Famous People Born in Illinois a to z

Jane Addams co-founded one of the first settlements in the United States, the Hull House in Chicago, Illinois, and was named a co-winner of the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize.

Actor Eddie Albert starred in films like The Sun Also Rises and Roman Holiday as well as the TV show Green Acres.

Actress Joan Allen is a founding member of Chicago's famed Steppenwolf Theatre Company. She has also made several critically acclaimed film appearances.

Actress Gillian Anderson is famous for her portrayal of FBI Special Agent Dana Scully on the 1990s television series The X-Files.

American actress Patricia Arquette has had a long career in film and television, continually showing her great range as a performer across genres.

American singer LaVern Baker helped pioneer the R&B sound in the 1950s and released multiple hits with Atlantic Records, including the famous "Tweedle Dee."

Jennifer Beals is an American actress who launched to stardom with the lead role in the 1983 hit Flashdance. She also starred on Showtime's The L Word.

Arnold Beckman was an American chemist who founded Beckman Instruments and funded the first silicon transistor company, giving rise to Silicon Valley.

Jim Belushi, younger brother of the late John Belushi, starred on his own TV sitcom, According to Jim, as well as in several theater and film productions.

John Belushi was an actor and comedian, one of the first performers on "Saturday Night Live" and one half of the Blues Brothers.

For more than 50 years, comedian Jack Benny was a star of radio, the stage and screen. His radio show, The Jack Benny Program, was a forerunner of the sitcom genre.

American actor Tom Berenger is best known for playing the hard-drinking TV star in the The Big Chill, the sexy killer in Looking for Mr. Goodbar, and violent Hatfield clan member Jim Vance in the TV miniseries Hatfields & McCoys.

Ventriloquist Edgar Bergen took his comedy act from vaudeville to radio with his dummy Charlie McCarthy. He was also the father of actress Candice Bergen.

Harry Blackmun was the 98th U.S. Supreme Court Justice, known for his landmark ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade.

Rod Blagojevich is an Illinois-based politician whose career has been marred by as many scandals as it has been highlighted by successes.

Actress Tempestt Bledsoe is best known for her role as Vanessa Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show. In 2010 she became the host of the Style Network's Clean House. 

Tom Bosley was an award-winning American actor best known for playing Howard Cunningham in the 1970s hit TV sitcom Happy Days.

American fantasy and horror author Ray Bradbury is best known for his novels Fahrenheit 451, The Illustrated Man and The Martian Chronicles.

Judy Chicago is an American artist, educator and writer, and a leading figure in feminist art. She received critical acclaim in the 1970s for her art project "The Dinner Party."

Sandra Cisneros is a Latina American novelist who wrote the bestselling novel "The House on Mango Street."

When Hillary Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2001, she became the only American first lady to hold national office. She became the 67th U.S. secretary of state in 2009, serving until 2013.

Diminutive television star Gary Coleman made "What'choo talkin' 'bout, Willis?" a household catch-phrase in the 1980s.

Billy Corgan is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist in the alternative rock band Smashing Pumpkins.

American television icon Don Cornelius created and hosted Soul Train, which spent more than 30 years on the air.

Michael Crichton was an American author best known for his sci-fi and medical thrillers. The movie based on his book, Jurassic Park, was one of the highest-grossing films in history.

Actor John Cusack’s quirky humor earned him roles in many 1980s films, including The Sure Thing and Say Anything. In 1990, he won his first grown-up role in The Grifters.

Nine-time Grammy Award winner Miles Davis was a major force in the jazz world, as both a trumpet player and a bandleader.

In 2009, singer Lee DeWyze beat out the American Idol judges' clear choice, Crystal Bowersox, thanks to the audience's majority vote.

Philip Dick is an American novelist and short story writer best known for his science fiction short stories, many of which have been translated to film.

Walt Disney was an American motion-picture and television producer and showman, famous as a pioneer of cartoon films and as the creator of Disneyland.

Michael Clarke Duncan was an African-American actor, best remembered for his role in The Green Mile.

Wyatt Earp was a frontiersman, marshal and gambler. After moving to Tombstone, Arizona, he got into a feud, which ended in a gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

Roger Ebert is an American film critic best known as one half of the popular Siskel and Ebert film critic television show.

Dancer and actor Buddy Ebsen performed on Broadway and films, but he’s best known for his role as Jed Clampett on The Beverly Hillbillies, which ran for nine seasons.

As lead singer of the grunge rock band Pearl Jam, Eddie Vedder belted out hits like "Evenflow," "Alive" and "Jeremy."

Nelsan Ellis achieved breakout success when he took the part of Lafayette on the hit HBO vampire series True Blood.

Daniel Ellsberg strengthened public opposition to the Vietnam War in 1971 when he leaked the Pentagon Papers to the New York Times.

Politician Rahm Emanuel was White House chief of staff to President Barack Obama, and was elected as mayor of Chicago in 2011.

Bobby Fischer is best known for being the first American grandmaster of chess.

Actress Calista Flockhart played the title role on the popular television show Ally McBeal.

Betty Ford became the First Lady when President Nixon resigned and made her Vice President husband, Gerald Ford, the acting President.

Harrison Ford is one of Hollywood's leading men, with an acting career that has spanned nearly 40 years and included iconic roles.

Writer, feminist and women's rights activist Betty Friedan wrote The Feminine Mystique (1963) and co-founded the National Organization for Women.

John Wayne Gacy is credited as one of the most vicious serial killers in U.S. history, with 33 victims.

Merrick Garland is a judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals. He supervised the prosecution of the Oklahoma City bombing and Unibomber case.

Jennie Garth is an actress notable for her long stint on TV's Beverly Hill 90210 in the 1990s, and her later appearance on Dancing with the Stars.

Organized crime boss, Sam Giancana climbed to the top of Chicago's underworld and became a player on the national stage through shadowy ties to the Kennedys.

Leon Golub was an American painter who was both horrified and inspired by the Vietnam War.

Benny Goodman, "The King of Swing", was the clarinetist composer responsible for multiple hit singles as a band leader before World War II.

Edward Gorey was an American illustrator best known for his cartoons of Edwardian children coming to macabre ends. He work can be seen in the animated credits of PBS' Masterpiece Mystery.

Comedian Kathy Griffin relishes in dishing celeb dirt. She poked plenty of fun at her own life too on her reality show, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List.

Charles Julius Guiteau was an American lawyer best known for assassinating President James Garfield in 1881 for denying him an ambassadorship position in Paris.

Dorothy Hamill is a gold medal-winning Olympic figure skater known for her moves on the rink as well as her signature bobbed haircut.

Daryl Hannah is an actress with a wide variety of roles under her belt, from that of a mermaid in Splash to an assassin in Kill Bill: Vols 1 and 2

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Playwright and activist Lorraine Hansberry wrote A Raisin in the Sun and was the first black playwright and the youngest American to win a New York Critics’ Circle award.

Walter Haut is best known for drafting a 1947 press release for the U.S. Army that claimed a "flying disc" had landed in Roswell, New Mexico.

Charles Melville Hays was president of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway and a victim of the Titanic disaster of 1912.

Hugh Hefner created the adult entertainment magazine Playboy. Today, the Playboy brand includes an extensive publishing, TV and internet empire.

Nobel Prize winner Ernest Hemingway is seen as one of the great American 20th century novelists, and is known for works like A Farewell to Arms and The Old Man and the Sea.

Charlton Heston was an American film actor best known for his roles in Antony and Cleopatra, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur and Planet of the Apes (1968).

Wild Bill Hickok was an American frontiersman, army scout and lawman who helped bring order to the frontier West.

William Holden was an actor who perfected the role of the cynic who acts heroically in spite of his scorn or pessimism.

Terrence Howard is an American actor best known for his award-nominated performance in the 2005 film Hustle & Flow.

Janet Hubert is a stage, TV and film actress known for her role as Vivian Banks on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Jennifer Hudson is an Oscar and Grammy-winning actress and singer known for roles in Dreamgirls and Sex and the City.

Noted for his exceptional good looks and comedic film performance, Rock Hudson was an iconic actor who, later in life, contracted and died from the AIDS virus.

Janet Jagan co-founded the People's Progressive Party. She was the first woman to become prime minister of Guyana and was also Guyana’s first female president.

Musician Jo Jones, considered one of the most influential of all jazz drummers, noted for his swing and finesse, played with Count Basie’s Kansas City band.

Quincy Jones is best known as a composer and record producer for legendary musicians such as Frank Sinatra, Michael Jackson, Celene Dion and Aretha Franklin.

One of the greatest athletes of all time, track and field star Jackie Joyner-Kersee has won three Olympic gold medals, as well as one silver and two bronze.