Filmmaker, director and writer John Waters, sometimes called the "King of Bad Taste" or the "Pope of Trash," has built a reputation for shocking his audiences.
1946-
Max Weber was a 19th century German sociologist and one of the founders of modern sociology. He wrote The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism in 1905.
1864-1920
1933-
Orson Welles wrote, directed and starred in the film Citizen Kane, among others, which remains one of the most influential films ever made.
1915-1985
1973-
1887-1948
1915-1986
1959-
1910-1981
Playwright August Wilson won two Pulitzer Prizes for his plays Fences (1987) and The Piano Lesson (1990).
1945-2005
1860-1914
A versatile performer, actress Mare Winningham has won raves for such films as 1994's Georgia and such television work as 2011's Mildred Pierce.
1959-
Mary Wollstonecraft was an English writer who advocated for women's equality. Her book A Vindication of the Rights of Woman pressed for educational reforms.
1759-1797
Stevie Wonder is an American musician and a former child prodigy who became one of the most creative musical figures of the late 20th century. His hit songs include "Living in the City," "Boogie on a Reggae Woman" and "Isn't She Lovely."
1950-
Danny Wood is in New Kids on the Block, a boy band of five guys who ruled the charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and reunited in 2013.
1969-
Known as "Black Edison," Granville Woods was an African-American inventor who made key contributions to the development of the telephone, street car and more.
1856-1910
Tammy Wynette was a Grammy Award-winning country music singer who recorded the hit "Stand By Your Man." She was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998.
1942-1998
African-American leader and prominent figure in the Nation of Islam, Malcolm X articulated concepts of race pride and black nationalism in the 1950s and '60s.
1925-1965
1871-1946
1955-
Texas-born actress Renee Zellweger first gained wide-spread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire and later Bridget Jones's Diary.
1969-
Academy Award-winning director Robert Zemeckis is behind Romancing the Stone, the Back to the Future trilogy, Forrest Gump, Tales from the Crypt and Cast Away.
1952-
1907-1997
Mark Zuckerberg is co-founder and CEO of the social-networking website Facebook, as well as one of the world's youngest billionaires.
1984-
1943-