List_of_people_from_Santa_Cruz,_California
This is a list of notable people from Santa Cruz County, California. It includes people who were born/raised in, lived in, or spent portions of their lives in Santa Cruz, or for whom Santa Cruz is a significant part of their identity, as well as music groups founded in Santa Cruz. This list is in alphabetical order.
This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2017) |
Academia
- Gerald M. Ackerman, art historian and professor
- Donna Haraway, feminist and professor
- David Haussler, computer scientist and professor
- David A. Huffman, computer scientist and professor
- Kevin Karplus, bioinformatician and professor
Activists
- Bettina Aptheker, political activist, radical feminist, professor and author
- Susie Bright, feminist writer, sexuality expert
- Rory Calhoun, actor
- Honey Lee Cottrell, lesbian and feminist activist, photographer and filmmaker, died in Santa Cruz[1]
- Angela Davis, political activist, scholar, and writer
- Dorothy Granada, nurse, humanitarian, and peace and social justice activist who resided in Santa Cruz and who won the International Pfeffer Peace Award in 1997[2][3]
- bell hooks, PhD from UCSC
- John Hoyt, actor
- Elissa Knight, actress
- Frank Lima (aka The Great Morgani), street performer, accordionist
- Camryn Manheim, actor
Actors and film production
- ZaSu Pitts, actress
- Ruth Righi, actress, singer
- Adam Scott, actor
- Grant Show, actor
- Lex van den Berghe, Survivor contestant
Artists and designers
- Cam Archer, filmmaker and photographer
- Bathsheba Grossman, sculptor
- Scott Kurtz, cartoonist
- Frans Lanting, wildlife photographer
- Edmund McMillen, video game designer
- Ed Penniman, artist
- Jim Phillips, illustrator, surf and skateboard art
- Suzanne Scheuer, artist, New Deal-era murals
Crime
- Edmund Kemper, serial killer
- Herbert Mullin, serial killer
Entrepreneurs
- Elihu Anthony, businessman during the Gold Rush-era and a founding father of the city of Santa Cruz
- John Battendieri, businessman, founder Santa Cruz Organic[4]
- James H. Clark, entrepreneur and computer scientist
- Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite[5]
- Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix
- Philippe Kahn, creator of the camera-phone / cellphone-camera and mathematician
- Jack O'Neill, credited with developing first surfing wet suits[6]
- Lorenzo "Larry" Ponza, inventor of the modern baseball pitching machine
- Fred Swanton, creator of what is now the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk
Musicians
- Giovanni Amighetti, contemporary music composer (honorary citizen)
- Bob Brozman, guitarist and ethnomusicologist
- Cornelius Bumpus, saxophonist for bands Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan
- David Cope, composer
- Decrepit Birth, death metal band
- Sasha Dobson, jazz singer
- James Durbin, singer and guitarist; American Idol finalist
- Entheos, technical death metal band
- Remy and Pascal Le Boeuf, twin jazz musicians
- Tom Lehrer, musician and satirist
- Bob Lowery, blues singer and guitarist
- David Lowery, guitarist, Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker[7]
- Chris Rene, musician, singer-songwriter
- Derek Sherinian, keyboardist for Alice Cooper, the band KISS, and the band Dream Theater
- Skip Spence, musician, singer-songwriter. Co-founder of Moby Grape.
- Ted Templeman, drummer for Harpers Bizarre
- Them Are Us Too, music duo which formed while both members (Cash Askew and Kennedy Ashlyn Wenning) were students at UC Santa Cruz
- Gertrude Auld Thomas, opera singer and composer
- Oliver Tree, musician
- Lu Watters, jazz trumpeter, founder of Yerba Buena Jazz Band
- Scott Weiland, vocalist for bands Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver
- Joy Williams, musician
- George Winston, pianist
Music bands
- Arsonists Get All The Girls (experimental deathcore)
- A Band of Orcs (death metal)
- Bassnectar (electronic/dubstep)
- Blackbird Raum (acoustic punk)
- Bl'ast (punk)
- Brain Drill (technical death metal)
- The Call (rock)
- Camper Van Beethoven (alternative)
- The Chop Tops (rockabilly)
- Comets on Fire (psychedelic/noise/rock)
- Craig's Brother (punk)
- Decrepit Birth (death metal)
- Deth Specula (first live music concert broadcast over the Internet)
- The Devil Makes Three (folk/punk)
- Dirty Penny (Hard Rock/Glam Metal)
- The Ducks (rock)
- Estradasphere (experimental)
- The Expendables (reggae)
- Good Riddance (punk)
- The Holy Sisters of the Gaga Dada (pop rock)
- Minnesota (dubstep/EDM)
- Nuclear Whales Saxophone Orchestra
- Slow Gherkin (ska/punk)
- Sound Tribe Sector 9 (electronic/psychedelic rock)
- Spot 1019 (country blues punk rock)
- Swingin' Utters (punk)
- Harpers Bizarre (pop)
- World Entertainment War (tribal funk)
Writers and poets
- Ralph Abraham, mathematician
- Bettina Aptheker, feminist and author
- Ellen Bass, poet
- Peter S. Beagle, novelist
- Jennifer Otter Bickerdike, music writer and lecturer
- Rob Brezsny, astrologer, poet, writer, and musician
- Norman O. Brown, scholar, writer, and social philosopher
- Jonathan Franzen, novelist and essayist
- Laurie Garrett, American science journalist and author, UCSC graduate
- Steven Hassan, author, mental health expert and cult exit counselor
- Robert A. Heinlein, author of science fiction
- Dennis Holt, poet, linguist, and translator
- James D. Houston, novelist
- Jeanne Wakatsuki Houston, novelist
- Laurie R. King, novelist
- Noah Levine, author and Buddhist teacher
- Morton Marcus, poet, teacher
- Lia Matera, mystery writer
- Josephine Clifford McCracken, writer
- James Alan McPherson, essayist
- Liza Monroy, novelist, memoirist, essayist, and educator.
- Adrienne Rich, poet, writer, feminist
- William James Royce, playwright/director, screenwriter, and novelist
- Robert Sward, poet
- Robert Anton Wilson, author, novelist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, and self-described agnostic mystic.[8]
Scientists
- Frank Drake, astrophysicist
- Sandra M. Faber, astrophysicist
- Alison Galloway, forensic anthropologist
- Jim Kent, bioinformatician
- Jerry Nelson, astronomer
- Ted Taylor, theoretical physicist with a focus on nuclear energy and disarmament advocate
Sports
- Walmer Martinez, USL player
- Brendon Ayanbadejo, National Football League player and activist
- Haley Jones, basketball player
- Obafemi Ayanbadejo, NFL player and older brother of Brendon
- Trent Dilfer, National Football League player, ESPN sportscaster
- Reggie Stephens, professional football player for the New York Giants
- Nate Doss, professional disc golfer and three-time PDGA World Champion
- Lynden Gooch, professional soccer player for Sunderland A.F.C.
- Glenallen Hill, Major League Baseball player
- Johnny Johnson, NFL player
- Ernie Lombardi, Major League Baseball player
- Casey McGehee, Major League Baseball player
- Jay Moriarity, surfer
- Stephen Quadros, MMA play-by-play broadcaster
- Luke Rockhold, mixed martial artist, former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight champion
- Chris Sharma, rock climber
- Ken Westerfield, disc sports (Frisbee) pioneer, competitor, promoter
Other
- Matt Mahurin, film director and photographer
- Marisa Miller, Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret model
- Nikki Silva, Peabody Award-winning radio producer
- Lorette Wood, first female city councilwoman and first female Mayor of Santa Cruz
Attended University of California, Santa Cruz
| This section needs additional citations for verification. (June 2021) |
Main article: List of University of California, Santa Cruz people
- Richard Bandler, author
- Jello Biafra, vocalist for the Dead Kennedys
- Ken Corday, music composer
- Adragon De Mello, child prodigy
- Cary Fukunaga, Emmy Award-winning film director[9]
- Gus Hansen, professional poker player
- Victor Davis Hanson, historian
- Miranda July, filmmaker, author, performance artist
- David Lowery, vocalist for Camper Van Beethoven and Cracker
- Camryn Manheim, actor
- Kent Nagano, conductor
- Huey P. Newton, activist and leader of the Black Panthers
- Bradley Nowell, lead singer and guitarist for Sublime
- Marti Noxon, television and film writer
- Norman Packard, chaos theory physicist
- Joe Palca, National Public Radio science reporter
- Dana Priest, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist
- Jason Roberts, author
- Rebecca Romijn, model and actor
- Maya Rudolph, actor
- Andy Samberg, writer and comedian
- Akiva Schaffer, Emmy Award-winning comedy writer
- Brenda Shaughnessy, poet
- Kathryn Dwyer Sullivan, astronaut
- Amy Tan, author
- Jesse Thorn, radio personality
- Rubén Valtierra, keyboardist for Weird Al Yankovic, producer, composer
- Ally Walker, actor
- Gillian Welch, musician
- Rich Wilkes, director and screenwriter
- Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube
- Ron Yerxa, film producer
- Brownworth, Victoria A. (2015-10-01). "Honey Lee Cottrell Dies". Curve magazine. Retrieved 2018-05-15.
- Boerner, Heather. "Activist nurse serving Nicaragua's poor returns to area to raise money for clinic." Santa Cruz, California: Santa Cruz Sentinel, October 23, 2001, p. A3 (subscription required).
- Malikoff, Marina. "Work in Nicaragua lauded: Ex-Santa Cruz resident wins Pfeffer Prize." Santa Cruz, California: Santa Cruz Sentinel, April 12, 1998, front page (subscription required).
- "Santa Cruz Organics". SCO website. Archived from the original on 2008-06-07. Retrieved 2008-11-10.
- Emily Glazer (8 January 2022). "The Crowd That Lifted Up Eventbrite's CEO". The Wall Street Journal.
- Trevor Cralle (2001). The Surfin'ary: A Dictionary of Surfing Terms and Surfspeak. Ten Speed Press. pp. 320. ISBN 978-1-58008-193-1.