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

Patrick Joseph Quinn Jr. is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 41st Governor of Illinois, from 2009 to 2015. A Democrat, Quinn began his career as an activist by founding the Coalition for Political Honesty.

Walter Andrew Shewhart was an American physicist, engineer and statistician, sometimes known as the father of statistical quality control and also related to the Shewhart cycle.

Heather Elizabeth "Hedy" Burress is an American actress. She had a starring role in the film Foxfire as Maddy, and later landed roles in television shows Boston Common and E.R.. In the video game world, she is best known as the English voice of leading character Yuna in Final Fantasy X and its sequel Final Fantasy X-2.

Jay Phillip Obernolte is an American politician, businessman, and video game developer serving as the U.S. representative for California's 8th district since 2021. A Republican, he was previously a member of the California State Assembly representing the 33rd district. Before serving in the Assembly, Obernolte served in the city council and was the mayor of Big Bear Lake, California. He is the owner, president, and technical director of FarSight Studios, an American video game developer.

Michael James Penzel was an American professional wrestler and United States Army paratrooper. He was best known for his appearances with the World Wrestling Federation under the ring name Corporal Kirchner in the mid-1980s, as well as his appearances in Japan for New Japan Pro-Wrestling, W*ING, International Wrestling Association Japan, and Frontier Martial-Arts Wrestling under the ring name Leatherface.

Samuel King Allison was an American physicist, most notable for his role in the Manhattan Project, for which he was awarded the Medal for Merit. He was director of the Metallurgical Laboratory from 1943 until 1944, and later worked at the Los Alamos Laboratory — where he "rode herd" on the final stages of the project as part of the "Cowpuncher Committee", and read the countdown for the detonation of the Trinity nuclear test. After the war, he returned to the University of Chicago to direct the Institute for Nuclear Studies and was involved in the "scientists' movement", lobbying for civilian control of nuclear weapons.

Richard Anthony Williams was an American actor. Williams is best known for his starring performances on Broadway in The Poison Tree, What the Wine-Sellers Buy and Black Picture Show. Williams also had notable roles in 1970s blaxploitation films such as The Mack and Slaughter's Big Rip-Off.

Joan Marshall was an American film and television actress. She is best known for her appearances in The Twilight Zone's "Dead Man's Shoes", and Star Trek's "Court Martial".

Lani Hall is an American singer, lyricist, author, and the wife of Herb Alpert. From 1966 to 1971 she performed as lead vocalist for Sérgio Mendes & Brasil '66. In 1972 she released her first solo album Sundown Lady, with many more soon to follow. But, she may be best known for providing the most-recognizable (female) face and (female) vocal signature sound to Sergio's group during her tenure there, and for her rendition of the theme song to the 1983 James Bond film Never Say Never Again, with its accompanying video, in which she prominently appears. In 1986 she was awarded her first Grammy Award for Es Fácil Amar as "Best Latin Pop Performance."

Ben Hirsh Sidran is an American jazz and rock keyboardist, producer, label owner, and music writer. Early in his career he was a member of the Steve Miller Band.