People a to z

Frank Abagnale became notorious for impersonating a pilot, a doctor, and a laywer. He was hired by the FBI to teach them his fradulent tricks.

Mahmoud Abbas serves as the Charmian of the Palestine Liberation Organization. In 2003, he led Palestinian peace talks that led to the Oslo Accords.

Bud Abbott was a comedian best known for playing the "straight man" of the Abbott and Costello comedy duo.

Grace Abbott is best known for her activism and work the issue of child labor.

Paula Abdul is best known for her hit songs and dancing in the 1990s, and for judging American Idol in the 2000s.

Tunku Abdul Rahman was chief minister of the Federation of Malaya (1955–1957), the first prime minister of an independent Malaya (1957–1963), and the prime minister of Malaysia (1963–1970).

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played center for the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers from 1975 to 1989 and was one of the most dominant players in NBA history.

Bella Abzug was a leading liberal activist and politician in the 1960s and 1970s, especially known for her work for women’s rights.

Chinua Achebe is best known for his novel Things Fall Apart.

Country musician Roy Acuff performed hits suchs as "It Won't Be Long" and "Tennessee Waltz" nearly every weekend on the Grand Ole' Opry during the 1930, 40s and 50s.

Red Adair was an American oil well firefighter who was called in to troubleshoot major oil fires.

Abigail Adams was the wife of President John Adams and the mother of John Quincy Adams, who became the sixth president of the United States.

John Adams was a Founding Father, the first Vice President of the United States and the second President. His son, John Quincy Adams was the 6th President.

John Quincy Adams was the eldest son of President John Adams and the sixth president of the United States (1825-29).

John Bodkin Adams is best known for standing trial in the suspicious deaths of 163 former patients in England.

Joy Adamson was a conservationist who pioneered the movement to preserve African wildlife. She won renown with her books about raising the lion cub Elsa.

Robert Adamson was a Scottish chemist and photographer who is best known for producing 2500 Calotype photographic prints with painter David Octavius Hill.

Charles Addams' dark humor helped define The New Yorker magazine for five decades. His work became the basis for the 1960s TV comedy, The Addams Family.

Jane Addams created the first settlement house in the US, Hull-House, and became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Singer Adele is a Grammy award-winning artist whose throwback, soulful sound has made her an international success.

Ben Affleck is best known for co-writing and acting in the 1997 film Good Will Hunting.

Casey Affleck is best known as an actor in films including Gone Baby Gone, and as the brother of actor Ben Affleck.

Andre Agassi is best known for his strong, smart playing style, which helped him win tennis championships throughout the 1990s.

American author James Agee wrote the classics A Death in the Family and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men.

Frank Gotti Agnello is best known as the grandson of mafia boss John Gotti, and for his reality TV show.

Maria Gaetana Agnesi is best known for writing the first book discussing integral and differential calculus.

Christina Aguilera is a singer and songwriter best known for the single "Genie In A Bottle" and the controversial, sexually charged album Stripped.

Filipino leader Emilio Aguinaldo finally lived to see his country achieve independence after fighting off both the Spanish and the Americans.

Ahmadou Ahidjo was the first president of the United Republic of Cameroon. He lead one of the few successful attempts at supraterritorial African unity.

Sir Syed Ahmed Khan was an Indian educator and politician who was the principal motivating force behind the revival of Indian Islam in the late 19th century.

Alvin Ailey was an American choreographer and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in New York in 1958.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan (1918–2004) was ruler of Abu Dhabi and president of the United Arab Emirates 1971–2004.

Egyptian Hassan al-Banna was the founder the Muslim Brotherhood, with goals of expelling the British from Egypt and reestablishing the Caliphate.

Muammar al-Qaddafi seized control of the Libyan government in 1969, and ruled as an authoritarian dictator for more than 40 years before he was overthrown in 2011.

Lou Albano was a professional wrestler-turned-wrestling personality in the hugely popular World Wrestling Federation of the 1980s.

Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright Edward Albee is best known for penning Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Zoo Story.

Beginning with his first film in 1911 and in the years leading up to World War II, Hans Albers was one of Germany's most beloved movie stars.

Albert was last grand master of the Teutonic Knights, first duke of Prussia, and known chiefly for ending the Teutonic Knights' government of East Prussia.

Bernardo Alberto Houssay was an Argentinian doctor whose research on the role of pituitary hormones regulating blood sugar won him a Nobel Prize.

Amos Bronson Alcott, teacher, mystic, writer and the father of Louisa May Alcott, became an itinerant teacher before settling in Boston to found his own school.

Louisa May Alcott was an American author who wrote the classic "Little Women" as well as numerous works under pseudonyms.

Actor and director Alan Alda has starred in several films, but is best known for his role as Hawkeye Pierce on the long-running television series M*A*S*H.

Ciro Alegria was a Peruvian novelist who wrote about the struggles of the Peruvian Indians, and whose militant pro-Indian activism led to his arrest and exile.

Nicaraguan writer Claribel Alegria, a major voice in contemporary Central American literature, was known for her volume of poetry, Flowers from the Volcano.

Jason Alexander is an American actor best known for his role as the neurotic George Constanza in the hit TV sitcom, Seinfeld.

Samuel Alexander was an Australian-born British philosopher. He was the first Jewish fellow of an Oxford or Cambridge college.

Alexander I was king of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (1921–29) and of Yugoslavia (1929–34).