List of Famous people born in San Luis Obispo, United States of America

Zachary David Alexander Efron is an American actor and singer. He began acting professionally in the early 2000s and rose to prominence in the late 2000s for his leading role as Troy Bolton in the High School Musical trilogy (2006–2008). During this time, he also starred in the musical film Hairspray (2007) and the comedy film 17 Again (2009). Efron has since starred in the films New Year's Eve (2011), The Lucky One (2012), The Paperboy (2012), Neighbors (2014), Dirty Grandpa (2016), Baywatch (2017), and The Greatest Showman (2017). He played Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile (2019).

Heidi Suzanne Cruz is an American managing director at Goldman Sachs, the position she has held since 2012. After completing her tertiary education at Claremont McKenna College, the Université libre de Bruxelles, and finally Harvard Business School, she served in the Bush White House. During her tenure in the administration she served various roles including economic director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council and as economic policy adviser to George W. Bush's 2000 presidential campaign. In 2001, she married U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, with whom she has two daughters. In his 2016 presidential campaign, she took a leave of absence to work as his primary fundraiser and surrogate.

Timothy Fred Kennedy is a retired American mixed martial artist and current soldier. A professional from 2001 until 2016, he has fought in the UFC, Strikeforce, the WEC, ShoMMA, HDNet Fights, and represented the Chicago Red Bears in the IFL. Kennedy is one of the few fighters to simultaneously serve in the United States Army while also fighting professionally. He also is a television host, producer, and entrepreneur.

Kyle David Whittingham is an American football coach and former player. He is the head football coach at the University of Utah, a position he had held since 2004. Prior to becoming the head coach at Utah, Whittingham served as Utah's defensive coordinator for ten seasons. He was named head coach of Utah after Urban Meyer left for the University of Florida in 2004. He won AFCA Coach of the Year and the Paul "Bear" Bryant Award in 2008 after leading the 2008 Utah Utes football team to an undefeated season and a win the 2009 Sugar Bowl over Alabama.

Stephanie Brown Trafton is an American track and field athlete who won the discus throwing gold medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. She is thus one of only two American women to have ever won the event, and the only one since the Great Depression.

Jacqueline Katherine Browne was an American film and television actress.

Virginia Farmer is an American Samoan swimmer, who specialized in sprint freestyle events. At age thirty-two, Farmer made her official debut for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, where she competed in the women's 50 m freestyle. She finished third in the fourth heat by twelve hundredths of a second (0.12) behind Swaziland's Senele Dlamini, with a time of 28.82 seconds. Farmer, however, failed to advance into the semi-finals, as she placed sixty-second out of ninety-two swimmers in the overall rankings.