100 Notable alumni of
Wesleyan University
Updated:
Wesleyan University is 162nd in the world, 74th in North America, and 71st in the United States by aggregated alumni prominence. Below is the list of 100 notable alumni from Wesleyan 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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Lin-Manuel Miranda
- Occupations
- songwriterlibrettistfilm producerplaywrighttranslator
- Biography
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Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American songwriter, actor, filmmaker and librettist. He created the Broadway musicals In the Heights and Hamilton, and the soundtracks for the animated films Moana, Vivo, and Encanto. He has received numerous accolades including a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, three Tony Awards, two Laurence Olivier Awards, two Emmy Awards, and five Grammy Awards, along with nominations for two Academy Awards. He received the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018.
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Bill Belichick
- Occupations
- American football coachcoach
- Biography
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William Stephen Belichick is an American football coach who is the head coach of the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. Regarded as one of the greatest head coaches of all time, he holds numerous coaching records, including the record of most Super Bowl wins (six) as a head coach, all with the New England Patriots, along with two more during his time as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants, for a record eight total Super Bowl victories as coach and coordinator. A renowned American football historian, Belichick is often referred to as a "student of the game" with a deep knowledge of the intricacies of each player position. During his tenure with the Patriots, Belichick was a central figure as the head coach and de facto general manager during the team's dynasty from 2001 to 2019.
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Michael Bay
- Occupations
- actorscreenwriterdirectorfilm actorfilm director
- Biography
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Michael Benjamin Bay is an American film director and producer. He is best known for making big-budget high-concept action films with fast cutting, stylistic cinematography and visuals, and extensive use of special effects, including frequent depictions of explosions. The films he has directed include Bad Boys (1995) and its sequel Bad Boys II (2003), The Rock (1996), Armageddon (1998), Pearl Harbor (2001), the first five films in the Transformers film series, Pain & Gain (2013), 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016), and Ambulance (2022). His films have grossed over US$6.6 billion worldwide, making him the fifth-most commercially successful director in history.
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Joss Whedon
- Occupations
- cartoonistnovelisttelevision actoranimatortelevision producer
- Biography
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Joseph Hill "Joss" Whedon is an American filmmaker, comic book writer, and composer. He is best known as the creator of several television series: the supernatural drama Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997–2003) and its spinoff Angel (1999–2004), the short-lived space Western Firefly (2002), the Internet musical miniseries Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008), the science fiction drama Dollhouse (2009–2010), the Marvel Cinematic Universe films The Avengers (2012) and Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) and series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013–2020), and the science fiction drama The Nevers (2021).
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Bradley Whitford
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorscreenwriterfilm actortelevision producer
- Biography
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Bradley Whitford is an American actor and producer. From 1999 to 2006, Whitford starred as Josh Lyman, White House Deputy Chief of Staff, in NBC's political drama television series The West Wing. He won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for the role in 2001.
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Dana Delany
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorfilm actorvoice actorstage actor
- Biography
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Dana Delany is an American actress. After appearing in small roles early in her career, Delany received her breakthrough role as Colleen McMurphy on the ABC television drama China Beach (1988–1991), for which she received the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series in 1989 and 1992. She received further recognition for her appearances in the films Light Sleeper (1992), Tombstone (1993), Exit to Eden (1994), The Margaret Sanger Story (1995), Fly Away Home (1996), True Women (1997), and Wide Awake (1998). Delany also provided the voice of Lois Lane in Superman: The Animated Series, Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. Delany has the longest tenure of playing Lois Lane, having portrayed the character intermittently over a span of 17 years.
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Clark Gregg
- Occupations
- film actorfilm directortelevision actoractordirector
- Biography
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Robert Clark Gregg Jr. is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He portrayed Phil Coulson in films and television series set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe from 2008 to 2024, and voiced Coulson in an animated television series and video games.
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Beanie Feldstein
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Elizabeth Greer "Beanie" Feldstein is an American actress, singer and comedian. She first gained recognition for her starring roles in the comedy film Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016), the comedy-drama film Lady Bird (2017), and the coming-of-age comedy film Booksmart (2019), the last of which earned her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture–Comedy or Musical.
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Willie Garson
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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William Garson Paszamant was an American actor. He appeared in over 75 films and more than 300 TV episodes. He was known for playing Stanford Blatch on the series Sex and the City, in the related films Sex and the City and Sex and the City 2 and in the spin-off And Just Like That..., Mozzie in the series White Collar from 2009 to 2014, Ralph in the 2005 romantic comedy Little Manhattan, Gerard Hirsch in the reboot of Hawaii Five-0, and Martin Lloyd in the sci-fi series Stargate SG-1.
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Mike White
- Occupations
- reality television participantactortelevision actorwriterfilm actor
- Biography
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Michael Christopher White is an American filmmaker and actor. He created, writes, and directs the ongoing HBO satirical comedy anthology series The White Lotus, for which he has won three Primetime Emmy Awards.
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Ram Dass
- Occupations
- writerspiritual teacheruniversity teacherguruphilosopher
- Biography
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Ram Dass, also known as Baba Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, guru of modern yoga, psychologist, and writer. His best-selling 1971 book Be Here Now, which has been described by multiple reviewers as "seminal", helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga in the West. He authored or co-authored twelve more books on spirituality over the next four decades, including Grist for the Mill (1977), How Can I Help? (1985), and Polishing the Mirror (2013).
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Amanda Palmer
- Occupations
- pianistwriterplaywrightstreet artistcomposer
- Biography
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Amanda MacKinnon Palmer is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who was the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls and the ex-wife of author Neil Gaiman. She performs as a solo artist and was also a member of the duo Evelyn Evelyn and the lead singer and songwriter of Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra. She has gained a cult fanbase and was one of the first musical artists to popularize the use of crowdfunding websites.
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William Christopher
- Occupations
- television actorstage actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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William Christopher was an American actor and comedian, best known for playing Private Lester Hummel on Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. from 1965 to 1968 and Father Francis John Patrick Mulcahy on the television series M*A*S*H from 1972 to 1983 and its spinoff AfterMASH from 1983 to 1985.
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Kim Wayans
- Occupations
- television directorfilm actortelevision actoractortelevision producer
- Biography
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Kimberly Nichole Wayans is an American actress and comedian. She is the sister of Keenen Ivory, Damon Sr., Marlon, Shawn, and Nadia Wayans and aunt of Damien Dante among others. She is best known for her numerous roles on the Fox sketch comedy show In Living Color (1990–94), and Tonia Harris on In the House (1995–98). Wayans has also directed episodes for several series, including Bunk'd, The Neighborhood, and My Wife and Kids.
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Daniel Dennett
- Occupations
- university teacherwriterphilosopherresearcherprofessor
- Biography
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Daniel Clement Dennett III was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science.
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D. B. Weiss
- Occupations
- television directorshowrunnerauthordirectorwriter
- Biography
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Daniel Brett Weiss is an American screenwriter and television producer. Along with his collaborator David Benioff, he is best-known for co-creating Game of Thrones (2011–2019), the HBO adaptation of George R. R. Martin's series of books, A Song of Ice and Fire. He also wrote and produced the 2022 American teen comedy-drama Metal Lords.
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Daniel Handler
- Enrolled in Wesleyan University
- 1988-1992 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- accordionistmusicianchildren's writernovelistsongwriter
- Biography
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Daniel Handler is an American author, musician, screenwriter, television writer, and television producer. He is best known for his children's book series A Series of Unfortunate Events and All the Wrong Questions, published under the pen name Lemony Snicket. The former was adapted into a film in 2004, as well as a Netflix series from 2017 to 2019.
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Edward Thorndike
- Enrolled in Wesleyan University
- Studied in 1895
- Occupations
- university teacherteacherpsychologist
- Biography
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Edward Lee Thorndike was an American psychologist who spent nearly his entire career at Teachers College, Columbia University. His work on comparative psychology and the learning process led to his "theory of connectionism" and helped lay the scientific foundation for educational psychology. He also worked on solving industrial problems, such as employee exams and testing.
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John Hickenlooper
- Occupations
- lawyerrestaurateurgeologistpolitician
- Biography
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John Wright Hickenlooper Jr. is an American politician, geologist, and businessman serving as the junior United States senator from Colorado since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 42nd governor of Colorado from 2011 to 2019 and as the 43rd mayor of Denver from 2003 to 2011.
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Michael Bennet
- Enrolled in Wesleyan University
- In 1987 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in study of history
- Occupations
- school superintendentdirectorcounselpolitician
- Biography
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Michael Farrand Bennet is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat serving as the senior United States senator from Colorado, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed to the seat when Senator Ken Salazar became Secretary of the Interior. He previously worked as a managing director for the Anschutz Investment Company, chief of staff to Denver mayor (and his future Senate colleague) John Hickenlooper, and superintendent of Denver Public Schools.
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Alex Kurtzman
- Occupations
- film producerscreenwritertelevision producerexecutive producerfilm director
- Biography
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Alexander Hilary Kurtzman is an American filmmaker. He is best known for co-writing the scripts to Transformers (2007), Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness (2013), and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014) with his writing and producing partner Roberto Orci, and directing and co-writing The Mummy (2017). He made his directorial debut with People Like Us (2012), co-written alongside Orci and Jody Lambert.
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Elisabeth Harnois
- Occupations
- voice actortelevision actoractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Elisabeth Harnois is an American actress. Her career started at the age of five, where she began appearing in a number of film and television roles. As a child, she starred as Alice in Disney's Adventures in Wonderland and as an adult, she starred as Morgan Brody in CSI: Crime Scene Investigation from 2011 to 2015.
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Kenneth Lonergan
- Occupations
- playwrightfilm directoractorauthordirector
- Biography
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Kenneth Lonergan is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director, and actor. He is known for his works which explore complex emotional and interpersonal dynamics. He has received several awards including an Academy Award and a BAFTA Award as well as nominations for three Golden Globe Awards, a Pulitzer Prize, a Laurence Olivier Award, and a Tony Award.
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Akiva Goldsman
- Occupations
- television directordocumentary participantfilm producerexecutive producerfilm director
- Biography
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Akiva Goldsman is an American screenwriter, producer, and director. His filmography as a screenwriter includes The Client; Batman Forever and its sequel Batman & Robin; I, Robot; I Am Legend; Cinderella Man, and numerous rewrites that are both credited and uncredited. He also wrote more than a dozen episodes for the science fiction television series Fringe.
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Andrew VanWyngarden
- Occupations
- singerlyricistguitarist
- Biography
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Andrew Wells VanWyngarden is an American musician who is the lead vocalist, guitarist, songwriter, and co-founder of the band MGMT. One of his songs, "Kids" received a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals while the band was nominated in the Best New Artist category.
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Ruben Fleischer
- Occupations
- film producerscreenwriterfilm director
- Biography
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Ruben Samuel Fleischer is an American film director, film producer, television producer, music video director, and commercial director. He is best known as the director of Zombieland (2009), his first feature film, and its sequel Zombieland: Double Tap (2019). He has also directed the films 30 Minutes or Less, Gangster Squad, Uncharted, and 2018's Venom featuring the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Prior to features, he directed television commercials for such brands as Cisco, Eurostar, ESPN, and Burger King, and music videos for artists such as M.I.A., Electric Six, DJ Format and Gold Chains.
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Angela Yee
- Occupations
- radio personality
- Biography
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Angela Yee is an American radio personality. She is currently the host of syndicated radio show Way Up. She previously co-hosted the radio show The Breakfast Club from 2010 to 2022. She is also on the Board of Governors of the We Are Family Foundation and a board member of the American Foundation for the University of the West Indies. She is also the first-ever ambassador for the New York Public Library system. Since 2019, she has served as the BSE Global Diversity, Inclusion, and Community Engagement Ambassador.
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Santigold
- Occupations
- composersinger-songwriterrecording artistrapperperformance artist
- Biography
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Santi White, known professionally as Santigold (formerly Santogold), is an American singer and songwriter. Her debut studio album, Santogold (2008), was released by Atlantic Records and met with widespread critical praise for its cross-genre blending of dub, new wave, and hip hop music. Its second single, "L.E.S. Artistes", peaked within the top 40 of the UK Singles Chart.
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Edward M. Kennedy Jr
- Enrolled in Wesleyan University
- In 1983 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Edward Moore Kennedy Jr. is an American lawyer and politician. He is a partner at Epstein Becker & Green, a firm headquartered in New York City, and previously represented Connecticut's 12th State Senate district in the Connecticut State Senate from 2015 to 2019. He is a son of United States Senate member Ted Kennedy from Massachusetts and a nephew of President John F. Kennedy and Senator Robert F. Kennedy.
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Matthew Weiner
- Occupations
- actorscreenwritertelevision directortelevision producerfilm director
- Biography
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Matthew Hoffman Weiner is an American television writer, producer, and director best known as the creator and showrunner of the television series Mad Men, and as a writer and executive producer on The Sopranos.
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Ulrich Wickert
- Enrolled in Wesleyan University
- Studied in 1962
- Occupations
- news presenteruniversity teacherwriterjournalisttelevision presenter
- Biography
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Ulrich Wickert is a Japanese-born German journalist. He is one of the best-known broadcasters in Germany.
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Anuradha Sriram
- Occupations
- singertelevision actor
- Biography
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Anuradha Sriram is an Indian playback and classical singer. She is also a film composer and a voice artist. She has recorded over 5,000 songs in various Indian languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Bengali, Hindi and in Sinhala. She is the recipient of Filmfare Best Female Playback Singer Award and Karnataka State Film Award. She has also received the Kalaimamani award from Government of Tamilnadu and the honorary Doctorate for her contributions to Indian music by Sathyabama University in 2012.
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Bozoma Saint John
- Occupations
- chief marketing officer
- Biography
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Bozoma "Boz" Saint John is a Ghanaian-American businessperson and marketing executive who was the chief marketing officer (CMO) at Netflix from August 2020 to March 2022. Previously, she served as chief brand officer (CBO) at Uber from 2017 to 2018, and CMO at Endeavor from 2018 to 2020. Saint John was also a marketing executive at Apple Music until June 2017, after joining the company in its acquisition of Beats Music. From 2005 until 2014, she worked at PepsiCo, eventually serving as the head of music and entertainment marketing. In May 2021, she was named among the Top 50 Most Influential Female Leaders in Africa within the corporate and business sphere by Leading Ladies Africa.
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John Perry Barlow
- Occupations
- farmerhusbandry workerbloggerInternet activistpoet
- Biography
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John Perry Barlow was an American poet, essayist, cattle rancher, and cyberlibertarian political activist. He was also a lyricist for the Grateful Dead, a founding member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and the Freedom of the Press Foundation, and an early fellow at Harvard University's Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.
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Jon Turteltaub
- Occupations
- manufacturerdirectorfilm directorfilm producerscreenwriter
- Biography
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Jonathan Charles Turteltaub is an American filmmaker.
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Zak Penn
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorfilm producerfilm actor
- Biography
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Zak Penn is an American screenwriter. Penn wrote and directed Incident at Loch Ness and The Grand, wrote the script for The Incredible Hulk, co-wrote the scripts for X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and the story for The Avengers. With Michael Karnow, Penn is the co-creator of the television series Alphas on the Syfy network.
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Peter Cambor
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorstage actor
- Biography
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Peter Cambor is an American actor, writer, and producer. He is best known for his portrayal of Barry on Grace and Frankie and operational psychologist Nate Getz on the CBS show NCIS: Los Angeles.
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Prince Carlos, Hereditary Duke of Parma
- Occupations
- aristocrat
- Biography
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Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma and Piacenza is the current Head of the House of Bourbon-Parma, which ruled the Duchy of Parma and Piacenza from 1748 to 1802 and from 1847 to 1859. He assumed the role upon the death of his father in 2010.
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Tembi Locke
- Occupations
- television actoractivistexecutive produceractorfilm actor
- Biography
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Tembi Locke is an American actress who has appeared in television shows and film. She is best known as Dr. Grace Monroe on Syfy's series Eureka and as Dr. Diana Davis in Sliders. Locke is also the author of the bestselling memoir, From Scratch, which was later adapted into a limited series by Netflix.
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Sebastian Junger
- Occupations
- non-fiction writerfilm producerfilm directorcinematographerjournalist
- Biography
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Sebastian Junger is an American journalist, author and filmmaker who has reported in-the-field on dirty, dangerous and demanding occupations and the experience of infantry combat. He is the author of The Perfect Storm: A True Story of Men Against the Sea (1997) which was adapted into a major motion picture and led to a resurgence in adventure creative nonfiction writing. He covered the War in Afghanistan for more than a decade, often embedded in dangerous and remote military outposts. The book War (2010) was drawn from his field reporting for Vanity Fair, that also served as the background for the documentary film Restrepo (2010) which received the Grand Jury Prize for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. Junger's works explore themes such as brotherhood, trauma, and the relationship of the individual to society as told from the far reaches of human experience.
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Scott Gottlieb
- Occupations
- politicianphysician
- Biography
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Scott Gottlieb is an American physician and investor who previously served as the 23rd commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) from May 2017 until April 2019. He is presently a senior fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute (AEI); a partner at the venture capital firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA); and a member of the board of directors of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Inc and the health insurance company UnitedHealth Group, and the Chairman of the board of directors of gene sequencing company Illumina, Inc. Gottlieb is a contributor to cable financial news network CNBC and the CBS News program Face the Nation. An elected member of the National Academy of Medicine, he is the author of The New York Times best selling book Uncontrolled Spread on the COVID-19 pandemic and the national security vulnerabilities that it revealed. His forthcoming book, The Miracle Century: Making Sense of the Cell Therapy Revolution, traces the scientific achievements that propelled progress in cell therapies.
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Robin Cook
- Occupations
- science fiction writerwriternovelistphysicianphysician writer
- Biography
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Robert Brian "Robin" Cook is an American physician and novelist who writes largely about medicine and topics affecting public health.
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Paul Weitz
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorfilm produceractor
- Biography
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Paul John Weitz is an American screenwriter, director and producer. He is the older brother of filmmaker Chris Weitz. Together they worked on the comedy films American Pie and About a Boy; for the latter, they were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Weitz is also a writer, executive producer, and director of the Amazon Prime Video dramedy series Mozart in the Jungle.
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Benjamin Goldwasser
- Occupations
- pianistguitaristsinger-songwriter
- Biography
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Benjamin Nicholas Hunter Goldwasser is an American songwriter and musician in the psychedelic rock band MGMT, for which he primarily plays keyboards and sings. In 2009, his song "Electric Feel" (co-written with bandmate Andrew VanWyngarden), remixed by Justice, won a Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical category. In 2010, his band was nominated for a Grammy as Best New Artist and Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals.
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Kohei Saito
- Enrolled in Wesleyan University
- 2005-2009 graduated with Bachelor of Arts in government
- Occupations
- economistphilosopher
- Biography
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Kohei Saito is a Japanese philosopher. He is an associate professor at the University of Tokyo. Saito works on ecology and political economy from a Marxist perspective. His 2020 book Capital in the Anthropocene has been credited for inspiring a resurgence of interest in Marxist thought in Japan.
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Maya Kazan
- Occupations
- film actorstage actorfilm directortelevision actoractor
- Biography
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Maya Kazan is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Eleanor Gallinger on the television series The Knick (2014–2015).
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Lael Brainard
- Occupations
- bankereconomistpolitician
- Biography
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Lael Brainard is an American economist who served as the 14th director of the National Economic Council from 2023 to 2025. She previously served as the 22nd vice chair of the Federal Reserve between May 2022 and February 2023. Prior to her term as vice chair, Brainard served as a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, taking office in 2014. Before her appointment to the Federal Reserve, she served as the under secretary of the treasury for international affairs from 2010 to 2013.
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Eric Mangini
- Occupations
- American football coachAmerican football player
- Biography
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Eric Anthony Mangini is an American former professional football coach and current television sports analyst for Fox Sports 1. He served as a head coach for the New York Jets from 2006 to 2008 and the Cleveland Browns from 2009 to 2010. After departing Cleveland, Mangini became an NFL analyst for ESPN. He returned to coaching with the San Francisco 49ers, starting in 2013 as the team's tight ends coach before being promoted to defensive coordinator in 2015, only to be fired in 2016 by new head coach Chip Kelly. Mangini then became an analyst for Fox Sports 1.
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Michael E. Knight
- Occupations
- film actoractortelevision actor
- Biography
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Michael Edward Knight is an American television actor, best known for his role as Tad Martin on ABC soap opera All My Children.
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Nobutaka Machimura
- Occupations
- diplomatpolitician
- Biography
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Nobutaka Machimura was a Japanese politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives of Japan and a member of the Liberal Democratic Party. He was Chief Cabinet Secretary in the government of Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda from 2007 to 2008 and twice Minister for Foreign Affairs, in the cabinets of Junichiro Koizumi and Shinzō Abe. He resigned as the Speaker of the House of Representatives on 21 April 2015 after suffering from a stroke.
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Hari Kondabolu
- Occupations
- comedianpodcasterscreenwriter
- Biography
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Hari Karthikeya Kondabolu is an American stand-up comedian and writer. His comedy covers subjects such as race, inequity, and Indian stereotypes. He was a writer for Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell and the creator of the 2017 documentary film The Problem with Apu.
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Herb Kelleher
- Occupations
- chief executive officerlawyerchairpersonfounderbusinessperson
- Biography
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Herbert David Kelleher was an American billionaire airline businessman and lawyer. He was the co-founder, later CEO, and chairman emeritus of Southwest Airlines until his death in 2019.
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David McClelland
- Occupations
- university teacherpsychologistsociologist
- Biography
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David Clarence McClelland was an American psychologist, noted for his work on motivation need theory. He published a number of works between the 1950s and the 1990s and developed new scoring systems for the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) and its descendants. McClelland is credited with developing Achievement Motivation Theory, commonly referred to as "need for achievement" or n-achievement theory. A Review of General Psychology survey published in 2002, ranked McClelland as the 15th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.
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Carter Bays
- Occupations
- showrunnertelevision producerscreenwriter
- Biography
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Carter Loard Bays is an American television producer, writer, showrunner, and musician.
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Max Rose
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Max Rose is an American politician and military officer who served as the U.S. representative for New York's 11th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. A moderate Democrat, he played a key role in bringing a stalled bill for a fund for victims of the September 11 attacks to a vote in the United States House of Representatives. Rose served in the Biden administration as senior advisor to the United States secretary of defense for COVID-19 from January 2021 to July 2021.
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Tim Eriksen
- Years
- 1966-.. (age 60)
- Occupations
- singerguitaristsinger-songwriteruniversity teachermusicologist
- Biography
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Tim Eriksen is an American musician, musicologist, and professor. He is the leader of the band Cordelia's Dad, a solo artist, and was a performer and consultant for the award-winning soundtrack of the film Cold Mountain.
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Candace Nelson
- Enrolled in Wesleyan University
- Studied in 1996
- Occupations
- pastry chefinvestorcheftelevision personality
- Biography
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Candace Nelson is an Indonesian-born American pastry chef and judge on the television series Cupcake Wars and Sugar Rush.
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Barton MacLane
- Occupations
- husbandry workertelevision actorscreenwriterfilm actorstage actor
- Biography
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Barton MacLane was an American actor, playwright, and screenwriter. He appeared in many classic films from the 1930s through the 1960s, including his role as General Martin Peterson on the 1960s NBC television comedy series I Dream of Jeannie, with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman.
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Stephen Talbot
- Occupations
- actortelevision producerjournalist
- Biography
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Stephen Henderson Talbot is a journalist and TV documentary filmmaker. Talbot directed and produced "The Movement and the 'Madman' " for the PBS series American Experience in 2023. He is a longtime contributor to the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) who worked for over 16 years for the series Frontline. Talbot has won Emmys, Peabodys, DuPonts and a George Polk Award for his documentaries.
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Craig Thomas
- Occupations
- actorscreenwriterwritertelevision producermusician
- Biography
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Craig David Thomas is an American television writer who, along with writing partner Carter Bays, has written episodes of American Dad!, Oliver Beene, Quintuplets and the hit CBS sitcom How I Met Your Mother, which they created in 2005. In 2012, How I Met Your Mother won a People's Choice Awards.
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Mary Roach
- Occupations
- writerjournalistmedical writermagazine writer
- Biography
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Mary Roach is an American author specializing in popular science and humor. She has published eight New York Times bestsellers: Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers (2003), Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife (2005), Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex (2008), Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void (2010), Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (2013), Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War (2016), Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law (2021), and Replaceable You: Adventures in Human Anatomy (2025).
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Becky Albertalli
- Occupations
- writerpsychologist
- Biography
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Rebecca Albertalli is an American author of young adult fiction and former psychologist. She is known for her 2015 debut novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which was adapted into the 2018 film Love, Simon and inspired the spin-off television series Love, Victor. Albertalli has subsequently published seven additional novel-length works of young adult fiction, along with 2020's novella Love, Creekwood, from which Albertalli has donated all proceeds to The Trevor Project.
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Jed Hoyer
- Occupations
- baseball player
- Biography
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Jed Hoyer is an American sports executive who is the president of baseball operations for the Chicago Cubs of Major League Baseball (MLB). He has been the general manager of the San Diego Padres and the assistant general manager of the Boston Red Sox.
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Edoardo Ballerini
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorscreenwriterfilm actortheatrical director
- Biography
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Edoardo Ballerini is an American actor, narrator, writer, and film director. On screen he is best known for his work as junkie Corky Caporale in The Sopranos and the hotheaded chef in the indie film Dinner Rush (2001). Ballerini is a two-time winner of the Audio Publishers Association's Best Male Narrator Audie Award (2013), Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter; 2019 Watchers by Dean Koontz) and is the co-author of the story "The Angel Of Rome" in the 2021 collection of stories The Angel of Rome, by Jess Walter. His directorial debut, Good Night Valentino, premiered at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.
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Ayelet Waldman
- Occupations
- novelistshort story writerlawyerwriterjournalist
- Biography
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Ayelet Waldman is an Israeli-American novelist and essayist. She has written seven mystery novels in the series The Mommy-Track Mysteries and four other novels. She has also written autobiographical essays about motherhood. Waldman spent three years working as a federal public defender and her fiction draws on her experience as a lawyer.
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Indy Neidell
- Occupations
- YouTuberhistoriandocumentarianpresentertelevision producer
- Biography
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Indiana Richard Alexander Neidell is an American-Swedish documentarian, historian, actor, voice actor, musician and YouTube personality, best known for presenting the video series The Great War on The Great War Channel, which documented World War I in real time using modern research, various secondary sources and archival footage. A similar project, World War Two (about World War II), began in September 2018; and another one, called The Korean War, began in June 2024. Neidell is also a writer and actor with credits that include Metropia and numerous commercials in Europe, as well as video game voice-acting.
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Heems
- Occupations
- singerrapper
- Biography
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Himanshu Kumar Suri, better known by his stage name Heems, is an American rapper. Suri came to prominence as a member of the alternative hip hop group Das Racist, with whom he released two mixtapes and one album. Suri has also founded independent record labels Greedhead Music and Veena Sounds, and has released three solo albums and two mixtapes. With English musicians Riz MC and Redinho, Suri formed the group Swet Shop Boys in 2014.
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Katie Halper
- Occupations
- teacherfilm producercomedianfilm directorjournalist
- Biography
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Katherine Rose Halper is an American comedian, writer, filmmaker, podcaster, and political commentator. She is the host of the podcast The Katie Halper Show and co-host of the podcast Useful Idiots with Aaron Maté.
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Dar Williams
- Occupations
- singerguitaristcomposerwritersinger-songwriter
- Biography
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Dorothy Snowden "Dar" Williams is an American pop folk singer-songwriter from Mount Kisco, New York. Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker has described Williams as "one of America's very best singer-songwriters."
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Tavia Nyong'o
- Occupations
- cultural historian
- Biography
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Tavia Nyong'o is a critic and scholar of art and performance. He is William Lampson professor of African American studies, American studies and theater and performance studies at Yale University where he teaches courses on black diaspora performance, cultural studies, and critical and aesthetic theory.
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Jessica Rosenworcel
- Enrolled in Wesleyan University
- In 1993 graduated with Bachelor of Arts
- Occupations
- civil servantofficial
- Biography
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Jessica Rosenworcel is an American attorney who served as a member and chair of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). She originally served on the FCC from May 11, 2012, to January 3, 2017, and was confirmed by the Senate for an additional term on August 3, 2017. She was named to serve as acting chair in January 2021 and designated permanent chair in October 2021. She was confirmed for another term by the Senate in December 2021. In August 2025, she was named executive director of the MIT Media Lab.
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L. Shankar
- Occupations
- composerjazz musicianviolinistsinger
- Biography
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Shankar Lakshminarayana, better known as L. Shankar, is an Indian violinist, singer and composer who also goes by the stage name Shenkar. Known for his contributions to world music, he is often regarded as one of the pioneers of East-West fusion, blending the traditions of Indian classical with Western genres such as rock, pop, jazz, and electronic music. His extensive body of work spans a wide spectrum of genres, encompassing vocal and instrumental compositions. He has released 28 solo albums, the two latest being Full Moon and Over the Stars, which were released in September and August 2024, respectively.
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Lawrence Sher
- Occupations
- cinematographerfilm director
- Biography
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Lawrence Sher, ASC is an American cinematographer and film director, best known for his works in comedy films and for his collaboration with director Todd Phillips, with his work on Joker earning him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography.
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Miguel Arteta
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directordirectoractor
- Biography
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Miguel Arteta is a Puerto Rican filmmaker known for his work in independent cinema and television. His film Chuck & Buck (2000) received the Independent Spirit Award for Best Feature made for under $500,000, while The Good Girl (2002) premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was met with positive critical reception. In television, Arteta has directed episodes for series such as The Office, Succession, and Enlightened. His work on Succession earned him a Directors Guild of America Award nomination.
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Benh Zeitlin
- Occupations
- composerfilm directorfilm editorcinematographeranimator
- Biography
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Benjamin Harold Zeitlin is an American filmmaker, best known for directing and co-writing the 2012 film Beasts of the Southern Wild, for which he received two Academy Award nominations.
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Naomi Ekperigin
- Born in
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United States - Occupations
- screenwriterpodcasteractorcomedian
- Biography
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Naomi Ekperigin is an American stand-up comedian, podcaster, actress, writer, and producer. She wrote for the Comedy Central sitcom Broad City from 2015–2016, the NBC sitcom Great News from 2017–2018, and the Apple TV+ series Mythic Quest from 2020–2025 and Peacock's St. Denis Medical. She has had guest spots voicing roles in the animated series Bob's Burgers, Family Guy, American Dad, Tuca & Bertie, and Central Park. Ekperigin co-hosts the Couples Therapy podcast with her husband, Andy Beckerman.
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Steve Englehart
- Occupations
- novelistcomics artistwriter
- Biography
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Steve Englehart is an American writer of comic books and novels. He is best known for his work at Marvel Comics and DC Comics in the 1970s and 1980s. His pseudonyms have included John Harkness and Cliff Garnett.
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Bradley Fuller
- Years
- 1965-.. (age 61)
- Occupations
- film producer
- Biography
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Bradley Fuller is an American film and television producer. He co-owns Platinum Dunes, partnering with both Michael Bay and Andrew Form.
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Peter Shumlin
- Occupations
- politician
- Biography
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Peter Elliott Shumlin is an American politician from Vermont. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 81st governor of Vermont from 2011 to 2017.
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Lynn Chen
- Occupations
- actortelevision actorvoice actorstage actorfilm director
- Biography
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Lynn Chen is a Taiwanese-American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Vivian Shing in the film Saving Face, a role for which she won the "Outstanding Newcomer Award" at the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards. She writes the popular food blog The Actor's Diet. Chen was named a 2013 "New Change Agent" by Marie Claire.
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Jack McDevitt
- Occupations
- novelistscience fiction writerwriter
- Biography
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Jack McDevitt is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology. Most of his books concern either galactic relic hunters Alex Benedict and Chase or superluminal space pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins. McDevitt has received numerous nominations for Hugo, Nebula, and John W. Campbell awards. Seeker won the 2006 Nebula Award for Best Novel.
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Kim Stolz
- Occupations
- businesspersonmodel
- Biography
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Kimberly Lynn Stolz is an American fashion model, television personality, author, and financial executive. Stolz was a correspondent for MTV News, and served as video jockey and host for The Freshmen, an emerging artist show on mtvU. Stolz first came to fame as a contestant on Cycle 5 of America's Next Top Model, where she became the ninth eliminated. As of 2018, she is an executive with BofA Securities.
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Saidiya Hartman
- Years
- 20th Century
- Occupations
- literary theoristhistorian
- Biography
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Saidiya Hartman is an American academic and writer focusing on African-American studies. She is currently a professor at Columbia University in their English department. Her work focuses on African-American literature, cultural history, photography and ethics, and the intersections of law and literature.
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Elliot Aronson
- Occupations
- writersociologistpsychologistuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Elliot Aronson is an American psychologist who has carried out experiments on the theory of cognitive dissonance, and invented the Jigsaw Classroom, a cooperative teaching technique that facilitates learning while reducing interethnic hostility and prejudice. In his 1972 social psychology textbook, The Social Animal, he stated Aronson's First Law: "People who do crazy things are not necessarily crazy", thus asserting the importance of situational factors in bizarre behavior.
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Anna Dewdney
- Occupations
- writerchildren's writer
- Biography
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Anna Elizabeth Dewdney was an American author and illustrator of children's books. The first book she wrote and illustrated, Llama Llama Red Pajama, received critical acclaim in 2005. She wrote numerous other books in the Llama Llama series, which have all been New York Times bestsellers. Her work has been adapted into stage plays, dance performances, musicals, and an animated television series for Netflix. Many states and non-profits use her books for literacy campaigns and programs, including the Library of Congress.
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Amanda Winn-Lee
- Occupations
- screenwriterfilm directorwritervoice actoractor
- Biography
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Amanda Winn-Lee is an American semi-retired voice actress, ADR director and script writer who works mainly on anime dubs. She was the voice of Mimiru in.hack//SIGN, Rally Vincent in Gunsmith Cats, Yohko Mano in Devil Hunter Yohko, Momiji Kushinada in Blue Seed, Yukiko Amagi in Persona 4, and was featured most notably as Rei Ayanami of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame. Aside from voice work she quite often handles production, ADR direction and the scripting of various projects for her dubbing company Gaijin Productions, LLC.
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Arthur MacArthur
- Occupations
- lawyerjudge
- Biography
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Arthur MacArthur Sr. was a Scottish American immigrant, lawyer, politician, and judge. He was the fifth lieutenant governor of Wisconsin, serving from 1856 to 1858, and during that term he served for 4 days in March 1856 as the fourth governor of Wisconsin, due to the dispute over the results of the 1855 gubernatorial election. After his term as lieutenant governor, he served a decade as Wisconsin circuit court judge for Milwaukee and Waukesha counties (1858–1869). He was then appointed an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia, serving from 1870 to 1887.
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Bill Rodgers
- Occupations
- athleteathletics competitormarathon runnerrunneressayist
- Biography
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William Henry Rodgers is an American runner, Olympian, and former record holder in the marathon. Rodgers is best known for his four victories in both the Boston Marathon, including three straight from 1978 to 1980, and 4 straight wins in the New York City Marathon, between 1976 and 1979.
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Robert Allbritton
- Occupations
- businesspersonpublisher
- Biography
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Robert Lewis Allbritton is the founder and former owner of Capitol News Company, the parent company of Capitol Hill political newspaper and website Politico.
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Emilio Daddario
- Occupations
- lawyerpolitician
- Biography
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Emilio Quincy Daddario was an American Democratic politician from Connecticut. He served as a member of the 86th through 91st United States Congresses.
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Stephen Trask
- Occupations
- composermusic directorfilm score composermusician
- Biography
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Stephen Trask is an American musician and composer who graduated from Wesleyan University. He was the music director and house band member at the New York City club Squeezebox, where he performed with stars such as Debbie Harry, Lene Lovich, Hole, Green Day, and Joey Ramone.
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David Abram
- Years
- 1957-.. (age 69)
- Occupations
- ecologistphilosopherwriter
- Biography
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David Abram is an American ecologist and philosopher best known for his work bridging the philosophical tradition of phenomenology with environmental and ecological issues. He is the author of Becoming Animal: An Earthly Cosmology and The Spell of the Sensuous: Perception and Language in a More-than-Human World (1996), for which he received the Lannan Literary Award for Nonfiction. Abram is founder and creative director of the Alliance for Wild Ethics (AWE); his essays on the cultural causes and consequences of ecological disarray have appeared often in such journals as the online magazine Emergence, Orion, Environmental Ethics, Parabola, Tikkun, and The Ecologist, as well as in numerous academic anthologies.
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Bobbito García
- Occupations
- music journalistdocumentariancoachactordisc jockey
- Biography
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Robert "Bobbito" Garcia, also known as DJ Cucumber Slice and Kool Bob Love, is an American DJ, radio host, author, and member of the Rock Steady Crew. He is known as a former co-host of hip hop radio show The Stretch Armstrong and Bobbito Show, alongside Adrian "Stretch Armstrong" Bartos, from 1990 until 1999. He later moved to Washington, D.C., where he currently hosts a new podcast on NPR called What's Good? alongside Bartos. Garcia was the announcer for the video game NBA Street Vol. 2.
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Shelly Kagan
- Years
- 1956-.. (age 70)
- Occupations
- university teacherethicistphilosopher
- Biography
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Shelly Ian Kagan is the Clark Professor of Philosophy at Yale University, where he has taught since 1995. He is best known for his writings about animal ethics, moral philosophy, normative ethics, and philosophy of death. In 2007, Kagan's course about death was offered for free online, and was very popular. This led him to publish a book on the subject in 2012. Kagan was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2016.
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Charles Olson
- Occupations
- writerpoetliterary criticuniversity teacher
- Biography
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Charles John Olson was a second generation modernist American poet who was a link between earlier modernist figures such as Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams and the third generation modernist New American poets. The latter includes the New York School, the Black Mountain School, and some of the artists and poets associated with the Beat generation and the San Francisco Renaissance.
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David Jay
- Occupations
- activist
- Biography
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David Jay is an American asexual activist. Jay is the founder and webmaster of the Asexual Visibility and Education Network (AVEN), the most prolific and well-known of the various asexual communities established since the advent of the World Wide Web and social media.
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Amy Bloom
- Occupations
- psychotherapistwriternovelistfilm producerpsychologist
- Biography
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Amy Beth Bloom is an American writer and psychotherapist. She is professor of creative writing at Wesleyan University, and has been nominated for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.
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Michael Arias
- Occupations
- film producerdirectorfilm director
- Biography
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Michael Arias is an American-born filmmaker active primarily in Japan. Though Arias has worked variously as visual effects artist, animation software developer, and producer, he is best known for his directorial debut, the anime feature Tekkonkinkreet, which established him as the first non-Japanese director of a major anime film.
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MC Frontalot
- Occupations
- rapper
- Biography
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Damian Alexander Hess, better known by his stage name MC Frontalot, is an American rapper and web designer. He is widely credited as a pioneer of the nerdcore genre, blending elements of hip hop with themes from nerd culture.
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Matthew Senreich
- Occupations
- screenwritertelevision directorjournalistshowrunnertelevision producer
- Biography
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Matthew Ian Senreich is an American screenwriter, television producer, director, and voice actor best known for his work with animated television series Robot Chicken, which he co-created with business partner and close friend Seth Green.
