The University of Southern California, located not that far away from Hollywood itself, is and has been a natural home for iconic performers in stage, screen, television, and music.
The school’s location in Los Angeles, America’s second-biggest city, has also made USC a top producer of scholars, scientists, and highly influential figures in numerous other disciplines.
“Famous alumni” can be a relative term, to the extent that a public figure might own present-day celebrity status, but might not own a resume or collection of achievements that are nearly as towering as deceased or aging figures from decades past.
In this collection of famous USC alumni and celebrities, we tried to focus on instantly recognizable names — “Oh, I know him! Oh, I know her!” — due to accumulated achievement or depth of influence on American culture. This doesn’t mean people left off the list didn’t make a big imprint in film or the arts and sciences, only that the names chosen are clear home-run hitters in their respective fields.
One other note: Several people on this list attended classes at USC … but as teachers, not students. A number of people established themselves as world-class performers and then brought their expertise to USC, passing their wisdom and knowledge on to generations of future students.
One such example: Jerry Lewis, the iconic American actor, taught filmmaking to a student named George Lucas at USC. One of Lucas’s friends — though not enrolled as a USC student — sat in with Lucas at Lewis’s classes in the late 1960s. That man was Steven Spielberg, who went to college at Long Beach.
Enjoy this collection of famous USC alumni and celebrities, and feel free to debate in the comments section at the end of the list.
More famous alumni from the College Wires Network:
Ala / Ark / Aub / Fla / LSU / Tenn / TX A&M / UGA // Iowa / Mich / Mich St. / Neb / Ohio St. / Penn St. / Rut / Wisc // Okla / Texas // ND // Colo / Ore / USC // Clem / UNC /
August 13, 1969; New York City, NY, USA; A tumultuous ticker tape parade up Broadway in New York City on August 13, 1969, welcomed home the Apollo 11 astronauts, first men to land on the moon. Neil Armstrong, center, steps from fellow astronauts between Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins, toward the podium on the steps of City Hall, . Mandatory Credit: Don Jacobsen-USA TODAY NETWORK
Class of 1970
Armstrong completed his Master of Science degree in aerospace engineering at USC in 1970.
One year earlier, he became the first human being to step on the moon.
The date was July 20, 1969. Armstrong stepped on the moon and uttered the immortal words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was a seminal moment in human history, one which will be taught 500 years from now.
George Lucas talks with Anthony Daniels, who played C-3PO, on the set of “Star Wars.”
Class of 1967
Lucas created Star Wars and Indiana Jones. He did a lot more than that, but those two movie franchises have entertained billions of people and are still deeply popular decades after their debuts.
ROME, ITALY – MARCH 7: American actor John Wayne (R) and Italian actress Sophia Loren (L) arrive at Rome from Africa after the broken leg of Wayne during the shooting of “The Legend of the Lost”. (Photo credit should read STAFF/AFP via Getty Images)
Attended 1925-1926
John Wayne played football at USC before becoming an iconic 20th-century movie star in Stagecoach, True Grit, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, The Quiet Man, Rio Bravo, and numerous other memorable films.
Howard Jones, the father of USC football, coached at Iowa before moving to USC. Wayne was born in Iowa but moved to Southern California. He played for Jones before an off-field injury cut short both his playing career and his stay at USC.
Clearly, he found something else to do.
GRONINGEN- JUNE 14: (HOLLAND OUT) British environmentalist Jane Goodall poses for a portrait at the garden of Groningen University at the Sharing the Planet conference June 14, 2002 in Groningen, Netherlands. The conference deals with international sustainable development and is the beginning stages for the U.N. Environment meeting in Johannesburg August 2002. (Photo by Michel Porro/Getty Images)
1991 — EMERITUS PROFESSOR
In 1991, Goodall — the world-famous primatologist considered the planet’s foremost expert on chimpanzees — was named by USC as a Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Anthropology and Occupational Science.
Sept. 7, 2012; Anaheim, CA, USA; Talking your Tech — Ron Howard. Mandatory Credit: Jefferson Graham/USA TODAY NETWORK
Attended in 1970s (did not graduate)
From The Andy Griffith Show and Happy Days to a directorial career which created Apollo 13 and A Beautiful Mind, Ron Howard has made his mark on American entertainment for over 50 years.
Apr 2, 2011; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers owner Jerry Buss attends the Southern California Quad Meet at Cromwell Field. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Class of 1957
Decades before becoming the highly successful owner of the Showtime Los Angeles Lakers, Dr. Buss (he did receive a doctorate) graduated from USC. Why are the Lakers a big deal in Los Angeles? Magic Johnson is the No. 1 reason, but Buss, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Pat Riley are not far behind.
VENICE, ITALY: US director John Carpenter laughts during the photocall for the presentation of “John Carpenter’s ghosts of Mars” shown out of competition at the 58th International Film Festival, organized by Venice’s Biennale, 05 September 2001. GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP via Getty Images)
Attended in 1968
Carpenter briefly attended USC but then quit to make a feature film. He was obviously dedicated to his work and knew what he wanted to do.
Carpenter made a mixture of horror, action, and science-fiction films: Halloween, The Thing, Big Trouble In Little China, and Escape From New York are just a few. Carpenter is recognized as the creator of many “cult classic” films.
Nov 28, 2015; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Southern California Trojans fans spell out “SC Wild Bunch” with body paint before an NCAA football game against the UCLA Bruins at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
Class of 1952
See the wild bunch above? Peckinpah’s greatest film as a director was 1969’s The Wild Bunch, regarded by many as one of the best films of all time. Peckinpah had a number of other successes in a complicated and stormy career. Among the film directors USC has produced, Peckinpah owns a particularly lofty place.
LAS VEGAS – JUNE 24: A vinyl scrim showing actor William Shatner’s character Capt. James T. Kirk is displayed at Julien’s Auctions annual summer sale at the Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino June 24, 2010 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The auction, which continues through Sunday, features 1,600 items from entertainers including Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith, Marilyn Monroe, Cher, Elvis Presley and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Circa 1940
Roddenberry attended Los Angeles City College and later attended USC. His aviation career was marred by multiple accidents. He then went into television and found immortality as the creator of Star Trek. There’s an interesting connection between Roddenberry and another famous USC alumnus, which we will mention in the next slide below:
Apr 3, 2022; Las Vegas, NV, USA; LeVar Burton speaks before he presents awards during the 64th GRAMMY Awards Premiere Ceremony at the MGM Grand Conference Marquee Ballroom in Las Vegas. Mandatory Credit: Robert Hanashiro-USA TODAY
Late 1970s
Burton was an undergraduate at USC — not yet 20 years old — when he achieved instant fame as the star in Roots, the 1977 miniseries which was a transformative and massively-watched event in American television. Burton’s portrayal of Kunta Kinte left an indelible mark on the hundreds of millions of Americans who watched Roots.
Burton then became the longtime host of Reading Rainbow and a star on Star Trek: The Next Generation, as Lieutenant Geordi La Forge.
Who approached Burton about the role of Geordi La Forge? None other than Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, a fellow USC Trojan, in 1986.
TV star Tom Selleck was more than a fan of Detroit Tigers legend Al Kaline, who died Monday at age 85. Kaline was his childhood hero.
Attended 1965-1967
Selleck played basketball at USC. He is a noted Detroit Tiger fan who actually pinch-hit for the Tigers in a live spring training game in 1991. Yet, Selleck’s imprint on American culture came through television, first in Magnum P.I. and now on Blue Bloods, two smash hits for CBS.
John Singleton sits for a portrait on July 1, 1991 in Los Angeles.
Class of 1990
Singleton graduated from USC and then, one year later, made Boyz n the Hood, a gritty and critically acclaimed film about growing up in South Central Los Angeles.
Singleton became the first African American to be nominated for an Academy Award as Best Director, at age 24. It remains an astonishing feat three decades later.
Singleton also directed Shaft, 2 Fast 2 Furious, and — before he died a few years ago — created the series Snowfall.
Jan 31, 1988; San Diego, CA, USA; FILE PHOTO; Recording artist Herb Alpert performs the national anthem prior to Super Bowl XXII at Jack Murphy Stadium. The Washington Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos 42-10. Mandatory Credit: USA TODAY Sports
Attended 1954-1956
Alpert graduated from Los Angeles’s Fairfax High School and then went to USC for two years. He was in the USC marching band for two football seasons … and then he dropped out to start making music.
Good decision.
Alpert is a global icon, first for his trumpet playing and his founding of the Tijuana Brass, whose signature sound captivated listeners and audiences around the globe in the 1960s. Alpert continued to produce big hits as a solo trumpeter years after the TJB disbanded, including the No. 1 smash “Rise” in 1979.
Alpert has launched numerous careers in the music business as the co-founder of A&M Records and a hugely successful music producer. He is one of the most influential and diverse figures in 20th century American music, a giant as both a performer and an industry insider.
Composer and conductor Michael Tilson Thomas walked the red carpet before being recognized as one of the 2019 Kennedy Center Honorees.
Class of 1967
Making his debut as a conductor at the young age of 24, Thomas has been a fixture in American music for the past half-century. He has become one of the great conductors in American history, making his mark in Buffalo, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and London, among other places.
Thomas has spent his career teaching music in addition to conducting. He is a giant in the world of musical education, not just his work from the conductor’s podium.
Mar 8, 2022; San Francisco, California, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) and comedian Will Ferrell stand on the court before the game against the LA Clippers at Chase Center. Mandatory Credit: Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports
Class of 1990
Believe it or not, Will Ferrell got a degree in sports information at USC, where he studied broadcasting … but he didn’t want to pursue that career when he graduated.
He clearly did well for himself following another path.
He rose to fame at Saturday Night Live in the 1990s, and then became the star of immensely popular movies such as Old School, Elf, Anchorman, and Talladega Nights.
He was a fixture at USC games during the Pete Carroll dynasty and remains a funnyman who shows up at various sporting events and mingles with NBA players such as Steph Curry, as you can see above.
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES: US actress Daryl Hannah arrives at the 14th Annual American Comedy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles 06 February 2000. Hannah starred in the film “Roxanne” with Steve Martin, who was recipient of the show’s “Career Achievement Award”. LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP via Getty Images
Circa 1980
Daryl Hannah has had prominent acting roles in films which attained critical acclaim or considerable cultural resonance, sometimes both.
Consider this list of films shaped by Hannah’s formidable acting performances: Blade Runner, Splash, Roxanne, Steel Magnolias, Wall Street, and Kill Bill.
Those films are all memorable and yet so noticeably different in their subject matter and texture. That’s the mark of a memorable and important actress.
Apr 25, 2021; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Regina King arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, April 25, 2021, at Union Station in Los Angeles. Mandatory Credit: Chris Pizzello/Pool via USA TODAY NETWORK
Attended 1989-1990
King has won an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and four Primetime Emmy Awards, earning several prodigious accomplishments before turning 50 years old (she is now 51).
A powerhouse actress and director, King has been a central figure in the entertainment industry and the American cultural landscape over the past 15 years.
She is the second African-American woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for best director. This is for her feature film directorial debut, the 2020 film One Night In Miami.
A bronze plaque will accompany a memorial bench planned for late entertainer Michael Landon, who lived in Collingswood as a child.
Attended mid-1950s
Michael Landon was a star in three hugely successful American television series, spanning 30 years.
From Bonanza (which started in 1959) to Little House on the Prairie (which started in 1974) to Highway to Heaven (which ended in 1989), Landon was a regular part of Americans’ lives in a medium, television, which dominated the country. He appeared on the cover of TV Guide — which was, in its time, the main measurement of cultural centrality and relevance in American entertainment — a whopping 22 times, second only to Lucille Ball.
That offers a window into Landon’s cultural reach.
Mar 27, 2022; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Cybil Shepherd arrives at the 94th Academy Awards at Dolby Theatre.. Mandatory Credit: Dan MacMedan-USA TODAY
Attended late 1960s
Shepherd had several notable film roles in the 1970s, starting with The Last Picture Show and continuing with The Heartbreak Kid and then Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver.
Yet, the part which defined Shepherd’s career was her co-starring role alongside Bruce Willis in the TV series Moonlighting.
Shepherd has continued to be busy and prolific as an actress in subsequent decades, but the weight and the resonance of her most important roles remain considerable, all these years later.
Actor John Ritter, center, star of TV’s “Three’s Company,” shares a moment with his mother, Dorothy, and brother, Tommy, during a reception in his honor at the home of Dr. and Mrs. Fowler Hollabaugh Jr. on Glen Leven Drive Nov. 23, 1978. The acting Ritter is in town taping a Christmas special at Opryland.
Class of 1970
Ritter became a megastar on the runaway hit sitcom Three’s Company in the late 1970s. He parlayed that role into an intensely busy and massively successful career in film and television. Ritter, like Michael Landon (noted above), died at the age of 54, an achingly sad death in the prime of his career.
Actor Robert Stack, left, and his wife, Rosemarie, looks on before the start of the inauguration ceremonies of Gov.-elect Winfield Dunn as the 43rd governor of Tennessee in front of the War Memorial Building in downtown Nashville Jan. 16, 1971. Stack is representing California Gov. Ronald Reagan.
Attended late 1930s
Robert Stack played on the polo team at USC, where he studied singing but was then attracted to acting. He rose to prominence as the star of the late 1950s/early 1960s series The Untouchables, playing the role of Elliot Ness.
In later years, he became the host of Unsolved Mysteries. He was a household name for generations upon generations of Americans.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – NOVEMBER 29: Forest Whitaker attends the 2021 Gotham Awards Presented By The Gotham Film & Media Institute at Cipriani Wall Street on November 29, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images)
Class of 1982
Lots of USC actors and entertainers attended the school but dropped out to pursue their professional careers (and very successfully at that). Whitaker is notable in that he earned an acting degree from USC’s Thornton School and then attained global fame.
Whitaker is a formidable character actor, playing memorable and powerful roles in Platoon, Good Morning Vietnam, Bird, The Crying Game, The Butler, The Last King of Scotland, and many other films.
Whitaker has had star turns in blockbusters such as Rogue One and Black Panther.
He is also a director of notable films such as Waiting To Exhale and Hope Floats.
Nov 25, 2021; New Orleans, Louisiana, USA; NBC Sports commentator Michele Tafoya after the game between the New Orleans Saints and the Buffalo Bills at the Caesars Superdome. Mandatory Credit: Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports
Class of 1991
Tafoya has done it all in sports broadcasting: NFL, NBA, NCAA basketball, college football, the Olympics. Anchor, late-night host, sideline reporter, play-by-play, halftime show host. Tafoya, who just did retire, has been a central presence at signature sporting events for over a quarter of a century. Her work on Monday Night Football and then Sunday Night Football — a gateway toward working several Super Bowls — has made Tafoya instantly recognizable to tens of millions of Americans.
HOLLYWOOD – NOVEMBER 12: Mickey Wapner poses with Judge Joseph Albert Wapner as he receives a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame on November 12, 2009 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kristian Dowling/Getty Images)
Class of 1941
USC Law School Class of 1948
Before there was Judge Judy or any other TV judge, there was Judge Wapner of The People’s Court. That’s the series which started TV courtroom shows, beginning in 1981.
Wapner had already led a very rich life before his TV career began, though: He won a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star for his service in World War II.
Quite a life, Judge Wapner.
Photo taken at night in 1947, shows the illuminated storefronts of the Apollo Theater and the Times Square Theater in New York. – “They Shall Have Music” is a 1939 musical film directed by Archie Mayo and starring famed violinist Jascha Heifetz (as himself), Joel McCrea. (Photo by Eric SCHWAB / AFP) (Photo by ERIC SCHWAB/AFP via Getty Images)
Named USC Professor of Music in 1962
Heifetz is considered by many the greatest violinist of the 20th century. Just stop and let that simple sentence sink in. Heifetz attained a level of virtuosity which future great violinists such as Itzhak Perlman have said might never be attained again.
It’s hard to wrap the mind around that kind of prowess.
In Super Bowl XI, Oakland Raider announcer Bill King — a legendary sportscaster and one of the great radio play-by-play voices in American history — famously said, “Jascha Heifetz never played the violin with more dexterity than Kenny Stabler is playing the Minnesota Vikings defense this afternoon.”
Mar 2, 1995; New York, NY, USA; American actor Jerry Lewis poses for a portrait. Mandatory Credit: Robert Deutsch-USA TODAY
USC Professor, 1967
Jerry Lewis is on the short list of the most influential and widely-seen American entertainers of the 20th century. He was one of the first genuine superstars of the era of television. He starred in comedy shows with Dean Martin. He was arguably the most visible American entertainer of the 1950s before a man named Elvis Presley came along.
Though a hugely successful comedic actor, Lewis influenced the craft of filmmaking to a degree which many people might not be aware of. He created the “video assist” method which has become commonplace in film production and direction. He took that and other innovations to USC, where he taught filmmaking in the late 1960s. His 1971 book, The Total Film Maker, is considered a bible of the craft by generations of aspiring producers and directors.
The other big cornerstone element of Lewis’s lengthy public career is his decades-long tenure as the host of the Jerry Lewis Labor Day Telethon in support of people suffering from muscular dystrophy. The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) raised billions of dollars for research. The Jerry Lewis Telethon is easily the most recognized and watched event of its kind in American history.
Here’s Jerry Lewis teaching filmmaking at USC in 1967:
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