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.

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 ^[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, 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

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
• Robert Anton Wilson, author, novelist, essayist, editor, playwright, poet, futurist, and self-described agnostic mystic ^[8]

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 and 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 ^[9]
• 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
• Lorette Wood, first female city councilwoman and first female mayor of Santa Cruz

Attended University of California, Santa Cruz

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 ^[10]
• 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
• Ethan Klein, Comedian and Podcast Host

See also

• Biography portal
• Cities portal
• California portal

• 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

1. Brownworth, Victoria A. (October 1, 2015). "Honey Lee Cottrell Dies". Curve magazine. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
2. 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).
3. 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).
4. "Santa Cruz Organics". SCO website. Archived from the original on June 7, 2008. Retrieved November 10, 2008.
5. Emily Glazer (January 8, 2022). "The Crowd That Lifted Up Eventbrite's CEO". The Wall Street Journal .
6. Trevor Cralle (2001). The Surfin'ary: A Dictionary of Surfing Terms and Surfspeak . Ten Speed Press. pp.  320. ISBN   978-1-58008-193-1.
7. "Bio/Photos".
8. "Robert Anton Wilson, author of 'Illuminatus' trilogy, dies at 74". Tributes.com.
9. "5 Things to Know About U.S. MNT Midfielder Lynden Gooch". United States Soccer Federation . November 17, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2025.
10. "UCSC alumnus wins 2009 Sundance directing award for first feature film".