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

Laura Elizabeth Metcalf is an American actress. Over the course of her four-decade career, she has been the recipient of numerous acting awards and nominations. She has won three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Tony Awards, and has been nominated for an Academy Award and British Academy Film Award.

Brianna Coda is an American professional wrestler currently signed to WWE, performing on the NXT brand under the ring name Cora Jade. Before signing to WWE, she previously wrestled on the independent circuit under the ring name Elayna Black, and made appearances in All Elite Wrestling (AEW) and Impact Wrestling.

Robert John Odenkirk is an American actor, comedian, writer, director, and producer. He is best known for his role as lawyer Saul Goodman on the AMC crime drama series Breaking Bad and its spin-off Better Call Saul, for which he received four nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series. He is also known for the HBO sketch comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David, which he co-created and starred in with fellow comic and friend David Cross.

Jennifer Eve Garth is an American actress. She is known for starring as Kelly Taylor throughout the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise and Val Tyler on the sitcom What I Like About You (2002–06). In 2012, she starred in her own reality show, Jennie Garth: A Little Bit Country on CMT.

Nelsan Ellis was an American actor and playwright. He achieved critical acclaim for his portrayal of Lafayette Reynolds in the HBO television series True Blood (2008–2014), for which he won a Satellite Award from the International Press Academy, among other accolades. He also starred as Shinwell Johnson in Elementary from 2016 to 2017, and played a variety of guest roles in other television series, including Veronica Mars and Without a Trace.

Robert Philip Hanssen is a former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) double agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States from 1979 to 2001. His espionage was described by the Department of Justice as "possibly the worst intelligence disaster in U.S. history." Hanssen is currently serving fifteen consecutive life sentences at ADX Florence, a federal supermax prison near Florence, Colorado.

Dorthea Lauren Allegra Lapkus is an American actress, voice actress, comedian and impressionist known for portraying Susan Fischer in the Netflix original series Orange Is the New Black and Jess in the HBO series Crashing. She has also made appearances on such television shows as Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Middle, Hot in Cleveland, The Big Bang Theory, and @midnight and films such as Jurassic World. She has appeared on many podcasts, including Comedy Bang! Bang!, improv4humans, and her own podcasts With Special Guest Lauren Lapkus and Laptime with Lauren Lapkus. She was a main cast member on the TBS original sitcom Clipped. She also played the voice of Lotta in Harvey Girls Forever!

Michael Anthony Peña is an American character actor. He has starred in many films, including Crash (2004), World Trade Center (2006), Shooter (2007), Observe and Report (2009), Tower Heist (2011), Battle: Los Angeles (2011), End of Watch (2012), Gangster Squad (2013), American Hustle (2013), Fury (2014), Frontera (2014), The Martian (2015), Collateral Beauty (2016), CHiPs (2017), My Little Pony: The Movie (2017), Ant-Man (2015) and its sequel Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), A Wrinkle in Time (2018), 12 Strong (2018) and Fantasy Island (2020). Peña had the title role in Cesar Chavez (2014) and played the co-lead role in the first season of the Netflix TV series Narcos: Mexico (2018). He was nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male for his performance in End of Watch.

Terrence Dashon Howard is an American actor, rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. Having his first major roles in the 1995 films Dead Presidents and Mr. Holland's Opus, Howard broke into the mainstream with a succession of television and cinema roles between 2004 and 2006. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Hustle & Flow.

John Dennis Hastert is an American former politician and convicted felon who represented Illinois's 14th congressional district from 1987 to 2007 and served as the 51st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives from 1999 to 2007, the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House in history. After being convicted of financial crimes related to paying hush money to cover up repeated incidents of child molestation, he became the highest-ranking elected official in U.S. history to have served a prison sentence.