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

Everett McKinley Dirksen was an American politician. A member of the Republican Party, he represented Illinois in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate. As Senate Minority Leader from 1959 to 1969, he played a highly visible and key role in the politics of the 1960s. He helped write and pass the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Civil Rights Act of 1968, both landmark pieces of legislation during the civil rights movement. He was also one of the Senate's strongest supporters of the Vietnam War. A talented orator with a florid style and a notably rich baritone voice, his flamboyant speeches caused his detractors to refer to him as "The Wizard of Ooze".

Lynn Margulis was an American evolutionary theorist, biologist, science author, educator, and science popularizer, and was the primary modern proponent for the significance of symbiosis in evolution. Historian Jan Sapp has said that "Lynn Margulis's name is as synonymous with symbiosis as Charles Darwin's is with evolution." In particular, Margulis transformed and fundamentally framed current understanding of the evolution of cells with nuclei – an event Ernst Mayr called "perhaps the most important and dramatic event in the history of life" – by proposing it to have been the result of symbiotic mergers of bacteria. Margulis was also the co-developer of the Gaia hypothesis with the British chemist James Lovelock, proposing that the Earth functions as a single self-regulating system, and was the principal defender and promulgator of the five kingdom classification of Robert Whittaker.

Ryan Jonathan Kelley is an American actor. He is known for his roles in Mean Creek, Prayers for Bobby, and as Ben Tennyson in Ben 10: Alien Swarm. His most recent role is as Deputy Jordan Parrish on Teen Wolf.

Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist. He is best known for being the co-founder of the band Mr. Big. He was also a member of Racer X, with whom he released several albums. In 1996, Gilbert launched a solo career, for which he has released numerous solo albums, and featured in numerous collaborations and guest appearances on other musicians' albums.

Rachel Melvin is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Chelsea Brady on Days of Our Lives (2005–2009) and as Penny in Dumb and Dumber To.

Marilee Harris Shapiro Asher was an American sculptor, author and survivor of both the Spanish Flu and the COVID-19.

Darren Arthur Reed, better known by his stage name Dizzy Reed, is an American musician and occasional actor. He is best known as the keyboardist for the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he has played, toured, and recorded since 1990.

James Yoshinobu Iha is an American rock musician. He is best known as a guitarist and co-founder of the alternative rock band the Smashing Pumpkins. He was a member until the initial breakup in 2000. Among his musical projects of recent years, Iha has been a permanent fixture of A Perfect Circle. He was most recently a member of Tinted Windows, a 1960s/1970s inspired group with members of Cheap Trick, Fountains of Wayne, and Hanson. He rejoined the Smashing Pumpkins in 2018.

Marianne Dickerson was a female long-distance runner from the United States.

John Beck is a retired American actor, perhaps best known for his role as Mark Graison in the television series Dallas during the mid-1980s. He often portrayed hard-ball businessmen.