This is a list of notable people who attended, taught at, or were otherwise affiliated with the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools.
| Name | Year | Notability | Reference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ray Anderson | 1969 | Jazz trombonist, composer, bandleader, artist-in-residence at Stony Brook University | [1] |
| Robert Orville Anderson | 1935 | American businessman and philanthropist who founded Atlantic Richfield Oil Co. | |
| W. Kamau Bell | 1990 | Stand-up comic and television host | |
| Rishi Bhat | 2002 | Former child actor, starred in The Indian in the Cupboard ; internet entrepreneur | [2] |
| Charles Bidwell | 1946 | Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Chicago | |
| David Bloom | 1962 | Jazz musician and instructor | |
| Chesa Boudin | 1999 | San Francisco district attorney | |
| Bill Bradbury | 1967 | Oregon Secretary of State | |
| Torrey C. Brown | 1957 | Maryland Secretary of Natural Resources | |
| Paul Butterfield | 1960 | Blues musician and bandleader | |
| Erwin Chemerinsky | 1971 | Law professor at Duke University; dean of the law school at University of California, Irvine; dean of UC Berkeley School of Law | |
| Joyce Chiang | 1988 | Murder victim, INS attorney | |
| Daniel Clowes | 1979 | Author, screenwriter, and cartoonist of alternative comic books | |
| Selma Jeanne Cohen | 1939 | Dance historian and dance critic for The New York Times | |
| Bill Bradbury | 1967 | Oregon Secretary of State | |
| Barbara Flynn Currie | 1958 | Former member of the Illinois House of Representatives | |
| Carol Kreeger Davidson | 1945 | Sculptor | |
| Arne Duncan | 1982 | Chicago Public Schools CEO, US Secretary of Education | |
| Elizabeth Fama | 1981 | Children's author | |
| Castle Freeman, Jr. | 1962 | Author, contributor to The Old Farmer's Almanac | |
| David D. Friedman | 1961 | Economist, physicist, legal scholar and libertarian theorist | |
| Andrea Ghez | 1983 | Astrophysicist, MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2008), Nobel Prize winner (2020) | |
| Langdon Gilkey | 1936 | Professor of Theology and comparative religions, University of Chicago | |
| Leslie Hairston | 1979 | Chicago alderman | |
| Matthew Headrick | 1990 | 1990 winner of the Intel/Westinghouse Science Talent Search | |
| Hal Higdon | 1947 | Writer and runner, longtime contributor to Runner's World | |
| Maria Hinojosa | 1979 | Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, radio host, producer | |
| Ralph Hruban | 1977 | Pathologist at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine | |
| Laura Jarrett | 2003 | Journalist | [3] |
| Valerie Jarrett | (attended) | Senior advisor to United States President Barack Obama | |
| Denise Jefferson | 1947 | Dance educator, former director of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater | |
| Margo Jefferson | 1964 | Pulitzer Prize-winning author, former theater critic at the New York Times , professor at Columbia University and Eugene Lang College The New School for Liberal Arts | |
| Nancy Johnson | 1951 | Connecticut congresswoman (1983–2006) | |
| Lucy Kaplansky | 1978 | Folk singer and songwriter | |
| Leon Kass | 1954 | Professor at the Committee on Social Thought at the University of Chicago | |
| Sam Kass | 1998 | President Barack Obama's Senior Policy Advisor for Nutrition Policy and Let's Move! Executive Director | |
| Leo Katz | 1974 | Law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School | |
| Robert Keohane | 1958 | Political scientist | |
| Zach Kleiman | 2006 | NBA executive | |
| Shahar Kober | (attended) | Illustrator | |
| Lily Koppel | 1999 | Journalist and writer | |
| Sherry Lansing | 1962 | Former chief of Paramount Studios and Academy Award winner (2007) | |
| David F. Levi | Judge and dean, Duke University Law School | ||
| Edward H. Levi | 1928 | President of the University of Chicago, United States Attorney General | |
| John G. Levi | 1965 | Chairperson of Legal Services Corporation | |
| George Lewis | 1969 | Trombonist, composer, author, Columbia University professor, MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2002), AACM member | |
| Wendell Lim | 1983 | Professor of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology at University of California, San Francisco | [4] |
| Ben Lindau | 2017 | Member of the United States men's national CP soccer team | |
| W. Ian Lipkin | 1970 | Infectious disease epidemiologist at Columbia University | |
| Richard A. Loeb | 1919 | Murderer of Bobby Franks (along with Nathan Leopold) | |
| Emily Mann | 1970 | Playwright; artistic director of McCarter Theater | |
| Lynn Margulis | 1952 | Biologist, University of Massachusetts Amherst | |
| William Hardy McNeill | 1934 | Professor emeritus, University of Chicago History Department, National Humanities Medal winner | |
| Daniel Meltzer | 1968 | Principal Deputy White House Counsel to the U.S. President; Professor, Harvard Law School | |
| David O. Meltzer | 1982 | Professor of Medicine, University of Chicago | |
| Diane E. Meier | 1969 | Geriatrician, director of the Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC), MacArthur Foundation Fellow (2008) | |
| Muffie Meyer | 1972 | Peabody Award and Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker | |
| Clark Blanchard Millikan | Aeronautical engineer | ||
| Elliot Mincberg | 1970 | Chief Counsel for Oversight and Investigations, U.S. House Judiciary Committee; director and lawyer at People for the American Way | |
| Graham Moore | 1999 | Academy Award-winning screenwriter and author | [4] |
| Bill Morrison | 1983 | Director and artist | |
| Stephanie Neely | 1983 | Treasurer of the City of Chicago | |
| Paul Nitze | 1923 | Public servant, winner of Presidential Medal of Freedom, namesake of Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University | |
| Malia and Sasha Obama | (attended until December 2008) | Daughters of United States President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama | [5] |
| Mark Patinkin | 1970 | Newspaper columnist and author | |
| Eric Posner | 1984 | Professor of Law, University of Chicago | |
| Kwame Raoul | 1982 | Illinois Attorney General | [4] |
| James M. Redfield | 1950 | Professor, classics and social thought, University of Chicago | |
| Salli Richardson | 1985 | Film and television actress | |
| John Rogers, Jr. | 1976 | Founding chairman and chief executive officer of Ariel Investments | [6] |
| Ned Rorem | 1940 | Pulitzer prize-winning composer and author | |
| Sarah Rose | 1992 | Reality TV star, Wall Street Journal contributor, historian, and author | [7] |
| Carlo Rotella | 1983 | Non-fiction writer, academic, professor at Boston College | |
| Ari Roth | 1978 | Artistic director, playwright, Theater J, Washington, D.C. | |
| Janet Rowley | 1942 | Geneticist, winner of Presidential Medal of Freedom | |
| Paul Sagan | 1977 | Businessman, journalist, three-time Emmy award winner | |
| Peter Sahlins | 1975 | Professor, history department, University of California, Berkeley | |
| Eugene Scalia | 1981 | U.S. Secretary of Labor | |
| Robert A. Sengstacke | (attended) | Photojournalist | [8] |
| Kate A. Shaw | 1997 | Law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and podcast host | |
| Amity Shlaes | 1978 | Author and newspaper and magazine columnist | [9] |
| Jonathan Simon | 1977 | UC Berkeley School of Law professor and scholar of crime and punishment | |
| Justin Slaughter | 1998 | Member of the Illinois House of Representatives | |
| John Paul Stevens | 1937 | United States Supreme Court Justice | |
| Robert Storr | 1967 | Curator, critic, painter, dean of Yale School of Art | |
| Eleanor Swift | 1962 | Law professor at the UC Berkeley School of Law | |
| Garrick Utley | 1956 | Television journalist | |
| Bert Vaux | 1987 | Professor of phonology and morphology at University of Cambridge | |
| Geoffrey Ward | 1957 | Seven-time Emmy award-winning screenwriter and author | |
| David B. Wilkins | 1973 | Professor, Harvard Law School | |
| Amanda Williams | 1992 | Artist and architect | [10] |
| Andrew Hill | (attended c. 1945) | Jazz pianist and composer | [11] |
| Christopher Wool | 1972 | Artist | |
| Amy Wright | 1967 | Actress |