Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is best known as the controversial sixth president of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Actress Joan Allen is a founding member of Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. She has also made several critically acclaimed film appearances.
Michele Bachmann is a congresswoman best known for her conservative Tea Party politics, and her candidacy for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination.
Actress Adriana Barraza played Amelia in the award-winning film Babel. Her performance earned her an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Larry Bird is a retired professional basketball player known for his years with the Boston Celtics and his deceptively nimble skills on the court.
Rod Blagojevich is an Illinois-based politician whose career has been marred by as many scandals as it has been highlighted by successes.
Chef, TV host, author. Chef Anthony Bourdain moved out of the kitchen to become a bestselling author and TV personality, gaining wider fame with his unique culinary worldview.
Danny Boyle is a British film director whose films include Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, and 127 Hours.
When the space shuttle Columbia blasted off on July 23, 1999, pilot Eileen Collins became NASA's first female shuttle commander.
David Copperfield is a world-famous magician whose tricks include making the Statue of Liberty disappear and walking through the Great Wall of China.
Ann Curry is an American television jouralist who once anchored Dateline NBC, and co-anchored NBC's Today program from 2011 to 2012.
Oscar-winning actress Geena Davis played Thelma in the 1991 cult classic Thelma & Louise, starring opposite Susan Sarandon.
Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Kenny G rose to fame in the mid-1980s with his signature smooth jazz sound. He is the most successful instrumental musician of all time.
From The Untouchables to Stand and Deliver to Ocean's Eleven, Andy Garcia built an impressive acting resume.
Mel Gibson is a well-known film actor, director and producer, having starred in Braveheart, Hamlet, Maverick and both the Mad Max and Lethal Weapon series.
Prominent book author and magazine writer, Adam Gopnik is a leading arts and culture writer.
Actor and comedian David Alan Grier is an accomplished Broadway and film actor who rose to fame as a cast member of the TV sketch-comedy show In Living Color.
Arsenio Hall is an American actor, comedian and was the first black late-night talk show host, on his groundbreaking The Arsenio Hall Show.
Model and actress Jerry Hall was married to The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger. More recently, she starred in stage productions of Bus Stop and The Graduate.
Dorothy Hamill is a gold medal-winning Olympic figure skater known for her moves on the rink as well as her signature bobbed haircut.
Actress Linda Hamilton is best known for her role as Sarah Connor in The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgment Day—films that essentially made her the first female action hero and earned her the title of "Body Of The Nineties."
Janet Hubert is a stage, TV and film actress known for her role as Vivian Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
La Toya Jackson is a singer and entertainer, and is best known as a member of the musical Jackson family. Michael Jackson was her brother.
Record producer and musician Randy Jackson is notable mostly as a judge on the talent-search TV show American Idol
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Doctor Mae C. Jemison is the first African-American woman ever to be a U.S. astronaut. In 1992, she flew into space aboard the Endeavour.
King Yellowman is a Jamaican dancehall reggae performer whose stage name references his white skin due to albinism, a genetic defect causing an absence of the pigment melanin.
Sugar Ray Leonard was a champion Olympic and professional welterweight boxer. He retired from the sport in 1997 and was inducted into the Boxing Hall of Fame.
John Lydon, a.k.a. Johnny Rotten, was the lead singer and front man for the English punk rock band the Sex Pistols.
Bill Maher is an American comedian, talk show host and political commentator.
Jamaican reggae singer-songwriter Sugar Minott was best known for his hit, "Good Thing Going," a cover of Michael Jackson's "We've Got a Good Thing Going." Minott's version reached No. 4 on the British singles chart in 1981.
Professional football player Joe Montana lead the 49ers to victories in four Super Bowls during the 1980s, including consecutive wins in 1989 and 1990.
Czech tennis star Martina Navratilova was one of the world's top tennis players in the 1970s and '80s.
Deborah Jeane Palfrey was the leader of a large Washington-based prostitution ring and became known as the D.C. Madame.
Deval Patrick is governor of Massachusetts and the former U.S. assistant attorney general of civil rights.
L.A. Reid is an American music executive and producer. He's also starred as a judge on the music competition show The X Factor.
American film and TV actor Alan Ruck is beloved for his role as Cameron Frye, the best friend of Ferris Bueller, in John Hughes's 1986 film Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
David Sedaris is a humorist and essayist best known for his sardonic autobiographical stories and social commentary.
After working in Europe for decades, actor Christoph Waltz caught the attention of American audiences with his role in Quentin Tarantino's Inglorious Basterds.
Meg Whitman is the successful corporate executive, serving as CEO of eBay and later Hewlett Packard. In 2010 she lost her bid to win the California governorship.
Author and actor Montel Williams rose to fame in 1991 with the launch of his talk show, The Montel Williams Show, which ran for 17 seasons and earned its host an Emmy.
An abused child who later earned her living as a sex worker, Aileen Wuornos was found guilty of killing six men and was later executed in a Florida prison.