List of Famous people born in California, United States of America

Allan Alcorn is an American pioneering engineer and computer scientist best known for creating Pong, one of the first video games.

Eric L. Smidt is an American businessman. He is Chairman and CEO of Harbor Freight Tools, which operates over 1000 retail hardware stores in 47 states and generated revenue of approximately $2 billion according to an April, 2012 Moody's Investors Service report.

William Harrison Standley was an admiral in the United States Navy, who served as Chief of Naval Operations from 1933 to 1937. He also served as the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1941 until 1943.

Cornelius Cooper "Corny" Johnson was an American athlete in the high jump. Born in Los Angeles in 1913, Johnson first competed in organized track and field events at Berendo Junior High School. He achieved greater athletic success as a student at Los Angeles High School, competing in the sprint and in the high jump. Before going to the Olympics as a junior, he won the CIF California State Meet in 1932. He had been second the year before. In 2016, the 1936 Olympic journey of the eighteen Black American athletes, including Johnson, was documented in the film Olympic Pride, American Prejudice.

Florence Ryerson was an American playwright, screenwriter, and co-author of the script for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Between 1915 and 1927 she published more than 30 short stories and then joined Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1926 to work on silent film scripts. In 1930 and 1933 she and her husband wrote two of the earliest novels about the teenage years for girls. She continued to write for most of her life, writing plays for Broadway in the 1940s.

Woodbridge Strong "W. S." Van Dyke II (Woody) was an American film director and writer who made several successful early sound films, including Tarzan the Ape Man in 1932, The Thin Man in 1934, San Francisco in 1936, and six popular musicals with Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald. He received two Academy Award nominations for Best Director for The Thin Man and San Francisco, and directed four actors to Oscar nominations: William Powell, Spencer Tracy, Norma Shearer, and Robert Morley. Known as a reliable craftsman who made his films on schedule and under budget, he earned the name "One Take Woody" for his quick and efficient style of filming.

Gary Graham is an American actor, musician, and author. He may be best known for his starring role as Detective Matthew Sikes in the television series Alien Nation (1989–1990) and five subsequent Alien Nation television films (1994–1997).

Henry Bergman was an American actor of stage and film, known for his long association with Charlie Chaplin.