz was an American activist and among the first generation of academics who taught women's study courses in the United States. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, from a young age she became involved in progressive causes. She worked as a labor organizer, agitated for civil rights, and participated in the women's poll tax repeal movement. After working as an organizer...
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Kristen R. Ghodsee

31. Kristen R. Ghodsee

1970-. (aged 56)
ethnographer anthropologist university teacher
Kristen Rogheh Ghodsee is an American ethnographer and Professor of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She is primarily known for her ethnographic work on post-Communist Bulgaria as well as being a contributor to the field of postsocialist gender studies. She was critical of the role of Western feminist nongovernmental organizations doing work among East European...
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John Doolittle

32. John Doolittle

1950-. (aged 76)
lawyer politician
John Taylor Doolittle is an American politician and attorney. Elected to Congress in 1990, he served as a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from 1991 to 2009, representing California's 4th congressional district (numbered as California's 14th congressional district during his first term). In the 109th Congress, he held a leadership role as the Deputy Whip for...
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Emily Jane White

33. Emily Jane White

1982-. (aged 44)
singer composer singer-songwriter
Emily Jane White is an American singer and songwriter. Active as a solo artist since 2003, White has released seven solo albums and tours internationally.
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Stephen Mirrione

34. Stephen Mirrione

1969-. (aged 57)
film editor
Stephen Mirrione is an American film editor. He is best known for winning an Academy Award for his editing of the film Traffic (2000).
Stephanie Allain

35. Stephanie Allain

1959-. (aged 67)
television producer director businessperson actor
Stephanie Allain is an American film producer.
J. Doyne Farmer

36. J. Doyne Farmer

1952-. (aged 74)
quantitative analyst physicist entrepreneur university teacher
J. Doyne Farmer is an American complex systems scientist and entrepreneur with interests in chaos theory, complexity and econophysics. He is Baillie Gifford Professor of Complex Systems Science at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, Oxford University, where he is also director of the Complexity Economics programme at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin...
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Richard Gunn

37. Richard Gunn

1975-. (aged 51)
film actor actor television actor
Richard Gunn is an American actor. He is best known for portraying Calvin "Sketchy" Theodore in the Fox series Dark Angel (2000–2002), Chief of Police John Sanders in the BYU TV series Granite Flats, and Aitor Quantic in the third and final season of the Netflix original series Hemlock Grove.
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Sarah Schechter

38. Sarah Schechter

1976-. (aged 50)
film producer television producer
Sarah Schechter is an American television and film producer. Schechter is chairperson and partner at Berlanti Productions, and the co-founder of Berlanti-Schechter Films.
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Geoffrey Marcy

39. Geoffrey Marcy

1954-. (aged 72)
astrophysicist astronomer university teacher
Geoffrey William Marcy is an American astronomer. He was an early influence in the field of exoplanet detection, discovery, and characterization. Marcy was a professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley, and an adjunct professor of physics and astronomy at San Francisco State University. Marcy and his research teams discovered many extrasolar planets, including 70 out of the...
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Amita Kuttner

40. Amita Kuttner

1990-. (aged 36)
astrophysicist politician
Amita Kuttner is a Canadian astrophysicist, actor, and politician who served as the interim leader of the Green Party of Canada from November 24, 2021, to November 19, 2022. Kuttner first ran for office in the 2019 federal election, seeking a House of Commons seat as a Green candidate, followed by a run for Green Party leadership in 2020 following...
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Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell

41. Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell

1977-. (aged 49)
film director journalist artist ufologist
Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell is an American contemporary artist, filmmaker and ufologist based in Los Angeles, California. Initially gaining prominence as a visual artist, by the late 2010s Corbell became a well known figure in the UFO community, producing documentary films and podcasts on the subject.
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Aaron Peskin

42. Aaron Peskin

1964-. (aged 62)
politician
Aaron Dan Peskin is an American former elected official in San Francisco, California. He was a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 3 from 2001 to 2009, and again from 2015 to 2025.
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Adam Parfrey

43. Adam Parfrey

1957-2018 (aged 61)
journalist opinion journalist editing staff publisher
Adam Parfrey was an American journalist, author, editor, and the publisher of Feral House books, whose work in all three capacities frequently centered on unusual, extreme, or "forbidden" topics. Previously, he was the publisher of several magazines, and another publisher, Amok Press. He also wrote for several magazines and wrote, cowrote, or edited several books, among them Apocalypse Culture.
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Jesse Thorn

44. Jesse Thorn

1981-. (aged 45)
podcaster broadcaster television presenter radio personality
Jesse Michael Gabriel Thorn is an American media entrepreneur and public radio and podcast host/creator. He is the founder of the Maximum Fun podcast network, and the host and producer of the podcasts Judge John Hodgman and Jordan, Jesse, Go! and the radio show and podcast Bullseye. Bullseye (formerly The Sound of Young America), is distributed by National Public Radio...
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Blake Schwarzenbach

45. Blake Schwarzenbach

1967-. (aged 59)
singer composer singer-songwriter pianist lyricist
Alexander Blake Schwarzenbach is an American musician. He is the singer and guitarist of the San Francisco based band Jawbreaker (1986–1996; 2017–present), and was also a member of Jets to Brazil (1997–2003), The Thorns of Life (2008–2009), and forgetters (2009–2013). Although experiencing little mainstream success himself, Schwarzenbach and groups he has been a member of have influenced a variety of...
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Zach Dawes

46. Zach Dawes

1985-. (aged 41)
guitarist
Zachary Edwin Dawes is an American musician, producer, engineer, and technician, best known as the bassist for the bands Mini Mansions and The Last Shadow Puppets. He has also worked extensively with Brian Wilson, Lana Del Rey, Sharon Van Etten, among other musicians and songwriters. He composes and music supervises for many film and television shows including The Summer I...
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Susie Bright

47. Susie Bright

1958-. (aged 68)
actor critic author columnist sex educator
Susannah Bright is an American feminist, author and journalist, often writing on the subject of politics and sexuality.
Paul Mayeda Berges

48. Paul Mayeda Berges

1968-. (aged 58)
film producer screenwriter film director
Paul Mayeda Berges is an American screenwriter and director. He is known for his work on films such as 2002's Bend It Like Beckham.
Laurie Garrett

49. Laurie Garrett

1951-. (aged 75)
journalist writer
Laurie Garrett is an American science journalist and author. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism in 1996 for a series of works published in Newsday that chronicled the Ebola virus outbreak in Zaire.
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Wendy Brown

50. Wendy Brown

1955-. (aged 71)
university teacher philosopher anthropologist political scientist women's rights activist
Wendy L. Brown is an American political theorist. She is the UPS Foundation Professor in the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ. Previously, she was Class of 1936 First Professor of Political Science and a core faculty member of critical theory at the University of California, Berkeley.
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Guillermo Anderson

51. Guillermo Anderson

1962-2016 (aged 54)
composer
Guillermo Anderson was one of the best known Honduran musicians. A singer-songwriter, his lyrics often touch upon themes of ecology (including exaltation of Honduras' natural landscapes) and social problems.
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David Talbot

52. David Talbot

1951-. (aged 75)
journalist non-fiction writer
David Talbot is an American journalist, author, editor, activist and independent historian. Talbot is known for his books about the "hidden history" of U.S. power and the liberal movements to change America, as well as his public advocacy. He was also the founder and former editor-in-chief of the online magazine Salon.
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Alyona Minkovski

53. Alyona Minkovski

1986-. (aged 40)
journalist
Alyona Leonidovna Minkovski is an American journalist, television host and commentator. In 2011, she was named on the Forbes 30 under 30 media list.
Edward Neumeier

54. Edward Neumeier

1957-. (aged 69)
screenwriter executive producer film screenwriter film producer
Edward Neumeier is an American screenwriter best known for his work on the science fiction movies RoboCop and Starship Troopers. He wrote the latter's sequels Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (which he also directed) and Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars.
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Joan Donoghue

55. Joan Donoghue

1956-. (aged 70)
jurist lawyer judge
Joan E. Donoghue is an American lawyer, international legal scholar, former U.S. State Department official, and former president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). She was first elected to the court in 2010, re-elected in 2014, and elected by the ICJ judges to be president of the ICJ in 2021. She was the third woman to be elected to...
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Brett Dennen

56. Brett Dennen

1979-. (aged 47)
singer-songwriter guitarist singer musician
Brett Michael Dennen is an American folk/pop singer-songwriter from Central California. His seventh studio album, See the World was released in July 2021.
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Konstantin Batygin

57. Konstantin Batygin

1986-. (aged 40)
astronomer university teacher astrophysicist planetary scientist science communicator
Konstantin Batygin is an American astronomer and Professor of Planetary Sciences at Caltech.
Marti Noxon

58. Marti Noxon

1964-. (aged 62)
film director director actor television producer showrunner
Martha Mills Noxon is an American television and film writer, director, and producer. She is best known for her work as a screenwriter and executive producer on the supernatural drama series Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003). She was also executive producer, writer, and creator of the Bravo comedy-drama series Girlfriends' Guide to Divorce (2014–18) and the Lifetime drama series UnREAL...
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Marc Okrand

59. Marc Okrand

1948-. (aged 78)
Klingonist linguist writer
Marc Okrand is an American linguist. His professional work is in Native American languages, and he is well known as the creator of the Klingon language in the Star Trek science fiction franchise.
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Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

60. Matt Bettinelli-Olpin

1978-. (aged 48)
musician screenwriter film director film screenwriter actor
Matt Bettinelli-Olpin is an American director, writer, actor, and musician. He is a founding member of the punk band Link 80 and co-creator of the filmmaking collectives Chad, Matt & Rob and Radio Silence. He is best known for his work in horror films, including V/H/S, Southbound, Ready or Not, Scream, Scream VI and Abigail.
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Gus Hansen

61. Gus Hansen

1974-. (aged 52)
poker player
Gustav Hansen is a Danish professional poker player from Copenhagen, Denmark who has lived in Monaco since 2003. In his poker career, Hansen has won three World Poker Tour open titles, one WSOP bracelet and the 2007 Aussie Millions main event, and was the season one winner of the Poker Superstars Invitational Tournament. Before turning to playing poker professionally in...
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Miranda July

62. Miranda July

1974-. (aged 52)
performance artist artist film actor film director actor
Miranda July is an American film director, screenwriter, actress and author. Her body of work includes film, fiction, monologue, digital presentations and live performance art.
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Omi Vaidya

63. Omi Vaidya

1982-. (aged 44)
film director television actor writer presenter actor
Omi Vaidya is an American actor in Hindi cinema. He is best known for his performance as Chatur Ramalingam or "Silencer" in the 2009 comedy-drama film, 3 Idiots. In addition, Vaidya has played roles on The Office and Arrested Development. Omi has directed many short films and worked as a feature film editor. He has also appeared in a number...
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Akiva Schaffer

64. Akiva Schaffer

1977-. (aged 49)
film editor television actor songwriter writer film actor
Akiva Daniel Shebar Schaffer is an American writer, producer, director, comedian, actor, and rapper. He is a member of the comedy music group The Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone. Schaffer began his career with The Lonely Island making videos for Channel 101. In 2005, Saturday Night Live hired the trio, with Schaffer joining as...
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Victor Davis Hanson

65. Victor Davis Hanson

1953-. (aged 73)
historian journalist university teacher classical scholar
Victor Davis Hanson is an American classicist, military historian, and conservative political commentator. He has been a commentator on modern and ancient warfare and contemporary politics for the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the National Review, the Washington Times, and other media outlets.
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Camryn Manheim

66. Camryn Manheim

1961-. (aged 65)
stage actor television actor voice actor actor film actor
Debra Frances "Camryn" Manheim is an American actress who first came to attention with her off-Broadway one-woman show, Wake Up, I'm Fat, in 1994. She is known for her portrayals of Ellenor Frutt on The Practice (1997–2004), Delia Banks on Ghost Whisperer (2006–2010), "Control" on Person of Interest (2013–2015), Lieutenant Cosgrove on Stumptown (2019–2020), and Gladys Presley in the 2005...
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Ezra Klein

67. Ezra Klein

1984-. (aged 42)
podcaster columnist journalist television producer writer
Ezra Klein is an American political commentator and journalist. He has been a New York Times columnist since 2021 and is the host of The Ezra Klein Show podcast. He is a co-founder of Vox and was formerly the website's editor-at-large. He has held editorial positions at The Washington Post and The American Prospect and was a regular contributor to...
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Huey P. Newton

68. Huey P. Newton

1942-1989 (aged 47)
human rights defender sociologist philosopher politician
Huey Percy Newton was an African American revolutionary and political activist who co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. He ran the party as its first leader and crafted its ten-point manifesto with Bobby Seale. Under his leadership, the party organized numerous social programs and community events, advocated for collective defense, and threatened political violence in service of their goals.
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Cary Joji Fukunaga

69. Cary Joji Fukunaga

1977-. (aged 49)
television director film director cinematographer television producer screenwriter
Cary Joji Fukunaga is an American filmmaker. A director of TV and film, he first came to wide prominence by directing the first season of the HBO series True Detective (2014). He is known for directing critically acclaimed films such as the thriller Sin nombre (2009), the period drama Jane Eyre (2011), the war drama Beasts of No Nation (2015)...
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Maya Rudolph

70. Maya Rudolph

1972-. (aged 54)
singer television actor comedian voice actor film actor
Maya Khabira Rudolph is an American actress and comedian. In 2000, she became a cast member on the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). During her tenure on the show, she appeared in supporting roles in the films 50 First Dates (2004), A Prairie Home Companion (2006), and Idiocracy (2006).
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Rebecca Romijn

71. Rebecca Romijn

1972-. (aged 54)
model television actor voice actor actor film actor
Rebecca Alie O'Connell is an American actress and former model. She is known for her role as Mystique in the original trilogy (2000–2006) of the X-Men film series, as Joan from The Punisher (2004) (both based on Marvel Comics), the dual roles of Laure Ash and Lily Watts in Femme Fatale (2002), and Una Chin-Riley on Star Trek: Discovery (2019)...
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Shakina Nayfack

72. Shakina Nayfack

1980-. (aged 46)
LGBTQ rights activist actor television actor
Shakina Nayfack is an American actress and transgender activist. She is most notable for her series regular role as Lola, a "trans-truther", on the second and third seasons of the Hulu television program Difficult People, on which she was also a writing consultant. In 2020, she became the first trans person to have a starring role on a major network...
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Kent Nagano

73. Kent Nagano

1951-. (aged 75)
conductor music director
Kent George Nagano is an American conductor and opera administrator. From 2015 until 2025, he was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Hamburg State Opera and the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg.
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John Grinder

74. John Grinder

1940-. (aged 86)
university teacher writer philosopher linguist psychologist
John Thomas Grinder Jr. is an American linguist, writer, management consultant, trainer and speaker. Grinder is credited with co-creating the pseudoscience known as neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) with Richard Bandler. He is co-director of Quantum Leap Inc., a management consulting firm founded by his partner Carmen Bostic St. Clair in 1987 (Grinder joined in 1989). Grinder and Bostic St. Clair also...
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Debra Fischer

75. Debra Fischer

1951-. (aged 75)
astrophysicist astronomer
Debra Ann Fischer is an American astronomer and professor emerita at Yale University. She is known for her work in the discovery and characterization of exoplanets using the radial velocity method.
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Eli Erlick

76. Eli Erlick

1995-. (aged 31)
writer LGBTQ rights activist
Eli Erlick is an American activist, writer, and academic. She is the author of Before Gender: Lost Stories from Trans History, 1850–1950 and founder of the organization Trans Student Educational Resources.
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Tom Franco

77. Tom Franco

1980-. (aged 46)
actor television actor
Thomas Andrew Franco is an American actor, artist, and the founder of the Firehouse Art Collective in Berkeley, California. He is the brother of actors James Franco and Dave Franco.
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Sam Liu

78. Sam Liu

illustrator television director character designer director film producer
Sam Liu is an American animation producer, director, storyboard artist and character designer. He is best known for directing animated superhero films at both Marvel Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation.
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Richard Bandler

79. Richard Bandler

1950-. (aged 76)
computer scientist psychologist writer
Richard Wayne Bandler is an American writer, consultant, and public speaker in the field of self-help. With John Grinder, he founded the neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) approach to psychotherapy in the 1970s.
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Laura Helmuth

80. Laura Helmuth

science journalist editor-in-chief journalist
Laura Lee Helmuth is an American science journalist and columnist for Slate and the Last Word on Nothing website. She was formerly editor in chief of Scientific American and the Health and Science editor at The Washington Post. From 2016 to 2018, she served as the president of the National Association of Science Writers.
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Pat Murphy

81. Pat Murphy

1955-. (aged 71)
novelist science fiction writer writer
Patrick Joseph Murphy is an American politician who served as Iowa State Representative from the 99th District and Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives; Murphy was also the Democratic nominee for Iowa's 1st congressional district in 2014. He also previously served as Minority Leader from 2003 to 2007. Murphy is a Democrat and served in the Iowa House after...
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Steven Hawley

82. Steven Hawley

1951-. (aged 75)
astronomer astronaut physicist
Steven Alan Hawley is a retired astronomer and NASA astronaut who flew on five U.S. Space Shuttle flights. Hawley is a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy at the University of Kansas.
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Sandy Stone

83. Sandy Stone

1936-. (aged 90)
writer theorist performing artist performance artist
Allucquére Rosanne "Sandy" Stone is an American academic theorist, media theorist, author, and performance artist. She is an Associate Professor Emerita at the University of Texas at Austin where she was the Founding Director of the Advanced Communication Technologies Laboratory (ACTLab) and the New Media Initiative in the department of Radio-TV-Film. Stone has worked in and written about film, music,...
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Susan Wojcicki

84. Susan Wojcicki

1968-2024 (aged 56)
businessperson manager
Susan Diane Wojcicki was an American business executive who was the chief executive officer of YouTube from 2014 to 2023. Her net worth was estimated at $765 million in 2022.
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Jonah Peretti

85. Jonah Peretti

1974-. (aged 52)
businessperson
Jonah H. Peretti is an American internet entrepreneur. He is a co-founder and CEO of BuzzFeed, a co-founder of HuffPost, and a developer of reblogging under the project "Reblog".
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Barbara Ferrer

86. Barbara Ferrer

health administrator
Barbara Ferrer is an American health executive, serving as the Director of Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. She has been highly visible in Los Angeles County during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Kim TallBear

87. Kim TallBear

1968-. (aged 58)
university teacher
Kim TallBear is a Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate professor at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, specializing in racial politics in science. Holding the first ever Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Environment, TallBear has published on DNA testing, race science and Indigenous identities, as well as on polyamory as a decolonization practice.
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Gillian Welch

88. Gillian Welch

1967-. (aged 59)
singer guitarist singer-songwriter composer recording artist
Gillian Howard Welch is an American singer-songwriter. She performs with her musical partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Their sparse and dark musical style, which combines elements of Appalachian music, bluegrass, country and Americana, is described by The New Yorker as "at once innovative and obliquely reminiscent of past rural forms."
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Andy Samberg

89. Andy Samberg

1978-. (aged 48)
film producer film actor television actor voice actor hip-hop musician
Andy Samberg is an American actor, comedian, rapper, writer and producer. He is a member of the comedy music group the Lonely Island, along with childhood friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone. Samberg was also a cast member and writer for the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live from 2005 to 2012, where he and his fellow group members...
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Andrea Smith

90. Andrea Smith

1966-. (aged 60)
designer illustrator intellectual
Andrea Lee Smith is an American academic, feminist, and activist. Smith's work has primarily focused on issues of violence against women of color and their communities, specifically Native American women. Formerly an assistant professor of American Culture and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she is also a co-founder of INCITE! Women of Color Against...
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Susan Ruttan

91. Susan Ruttan

1948-. (aged 78)
film actor actor television actor
Susan Diane Ruttan is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Roxanne Melman on L.A. Law (1986–1993), for which she was nominated four times for a Primetime Emmy Award.
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Norman Packard

92. Norman Packard

1954-. (aged 72)
physicist
Norman Harry Packard is a chaos theory physicist and one of the founders of the Prediction Company and ProtoLife. He is an alumnus of Reed College, with a PhD from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Packard is known for his contributions to chaos theory, complex systems, and artificial life. He coined the phrase "the edge of chaos".
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Amy Tan

93. Amy Tan

1952-. (aged 74)
screenwriter essayist novelist writer children's writer
Amy Ruth Tan is an American author best known for her novel The Joy Luck Club (1989), which was adapted into a 1993 film. She is also known for other novels, short story collections, children's books, and a memoir.
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Bret Weinstein

94. Bret Weinstein

1969-. (aged 57)
biologist podcaster evolutionary biologist university teacher
Bret Samuel Weinstein is an American podcaster, author, and former professor of evolutionary biology. He served on the faculty of Evergreen State College from 2002 until 2017, when he resigned in the aftermath of a series of campus protests about racial equity at Evergreen, which brought Weinstein to national attention. Like his brother Eric Weinstein, he was named as a...
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bell hooks

95. bell hooks

1952-2021 (aged 69)
university teacher philosopher writer
Gloria Jean Watkins, better known by her pen name bell hooks (stylized in lowercase), was an American author, theorist, educator, and social critic who was a Distinguished Professor in Residence at Berea College. She was best known for her writings on race, feminism, and social class. Her work explored the intersections of race, capitalism, and gender, and what she described...
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Kathryn D. Sullivan

96. Kathryn D. Sullivan

1951-. (aged 75)
geologist scientist astronaut
Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan is an American geologist, oceanographer, and former NASA astronaut and US Navy officer. She was a crew member on three Space Shuttle missions.
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Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

97. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

1982-. (aged 44)
astrophysicist astronomer cosmologist
Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is an American theoretical cosmologist and particle physicist at the University of New Hampshire. She is also an advocate of increasing diversity in science.
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Gail Carriger

98. Gail Carriger

1976-. (aged 50)
writer science fiction writer children's writer novelist
Gail Carriger is an American archaeologist and author of steampunk fiction. She was born in Bolinas, an unincorporated community in Marin County, California, and attended high school at Marin Academy. She received her undergraduate degree from Oberlin College, a masters of science in archaeological materials at England's University of Nottingham in 2000, and a master of arts in anthropology (with...
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John M. Ackerman

99. John M. Ackerman

1973-. (aged 53)
university teacher political activist
John Mill Ackerman Rose is an American-born, naturalized Mexican political activist, TV host, and academic at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.
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Jamus Lim

100. Jamus Lim

1976-. (aged 50)
politician economist
Jamus Jerome Lim Chee Wui is a Singaporean politician, economist and associate professor. A member of the Workers' Party (WP), Lim has been the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Anchorvale division of Sengkang Group Representation Constituency (GRC) since 2020.
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