Famous People Who Started Businesses a to z

Syed Ahmed Khan was an Indian educator, politician and Islamic reformer whose work inspired a new generation of Muslims and pioneered 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.

Madeleine Albright became the first woman to represent the U.S. in regards to foreign affairs as the secretary of state.

Tim Allen was a sporting goods salesman, drug dealer, and stand-up comedian before Home Improvement made him a sitcom star (and the voice of Buzz Lightyear).

African-American entrepreneur Wally Amos founded the Famous Amos cookie brand. He also worked as a talent agent and discovered Simon & Garfunkel.

Loni Anderson is a TV actress notable for her sexy role as Jennifer Marlowe on the series WKRP in Cincinnati.

Tom Anderson is best known as president and co-founder of MySpace, a site intended to help fans connect with their favorite bands and share music.

Momofuku Ando was the founder of Nissin Food Products Company and the inventor of instant noodles.

Will Arnett is a comedic actor known for his wacky role as G.O.B. on TV's Arrested Development and his voice-over work in film.

Julian Assange came to international attention as the founder of the whistle-blowing Web site, Wikileaks.

Fur trader and real estate investor John Jacob Astor was one of the leading businessmen of his day and the founder of an American fur trade dynasty.

David Axelrod is a political consultant and strategist recognized for creating a winning campaign strategy for U.S. President Barack Obama.

Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan is known for his roles in action movies like Zanjeer, and for hosting the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?.

Brigitte Bardot is a French dancer, model and actress who became an international icon in the 1950s and '60s with films like And God Created Women and Contempt.

Jim Barksdale is an American entrepreneur and business executive who served as president and CEO of Netscape from 1995 to 1999.

Roseanne Barr is an Emmy Award-winning actress and comedian known for her hit sitcom, Roseanne.

Alexander Graham Bell was one of the primary inventors of the telephone, did important work in communication for the deaf and held more than 18 patents.

Silvio Berlusconi is best known as a controversial Italian politician who was elected as Prime Minister three times.

Valerie Bertinelli is an actress and spokesperson known for her roles in the TV sitcom One Day at a Time and Hot in Cleveland.

American entrepreneur Jeff Bezos is the founder and chief executive officer of Amazon.com. An e-commerce pioneer, Bezos was instrumental in creating a model for buying and selling products online.

Naturalist, inventor and businessman Clarence Birdseye pioneered the process of flash freezing in the United States. His company was bought by General Foods.

Ragtime pianist Eubie Blake was one of the most famous composers of 20th century musicals, known for hits like "I'm Just Wild About Harry."

Michael Bloomberg is a billionaire buisnessman and a three-term mayor of New York City.

Milton Bradley was a businessman and a manufacturer of toys and board games. He founded Milton Bradley Co.

Sergey Brin created Google, the world's most popular search engine. Brin and Larry Page, Google's co-creator, still manage the company and are billionaires.

Mel Brooks is an iconic filmmaker known for comedies like The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein, among other works.

African American actor Richard Brooks is best known for his role as Assistant District Attorney Paul Robinette in the first three seasons of NBC's Law & Order.

Charlotte Hawkins Brown was a teacher and founder of the Palmer Memorial Institute, a trailblazing Southern prep school for African-American students.

Puerto Rican politician and businesswoman Sila María Calderón is best known for becoming the first female governor of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in 2001, serving until 2005.

Pierre Cardin is an Italian-born French fashion designer best known for his haute couture geometric avant-garde designs.

Andrew Carnegie, a self-made steel tycoon and one of the wealthiest 19th century U.S. businessmen, donated towards the expansion of the New York Public Library.

Steve Case co-founded and served as CEO of America Online (AOL), overseeing the massive merger that created AOL Time Warner Inc. He served as chairman of AOL Time Warner Inc. until his resignation in 2003.

Steve Chen is best known as the co-founder and chief technology officer of the video-sharing website YouTube. Google bought YouTube for $1.64 billion in stock.

An expert in the field of mind-body healing, Deepak Chopra is a world-renowned speaker and author on the subject of alternative medicine.

Dick Clark was a TV personality known for the shows American Bandstand, $25,000 Pyramid and TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes, among others.

Technology entrepreneur James Clark started Silicon Graphics, launched Netscape with Marc Andreessen and created Healtheon, which merged with WebMD.

Ben Cohen is the co-founder of the ice cream company Ben & Jerry’s.

Tom Colicchio is a restaurateur and author who stars in the award-winning reality TV show Top Chef.

Samuel Colt was an inventor and industrialist who created the revolver—most notably the .45-calibre Peacemaker model, which was introduced in 1873—and paved the way for the interchangeable parts system of manufacturing.

Sam Cooke, commonly known as the King of Soul, was an African-American gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer and songwriter. He had 29 top-40 hits from 1957-1964.

Sofia Coppola is a film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. She directed The Virgin Suicides and Lost in Translation, winning an Oscar for the latter.

Roger Corman is a film director and producer who helmed B-Movie classics and helped launch the careers of James Cameron, John Sayles, Ron Howard and others.

Lucy Craft Laney was a school teacher and educator who opened a school for African-American students in the South in the late 1800s.

German inventor Gottlieb Daimler patented one of the first successful internal-combustion engines and later founded the Daimler company, which produced the first Mercedes car in 1899.

Siobhan Davies is a British dancer and choreographer. She founded her Siobhan Davies Dance Company in 1988.

Dorothy Day was an activist who worked for such social causes as pacifism and women’s suffrage through the prism of the Catholic Church.

John Deere was an American inventor and manufacturer of agricultural equipment. In 1837, Deere started an eponymous company that went on to become an international powerhouse.

Michael Dell helped launch the personal computer revolution in the 1980s with the creation of the Dell Computer Corporation, now known as Dell Inc.

Art critic Sergei Diaghilev started the artistic collaboration the Ballet Russes, which toured worldwide and was a forerunner of the Royal Ballet.

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.

Rocco DiSpirito is an American celebrity chef best known for his cooking show The Melting Pot and reality show The Restaurant.

Jack Dorsey is an American businessman best known as the founder of the social networking site Twitter.

Esther Dyson, named by Forbes magazine as one of the most powerful women in American business, is regarded as one of the most influential voices in technology.

Edward, Earl of Wessex is son to Queen Elizabeth II and husband to Sophie Rhys-Jones. A former theater and television producer, he remains active in charity.

J. Presper Eckert Jr. was the award-winning co-inventor of the first general purpose digital computer.

Inventor Thomas Edison created such great innovations as the electric light bulb, the telephone and the phonograph. A savvy businessman, he held more than a 1,000 patents for his inventions.

Musician Emilio Estefan founded the Miami Sound Machine, won multiple Grammy Awards and produced Latino superstars like Ricky Martin and Marc Antony.

Silent movie star Douglas Fairbanks Sr. (1883–39) teamed up with Charlie Chaplin, D.W. Griffith and his wife Mary Pickford to launch United Artists in 1919.

Jerry Falwell is a religious leader, political activist and television evangelist. He restarted The Moral Majority Coalition in 2004.

Dodi Fayed was an Egyptian heir and film producer who dated and was dled with Princess Diana of Wales in a Paris car crash.

Luis A. Ferré was a Puerto Rican industrialist who formed the New Progressive Party and was governor of Puerto Rico.

David Fincher is a film director known for his meticulous process and dark films, such as Fight Club and Seven.

Retired magician Siegfried Fischbacher was one-half of the performing duo Siegfried and Roy.