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

James Edward Nelson was an American ventriloquist who appeared on television in the 1950s and 1960s. He is most famous for commercials for Nestlé chocolate featuring Farfel the Dog. He also hosted a children's show sponsored by Nestlé.

Charles "Chuck" Russell is an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor, known for his work on several genre films.

Samuel David Kass is an American political advisor, chef, and news personality, who served as President Barack Obama's Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy, Executive Director for First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign, and as an Assistant Chef in the White House. On July 29, 2015, NBC News announced the appointment of Kass as a senior food analyst, charged with covering topics such as healthful eating, food trends and policy on all platforms of NBC News.

Walter Lemon Jr. is an American professional basketball player for Hapoel Tel Aviv of the Israeli Premier League. He played college basketball for four years with the Bradley Braves.

Joseph Kastl Knollenberg was an American politician from Michigan. From 1993 to 2009, he was a Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives, representing Michigan's 9th congressional district and Michigan's 11th congressional district.

Edward Arnet Johnson is an American former professional basketball player who spent 17 seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and a year in the Greek Basket League midway through his career. With nearly 1,200 games in the NBA, he scored the second-most career points among players who never played in an NBA All-Star Game, behind Jamal Crawford. As of the 2018–19 season, he is ranked 52nd in all-time points scored, and ranked fifth-most in points scored by an eligible player not in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. As of 2019 he is the co-host of NBA Today, which airs weekdays on Sirius XM NBA Radio and also is the play-by-play TV analyst for the Phoenix Suns on Fox Sports Arizona.

Scott Douglas "Scooter" Altman is a retired United States Navy Captain and naval aviator, engineer, test pilot and former NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of four Space Shuttle missions. His fourth mission on STS-125 was the last servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope.

Dorcas Wright "Dede" Gardner is an American film producer and the president of Plan B Entertainment. She is a two-time Oscar winner for 12 Years a Slave and Moonlight. Her films Selma, The Tree of Life, The Big Short, and Vice were additionally nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture.

Allen R. Schindler Jr. was an American Radioman Petty Officer Third Class in the United States Navy who was murdered for being gay. He was killed in a public toilet in Sasebo, Nagasaki, Japan, by Terry M. Helvey, who acted with the aid of an accomplice, Charles Vins, in what Esquire called a "brutal murder". The case became synonymous with the debate concerning LGBT members of the military that had been brewing in the United States culminating in the "Don't ask, don't tell" bill.

Angelo John Poffo was an American professional wrestler and wrestling promoter. He ran International Championship Wrestling for a number of years, holding cards in Tennessee, Kentucky and Arkansas. He was the father of "Macho Man" Randy Savage and "The Genius" Lanny Poffo.