List of Famous people born in California, United States of America
Jeremy Lin
Jeremy Shu-How Lin is a Taiwanese-American professional basketball player for the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League. He unexpectedly led a winning turnaround with the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) during the 2011–12 season, generating a cultural phenomenon known as "Linsanity". Lin was the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA, and is one of the few Asian Americans to have played in the league. He was the first Asian American to win an NBA championship, having done so with the Toronto Raptors in 2019. He is also known for his devout Christianity.
Melanie Shatner
Melanie Ann Gretsch is an American former actress.
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Cole was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the hits "This Will Be", "Inseparable" (1975), and "Our Love" (1977). She returned as a pop singer on the 1987 album Everlasting and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she sang traditional pop by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and won her seven Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide.
Anthony Kennedy
Anthony McLeod Kennedy is a retired American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1988 until his retirement in 2018. He was nominated to the court in 1987 by President Ronald Reagan, and sworn in on February 18, 1988. After the retirement of Sandra Day O'Connor in 2006, he was the swing vote on many of the Roberts Court's 5–4 decisions.
Michele Tafoya
Michele Joan Tafoya Beaurain, known professionally as Michele Tafoya, is an American sportscaster. Since 2011, she has been a reporter for NBC Sports, primarily as a sideline reporter for NBC Sunday Night Football.
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein is an American politician who has served as the United States Senator from California since 1992, and the Senior Senator since Alan Cranston's retirement. A member of the Democratic Party, she was mayor of San Francisco from 1978 to 1988.
Christopher Darden
Christopher Allen Darden is an American lawyer, author, actor, and lecturer. He worked 15 years in the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office, where he gained national attention as a co-prosecutor in the O. J. Simpson murder case.
Reggie Bush
Reginald Alfred Bush Jr. is a former American football running back. He played college football at USC, where he earned consensus All-American honors twice and won the Heisman Trophy as the most outstanding player in the nation. He was drafted by the New Orleans Saints second overall in the 2006 NFL Draft. While with the Saints, Bush was named an All-Pro punt returner in 2008 and won Super Bowl XLIV in 2010 over the Indianapolis Colts. He also played for the Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, Detroit Lions, and San Francisco 49ers.
Lindsey Buckingham
Lindsey Adams Buckingham is an American singer, songwriter, and producer, best known as lead guitarist and one of the three vocalists of the music group Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has released six solo albums and three live albums. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2011, Buckingham was ranked 100th in Rolling Stone's 2011 list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time". Buckingham is known for his fingerpicking guitar style.
Courtney Thorne-Smith
Courtney Thorne-Smith is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Alison Parker on Melrose Place, Georgia Thomas on Ally McBeal, Cheryl in According to Jim and her recurring role on Two and a Half Men as Lyndsey McElroy.