Listed Alphabetically
- Douglas Adams (Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
- Alan Alda (actor, writer)
- Russell Baker (journalist)
- Dave Barry (humorist, writer, actor)
- Joy Behar (writer, comedienne, co-host of “The View”)
- Linda Bloodworth-Thomason (television writer/producer “Designing Women”, “Evening Shade”)
- Gwendolyn Brooks (“We Real Cool”)
- Carol Browner (head of the Environmental Protection Agency)
- Edward Burns (actor, director, producer, writer)
- Brett Butler (actress, writer, comedienne)
- James Cameron (director, editor, producer, screenwriter of “Titanic”)
- Johnny Carson (talk show host)
- Chevy Chase (comedian, actor, writer)
- Tom Clancy (writer)
- Mario Cuomo (former governor of New York)
- Joan Cusack (actress)
- Matt Damon (actor, screenwriter)
- Vin Diesel (actor, director, producer, screenwriter)
- David Duchovny (actor, “X-Files”)
- Michael Eisner (Walt Disney CEO)
- Harrison Ford (actor)
- Jodi Foster (actress, filmmaker)
- Kathryn Fuller (World Wildlife Fund CEO)
- A. Bartlett Giamatti (President, Yale University and Commissioner of Baseball)
- Allen Ginsberg ( “Howl”)
- Heather Graham (actress, model)
- Cathy Guisewite (cartoonist of “Cathy”)
- Mary Hart (co-host of “Entertainment Tonight”)
- Joseph Heller (Catch 22)
- Don Henley (singer, songwriter, musician, environmental activist)
- David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly)
- Chris Isaak (songwriter, singer)
- Famke Janssen (actress, model)
- Catherine Keener (actress)
- Stephen King (novelist)
- Kris Kristofferson (singer, songwriter, musician, actor)
- Tommy Lee Jones (actor)
- John Mahoney (actor, Marty on “Frasier”)
- Arthur Miller (Death of a Salesman)
- Toni Morrison (Beloved)
- Paul Newman (actor, food entrepreneur)
- Joyce Carol Oates (You Must Remember This )
- Conan O’Brien (talk show host, writer)
- Randy Owen (singer, songwriter, musician)
- Joe Paterno (football coach, Penn State)
- David Hyde Pierce (actor who plays Niles on “Frasier”)
- Christopher Reeve (actor, writer, director)
- Sally Ride (astronaut)
- Geoffrey Rush (actor, director, playwright, musician)
- Susan Sarandon (actress)
- Diane Sawyer (broadcast journalist)
- Martin Scorsese (director)
- Marty Shottenheimer (Former coach of Kansas City Chiefs)
- Paul Simon (songwriter, singer)
- Sting (singer, songwriter, musician, actor, environmental activist)
- Steven Spielberg (filmmaker)
- Dr. Seuss, a.k.a. Theodor Geisel (children’s author)
- Amy Tan (Joy Luck Club)
- Brandon Tartikoff (television executive)
- Clarence Thomas (U.S. Supreme Court Justice)
- Emma Thompson (actress, producer, screenwriter)
- Grant Tinker (TV Executive and Producer)
- John Updike (Witches of Eastwick, Rabbit at Rest )
- James Van Der Beek (actor from “Dawson’s Creek”)
- Harold Varmus (Nobel laureate in medicine, Director of National Institute of Health)
- Barbara Walters (broadcast journalist)
- Sigourney Weaver (actress)
- Eudora Welty (“A Worn Path”)
- Pete Wilson (former governor of California)
- Reese Witherspoon (actress)
- Bob Woodward (journalist, writer of All the President’s Men)
- Renee Zellweger (actress)
Source Note: The English Department of Mississippi State University and the English Major’s Hall of Fame at California State University, Bakersfield provided most of the names on this list.