List of people from Palo Alto

This is a list of notable people from Palo Alto, California. It includes people who were born/raised in, lived in, or spent portions of their lives in Palo Alto, or for whom Palo Alto is a significant part of their identity.

Actors

  • Zach Appelman, actor known for the television series Sleepy Hollow, was born and raised in Palo Alto and is a Palo Alto High alumnus.[1]
  • Aarón Díaz, Mexican American actor, singer, and model; born in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, raised in Palo Alto.
  • Polly Draper, actress, screenplay writer, producer, and director; was in the television program Thirtysomething; raised in Palo Alto.[2]
  • Dave Franco, actor, was born in Palo Alto.[3]
  • James Franco, actor, director, screenwriter, producer, artist, and author, was born in Palo Alto.[4]
  • Neva Gerber, silent screen actress, moved to Palo Alto after she married San Francisco oil geologist, Edward F. Nolan.[5]
  • Charles Haid, actor and director known for Hill Street Blues, graduated from Palo Alto High in 1961.[6][7]
  • Teri Hatcher, actress known for Desperate Housewives and Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, was born in Palo Alto.[8]
  • Amy Irving, actress known for Crossing Delancey and Yentl, was born in Palo Alto.[9]
  • Željko Ivanek, actor known for 24, Damages, and Madam Secretary, is an Ellwood P. Cubberley High School alumnus.[10]
  • Ellen K, radio personality and television host, was born in Palo Alto.
  • Brandis Kemp, actress known for television series Fridays.
  • Kaja Martin, actress and film producer, involved in Riley Rewind, was born and raised in Palo Alto.
  • Shemar Moore, actor and model, is a Gunn High School alumnus.
  • Rick Rossovich, actor known for Top Gun, Roxanne, and The Terminator.
  • Alessandra Torresani, actress known for Caprica, was born and raised in Palo Alto.[11]
  • Bree Turner, actress known for the television series Grimm, was born in Palo Alto.
  • Sheila Vand, actress known for her role in Argo, was raised in Palo Alto.[12]

Visual arts

Fine artists

  • Jeremy Anderson (artist), wood sculptor and professor, graduated from Palo Alto High School[13]
  • Greg Brown (painter), trompe-l'oeil muralist, grew up in Palo Alto and graduated from Palo Alto High School in 1969.[14]
  • Margo Davis, photographer, lived in Palo Alto for over 30 years.[15]
  • Terry Acebo Davis, fine artist and Chairperson of the Palo Alto Public Art Commission.
  • Pedro Joseph de Lemos, painter, printmaker, architect, illustrator, writer, lecturer, and museum director, lived and died in Palo Alto.[16]
  • Edward McNeil Farmer, watercolorist, oil painter, and professor at Stanford University, lived in Palo Alto and was active in the Pacific Art League (previously known as Palo Alto Art Club).[17]
  • Donald Farnsworth, fine art master printmaker, was born in Palo Alto.[18]
  • Helen Katharine Forbes, muralist and painter, grew up in Palo Alto.[19]
  • Tom Franco, artist and actor, grew up in Palo Alto and attended Palo Alto High School, graduating in 1998.[20]
  • James Gurney, illustrator, artist, and creator of the Dinotopia world, grew up in Palo Alto.
  • Ollie Johnston, Academy Award–winning Disney animator, known for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Fantasia.[21]
  • Nina Katchadourian, artist, attended Gunn High School.[22]
  • Paula Kirkeby (1934–2016), art collector, art donor, and the director and founder of the commercial art gallery, Smith Andersen Gallery, and printshops, Smith Andersen Editions and 3EP Ltd. Press.[23]
  • Bertha Elizabeth Stringer Lee (1869–1937), California Impressionist painter, died in Palo Alto.
  • Elizabeth Norton (1887–1985), bronze sculptor, printmaker, painter, and one of the founders of the Palo Alto Art Club (now known as the Pacific Art League).[24]
  • Nathan Oliveira, painter and educator within the Bay Area Figurative Movement, maintained his art studio in Palo Alto.[25]
  • Yvonne Rainer, modern dancer and filmmaker.[26]
  • John Aloysius Stanton (1857–1929), painter, academic administrator, and professor.[27]
  • Cloyd Jonathan Sweigert, political cartoonist for the San Francisco Chronicle, California Impressionist painter, and member of the Pacific Art League (previously known as Palo Alto Art Club).
  • Jimmy Swinnerton, cartoonist and fine art painter, maintained a house in Palo Alto for many years.
  • Jacqueline Thurston, visual artist and writer, has lived in Palo Alto for many years.[28]
  • Shirley Williamson (1875–1944), California Impressionist painter, monotype printer, and member of the Pacific Art League (previously known as Palo Alto Art Club), lived in Palo Alto for many years.

Designers

Business leaders and entrepreneurs

Musicians

Politicians, political figures and civil servants

Religion

Scientists

Writers

  • David M. Alexander, attorney and science-fiction and crime novelist.
  • Jordan Allen-Dutton, screenplay writer and producer of theatre, was raised in Palo Alto.
  • Renée Ashley, poet, novelist, essayist, and educator, was born in Palo Alto.
  • Raymond Carver, short story writer and poet.
  • Erle Stanley Gardner, crime novelist and creator of Perry Mason.[61]
  • Ariel Gore (born 1970), journalist, memoirist, and novelist author, was raised in Palo Alto.[62]
  • Ken Kesey (1935–2001), novelist, short story writer, playwright, and author of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, which he finished writing while living in a cottage in Palo Alto.[63]
  • Marty Klein (born 1950), American sex therapist, author, educator, and public policy analyst.
  • Michael Lederer, author.
  • John Markoff, Pulitzer prize winner and former New York Times technology journalist; grew up in Palo Alto and has lived there for many years.[64]
  • Chanel Miller (born 1992), victim of sexual assault and author of best-selling memoir Know My Name.
  • Azadeh Moaveni (born 1976), Iranian-American journalist and author, was born in Palo Alto; author of Lipstick Jihad: A Memoir of Growing up Iranian in America and American in Iran.
  • Julia Flynn Siler, journalist and nonfiction author.[65]
  • Keith Raffel, crime novelist, tech entrepreneur, and university lecturer.
  • Andrea U'Ren, children's book author and illustrator.
  • Tad Williams, New York Times best-selling author.
  • Yvor Winters, poet, known as the "Sage of Palo Alto."[66]
  • Ron Unz (born 1961), far-right writer.
  • Al Young (1939–2021), poet, educator, novelist, and essayist, lived in Palo Alto for almost three decades.
  • Jessica Yu (born 1966), screenplay writer and film director, attended Gunn High School.

Athletes

Jeremy Lin
Joc Pederson

See also

  • San Francisco Bay Area portal
  • Biography portal
  • Cities portal
  • flagCalifornia portal

References

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