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.

Notable people from Santa Cruz, California

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 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 1997Boerner, 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). 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 Remington Hoffman, actor 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 Frank Lucien Heath (1857–1921), painter Lillian Dake Heath (1864–1961), painter, watercolorist Scott Kurtz, cartoonist Frans Lanting, wildlife photographer Edmund McMillen, video game designer Ed Penniman, painter, graphic designer Suzanne Scheuer, artist, New Deal-era murals Gurdon Woods (1915–2007) sculptor, academic administrator

Crime

Edmund Kemper, serial killer Herbert Mullin, serial killer

Entrepreneurs

Elihu Anthony, alcalde, and blacksmith during the Gold Rush-era, and a founding father of the city of Santa Cruz John Battendieri, businessman, founder Santa Cruz Organic James H. Clark, entrepreneur and computer scientist Julia Hartz, co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite Reed Hastings, founder of Netflix Philippe Kahn, creator of the camera-phone, mathematician Jack O'Neill, credited with developing first surfing wet suits Lorenzo "Larry" Ponza, inventor of the modern baseball pitching machine Fred Swanton, creator of what is now the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Musicians Chet JR White, musician, producer and member of the band Girls 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 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, songwriter, director, and internet personality Lu Watters, jazz trumpeter, founder of Yerba Buena Jazz Band Scott Weiland, vocalist for bands Stone Temple Pilots and Velvet Revolver Joy Williams, musician Windser, musician George Winston, pianist

Bands

Arsonists Get All The Girls (experimental deathcore) 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) Harpers Bizarre (pop) 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) 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, 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 Arthur A. Taylor (1849–1923) writer, Santa Cruz Surf newspaper publisher and editor Robert Anton Wilson, author, novelist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, and self-described agnostic mystic

Scientists

James P. Crutchfield, physicist at UCSC Frank Drake, astrophysicist Sandra M. Faber, astrophysicist J. Doyne Farmer, physicist at UCSC Alison Galloway, forensic anthropologist Jim Kent, bioinformatician Michael Nauenberg, physicist Jerry Nelson, astronomer Norman Packard, physicist at UCSC Robert Shaw, physicist at UCSC Ted Taylor, theoretical physicist with a focus on nuclear energy; disarmament advocate

Sports Brendon Ayanbadejo, National Football League player and activist Obafemi Ayanbadejo, NFL player and older brother of Brendon Trent Dilfer, National Football League player, ESPN sportscaster Nate Doss, professional disc golfer and three-time PDGA World Champion Lynden Gooch, soccer player who represented the United States national team Glenallen Hill, Major League Baseball player Johnny Johnson, NFL player Haley Jones, WNBA player Ernie Lombardi, Major League Baseball player Walmer Martinez, USL 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 Reggie Stephens, professional football player for the New York Giants Ken Westerfield, disc sports (Frisbee) pioneer, competitor, promoter

Other

Matt Mahurin, film director and photographer Robert Hale Merriman, commander of the Lincoln Battalion during the Spanish Civil War Marisa Miller, Sports Illustrated and Victoria's Secret model Nikki Silva, Peabody Award-winning radio producer W. D. Storey (1830–1914), English-born American judge, lawyer, and district attorney Lorette Wood, first female city councilwoman and first female mayor of Santa Cruz

Attended University of California, Santa Cruz

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 Gus Hansen, professional poker player Victor Davis Hanson, historian Miranda July, filmmaker, author, performance artist Ethan Klein, comedian and podcast host 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, Pulitzer Prize-winning 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

See also

List of people from Oakland, California List of people from San Francisco List of people from San Jose, California List of people from Palo Alto, California

References