Famous People Who Achievement a to z

William Kempe was one of the most famous clowns of the Elizabethan era and originated some of Shakespeare's comedic characters.

Tony-nominated actress Anna Kendrick played Jessica, Bella Swan's friend, in the Twilight movies, based on Stephanie Meyer's teenage vampire novels.

Anthony Kennedy is an associate justice on the U.S. Supreme Court who was appointed by Ronald Reagan.

Anna Kournikova is a Russian professional tennis player, well known for her beauty. At her peak, she was one of the best known players worldwide.

Charles Kuralt was a multiple Emmy and Peabody Award-winning broadcast journalist who produced the well-loved "On The Road" segments for the CBS Evening News.

Czech tennis player Petra Kvitová won the 2011 Wimbledon Championship in women's singles event, and is currently ranked No. 4 in the world by the Women's Tennis Association.

Charles Lamb was an English poet and essayist who wrote Tales from Shakespeare and "Essays of Elia."

Ann Landers was the famous advice columnist who developed a newspaper readership counting into the millions.

Actress Angela Lansbury has entertained audiences in a variety of ways, including her 12-year stint as Jessica Fletcher on the 1984 series Murder, She Wrote.

Stieg Larsson was the Swedish author best known for his Millenium novels, including The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Anglo-American stage and film actor Charles Laughton starred in The Old Dark House and Mutiny on the Bounty. He also directed The Night of the Hunter.

T. E. Lawrence was a British Army officer during the Arab Revolt against Ottoman Turkish rule. He became known as Lawrence of Arabia, based on the 1962 film.

Vladimir Lenin was founder of the Russian Communist Party, leader of the Bolshevik Revolution and architect and first head of the Soviet state.

Rita Levi-Montalcini shared the 1986 Nobel Prize for physiology or medicine for her part in the discovery of a protein that stimulates nerve cell growth.

Viola Gregg Liuzzo was an activist in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. She was murdered by members of the Ku Klux Klan for her efforts.

Vince Lombardi was an NFL coach, notably for the Green Bay Packers, a team he led to five championships.

Antonio López de Santa Anna was a 19th century Mexican military officer who acted as the country’s president and dictator at different periods.

Wangari Maathai was a Kenyan political and environmental activist and her country's assistant minister of environment, natural resources and wildlife.

William Lyon Mackenzie was a journalist and political agitator who led an unsuccessful revolt against the Canadian government in 1837.

William H. Macy is an actor known for his diverse characters in films such as Fargo, Boogie Nights and Air Force One.

Winnie Mandela was the controversial wife of Nelson Mandela who spent her life in varying governmental roles.

Taj Mahal is a Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist. His music blends various folk traditions and was influential in the creation of the world music genre.

Aristide Maillol was a French artist, mostly known as a sculptor of monumental statues of female nudes.

William Manchester was a historian who notably wrote about American president John F. Kennedy and Winston Churchill.

Wilma Mankiller worked for several years as a leading advocate for the Cherokee people, and became the first woman to serve as their principal chief in 1985.

Singer and songwriter Ziggy Marley is the oldest son of the reggae giant Bob Marley, and is best known as a talented reggae musician in his own right.

A giant in the music world, trumpeter Wynton Marsalis is a multi-Grammy Award winner who has been lauded for his work both in jazz and classical music.

Walter Matthau was an actor known for his gruff on-screen demeanor in such films as The Odd Couple and Grumpy Old Men.

Brian May, lead guitarist of the rock band Queen, wrote the song "We are the Champions," applying his physics background in the recording studio.

British vocalist, songwriter, musician, and composer, Paul McCartney was a member of the Beatles as well as one of the most popular solo performers of all time.

Elijah McCoy was a 19th century African-American inventor best known for inventing lubrication devices used to make train travel more efficient.

William McGuffey was a 19th-century educator remembered chiefly for his series of elementary readers.

Rory McIlroy is an Irish golfer best known for winning the 2011 U.S Open and the 2012 PGA Championship, becoming the youngest player to win a PGA Tour playoff.

Actress Danica McKellar played Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years. She has also written a series of New York Times best-sellers, including Math Doesn't Suck.

James Meredith is a civil rights activist who became the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi in 1962.

Angela Merkel is a German politician best known as the first female chancellor of Germany and one of the architects of the European Union.

Charles Edward Merrill was an American investment banker who co-founded Merrill Lynch & Company and arranged the merger that created the Safeway food chain.

Explorer and mountaineer Reinhold Messner is famous for making the first solo ascent of Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen.

Anthony Michael Hall is a film and TV actor known for his roles in Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and The Dead Zone.

Anthony Minghella was an Academy Award-winning director best known for his adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's The English Patient. Released in 1996, the film claimed the Oscar for best picture in 1997.

Antonio Molina was a Spanish singer and actor best known for his films such as El pescador de coplas (1953) and Esa voz es una mina (1955).

Barbara Morgan was the first teacher-astronaut to complete a shuttle mission on board the Endeavor in 2007.

Andy Murray is a three-time Grand Slam runner-up. He lost to rival Roger Federer at Wimbledon in 2012, but beat Federer at the 2012 Summer Olympics for the singles gold medal.

African-American hairdresser and inventor Lyda Newman patented an improved hairbrush design in New York City in 1898.

With a handful of hits to his credit, singer Wayne Newton has spent more than five decades as one of Las Vegas's most popular entertainers.

Pat Nixon was the wife of Richard Nixon, the 37th president of the United States. As first lady, she traveled extensively and championed volunteerism.

Antonia C. Novello is a former U.S. surgeon general who was the first woman and first person of Latin descent to hold the position.

In 1897, Virginia O'Hanlon wrote a letter to a newspaper about the existence of Santa Claus and got the famous response, "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus."

Walter O'Malley was the influential president of the Brooklyn/Los Angeles Dodgers for nearly 30 years.

Aristotle Onassis is best known as the Greek shipping tycoon who married JFK’s widow, Jacqueline Kennedy, in 1968. Onassis died on March 15, 1975.

Yoko Ono is a multimedia artist who became known worldwide in the 1960s when she married Beatles front man John Lennon.

Broadcast journalist Charles Osgood anchored CBS Morning News, the Sunday Night News and Sunday Morning. More recently, he has hosted The Osgood File.

Manny Pacquiao has won world boxing titles in eight different weight divisions, and is considered one of the world's best boxers.

William S. Paley was a businessman who started what would become the CBS television network.

Arnold Palmer, nicknamed "The King," is a former champion golfer and is considered one of the sport's all-time greats.

Actor Chazz Palminteri starred opposite Robert De Niro in the 1993 film adaptation of A Bronx Tale, and performed in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (1994).

Ann Patchett is an American novelist best known for her PEN/Faulkner Award-winning novel Bel Canto.

Mina Stevens was an astronomer who was a pioneer in the classification of stellar spectra.

Charles Perrault was a French poet and author known for writing the Mother Goose fairy tales.

French daredevil Philippe Petit is best known for his 1974 high-wire walk between the twin towers in New York City.

Stone Phillips is a television personality and reporter, best known as the host of Dateline NBC and guest host for other NBC shows.

Charles Pinckney was an American Founding Father, governor of South Carolina and signer of the U.S. Constitution.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney was an American Revolutionary War veteran, South Carolina legislator and two-time presidential candidate.

Filipino Arnel Pineda is best known as the new lead singer for the rock group Journey.

American author Robert Pirsig is best known for his philosophical novel Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values (1974).

Oscar Pistorius, the "Blade Runner," is a South African sprint runner who became the first amputee to compete in the Olympics in 2012. In 2013, Pistorius admitted to shooting and killing his girlfriend, South African model Reeva Steenkamp.

Ferdinand Porsche founded the Porsche car company in 1931. In the early 1920s, he oversaw the development of the Mercedes compressor car, and later developed the first designs of the Volkswagen car with his son, Ferdinand Anton Ernst Porsche.

Thanks to the model 356, created in 1948 by Ferdinand Anton Ernst "Ferry" Porsche, the Porsche car company became known worldwide as a producer of successful sports and racing cars. Several years earlier, in 1934, Porsche worked with father Ferdinand Porsche on the first designs of the Volkswagen car.

William Sydney Porter was a prolific short story writer whose work appeared under the name O. Henry.