List of people from Berkeley, California

This is a list of notable people that were born in, or who have lived in, Berkeley, California. Located in the San Francisco Bay area and near Oakland, it includes people who attended Berkeley High School, but not people that attended University of California, Berkeley unless they achieved notoriety while in attendance, and were also residents of the city at the time.

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

Notable people

• John Coolidge Adams – composer
• Ben Affleck – actor, Academy Award-winning screenwriter and director
• Samuel Adams – composer
• Eric Allman – computer programmer, author of sendmail
• Mai Kitazawa Arbegast – landscape architect
• Billie Joe Armstrong – singer-songwriter, actor, guitarist, and lead singer of the Berkeley-based punk rock band Green Day
• Tim Armstrong – member of punk rock bands Rancid, Transplants and Operation Ivy
• Anastasia Ashman – writer and producer
• Craig Barron – filmmaker and visual effects supervisor
• Lowell Bergman – television journalist, former producer of 60 Minutes
• Paul Bertolli – chef, food entrepeneur
• Elmer Bischoff – painter
• Justina Blakeney – designer and author
• Harrod Blank – documentary filmmaker and son of Les Blank
• Les Blank – documentary filmmaker
• Emit Bloch – songwriter, guitarist, journalist
• Bruce Bolt – seismologist
• Jeff Borowiak – tennis player
• Richard Bozulich – journalist, author, publisher, go expert
• Marion Zimmer Bradley – author
• Lenni Brenner – author, lecturer
• David Brower – environmentalist
• Jerry Brown – former Mayor of Oakland and long-time Governor of California since 2011; previously served 1975–1983
• Peter Buck – guitarist for R.E.M.
• John Buckman – internet entrepreneur
• Ernest Callenbach – environmentalist, author of Ecotopia
• Fritjof Capra – author of The Tao of Physics
• Emilio Castillo – musician
• Michael Chabon – Pulitzer Prize-winning author
• Sheldon Warren Cheney – author and art critic
• Alan Chin – artist
• Frank Chin – author
• John Cipollina – guitarist, Quicksilver Messenger Service
• Eldridge Cleaver – political activist
• Daniel Clowes – cartoonist
• Aaron Cometbus – documentarian of the Punk rock music world
• Tre Cool – drummer of the band Green Day
• A. Scott Crossfield – aviator
• Robert Crumb – cartoonist
• Robert Culp – actor
• Augusta Dabney – actress
• Narsai David – chef, author, radio and television personality
• Jay DeFeo – painter
• Rosebud Denovo – People's Park activist killed by police
• Philip K. Dick – author
• Richard Diebenkorn – painter
• Daveed Diggs – actor, rapper, singer, songwriter, screenwriter, film producer
• Mike Dirnt – bassist of Green Day
• Rockmond Dunbar – actor
• Robert Duncan – poet
• Adam Duritz – singer-songwriter, Counting Crows
• Dave Eggers – writer
• Daniel Ellsberg – military analyst, publisher of Pentagon Papers
• John Fahey – guitarist
• Philo T. Farnsworth – all-electronic television inventor
• Sally Floyd - computer scientist
• John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
• Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival
• C.S. Forester – author, Horatio Hornblower series and The African Queen
• Gabriela Lena Frank – Grammy-winning composer, Grammy-nominated pianist
• Rodney Franklin – jazz pianist
• Matt Freeman – member of punk rock bands Rancid and Operation Ivy
• John Gage – one of the founders of Sun Microsystems
• David E. Garfin – scientist

+Ann Fagan Ginger – human rights advocate

• Allen Ginsberg – poet
• David Lance Goines - artist, calligrapher, typographer, printer, author
• Whoopi Goldberg – Academy Award-winning actress and TV personality
• Karen Grassle – actress
• Benny Green – jazz pianist
• Chick Hafey – baseball Hall of Famer
• Mark Hamill – actor, voice actor, and writer, Luke Skywalker from the Star Wars series of movies
• Kamala Harris – Vice President of the United States
• Nina Hartley – pornographic actress
• Glenn Hauser – DXer
• Davey Havok – singer for AFI
• Patty Hearst – newspaper heiress and kidnap victim
• Michael Heizer – earth artist, sculptor
• Julie Heldman (born 1945) – tennis player
• Stanley Hiller – helicopter pioneer
• Gregory Hoblit – film and television director
• Hans Hofmann – painter, teacher
• Joseph Holmes – landscape photographer
• Ken Hom – chef
• David Horowitz – 1960s radical turned conservative activist
• Eddie House — NBA player
• Wayne Hsiung – animal rights activist and co-founder of Direct Action Everywhere
• Charlie Hunter – jazz musician
• David Immerglück – guitarist, Counting Crows
• Ishi – last of the Yahi
• Helen Jacobs (1908–1997) – tennis player ranked world #1
• Candido Jacuzzi – inventor of submersible pump
• Ynez Johnston – painter, sculptor, printmaker, and born in Berkeley.
• June Jordan – poet, novelist, journalist, activist
• Bill Joy – developer of BSD UNIX and co-founder of Sun Microsystems
• Pauline Kael – film critic
• Theodore Kaczynski – aka the Unabomber
• Mollie Katzen – cookbook author
• Scott Hamilton Kennedy –scar Nominated Documentary Filmmaker
• Wasiullah Khan – founder of East-West University
• William Keith – landscape artist
• Josh Kornbluth – monologist and talk show host
• KSHMR – EDM producer and DJ
• Stephen "Doc" Kupka – musician
• Brad Lackey – professional motocross racer
• Jack LaLanne – health and fitness enthusiast
• Ronnie Landfield – painter
• Dorothea Lange – photographer
• Ernest Orlando Lawrence – nuclear physicist
• Ursula K. Le Guin – author
• Timothy Leary – LSD researcher and promoter
• Phil Lesh – Grateful Dead bassist
• Wendy Lesser – editor and critic
• Michael Lewis – author
• Marshawn Lynch – NFL football player for the Oakland Raiders (formerly for the Seattle Seahawks)
• Larry Livermore – writer, musician, founder of Lookout Records
• Brandon McCartney (Lil B or the BasedGod) – rapper, record producer, author, activist and motivational speaker
• Country Joe McDonald – singer-songwriter, and activist
• Joanna Macy – writer, translator of Rainer Maria Rilke
• Billy Martin – baseball player and manager
• Andrew Martinez – social activist
• Ed Masuga – singer, musician, and songwriter
• Dylan Mattingly – composer
• Julian Merryweather, MLB pitcher for the Toronto Blue Jays
• Dave Mello – drummer for ska punk band Operation Ivy
• Bob Melvin (born 1961) – Major League Baseball player and manager
• Jesse Michaels – ska punk singer-songwriter for Operation Ivy and Common Rider
• Czesław Miłosz – poet, Nobel Prize winner in literature
• Roger Montgomery – urban designer, architect, Dean University of California, Berkeley
• Gordon Moore – co-founder of Intel
• Rita Moreno – actress, dancer; Oscar, Emmy and Tony Award winner
• Markos Moulitsas – blogger, author
• Walter Murray – gridiron football player
• Sam Nahem (1915–2004) – Major League Baseball pitcher
• Marion Nestle – nutrition scientist
• Gus Newport – mayor
• Kyra Nichols – ballet dancer and teacher, former New York City Ballet principal dancer
• Nick 13 – vocalist, guitarist
• Adm. Chester Nimitz – Supreme Allied Commander Pacific Theater, World War II
• Joaquin Nin-Culmell – UC professor (emeritis), composer, brother of Anaïs Nin
• Frank Norris – author of The Octopus
• Samin Nosrat – chef, food writer, Netflix series host
• Lisa Onodera – film producer, Picture Bride, The Debut, Americanese
• Robert Oppenheimer – scientist and head of the Manhattan Project
• The Pack – rap group
• Michael Parenti – political analyst, author, lecturer, professor
• Gwydion Pendderwen – born Thomas deLong, American Wiccan folk singer
• Mariko Peters – Dutch politician and lawyer
• Lenny Pickett – Saturday Night Live band leader, saxophone player
• Michael Pollan – author
• Jamieson Price – voice actor
• Richard Pryor – comedian, actor
• Joshua Redman – jazz saxophonist
• Peter Reginato – sculptor
• Robert Reich – politician, academic, writer, and political commentator
• Ruth Reichl – food critic, author
• Malvina Reynolds – singer, songwriter
• Friend Richardson – Governor of California, 1923–1926
• Nicole Richie – socialite, reality TV personality
• Michael Ritchie – film director
• Rosalie Ritz – courtroom artist, reporter
• Terrell Roberts – NFL player
• Rebecca Romijn – model, actress
• Galen Rowell – photographer, writer
• Jerry Rubin – social activist, Yippie
• Andy Samberg – actor, Saturday Night Live comedian
• Joe Satriani – heavy metal/hard rock guitarist and teacher
• Mario Savio – 1960s Free Speech Movement icon
• Akiva Schaffer – director and songwriter of The Lonely Island
• Zahara Schatz – sculptor, artist
• Eric Schmidt – ex-CEO of Google
• Bobby Seale – co-founder, Black Panther Party
• Charles Seeger – UC musicologist, pacifist, and father of folk singer Pete Seeger
• Nancy Selvin – sculptor
• Tessa Seymour – cellist
• Jeremy Shafer – origami artist
• Sam Shankland – chess player
• Cindy Sheehan – anti-war activist
• Izzy Sher – sculptor
• Charles Shere - composer
• Margaret Singer – clinical psychologist, professor at UC Berkeley
• Alex Skolnick – jazz and metal guitarist, writer
• Tabitha Soren – MTV News reporter
• Jeff Stevens – Major League Baseball pitcher
• George R. Stewart – author of Earth Abides and Storm
• Chris Strachwitz – founder of Arhoolie Records
• Asa Taccone – founder and lead singer of band Electric Guest
• Jorma Taccone – actor and director
• Chris Tashima – actor and filmmaker
• Paul Schuster Taylor – agricultural economist
• Edward Teller – nuclear physicist, developer of thermonuclear weapons
• Chang-Lin Tien – 8th Chancellor of University of California, Berkeley (1990–1997), first Asian American and Chinese American to head a major United States university
• Adrian Tomine – cartoonist
• Phil Tippett – Academy Award-winning special effects artist
• Amani Toomer – wide receiver for the New York Giants
• Laura Tyson – economist and former chair of the Council of Economic Advisors
• Ella Wall Van Leer – American artist, architect and women's rights activist
• Blake Wayne Van Leer, Commander and Captain in the U.S. Navy. Lead SeaBee program and lead the nuclear research and power unit at McMurdo Station during Operation Deep Freeze.
• Sasha Velour – drag queen
• Kyle Vincent – singer, songwriter, author
• Julia Vinograd – poet
• August Vollmer - "the father of modern policing"
• Peter Voulkos – ceramist, sculptor
• Jay Ward – creator of animated TV series Crusader Rabbit, Rocky and Bullwinkle, and George of the Jungle
• Alice Waters – restaurateur, chef, and activist
• Wavy Gravy – professional clown, activist, Hog Farm founder
• Thornton Wilder – playwright, Our Town
• Sean Williams – professor of ethnomusicology
• Helen Wills – tennis champion
• Dave Winer – software developer and entrepreneur
• Charlie Winton – publisher
• Steve Wozniak – engineer and entrepreneur, Apple Inc. co-founder
• Daniel Wu – Hong Kong actor
• Janet Yellen – Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
• Clement C. Young – Progressive Governor of California, 1927–1931
• Saul Zaentz – film and music producer
• Rami Zur – Olympic sprint canoer
• Daniel Kahneman – economist and psychologist

See also

• List of Berkeley High School (Berkeley, California) people
• List of Nobel laureates associated with University of California, Berkeley
• List of University of California, Berkeley faculty
• List of University of California, Berkeley alumni