Notable People from California

Anna May Wong

Chinese American actress (1905-1961)

Leo Fender

American inventor and founder of the Fender company (1909–1991)

Chris Penn

American actor (1965–2006)

Sally Kellerman

American actress (1937–2022)

Stanley Miller

American scientist (1930–2007)

Irving Stone

American writer (1903–1989)

Earl Warren

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1953 to 1969 (1891–1974)

Captain Beefheart

American musician and painter (1941-2010)

Fred Ward

American actor (1942–2022)

Christopher McCandless

American hiker and explorer (1968–1992)

Pat Morita

Japanese-American actor (1932–2005)

Jerry Garcia

American guitarist and singer (1942–1995)

Anita Loos

American screenwriter, playwright, author, actress and television producer (1888-1981)

Jeff Hanneman

American guitarist (1964–2013)

Eve Arden

American actress (1908–1990)

Eleanor F. Helin

American astronomer (1932-2009)

William C. McCool

U.S. Navy Commander, NASA astronaut and the pilot of Space Shuttle Columbia which was destroyed during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere in 2003

Henry Hathaway

American film director and producer (1898-1985)

Rodney King

African American police brutality victim (1965–2012)

Merle Haggard

American country music songwriter, singer, and musician (1937–2016)

Suzanne Somers

American actress (1946–2023)

Anthony Mann

American film director (1906–1967)

Richard Serra

American sculptor (1938–2024)

Lillian Moller Gilbreth

American psychologist and industrial engineer (1878–1972)

The Rev

American musician (1981–2009)

Paul Kantner

American singer and guitarist (1941–2016)

Eileen Brennan

American actress and singer (1932–2013)

Nate Dogg

American singer and rapper (1969-2011)

Paul Winfield

actor (1939–2004)

Lita Grey

American actress (1908–1995)

Robert Grant Aitken

American astronomer (1864–1951)

Maria Branyas

former world's oldest verified living person (1907–2024)

Helen Wills

American tennis player (1905–1998)

John Singleton

American film director, screenwriter, and producer (1968–2019)

Mervyn LeRoy

American film director and producer (1900–1987)

Harry Partch

American composer, music theorist, creator of musical instruments

Maureen Connolly

American tennis player (1934-1969)

Edie Sedgwick

American socialite, actress and model (1943-1971)

Beverly Aadland

American film actress (1942-2010)

Bill Bixby

American actor and director (1934–1993)

Bill Richardson

Governor of New Mexico from 2003 to 2011

Joel McCrea

American actor (1905–1990)

Edith Head

American film and television costumer (1897-1981)

Elizabeth Montgomery

American actress (1933–1995)

John Gavin

American film actor and former Ambassador to Mexico (1931–2018)

Rube Goldberg

American cartoonist (1883–1970)

Bob Mathias

American athlete and congressman (1930–2006)

Christopher Stevens

American diplomat, lawyer and ambassador to Libya (1960-2012)

John Ritter

American actor (1948–2003)

Angus Cloud

American actor from California (1998–2023)