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

Frank Donald Drake is an American astronomer and astrophysicist. He is involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence, including the founding of SETI, mounting the first observational attempts at detecting extraterrestrial communications in 1960 in Project Ozma, developing the Drake equation, and as the creator of the Arecibo Message, a digital encoding of an astronomical and biological description of the Earth and its lifeforms for transmission into the cosmos.

Terry Kinney is an American actor and theatre director, and is a founding member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, with John Malkovich, Laurie Metcalf, Gary Sinise, and Jeff Perry. Kinney is best known for his role as Emerald City creator Tim McManus on HBO's prison drama Oz.

Robert Andrews Millikan was an American experimental physicist honored with the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1923 for the measurement of the elementary electric charge and for his work on the photoelectric effect.

Kevin Hagen was an American actor best known for his role as Dr. Hiram Baker on NBC's Little House on the Prairie.

Edwin Booth Willis was an American motion picture set designer and decorator.

Mark Hume McCormack was an American lawyer, sports agent and writer. He was the founder and chairman of International Management Group, now IMG, an international management organization serving sports figures and celebrities.

James Evert was an American tennis coach and player. He was the father of Chris Evert, who was one of the world's top women tennis players in the 1970s and 1980s.

Virginia Cherrill was an American actress best known for her role as the blind flower girl in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931).

John Carl Buechler was an American special make-up effects artist, film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor. He was best known for his work on horror and science-fiction films, mostly as part of Charles Band's Empire Pictures, and directed films such as Troll, Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood, Cellar Dweller, Ghoulies III: Ghoulies Go to College, and Curse of the Forty-Niner. His work includes Ghoulies, From Beyond, Troll, TerrorVision, Dolls, Prison, A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers, and Hatchet.

Matthew Joseph O'Leary is an American actor. He made his debut in the made-for-television Disney Channel Original film Mom's Got a Date with a Vampire, and would go on to star in the thriller Domestic Disturbance (2001) opposite John Travolta. He also had supporting roles in Frailty (2001), and the independent neo-noir film Brick (2005).