This article lists noted individuals associated with the University of California, Irvine.

Notable alumni

The following are noted alumni and students of the University of California, Irvine, listed by the field(s) they have been noted for. When the information is known and available, degree and year are listed in parentheses.

Academia and education Noeline Alcorn – education researcher Paul Chien (PhD 1971) – biologist on the faculty of the University of San Francisco Richard James Cote (B.S. 1976) – professor of pathology in the Department of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine Channing Der (PhD 1981, microbiology) – Sarah Graham Kenan Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology, at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Sara Diamond (B.A. 1980) – sociologist Charles M. Falco (PhD 1974) – experimental physicist, professor emeritus at the University of Arizona Efi Foufoula-Georgiou – Distinguished Professor in the civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Irvine

Erin Gruwell (B.A. 1991) – high school teacher whose real-life story inspired the movie Freedom Writers

Kevin Nadal (BA, 2000) – professor of Psychology, author, media correspondent Cecilia Richards (PhD 1990) – mechanical engineer, professor emerita at Washington State University David Schlaepfer (PhD 1992) – professor in the Department of Reproductive Medicine in the School of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego Deana L. Weibel (BA, 1991) – cultural anthropologist and professor at Grand Valley State University Jim Whitehead (PhD 2000) – originator of WebDAV, UCSC professor

Art Michael Asher (B.F.A. 1966) – conceptual artist Dan Bayles (M.F.A. 2007) – abstract artist Chris Burden (M.F.A. 1971) – performance artist Erica Cho (M.F.A) – artist Garnet Hertz (M.F.A, PhD.) – artist, designer, academic Tom Jancar (B.A. 1974 and M.F.A. 1976) – contemporary art dealer Jancar Kuhlenschmidt Gallery and Jancar Gallery Bart Kosko (PhD 1987) – professor of electrical engineering and law at the University of Southern California Lawrence L. Larmore (PhD 1986) – online algorithms researcher, faculty member at UC Riverside and UNLV Michael Ramirez (B.S. 1984) – 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in the Memphis Commercial Appeal; senior editor for Investor's Business Daily Barbara T. Smith (M.F.A. 1971) – performance artist James Turrell – attended, minimalist artist known for his use of light and space installations Liat Yossifor (M.F.A. 2002) – painter

Astronauts

Business Arnnon Geshuri – corporate human relations executive Wright Massey (M.B.A. 1992) – CEO of Brand Architecture, Inc. Betsy McLaughlin (B.A.) – CEO of Hot Topic, Inc. Vince Steckler (B.A.) – CEO of Avast Software

Entertainment

Film and television Colet Abedi (B.A. English literature) – writer and television producer Aras Baskauskas (B.A. 2002, philosophy, MBA 2004) – winner on TV reality show Survivor; CEO of TundraWear.com Jim Berney (B.S. 1989, computer science) – Academy award-nominated technical director, The Lord of the Rings, The Matrix Nazanin Boniadi (B.S. 2003, biological sciences) – actress, official spokeswoman for Amnesty International Crista Flanagan (M.F.A. 2001) – actress, Mad Men Steve Franks (B.A. 1991) – writer and television producer Leslie Fu (B.S. 2014, biological sciences) – YouTube streamer Bob Gunton (B.A. 1968) – actor, The Shawshank Redemption, 24, Desperate Housewives; Tony-nominated for Broadway roles in Evita and Sweeney Todd Tyler Hoechlin (student athlete – baseball) – actor, star of Teen Wolf and Superman & Lois Xanthe Huynh (attended) – voice actress Carrie Ann Inaba (attended) – actress/dancer, judge on ABC's Dancing with the Stars Chris Kelly (B.A. 2005) – comedy writer (Saturday Night Live) and filmmaker (Other People); co-creator of The Other Two Kelly Lin (attended, Economics and English & Comparative Literature) – Taiwanese actress, nominated for best actress for role in Mad Detective at 2007 Venice Film Festival Jon Lovitz (B.A. 1979, Theater) – actor and comedian, Saturday Night Live Andrea Lowell (attended, Biology) – model, Playboy, VH1's The Surreal Life #6 Beth Malone (B.A. 2000, Theater) – Tony Award nominee for Best Actress in a musical Tom Martin (B.A. 1987, Economics & Political Science) – television writer whose credits include The Simpsons and Saturday Night Live Joseph McGinty Nichol a.k.a. McG (B.S. 1990, Psychology) – film director (Charlie's Angels, Terminator Salvation), co-creator of TV series The O.C. Joseph Andrew Mclean (English Literature, Politics, Screenwriting) – filmmaker, studied at UCI as an exchange student from the University of Glasgow Jeff Meek (B.A. 1983, Drama) – television actor, Raven, As the World Turns and Mortal Kombat: Conquest Windell Middlebrooks (M.F.A. 2004, Drama) – actor, star of Body of Proof Sepideh Moafi (M.F.A., 2013) – actress, The Pitt Grant Nieporte (B.A. 1995, Social Sciences) – film writer, credits include 2008 Will Smith film Seven Pounds Sophie Oda (B.F.A. 2012, Musical Theater) – guest actress on The Suite Life of Zack & Cody Jade Payton (M.F.A., Acting) – actress on Dynasty and Glamorous Kelly Perine (M.F.A. Acting, 1994) – television actor (Between Brothers, The Parent 'Hood, One on One) Aurora Snow (attended, Theater Arts, Business) – pornographic actress Brian Thompson (M.F.A. Acting, 1984) – actor Phil Tippett (B.A., Fine Arts) – filmmaker, Star Wars, RoboCop and Jurassic Park Thuy Trang (attended, Civil Engineering) – actress, Trini from Power Rangers Byron Velvick (B.A. 1987, English) – star of The Bachelor, Season 6 Jonathan Eusebio (B.A. 1995, biological sciences) – film director, actor, stunt coordinator, Love Hurts

Music

Kei Akagi – toured as pianist for jazz musician and composer Miles Davis Joey Burns – frontman of Calexico Clara Chung (B.A. 2009, Psychology) – guitarist and singer Gregory Coleman (M.A. 2005, Fine Arts) – classical guitarist, recording artist, composer, arranger, educator Members of Farside – hardcore punk band Kaba Modern – Asian-American dance group established in 1992; six alumni dancers appeared on America's Best Dance Crew Till Kahrs (B.A. 1979, Social Science) – recording artist, singer-songwriter, communication skills expert Coco Lee (attended) – Chinese pop star Kevin Kwan Loucks (B.M. 2004, Piano Performance) – international concert pianist; president and co-founder of Chamber Music OC; member of classical music ensemble Trio Céleste Members of Milo Greene – indie/pop band Jeffrey Mumford (B.A. 1977) – classical music composer Aubrey O'Day (B.A. 2005, Political Science) – member of Danity Kane (Making the Band 3 contestant) Members of SLANDER – trap DJ duo Savitree Suttichanond (B.A. 2007, International Studies) – Thai singer and actress, Academy Fantasia Season 5 Members of Thrice – hardcore/rock band Joseph Vincent – YouTube singer/songwriter Teal Wicks (B.A. 2005, Drama) – singer and stage actress, best known for playing the role of Elphaba in the Broadway production of the musical Wicked Vanness Wu – Taiwanese singer, actor, director, producer, member of F4

Law

Khaldoun Baghdadi (B.A.) – attorney David J.R. Frakt (B.A. 1990, History) – lawyer, law professor, noted for his appointment to defend Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad

Literature Nevada Barr (M.F.A. 1978) – author of Anna Pigeon mysteries Michael A. Bellesiles (PhD 1986) – controversial historian and author of Arming America, The Origins of a National Gun Culture Aimee Bender (M.F.A. 1998) – author of The Girl in the Flammable Skirt David Benioff (M.F.A. 1999) – author of The 25th Hour, husband of actress Amanda Peet, co-creator of HBO's hit television series Game of Thrones Chelsea Cain (B.A. 1994, Political Science) – fiction writer Michael Chabon (M.F.A. 1987) – 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning author for his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay Leonard Chang (M.F.A) – Korean-American writer of short stories and novels Joshua Ferris (M.F.A.) – author of Then We Came to the End which was nominated for the National Book Award and won the PEN/Hemingway Award Brian Flemming (B.A. 1998, English) – director and playwright Richard Ford (M.F.A. 1970) – Pulitzer Prize-winning author in Fiction for Independence Day Glen David Gold (M.F.A . 1998) – author of Carter Beats the Devil and Sunnyside Yusef Komunyakaa (M.F.A. 1980) – Pulitzer Prize-winning poet for Neon Vernacular T. Jefferson Parker (M.F.A. 1976) – fiction writer; author of Laguna Heat, Little Saigon, and Pacific Heat Alice Sebold (M.F.A. 1998) – bestselling novelist, author of The Lovely Bones Danzy Senna (M.F.A. 1996) – writer Maria Helena Viramontes (M.F.A. 1994) – Chicana fiction writer Peter Wild (M.F.A. 1969) – poet, historian, and professor of English at the University of Arizona

Military Fred Chasan (M.D. 1962) – U.S. Army WWII medic, U.S. Navy medical officer, owner of the Chasan Villa John P. Condon (Ph.D. 1976) – U.S. Marine Corps major general and aviator Leon J. LaPorte (M.B.A. 1977) – retired United States Army general who served as commander, United States Forces Korea until 2006 Laura Yeager – U.S. Army general; first woman to command an Army infantry division

Politics Ami Bera (B.S. 1987, Biological Sciences and M.D. 1991) – United States Congressman representing California's 7th Congressional District Tim Donnelly (B.A. 1989) – California State Assemblyman representing the 59th assembly district Jeremy Harris (M.S. Environmental Biology) – former mayor of Honolulu Mark Keam (B.A. 1988, Political Science) – member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 35th district Bill Leonard (B.A. 1969, History) – former California state senator Linda Newell (B.A.) – Colorado state senator representing the 26th District Janet Nguyen (B.A. 1998, Political Science) – member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors, first Vietnamese-American to hold county office in the United States Geoffrey R. Pyatt (B.A. 1985) – U.S. Ambassador to Greece Michael A. Rice (PhD 1987, Comparative Psychology) – Rhode Island state representative representing the 35th District Jose Solorio (B.S. 1992, Social Ecology) – California State Assemblyman, prior Councilmember of Ward 1 – City of Santa Ana Audra Strickland (B.A. 1996, Political Science) – California State Assemblywoman representing the 37th assembly district Van Tran (B.A. 1990, Political Science) – California State Assemblyman, first Vietnamese-American state legislator in the United States

Science and technology Deanna M. Church (PhD 1997) – bioinformatics and genomics researcher with the National Center for Biotechnology Information Roy Fielding (PhD 2000) – Internet pioneer, creator of HTTP 1.1, co-founder of Apache Foundation James D. McCaffrey (B.A. 1975) – software engineer and author; see combinatorial number system and factorial number system Paul Mockapetris (PhD 1982, Computer Science) – Internet pioneer, co-inventor of the Domain Name System Kathie L. Olsen (PhD 1979, Neuroscience) – chief operating officer of the National Science Foundation; NASA's Chief Scientist Andrew P. Ordon (B.S. 1972) – plastic surgeon, host of The Doctors

Sports

Baseball Brady Anderson (attended, Economics) – former Major League Baseball (MLB) outfielder for the Boston Red Sox and the Baltimore Orioles, three-time American League all-star Dylan Axelrod (B.A. 2007, Social Ecology) – former MLB pitcher for the Chicago White Sox and Cincinnati Reds Christian Bergman – former MLB pitcher for the Colorado Rockies and Seattle Mariners Nathan Church – MLB outfielder for the St. Louis Cardinals Calvin Faucher – MLB pitcher for the Tampa Bay Rays and Miami Marlins Keston Hiura – MLB infielder for the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Angels, and Colorado Rockies Christian Koss – MLB infielder for the San Francisco Giants