List of University of California, Los Angeles people
Notable alumni
Nobel Laureates
- Ralph Bunche - Peace, 1950
- Bruce Merrifield - Chemistry, 1984
- Glenn T. Seaborg - Chemistry, 1951
- William Sharpe - Economics, 1990
Athletes
- Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - six time National Basketball Association champion; member of the Basketball Hall of Fame
- Troy Aikman - National Football League player; three time Super Bowl champion
- Arthur Ashe - tennis player and social activist; Wimbledon champion
- Matt Barnes - National Basketball Association player
- Drew Bennett - National Football League player
- Mohini Bhardwaj - Olympic silver medalist in gymnastics
- Carlos Bocanegra - Major League Soccer player
- Jimmy Connors - tennis player; Wimbledon champion
- Gail Devers - track and field runner; multiple Olympic gold medalist
- Don Drysdale - Major League Baseball Hall of Fame player with the Los Angeles Dodgers
- Lisa Fernandez - Olympic softball gold medalist
- Mike Flanagan - National Football League player; Green Bay Packers center
- DeShaun Foster - National Football League player; Carolina Panthers running back
- Troy Glaus - Major League Baseball player; 2002 World Series MVP
- Gail Goodrich - National Basketball Association Hall of Fame player; won an NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers
- Joanna Hayes - Olympic gold medalist track and field 100m hurdles record holder
- Monique Henderson - track and field runner; Olympic gold medalist in 4x400m relay
- Rafer Johnson - Olympic decathalon champion
- Cobi Jones - Major League Soccer player; MLS Cup champion
- Florence Griffith Joyner - Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in 100 meters race.
- Jackie Joyner-Kersee - track and field athlete, multiple Olympic gold medalist and world record holder in the heptathlon.
- Jason Kapono - National Basketball Association player
- Karch Kiraly - volleyball legend; only person to win Olympic gold medals in both indoor and beach volleyball.
- Michelle Kwan - world champion figure skater; record nine time U.S. National Champion (currently attending)
- Tommy Maddox - National Football League player; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback
- Ricky Manning - National Football League player
- Holly McPeak - volleyball player and Olympic bronze medalist
- Reggie Miller - National Basketball Association player and Olympic gold medalist
- Freddie Mitchell - National Football League player
- Ken Norton Jr. - former National Football League player; three time Super Bowl champion
- Jonathan Ogden - National Football League player; Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle
- Jim Vo Parque - Major League Baseball player
- Jackie Robinson - the first African American to play Major League Baseball, Baseball Hall of Famer
- Woody Strode - football player; one of the first African American players to integrate the National Football League and film actor
- Scot Thompson - Major League Soccer player; MLS Cup champion
- Peter Vidmar - gymnast; three time Olympic gold medalist
- Bill Walton - former National Basketball Association player, member of the Basketball Hall of Fame; now a broadcaster
- Kenny Washington - football player; one of the first African American players to integrate the National Football League
- Earl Watson - National Basketball Association player
- Jamaal Wilkes - National Basketball Association player; four time NBA champion
Arts, Film and Literature
- Catherine Asaro - Nebula Award winning science fiction novelist
- Lloyd Bridges - actor
- Carol Burnett - Emmy Award winning comedian
- Charles Burnett - film director
- Judy Chicago - artist and educator
- Francis Ford Coppola - Academy Award winning film director; wrote and directed the Godfather Trilogy and Apocalypse Now
- James Dean - actor and Hollywood icon
- Greg Ginn - guitarist of Black Flag
- Greg Graffin - lead singer of Bad Religion
- Mariska Hargitay - Golden Globe Award winning actress
- David Koepp - screenwriter
- Justin Lin - film director
- Ray Manzarek - keyboard player of The Doors
- Frank Marshall - film producer
- Niels Mueller - film director and screenwriter
- Jim Morrison - lead singer of The Doors
- Randy Newman - musician; Academy, Emmy, and Grammy Award winning film score composer
- Alexander Payne - filmmaker; director and screenwriter of Election, About Schmidt and Sideways
- Gina Prince-Blythewood - film director and screenwriter; wrote and directed Love and Basketball
- Tim Robbins - Academy Award winning actor and film director; wrote and directed Bob Roberts and Dead Man Walking
- Kira Roessler - bass player of Black Flag
- Eric Roth - Academy Award winning screenwriter
- Paul Schrader - screenwriter and film director; wrote Taxi Driver and Raging Bull
- Harry Shearer - actor and comedian
- Brad Silberling - film director and screenwriter
- Harry Turtledove - science fiction novelist
- Gabrielle Union - actress
- John Williams - Academy Award winning film score composer; composed the score to the Star Wars films
- Hoyt Yeatman - Academy Award winning visual effects supervisor
Business and Law
- Johnnie Cochran - attorney
- Mitch Kupchak - general manager for the Los Angeles Lakers
- Dorothy W. Nelson - senior judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
- Michael Ovitz - Hollywood power broker and former president of the Walt Disney Company
- Nobutada Saji - CEO of Suntory
- Robert Shapiro - attorney
- Stacey Snider - chairperson of Universal Pictures
- Kim McLane Wardlaw - judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
Politics
- Tom Bradley - mayor of Los Angeles, 1973-1993
- Yvonne Braithwaite Burke - Los Angeles County Supervisor
- Benjamin Cayetano - governor of Hawaii, 1994-2002
- Sheila Kuehl - California state senator
- Linda Sanchez - member of the U.S. House of Representatives
- Antonio Villaraigosa - Los Angeles city councilperson and former California Speaker of the Assembly
- Henry Waxman - member of the U.S. House of Representatives
Academia, Science and Technology
- Paul Baran - Internet pioneer
- Vinton Cerf - Internet pioneer; frequently called the "Father of the Internet."
- Walter Cunningham - astronaut
- Mike Davis - writer, urban theorist and history professor at the University of California, Irvine
- Thomas Everhart - physicist and former president of CalTech
- Anna Lee Fisher - astronaut
- Kay Redfield Jamison - writer and psychiatry professor at Johns Hopkins University
- Maulana Karenga - black studies professor at California State University, Long Beach and founder of Kwanzaa
- Geoffrey Marcy - astronomer
- Story Musgrave - astronaut
- John L. Phillips - astronaut
- Jon Postel - Internet pioneer
- Hilary Putnam - philosopher of mind, language and mathematics; philosophy professor at Harvard
- Taylor Wang - astronaut
- Fred Whipple - astronomer
Miscellaneous
- Rudi Bakhtiar - national news anchor
- Brooke Burke - model and television personality
- Iva Toguri D'Aquino - World War II radio propagandist, "Tokyo Rose"
- Chris "Jesus" Ferguson - World Series of Poker main event winner and poker professional
- Carol Lin - national news anchor
- Kelly Perdew - winner of The Apprentice
- Princess Ubol Ratana - of Thailand
- Prince Chatri Chalerm Yukol - of Thailand