26 Notable alumni of
Biola University
Updated:
Biola University is 1325th in the world, 469th in North America, and 440th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 26 notable alumni from Biola University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff.
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Noah Munck
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Noah Bryant Munck is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Gibby in the Nickelodeon series iCarly and "Naked" Rob Smith in the ABC comedy series The Goldbergs. He also releases music under the aliases Sadworldbeats and Noah Praise God and creates independent comedy videos on YouTube.
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Scott Derrickson
- Enrolled in Biola University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in humanities
- Occupations
- film producerscreenwriterdirectorfilm directorwriter
- Biography
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Scott Derrickson is an American filmmaker. He is known for his work in the horror genre, directing films such as The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), Sinister (2012), and The Black Phone (2021). He is also known for the superhero film Doctor Strange (2016), based on the Marvel Comics character.
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Zach King
- Occupations
- television producerfilm directorfilm editorfilm producerexecutive producer
- Biography
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Zachary Michael King is an American internet personality based in Los Angeles. He is most known for his "magic vines," which are six-second videos digitally edited to look as if he is doing magic. He calls his videos "digital sleight of hand." He began posting videos on YouTube in 2008 and in 2013 he started posting videos to Vine. King posted his first video to TikTok (then known as musical.ly) in 2016, and has since attracted over 90 million followers, making him the sixth most-followed individual on the platform.
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John Thune
- Enrolled in Biola University
- In 1983 graduated with Bachelor of Science in business
- Occupations
- politiciancongressional staffexecutive directordirector
- Biography
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John Randolph Thune is an American politician serving as the senior United States senator from South Dakota, since 2005. A member of the Republican Party, he has been the Senate majority leader and Senate Republican leader since 2025. Thune is in his fourth Senate term and is the dean of South Dakota's congressional delegation. From 1997 to 2003, he served three terms as the U.S. representative for South Dakota's at-large congressional district.
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Nabeel Qureshi
- Occupations
- missionarywriter
- Biography
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Nabeel Asif Qureshi was a Pakistani-American evangelical Christian apologist. Raised by a devout Ahmadi family, Qureshi converted to Christianity from Ahmadiyya as a university student following several years of debate with a Christian friend.
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Judith Hill
- Occupations
- singer
- Biography
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Judith Glory Hill is an American singer-songwriter from Los Angeles, California. She has provided backing vocals for such artists as Michael Jackson, Prince, and Josh Groban. In 2009, Hill was chosen as Jackson's duet partner for the song "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" during his This Is It rehearsals. After Jackson's death in 2009, she, along with the rest of the This Is It cast members, performed at Jackson's memorial service and attracted global attention when she sang the lead on the song "Heal the World". Hill's rise to fame is recounted in 20 Feet from Stardom, a documentary film that tells the untold story of the backup singers behind some of the "greatest musical legends of the 21st century". She is also a featured artist on the film's soundtrack. She won the Grammy Award for Best Music Film for her performance in this film.
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Cassie Randolph
- Occupations
- reality television participantspeech and language therapist
- Biography
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Cassie Randolph is an American television personality who came to national prominence in 2019, as the winner of season 23 of The Bachelor, starring Colton Underwood.
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Sikhanyiso Dlamini
- Occupations
- politicianbusiness executive
- Biography
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Princess Sikhanyiso Dlamini is a Swazi princess and politician. She is the eldest daughter of King Mswati III of Eswatini, and is the country's former Minister of Information and Communication Technology.
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Steve Bridges
- Occupations
- film actorimpressionistactorcomedian
- Biography
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Stephen Lynn Bridges was an American comedian who was known for his impressions of politicians, television characters and broadcasters including Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barney Fife, Homer Simpson, Tom Brokaw, Paul Harvey, and Rush Limbaugh.
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Steve Taylor
- Occupations
- songwriterfilm directorfilm producersinger
- Biography
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Roland Stephen Taylor is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, music executive, film maker, assistant professor, and actor. A figure in what has come to be known as Christian alternative rock, Taylor enjoyed a successful solo career during the 1980s, and also served in the short-lived group Chagall Guevara. In contrast to many Christian musical artists, his songs have often taken aim at Christian hypocrisy or "error" with the use of satirical, sardonic lyrics. In 1997, he founded the record label Squint Entertainment, which fueled the careers of artists such as Sixpence None the Richer, Chevelle, and Burlap to Cashmere. Despite this success, Taylor was ousted from the label by its parent, Word Entertainment, in 2001. He has produced and written for numerous musical acts, one of the most consistent being Newsboys. As a film-maker, Taylor co-wrote, directed, and produced the feature films Down Under the Big Top, The Second Chance, and Blue Like Jazz. After a decade and a half of hiatus, Taylor returned to performing music in 2010 as the front-man for Steve Taylor & The Perfect Foil, a supergroup he founded with Peter Furler, Jimmy Abegg, and John Mark Painter. Along with a university residency and continued filmmaking, Taylor would resume work on unfinished Chagall Guevara material into the 2020s.
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Solomon Mercado
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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Solomon Jemuel Rayos Mercado is a Filipino-American former professional basketball player in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Known as the "Sol-Train", he had an impressive PBA rookie season and eventually became a reliable point guard for most of the teams he played for.
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George Bell
- Years
- 1957-.. (age 68)
- Occupations
- basketball player
- Biography
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George Bell, born in 1957 in Portsmouth, Virginia, is the tallest man in the United States at 7 feet 8 inches as recognized by Guinness World Records. He was a deputy sheriff in Norfolk, Virginia, he played college basketball at Morris Brown College, Biola University with the Harlem Wizards and Harlem Globetrotters show teams.
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Daniel B. Wallace
- Occupations
- writertheologian
- Biography
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Daniel Baird Wallace is an American professor of New Testament Studies at Dallas Theological Seminary. He is also the founder and executive director of the Center for the Study of New Testament Manuscripts, the purpose of which is digitizing all known Greek manuscripts of the New Testament via digital photographs.
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Danny Yamashiro
- Occupations
- radio personalityuniversity chaplainmotivational speakerresearchermissionary
- Biography
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Daniel Keauhou Matsu Yamashiro, also known as D. K. M. Yamashiro, is an American clergyman, author, radio and podcast host, researcher, Christian media personality, and a chaplain at MIT who survived a 400-foot (120-meter) fall from the ridge of the Nuʻuanu Pali in Honolulu, Hawaii, at 18. He is the first researcher to present aggregate data on childhood trauma as it relates to American presidents. Yamashiro also produced the first comprehensive study on American presidents that investigates the influence of religious development from a lens of trauma.
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Todd Worrell
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Todd Roland Worrell is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher. He played all or part of eleven seasons for the St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, serving as those teams' closer for most of his seasons from 1985 through 1997. During his playing career, Worrell was a three-time National League (NL) All-Star.
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Josh Staumont
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Joshua Tyler Staumont is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has previously played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals and Minnesota Twins. He made his MLB debut in 2019.
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Mark Joseph
- Years
- 1968-.. (age 57)
- Occupations
- record producercomposermusic historianfilm producer
- Biography
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Mark Joseph is an American multimedia producer, author, and founder/CEO of MJM Entertainment Group and Bully! Pulpit. He lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife and children.
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David Eastman
- Occupations
- paramedicpoliticianmilitary officerfirefighter
- Biography
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David C. Eastman Jr. was a Republican member of the Alaska House of Representatives, representing District 27 until January 2025. He originally represented District 10 from 2017 until 2022. His career has been marked by various controversial statements and political positions.
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Michael Cranford
- Occupations
- engineer
- Biography
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Michael Cranford is a video game designer and programmer. As a designer and programmer his works include The Bard's Tale, The Bard's Tale II, and Dark Seed. Cranford left the video game industry in 1992 to pursue an academic career as an ethicist.
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Aaron Sams
- Occupations
- teacher
- Biography
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Aaron Sams is one of the developers of the flipped classroom model for education, which seeks to remove lecture from classroom onto video so that teachers can dedicate class time to more interactive activities and extra help. Sams developed the idea with fellow chemistry teacher Jonathan Bergmann at Woodland Park High School, at first to help students who fell behind and later to completely change the structure of their classes. The popularity of the online videos with both students and those outside their classes has led Sams to speak at conferences and train teachers in the method. He was also awarded the 2009 Presidential Award for Excellence in Math and Science Teaching for his work.
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Dennis Linthicum
- Years
- 1950s
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Dennis Linthicum is an American politician who served in the Oregon Senate from 2017 until 2025. He is a member of the Republican Party.
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Harry Rimmer
- Years
- 1890-1952 (aged 62)
- Occupations
- evangelistpastor
- Biography
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Harry Rimmer was an American evangelist and creationist. He is most prominent as a defender of creationism in the United States, a fundamentalist leader and writer of anti-evolution publications.
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Trevor Oaks
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Trevor Scott Oaks is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 7th round of the 2014 MLB Draft. He played one season in Major League Baseball (MLB) in 2018 for the Kansas City Royals.
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Russ Hiebert
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Russel "Russ" Hiebert is a Canadian lawyer, politician and businessman. He was the Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada for South Surrey—White Rock—Cloverdale from 2004 to 2015. He was born in Steinbach, Manitoba. He has a BA from Biola University, and an MBA and LL.B from the University of British Columbia. Hiebert was a practicing lawyer and small businessman prior to entering Parliament. He is married with four children.
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Robert Pierce
- Occupations
- basketball coach
- Biography
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Robert Pierce is an American former professional basketball coach. He was the head coach for Sun Rockers Shibuya (1997–2001), Shiga Lakestars (2008–2010), Akita Northern Happinets (2010–2011), and the Sendai 89ers (2011–2013) in Japan and a former college basketball assistant coach for University of Southern California.
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Adam Christing
- Occupations
- writerfilm director
- Biography
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Adam Christing is an American comedian, author, and motivational speaker from La Mirada, California. He is the founder and president of Clean Comedians, an organization composed of comedians, speakers, and entertainers who refrain from using objectionable material and profanity during their performances.
