100 Notable alumni of
Brown University
Updated:
Brown University is 37th in the world, 19th in North America, and 18th in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Brown University sorted by their wiki pages popularity. The directory includes famous graduates and former students along with research and academic staff. 2 individuals affiliated with Brown University won Nobel Prizes in Physics.
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Emma Watson
- Enrolled in Brown University
- 2009-2014 graduated with bachelor's degree in English literature
- Occupations
- voice actormodelactorstage actoractivist
- Biography
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Emma Charlotte Duerre Watson is an English actress. Known for her roles in both blockbusters and independent films, she has received a selection of accolades, including a Young Artist Award and three MTV Movie Awards. Watson has been ranked among the world's highest-paid actresses by Forbes and Vanity Fair, and was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine in 2015.
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John Krasinski
- Enrolled in Brown University
- In 2001 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in English studies
- Occupations
- television actoractorstage actorvoice actorfilm director
- Biography
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John Burke Krasinski is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his role as Jim Halpert on the NBC sitcom The Office (2005–2013), where he was also a producer and occasional director. He directed, co-wrote and co-starred in the 2018 horror film A Quiet Place, for which Time named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He has since written and directed the sequel A Quiet Place Part II (2020).
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John F. Kennedy Jr
- Occupations
- socialitelawyerwriterjournalistaircraft pilot
- Biography
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John Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr., often referred to as John-John or JFK Jr., was an American attorney, journalist, and magazine publisher. He was a son of John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy and a younger brother of U.S. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy. Three days after his father was assassinated, he rendered a final salute during the funeral procession on his third birthday.
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Laura Linney
- Occupations
- film actorinternational forum participantcharacter actortelevision actoractor
- Biography
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Laura Leggett Linney is an American actress. She is the recipient of several awards, including two Golden Globe Awards and four Primetime Emmy Awards, and has been nominated for three Academy Awards and five Tony Awards.
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Julie Bowen
- Occupations
- television actorvoice actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Julie Bowen Luetkemeyer is an American actress. She is best known for starring as Claire Dunphy in the ABC sitcom Modern Family (2009–2020), for which she received widespread critical acclaim and won Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series, in 2011 and 2012.
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Tracee Ellis Ross
- Occupations
- modelactortelevision presentertelevision directortelevision actor
- Biography
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Tracee Joy Silberstein, known professionally as Tracee Ellis Ross, is an American actress. She is known for her lead roles in the television series Girlfriends (2000–2008) and Black-ish (2014–2022) receiving nominations for five Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the latter.
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Ted Turner
- Occupations
- entrepreneurphilanthropistsailormedia proprietorenvironmentalist
- Biography
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Robert Edward Turner III is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television, which later became TBS.
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Daveed Diggs
- Occupations
- television actorstage actorscreenwriteractorrapper
- Biography
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Daveed Daniele Diggs is an American actor, rapper, and singer-songwriter. He is the vocalist of the experimental hip hop group Clipping, and in 2015, he originated the dual roles of Marquis de Lafayette and Thomas Jefferson in the musical Hamilton, for which he won a 2016 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical. Along with the main cast of Hamilton, he was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album in the same year.
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Andrew Yang
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in economics
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Andrew Yang is an American businessman, attorney, lobbyist, and politician. Yang was a candidate in the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries and the 2021 New York City Democratic mayoral primary. He is the co-chair of the Forward Party, alongside former New Jersey Governor Christine Todd Whitman.
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Janet Yellen
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Studied economics
- Occupations
- politicianbankereconomistprofessorinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Janet Louise Yellen is an American economist serving as the 78th United States secretary of the treasury since January 26, 2021. She previously served as the 15th chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018. She is the first person to hold those positions having also led the White House Council of Economic Advisers and the first woman to hold either post.
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Leelee Sobieski
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actoractorpainterfilm producer
- Biography
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Liliane Rudabet Gloria Elsveta "Leelee" Sobieski is an American artist and retired actress. She achieved fame in her teens with roles in films such as Deep Impact (1998), Never Been Kissed, Eyes Wide Shut (both 1999), Here on Earth (2000), Joy Ride and The Glass House (both 2001). She received Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations for her portrayal of the title character in the television film Joan of Arc (1999), and a further Golden Globe nomination for her performance in the NBC miniseries Uprising (2001). Sobieski continued to work in films and on television until retiring in 2012, after which she focused on her children and art career.
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Tim Blake Nelson
- Occupations
- film editorvoice actortelevision actormanufacturerfilm director
- Biography
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Timothy Blake Nelson is an American actor and playwright.
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Eva Amurri
- Occupations
- film actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Eva Amurri is an American actress.
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John D. Rockefeller Jr
- Occupations
- financierbankerart collectorphilanthropist
- Biography
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John Davison Rockefeller Jr. was an American financier and philanthropist. Rockefeller was the fifth child and only son of Standard Oil co-founder John D. Rockefeller. He was involved in the development of the vast office complex in Midtown Manhattan known as Rockefeller Center, making him one of the largest real estate holders in the city. Towards the end of his life, he was famous for his philanthropy, donating over $500 million to a wide variety of different causes, including educational establishments. Among his projects was the reconstruction of Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia. He was widely blamed for having orchestrated the Ludlow Massacre and other offenses during the Colorado Coalfield War. Rockefeller was the father of six children: Abby, John III, Nelson, Laurance, Winthrop, and David.
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Kerry Kennedy
- Occupations
- writerinternational forum participanthuman rights activist
- Biography
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Mary Kerry Kennedy is an American lawyer, author and human rights activist. She is the seventh child of Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy. During her 15-year marriage to former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, from 1990 to 2005, she was known as Kerry Kennedy-Cuomo. She is the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, a non-profit human rights advocacy organization.
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Marin Hinkle
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Marin Elizabeth Hinkle is an American actress. Among many television and movie roles, she is best known for playing Judy Brooks on the ABC television drama Once and Again, Judith Harper-Melnick on the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, and Rose Weissman on the comedy-drama series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime Video. For her role in The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Hinkle was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2019 and 2020.
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Dhani Harrison
- Occupations
- modelpianistsingerguitaristcomposer
- Biography
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Dhani Harrison is a British-American musician, composer and singer-songwriter. He is the only child of George and Olivia Harrison. Dhani debuted as a professional musician assisting in recording his father's final album, Brainwashed, and completing it with the assistance of Jeff Lynne after his father's death in November 2001. Harrison formed his own band, thenewno2, in 2002 and has performed at festivals, including Coachella, where Spin magazine dubbed their performance as one of the "best debut performances of the festival." The band also played Lollapalooza three times, with Harrison joining the festival's founder Perry Farrell on a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane" at 2010's event. In 2017, Harrison released his debut solo album In Parallel. The 2019 film In///Paralive, showcases the live version of his debut solo album and was recorded in the round at Henson Studios in Los Angeles. Harrison's 2019 single, "Motorways (Erase It)", was described by Rolling Stone as "a psychedelic track with a robust beat".
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Masi Oka
- Occupations
- digital artisttelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Masayori "Masi" Oka is a Japanese actor, producer, and digital effects artist who became widely known for starring in NBC's Heroes as Hiro Nakamura and in CBS's Hawaii Five-0 as Doctor Max Bergman.
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Joe Paterno
- Enrolled in Brown University
- 1946-1950 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- basketball playerwriterAmerican football coachchildren's writerplayer of American football
- Biography
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Joseph Vincent Paterno, sometimes referred to as JoePa, was an American college football player, athletic director, and coach. He was the head coach of the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2011. With 409 victories, Paterno is the most victorious coach in NCAA FBS history. He recorded his 409th victory on October 29, 2011; his career ended with his dismissal from the team on November 9, 2011, as a result of the Penn State child sex abuse scandal. He died 74 days later, of complications from lung cancer.
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Hill Harper
- Occupations
- television actorinternational forum participantfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Frank Eugene "Hill" Harper is an American actor and political candidate. He is known for his roles as Dr. Sheldon Hawkes in CSI: NY, Agent Spelman Boyle in Limitless, and Dr. Marcus Andrews in The Good Doctor.
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Yaya DaCosta
- Occupations
- actormodel
- Biography
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Camara DaCosta Johnson, better known as Yaya DaCosta, is an American actress and model. She was the runner-up in Cycle 3 of America's Next Top Model. DaCosta eventually went to star in ABC's daytime drama series All My Children (2008), ABC's comedy-drama Ugly Betty (2009), and NBC's medical drama Chicago Med (2015–2022).
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Rhonda Ross Kendrick
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Rhonda Ross Kendrick is an American singer and actress. Kendrick is the daughter of singer and actress Diana Ross and Motown Records founder Berry Gordy. She was born in Los Angeles and raised by Ross and her first husband, Robert Ellis Silberstein, a man she still is close with
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Bobby Jindal
- Enrolled in Brown University
- In 1991 graduated with Bachelor of Science
- Occupations
- politicianwriter
- Biography
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Piyush "Bobby" Jindal is an American politician who served as the 55th governor of Louisiana from 2008 to 2016. A member of the Republican Party, Jindal previously served as a U.S. representative from Louisiana from 2005 to 2008, and served as chair of the Republican Governors Association from 2012 to 2013.
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Amy Carter
- Occupations
- activist
- Biography
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Amy Lynn Carter is the daughter of the 39th U.S. president Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn Carter. Carter entered the limelight as a child when she lived in the White House during the Carter presidency.
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John Sculley
- Occupations
- businessperson
- Biography
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John Sculley III is an American businessman, entrepreneur and investor in high-tech startups. Sculley was vice-president (1970–1977) and president of PepsiCo (1977–1983), until he became chief executive officer (CEO) of Apple Inc. on April 8, 1983, a position he held until leaving in 1993. In May 1987, Sculley was named Silicon Valley's top-paid executive, with an annual salary of US$10.2 million.
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Davis Guggenheim
- Occupations
- film directorfilm producertelevision directorwriterscreenwriter
- Biography
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Philip Davis Guggenheim is an American screenwriter, director, and producer.
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Lisa Loeb
- Occupations
- guitaristwomen's rights activistactorcomposersinger
- Biography
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Lisa Anne Loeb is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author and actress. She started her career with "Stay (I Missed You)" from the film Reality Bites, the first Billboard number one single for an artist without a recording contract. She achieved two additional top 20 singles with "Do You Sleep?" in 1996 and "I Do" in 1998. Her studio albums include two back-to-back albums that were certified gold: Tails and Firecracker.
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Rory Kennedy
- Occupations
- film directorwriteractorfilm producer
- Biography
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Rory Elizabeth Katherine Kennedy is an American documentary filmmaker. Kennedy has made documentary films that center on social issues such as addiction, nuclear radiation, the treatment of prisoners-of-war, and the politics of the Mexican border fence. Her films have been featured on many television networks. She is the youngest child of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel.
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Kate Burton
- Occupations
- television actorstage actorfilm actoractorvoice actor
- Biography
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Katherine Burton is an American actress, the daughter of actors Richard Burton and Sybil Christopher. On television, Burton received critical acclaim as Ellis Grey in the Shonda Rhimes drama series Grey's Anatomy, and as Vice President Sally Langston on Scandal. She has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards and three Tony Awards.
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Larry Elder
- Occupations
- film directortalk show hostradio personalitynon-fiction writerscreenwriter
- Biography
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Laurence Allen Elder is an American conservative political commentator and talk radio host. Elder hosts The Larry Elder Show, based in California. The show began as a local program on Los Angeles radio station KABC in 1993 and ran until 2008, followed by a second run on KABC from 2010 to 2014. The show is nationally syndicated, first through ABC Radio Networks from 2002 to 2007 and then Salem Media Group from 2015 to 2022. He maintains ties to The Epoch Times, a far-right newspaper published by the Falun Gong movement.
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Silas Weir Mitchell
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Silas Weir Mitchell is an American character actor. He is known for starring as Charles "Haywire" Patoshik in the Fox television series Prison Break (2005–2007), for the recurring role of Donny Jones in My Name Is Earl (2005–2009), and as Monroe in the NBC television series Grimm (2011–2017).
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Francesca Gregorini
- Occupations
- singer-songwritercomposerscreenwritersingerfilm producer
- Biography
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Francesca McKnight Donatella Romana Gregorini di Savignano di Romagna, known professionally as Francesca Gregorini, is an Italian-American screenwriter and film director.
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JoBeth Williams
- Occupations
- actor
- Biography
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Margaret JoBeth Williams is an American actress. She rose to prominence appearing in such films as Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Stir Crazy (1980), Poltergeist (1982), The Big Chill (1983), The Day After (1983), Teachers (1984), and Poltergeist II: The Other Side (1986). A three-time Emmy Award nominee, she was nominated for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie for her work in the TV movie Adam (1983) and the TV miniseries Baby M (1988). Her third nomination was for her guest role in the sitcom Frasier (1994). She also starred in the TV series The Client (1995–96) and had recurring roles in the TV series Dexter (2007) and Private Practice (2009–11).
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Wendy Carlos
- Occupations
- record producercomposerfilm score composer
- Biography
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Wendy Carlos is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores.
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Ken Starr
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Graduated with Master of Arts
- Occupations
- judgelawyeruniversity teacherprosecutorpolitician
- Biography
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Kenneth Winston Starr was an American lawyer and judge who as independent counsel authored the Starr Report, which served as the basis of the impeachment of Bill Clinton. He headed an investigation of members of the Clinton administration, known as the Whitewater controversy, from 1994 to 1998. Starr previously served as a federal appellate judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit from 1983 to 1989 and as the U.S. solicitor general from 1989 to 1993 during the presidency of George H. W. Bush.
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Sasha Spielberg
- Occupations
- musicianfilm actoractorsinger
- Biography
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Sasha Rebecca Spielberg, also known by her stage name Buzzy Lee, is an American actress and musician.
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Max Joseph
- Occupations
- writerfilm directorscreenwriterphotographerfilm editor
- Biography
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Max Joseph is an American filmmaker and a television and gameshow host.
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Doug Liman
- Occupations
- cinematographerdirectorfilm directorexecutive producerfilm producer
- Biography
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Douglas Eric Liman is an American film director and producer. He is known for directing the films Swingers (1996), Go (1999), The Bourne Identity (2002), Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005), Jumper (2008), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and American Made (2017).
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Julie Nixon Eisenhower
- Occupations
- writervisual artist
- Biography
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Julie Nixon Eisenhower is an American author who is the younger daughter of former U.S. president Richard Nixon and his wife, Pat Nixon. Her husband, David, is the grandson of former U.S. president Dwight D. Eisenhower and his wife, Mamie Eisenhower.
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Simon Kinberg
- Occupations
- film directorexecutive producerscreenwriterfilm producer
- Biography
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Simon David Kinberg is a British-born American filmmaker. He wrote or produced a number of films in the 20th Century Fox X-Men film franchise, and has also written such films as Mr. & Mrs. Smith and Sherlock Holmes. He has served as a producer on others including Cinderella and The Martian, the latter which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. His production company Genre Films had a first-look deal with 20th Century Fox. Kinberg made his directorial debut in the 2019 X-Men film Dark Phoenix from a script he also wrote.
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Victoria Nuland
- Occupations
- politiciandiplomat
- Biography
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Victoria Jane Nuland also known as Toria Nuland is an American diplomat currently serving as under secretary of state for political affairs since 2021. A former member of the US Foreign Service, she served as assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs from 2013 to 2017 and the 18th U.S. ambassador to NATO from 2005 to 2008. Between July 2023 and February 2024, Nuland served as acting deputy secretary of state following the retirement of Wendy Sherman.
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Ted Chiang
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Studied computer science
- Occupations
- science fiction writernovelistwriter
- Biography
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Ted Chiang is an American science fiction writer. His work has won four Nebula awards, four Hugo awards, the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, and six Locus awards. His short story "Story of Your Life" was the basis of the film Arrival (2016). He was an artist in residence at the University of Notre Dame in 2020–2021. Chiang is also a frequent non-fiction contributor to the New Yorker Magazine, most recently on topics related to computer technology, such as artificial intelligence.
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Alex Wagner
- Occupations
- journalist
- Biography
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Alexandra Swe Wagner is an American journalist. She is the host of both Alex Wagner Tonight on MSNBC and Netflix's The Mole reboot, as well as the author of FutureFace: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and the Secret to Belonging (One World/Random House). She was a contributor for CBS News and is a contributing editor at The Atlantic. Previously, she was the anchor of the daytime program Now with Alex Wagner (2011–2015) on MSNBC and the co-host of The Circus on Showtime. From November 2016 until March 2018, she was a TV co-anchor on CBS This Morning Saturday. She has also been a senior editor at The Atlantic magazine since April 2016.
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Dara Khosrowshahi
- Occupations
- entrepreneurbusinesspersoninternational forum participant
- Biography
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Dara Khosrowshahi is an Iranian-American business executive who is the chief executive officer of Uber. He was previously CEO of Expedia Group, a company that owns several travel fare aggregators. He is on the board of directors of BET.com and Hotels.com, and previously served on the board of The New York Times Company.
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Bill O'Brien
- Occupations
- American football coachplayer of American footballhead coach
- Biography
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William James O'Brien, nicknamed "the Teapot", is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at Boston College, a position he has held since 2024. He was the head coach of the Houston Texans from 2014 to 2020, and at Penn State from 2012 to 2013. Prior to Boston College, O’Brien was the offensive coordinator for the New England Patriots.
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Peter Jacobson
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Peter Jacobson is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayal of Dr. Chris Taub on the Fox medical drama series House. He also starred on the USA Network science fiction drama Colony as former Proxy Snyder.
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Nadiem Makarim
- Occupations
- chief executive officerbusinesspersoninternational forum participant
- Biography
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Nadiem Anwar Makarim is an Indonesian politician and businessman who is the current minister of education, culture, research, and technology of Indonesia.
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Todd Haynes
- Occupations
- television directordirectorscreenwriteractorfilm producer
- Biography
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Todd Haynes is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films span four decades with themes examining the personalities of well-known musicians, dysfunctional and dystopian societies, and blurred gender roles.
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Chris Berman
- Occupations
- sports commentator
- Biography
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Christopher James Berman, nicknamed "Boomer", is an American sportscaster. He has been an anchor for SportsCenter on ESPN since 1979, joining a month after its initial launch, and hosted the network's Sunday NFL Countdown program from 1985 to 2016 and NFL Primetime from 1987 to 2005 and since 2019. He has also anchored Monday Night Countdown, U.S. Open golf, the Stanley Cup Finals, and other programming on ESPN and ABC Sports. Berman calls play-by-play of select Major League Baseball games for ESPN, which included the Home Run Derby until 2016.
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David Hedison
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Albert David Hedison Jr. was an American film, television, and stage actor. He was known for his roles as the titular character in The Fly (1958), Captain Lee Crane in the television science fiction drama Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1964–1968), and CIA agent Felix Leiter in two James Bond films, Live and Let Die (1973) and Licence to Kill (1989).
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Thomas Perez
- Enrolled in Brown University
- In 1983 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in political science and international relations
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Thomas Edward Perez is an American politician and attorney currently serving as senior advisor to the president of the United States and director of the White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, holding both positions since June 2023. Perez previously served as the United States secretary of labor (2013–2017), the chair of the Democratic National Committee (2017–2021), and United States assistant attorney general for civil rights (2009–2013).
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Jim Yong Kim
- Occupations
- politicianuniversity teacherphysicianinternational forum participantanthropologist
- Biography
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Jim Yong Kim, also known as Kim Yong (김용/金墉), is an American physician and anthropologist who served as the 12th president of the World Bank from 2012 to 2019.
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André Leon Talley
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Graduated with Master of Arts in French
- Occupations
- autobiographerjournalist
- Biography
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André Leon Talley was an American fashion journalist, stylist, creative director, and editor-at-large of Vogue magazine. He was the magazine's fashion news director from 1983 to 1987, its first African-American male creative director from 1988 to 1995, and then its editor-at-large from 1998 to 2013. Often regarded as a fashion icon, he was known for supporting emerging designers and advocating for diversity in the fashion industry; while the capes, kaftans, and robes he wore became his trademark look. Talley also served on the judging panel for America's Next Top Model (from Cycle 14 to Cycle 17).
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Mary Chapin Carpenter
- Occupations
- recording artistsinger-songwriterstreet artistsinger
- Biography
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Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American country and folk music singer-songwriter. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C.-area clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records. Carpenter's first album, 1987's Hometown Girl, did not produce any charting singles. She broke through with 1989's State of the Heart and 1990's Shooting Straight in the Dark.
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Sam Trammell
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Sam Trammell is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Merlotte on the HBO fantasy drama series True Blood. He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his performance as Richard Miller in Ah, Wilderness!
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Lois Lowry
- Occupations
- writernovelistphotographerchildren's writerjournalist
- Biography
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Lois Ann Lowry is an American writer. She is the author of several books for children and young adults, including The Giver Quartet, Number the Stars, and Rabble Starkey. She is known for writing about difficult subject matters, dystopias, and complex themes in works for young audiences.
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David Walton
- Occupations
- actorfilm actortelevision actor
- Biography
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David B. Walton is an American actor. He is known for his role in the television sitcom Cracking Up (2004), as Liam Connor. He has starred in several television programs, including the drama series Heist (2006), comedy series New Girl (2012–2018), and on the NBC comedies Perfect Couples (2010–2011), Bent (2012), and About a Boy (2014–2015). He played Dr. Rick in the comedy film Fired Up! (2009).
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Nicanor Parra
- Occupations
- physicistpoetacademicmathematician
- Biography
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Nicanor Segundo Parra Sandoval was a Chilean poet and physicist. He was considered one of the most influential Chilean poets of the Spanish language in the 20th century, often compared with Pablo Neruda. Parra described himself as an "anti-poet," due to his distaste for standard poetic pomp and function; after recitations he would exclaim "Me retracto de todo lo dicho" ("I take back everything I said").
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Randy Pausch
- Occupations
- computer scientistwriteruniversity teacherpedagoguemotivational speaker
- Biography
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Randolph Frederick Pausch was an American educator, a professor of computer science, human–computer interaction, and design at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
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Ira Glass
- Occupations
- screenwriterradio personalityactorfilm producerradio producer
- Biography
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Ira Jeffrey Glass is an American public radio personality. He is the host and producer of the radio and television series This American Life and has participated in other NPR programs, including Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Talk of the Nation. His work in radio and television has won him awards, such as the Edward R. Murrow Award for Outstanding Contributions to Public Radio and the George Polk Award in Radio Reporting.
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Horace Mann
- Occupations
- lawyerwriterpoliticianuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Horace Mann was an American educational reformer, slavery abolitionist and Whig politician known for his commitment to promoting public education, he is thus also known as The Father of American Education. In 1848, after public service as Secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, Mann was elected to the United States House of Representatives (1848–1853). From September 1852 to his death in 1859, he served as President of Antioch College.
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Maggie Hassan
- Enrolled in Brown University
- In 1980 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in study of history
- Occupations
- politicianlawyer
- Biography
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Margaret Coldwell Hassan is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from New Hampshire since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Hassan was the 81st governor of New Hampshire from 2013 to 2017.
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Prince Feisal bin Al-Hussein of Jordan
- Occupations
- sports executive
- Biography
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Prince Faisal bin Al Hussein is a son of King Hussein and Princess Muna, and the younger brother of King Abdullah II. Periodically he has served as regent during his brother's absences abroad.
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Michael Showalter
- Occupations
- film actorfilm producerscreenwritertelevision writertelevision producer
- Biography
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Michael Showalter is an American comedian, actor, director, writer, and producer. He first came to recognition as a cast member on MTV's The State, which aired from 1993 to 1995. He and David Wain created the Wet Hot American Summer franchise, with Showalter co-writing and starring in Wet Hot American Summer (2001), and the Netflix series. Showalter wrote and directed The Baxter (2005), in which he starred with Michelle Williams, Justin Theroux, and Elizabeth Banks. Both films featured many of his co-stars from The State, and so do several of his other projects. Showalter is also a co-creator, co-producer, actor, and writer for the TV series Search Party. He directed the 2017 critically acclaimed feature film The Big Sick.
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Nicolás Jaar
- Occupations
- record producermusician
- Biography
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Nicolas Jaar is a Chilean-American composer and recording artist based in New York. Among his notable works are the albums Space Is Only Noise (2011), Sirens (2016), and Cenizas (2020). He has also released two albums as one half of his band Darkside (Psychic, 2013, Spiral, 2021) and two further albums under the alias Against All Logic.
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Bess Armstrong
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Studied in 1975
- Occupations
- film actorstage actortelevision actor
- Biography
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Elizabeth Key "Bess" Armstrong is an American actress. She is known for her roles in the films The Four Seasons (1981), High Road to China (1983), Jaws 3-D (1983), and Nothing in Common (1986). Armstrong also starred in the ABC drama series My So-Called Life and had lead roles in a number of made-for-television films.
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Marco Beltrami
- Occupations
- film score composercomposer
- Biography
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Marco Beltrami is an American composer, conductor, and pianist, best known for his film and television scores. Beltrami has worked in a number of genres, including horror (Scream, Mimic, The Faculty, Resident Evil, The Woman in Black, Carrie, A Quiet Place, and The Nun II), action (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Live Free or Die Hard, World War Z), science fiction (I, Robot, Snowpiercer), Western (3:10 to Yuma, Jonah Hex, The Homesman), and superhero (Hellboy, The Wolverine, Logan, Venom: Let There Be Carnage).
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Charles Evans Hughes
- Occupations
- diplomatlawyerpoliticianjudgejurist
- Biography
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Charles Evans Hughes Sr. was an American statesman, politician, academic, and jurist who served as the 11th chief justice of the United States from 1930 to 1941. A member of the Republican Party, he previously was the 36th governor of New York (1907–1910), an associate justice of the Supreme Court (1910–1916), and 44th U.S. secretary of state (1921–1925). As the Republican nominee in the 1916 presidential election, he lost narrowly to Woodrow Wilson.
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Lincoln Chafee
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Studied in 1975
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Lincoln Davenport Chafee is an American politician. He was mayor of Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1993 to 1999, a United States Senator from 1999 to 2007, and the 74th Governor of Rhode Island from 2011 to 2015. He was a member of the Democratic Party from 2013 to 2019; in June 2019, The Boston Globe reported that he had become a registered Libertarian, having previously been a Republican until September 2007 and an independent and then a Democrat in the interim.
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Chris Hayes
- Occupations
- writerpolitical punditnews presentertelevision presenterjournalist
- Biography
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Christopher Loffredo Hayes is an American political commentator, television news anchor, activist, and author. Hayes hosts All In with Chris Hayes, a weekday news and opinion television show on MSNBC. Hayes also hosts a weekly MSNBC podcast, Why Is This Happening? Hayes formerly hosted a weekend MSNBC show, Up with Chris Hayes. He is an editor-at-large of The Nation magazine.
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Raymond J. Barry
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Raymond John Barry is an American film, television, and stage actor. He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in the film Steel City.
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Curtis Yarvin
- Occupations
- computer scientistpolitical theoristblogger
- Biography
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Curtis Guy Yarvin, also known by the pen name Mencius Moldbug, is an American blogger. He is known, along with philosopher Nick Land, for founding the anti-egalitarian and anti-democratic philosophical movement known as the Dark Enlightenment or neoreactionary movement (NRx).
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Joseph Bologna
- Occupations
- writerscreenwritertelevision actoractorfilm director
- Biography
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Joseph Bologna was an American actor, playwright and screenwriter notable for his roles in the comedy films My Favorite Year, Blame It on Rio, and Transylvania 6-5000.
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Andy Hertzfeld
- Occupations
- computer engineer
- Biography
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Andrew Jay Hertzfeld is an American software engineer who was a member of Apple Computer's original Macintosh development team during the 1980s. After buying an Apple II in January 1978, he went to work for Apple Computer from August 1979 until March 1984, where he was a designer for the Macintosh system software.
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Richard Holbrooke
- Occupations
- bankerwriterpoliticiandiplomat
- Biography
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Richard Charles Albert Holbrooke was an American diplomat and author. He was the only person to have held the position of Assistant Secretary of State for two different regions of the world (Asia from 1977 to 1981 and Europe from 1994 to 1996).
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Elvis Perkins
- Occupations
- musiciansinger-songwriter
- Biography
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Elvis Brooke Perkins is an American folk-rock musician. He released his debut studio album, Ash Wednesday, in 2007. He subsequently toured in support of the album with his band Elvis Perkins in Dearland, composed of Perkins alongside multi-instrumentalists Brigham Brough, Wyndham Boylan-Garnett and Nick Kinsey. The band released its self-titled debut, Elvis Perkins in Dearland, in 2009.
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Alicia Sacramone
- Occupations
- artistic gymnast
- Biography
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Alicia Marie Sacramone Quinn is a retired American artistic gymnast. She won a silver medal with the United States team at the 2008 Summer Olympics and is the 2005 World Champion on floor exercise and the 2010 World Champion on the vault. With a total of eleven World Championship and Olympic medals, Sacramone is the fourth most decorated U.S. female gymnast, behind Simone Biles (30), Shannon Miller (16), and Nastia Liukin (14).
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Giovanni Alberto Agnelli
- Occupations
- entrepreneur
- Biography
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Giovanni Alberto Agnelli, colloqually known as Giovannino Agnelli, was an Italian businessman and member of the Agnelli family, an Italian industrial dynasty associated with Fiat S.p.A. Agnelli's father was politician and industrialist Umberto Agnelli; his uncle was Fiat head Gianni Agnelli. Prior to his 1997 death at age 33, he was the heir apparent and designated future chairman of the Fiat Group. Agnelli's reputation among the Italian public was comparable to that of John F. Kennedy Jr. in the United States; in the words of Alan Friedman, he was "rich, strikingly handsome, always smiling and the leading voice of his generation."
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Jessica Meir
- Occupations
- university teacherexplorerastronautmarine biologistaircraft pilot
- Biography
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Jessica Ulrika Meir is an American NASA astronaut, marine biologist, and physiologist. She was previously an assistant professor of anesthesia at Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, following postdoctoral research in comparative physiology at the University of British Columbia. She has studied the diving physiology and behavior of emperor penguins in Antarctica, and the physiology of bar-headed geese, which are able to migrate over the Himalayas. In September 2002, Meir served as an aquanaut on the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations 4 (NEEMO 4) crew. In 2013, she was selected by NASA to Astronaut Group 21. In 2016, Meir participated in ESA CAVES, a training course in which international astronauts train in a space-analogue cave environment. Meir launched on September 25, 2019, to the ISS onboard Soyuz MS-15, where she served as a flight Engineer during Expedition 61 and 62. On October 18, 2019, Meir and Christina Koch were the first women to participate in an all-female spacewalk.
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Madeline Miller
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts in classics
- Occupations
- novelistwriterteacher
- Biography
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Madeline Miller is an American novelist, author of The Song of Achilles (2011) and Circe (2018). Miller spent ten years writing The Song of Achilles while she worked as a teacher of Latin and Greek. The novel tells the story of the love between the mythological figures Achilles and Patroclus; it won the Orange Prize for Fiction, making Miller the fourth debut novelist to win the prize. She is a 2019 recipient of the Alex Awards.
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Richard Fleischer
- Occupations
- film directordirectorscreenwriter
- Biography
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Richard Owen Fleischer was an American film director whose career spanned more than four decades, beginning at the height of the Golden Age of Hollywood and lasting through the American New Wave.
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Ottessa Moshfegh
- Occupations
- novelistwriterscreenwriter
- Biography
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Ottessa Charlotte Moshfegh is an American author and novelist. Her debut novel, Eileen (2015), won the Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize, and was a fiction finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Moshfegh's subsequent novels include My Year of Rest and Relaxation, Death in Her Hands, and Lapvona.
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Hiroko Kuniya
- Occupations
- journalistinternational forum participantnews presenter
- Biography
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Hiroko Kuniya is a Japanese news presenter and journalist. Kuniya was born in Osaka Prefecture and graduated from International School of the Sacred Heart in 1975 and then Brown University with majors in international relations and international economics. In 1981, she began to work as a news caster and writer for the English-language broadcasts of NHK television's Seven O'clock News. Starting in 1986, she served as a researcher in the United States for NHK Special. Later assignments included satellite and ground network news shows, including Asia Now (1990), which was picked up in the U.S. by Public Broadcasting Service.
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Charles Colson
- Occupations
- politicianwriterlawyer
- Biography
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Charles Wendell Colson, generally referred to as Chuck Colson, was an American attorney and political advisor who served as Special Counsel to President Richard Nixon from 1969 to 1970. Once known as President Nixon's "hatchet man", Colson gained notoriety at the height of the Watergate scandal, for being named as one of the Watergate Seven, and also for pleading guilty to obstruction of justice for attempting to defame Pentagon Papers defendant Daniel Ellsberg. In 1974, he served seven months in the federal Maxwell Prison in Alabama, as the first member of the Nixon administration to be incarcerated for Watergate-related charges.
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Ben Shenkman
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Benjamin Shenkman is an American actor. He is known for his roles in the comedy-drama series Royal Pains and the acclaimed HBO miniseries Angels in America, which earned him both Primetime Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations.
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Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark
- Occupations
- aristocrat
- Biography
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Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark is the third child of Constantine II and Anne-Marie of Denmark, who were the last King and Queen of Greece, from 1964 to 1973.
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Aaron T. Beck
- Occupations
- professor of medicineuniversity teacherpsychiatrist
- Biography
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Aaron Temkin Beck was an American psychiatrist who was a professor in the department of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. He is regarded as the father of cognitive therapy and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). His pioneering methods are widely used in the treatment of clinical depression and various anxiety disorders. Beck also developed self-report measures for depression and anxiety, notably the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), which became one of the most widely used instruments for measuring the severity of depression. In 1994 he and his daughter, psychologist Judith S. Beck, founded the nonprofit Beck Institute for Cognitive Behavior Therapy, which provides CBT treatment and training, as well as research. Beck served as President Emeritus of the organization up until his death.
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Will Oldham
- Occupations
- songwriterguitaristmusiciansinger-songwritersinger
- Biography
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Joseph Will Oldham is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, and Palace Music). After briefly publishing music under his own name, in 1998 he adopted Bonnie "Prince" Billy as the name for most of his work.
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Jeffrey Eugenides
- Occupations
- novelistacademicwriteruniversity teacher
- Biography
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Jeffrey Kent Eugenides is an American author. He has written numerous short stories and essays, as well as three novels: The Virgin Suicides (1993), Middlesex (2002), and The Marriage Plot (2011). The Virgin Suicides served as the basis of the 1999 film of the same name, while Middlesex received the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in addition to being a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the International Dublin Literary Award, and France's Prix Médicis.
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Marilynne Robinson
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- novelistscience fiction writerwriteressayist
- Biography
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Marilynne Summers Robinson is an American novelist and essayist. Across her writing career, Robinson has received numerous awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2005, National Humanities Medal in 2012, and the 2016 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction. In 2016, Robinson was named in Time magazine's list of 100 most influential people. Robinson began teaching at the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1991 and retired in the spring of 2016.
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Eli Marienthal
- Occupations
- television actorstage actorfilm actoractorvoice actor
- Biography
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Eli David Marienthal is an American actor. He won the Annie Award for Outstanding Achievement for Voice Acting in a Feature Production for his vocal performance in the animated film The Iron Giant.
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Dean Phillips
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Dean Benson Phillips is an American businessman, politician, and candidate for the 2024 Democratic Party presidential nomination who has served as the U.S. representative from Minnesota's 3rd congressional district since 2019. Phillips's district encompasses the western suburbs of the Twin Cities, such as Bloomington, Minnetonka, Edina, Maple Grove, Plymouth, and Eden Prairie. A member of the Democratic Party, Phillips has both owned and started several companies in addition to serving as president and CEO of his family's liquor business, the Phillips Distilling Company. He is the former co-owner of Talenti gelato and co-owns Penny's Coffee. On November 24, 2023, Phillips announced that he would not run for reelection.
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Naomi Novik
- Occupations
- writernovelistprogrammerfantasy authorscience fiction writer
- Biography
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Naomi Novik is an American author of speculative fiction. She is known for the Temeraire series (2006–2016), an alternate history of the Napoleonic Wars involving dragons, and her Scholomance fantasy series (2020–2022). Her standalone fantasy novels Uprooted (2015) and Spinning Silver (2018) were inspired by Polish folklore and the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale respectively. Novik has won many awards for her work, including the Alex, Audie, British Fantasy, Locus, Mythopoeic and Nebula Awards.
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John Heisman
- Occupations
- coachbasketball coachplayer of American footballbaseball manager
- Biography
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John William Heisman was a player and coach of American football, baseball, and basketball, as well as a sportswriter and actor. He served as the head football coach at Oberlin College, Buchtel College (now known as the University of Akron), Auburn University, Clemson University, Georgia Tech, the University of Pennsylvania, Washington & Jefferson College, and Rice University, compiling a career college football record of 186–70–18.
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David Cicilline
- Enrolled in Brown University
- In 1983 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- lawyerpoliticianfaculty memberadvocatepublic defender
- Biography
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David Nicola Cicilline is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Rhode Island's 1st congressional district from 2011 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 36th mayor of Providence from 2003 to 2011, the first openly gay mayor of a U.S. state capital.
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Louis Ozawa Changchien
- Occupations
- stage actortelevision actorfilm actoractor
- Biography
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Louis Ozawa Changchien is an American actor best known for his role in the films Predators (2010), The Bourne Legacy (2012), and Jack Ryan (2023).
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Cecile Richards
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Cecile Richards is an American activist who served as the president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund from 2006 to 2018. In 2010, Richards was elected to the Ford Foundation board of trustees. In spring 2019, Richards co-founded Supermajority, a women's political action group.
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Michael Parenti
- Occupations
- historianjournalistpolitical scientist
- Biography
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Michael John Parenti is an American political scientist, academic historian and cultural critic who writes on scholarly and popular subjects. He has taught at universities as well as run for political office. Parenti is well known for his Marxist writings and lectures, and is an intellectual of the American Left.
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Susan Bennett
- Enrolled in Brown University
- Graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- musicianvoice actor
- Biography
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Susan Alice Bennett is an American voice actress and a former backup singer for Roy Orbison and Burt Bacharach. She is best known as female American voice of Apple's Siri personal assistant, since the service was introduced on the iPhone 4S on October 4, 2011. She was the voice of Siri until the iOS 7 update was released on September 18, 2013.
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Brian Moynihan
- Occupations
- chief executive officerbankerinternational forum participant
- Biography
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Brian Thomas Moynihan is an American lawyer, investment banker, and businessman who is the chairman and CEO of Bank of America. He joined the board of directors, following his promotion to president and CEO in 2010.
