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

Emanuel Alejandro Rodriguez is a Mexican American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, where he performs on the SmackDown brand under the ring name Kalisto.

Charlton Heston was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film The Ten Commandments (1956), for which he received his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama. He also starred in The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Secret of the Incas (1954), Touch of Evil (1958) with Orson Welles, The Big Country (1958), Ben-Hur (1959), for which he won the Oscar for Best Actor, El Cid (1961), The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), Planet of the Apes (1968), The Omega Man (1971) and Soylent Green (1973).

Isiah Lord Thomas III is an American former professional basketball player, coach and executive who is an analyst for NBA on TNT. A point guard, the 12-time NBA All-Star was named one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History and inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. He played his entire professional career for the Detroit Pistons of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

Lee Albert Miglin was an American business tycoon and philanthropist. After starting his career as a door-to-door salesman and then broker, Miglin became a successful real estate developer. He was murdered in his home in May 1997 by Andrew Cunanan, a serial killer.

Richard Benjamin Speck was an American mass murderer who systematically raped one and tortured and murdered eight student nurses from South Chicago Community Hospital on the night of July 13 into the early morning hours of July 14, 1966. He was convicted at trial and sentenced to death, but the sentence was later overturned due to issues with jury selection at his trial. Speck died of a heart attack in 1991, after 25 years in prison. In 1996, videotapes featuring Speck were shown before the Illinois State Legislature to highlight some of the illegal activity that took place in prisons.

Jonathan McDonald Van Ness, also commonly referred to by his initials, JVN, is an American hairdresser, podcast host, activist, actor, author, and television personality. He is best known as the grooming expert on the Netflix series Queer Eye, for his work on the web series parody Gay of Thrones, and for hosting the Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness podcast.

Rod Blagojevich, often referred to by his nickname "Blago", is an American former politician, political commentator, and convicted felon who served as the 40th Governor of Illinois from 2003 to his 2009 impeachment following charges of public corruption for which he was later sentenced to federal prison. A member of the Democratic Party, Blagojevich previously worked in both the state and federal legislatures. He served as a congressman for Illinois from 1997 to 2003 and an Illinois state representative from 1993 to 1997.

Sherwin David "Wood" Harris is an American actor. He has portrayed the drug kingpin Avon Barksdale on the HBO crime drama The Wire, cocaine dealer Ace in Paid in Full and high school football player Julius Campbell in the 2000 film Remember the Titans. He is also known for playing Brooke Payne on the BET miniseries The New Edition Story in 2017. From 2016 to 2017, he played Barry Fouray on VH1 miniseries The Breaks. Most recently, Harris portrayed Damon Cross on the Fox series Empire for its fifth and final sixth season.

Craig Graham Sager Sr. was an American sports reporter, covering, from 1981 until the year of his death, an array of sports for CNN and its sister stations, TBS and TNT.

Raquel Welch is an American actress and singer.