This page lists noted alumni and students, as well as notable faculty members, of the University of Southern California.
Alumni and students
Academia
- Leo Buscaglia - Educator, best-selling author
- George V. Chilingar - World-renowned mining engineer
- Howard P. House - Ear specialist and founder of the House Ear Institute
- Ellis O. Knox - Educator, first African-American to be awarded a Ph.D. on the West Coast
- Bart Kosko - Intelligent systems expert and science fiction writer
- Vijay Kumar - Pioneer of quaternary error-correction codes
- Max More - Philosopher and futurist, founder of Extropy Institute
- Surya Prakash - Superacid specialist and one of the inventors of the Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC)
- Rangaswamy Srinivasan - Discoverer of Ablative Photodecomposition (APD) and inventor of the LASIK procedure
- Andrew Viterbi - Inventor of the Viterbi algorithm, co-founder of Qualcomm and benefactor of the Viterbi School of Engineering
Arts and Media
- Herb Alpert - Musician, co-founder of A&M Records
- Hugh Beaumont - Actor, television director, and Methodist minister
- John Beradino - Baseball player and actor (General Hospital)
- Richard Biggs - Actor
- Harry Blackstone Jr. - Actor and magician
- Art Buchwald - Author and columnist, Pulitzer Prize winner
- Harold Budd - Ambient/avant-garde composer
- LeVar Burton - Actor
- John Carpenter - Film director
- Harry Wayne Casey - Founder of KC and the Sunshine Band
- Annabel Chong - former pornographic actress while attending USC, famous for having sex with 80 men in 10 hours in the video World's Biggest Gang Bang
- Nadine Connor - Opera star
- Samantha Cowles-Eagan - Actress
- Sam Donaldson - Journalist
- Anthony Edwards - Film and television actor
- Dorothy Fay - Actress
- Will Ferrell - Actor and comedian
- Joe Francis - Adult film producer
- Frank Gehry - Architect, Pritzker Prize winner
- Jerry Goldsmith - Film score composer
- Brian Grazer - Film and television producer
- Conrad Hall - Cinematographer
- Lionel Hampton - Jazz musican
- Dexter Holland - Singer and guitarist for The Offspring
- James Hong - Actor
- Marilyn Horne - Opera singer
- James Horner - Composer
- Ron Howard - Film director
- James Ivory - Film director
- Jon Jerde - Architect
- Cliff Johnson - Author of award-winning computer puzzle games
- Howard G. Kazanjian - Film producer
- Irvin Kershner - Film director
- Gary Kurtz - Film producer
- Michael Landon - Actor
- Morten Lauridsen - Composer
- Lisa Ling - Former co-host of The View
- George Lucas - Film director
- Albert C. Martin - Architect
- Thom Mayne - Architect, principal of Morphosis, and Pritzker Prize laureate
- Kerry McCluggage - Film / TV Executive and Producer
- Mark McGrath - Musican, the lead singer of Sugar Ray
- John Milius - Film director and screenwriter
- Miles Millar - Screenwriter and producer
- Walter Murch - Film editor
- Joan Lowery Nixon - Journalist and author
- Christopher Parkening - Classical guitarist, best known for his interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach
- Fess Parker - Screen and television actor
- Sam Peckinpah - Film director
- Ke Huy Quan - Actor and stuntman
- John Ritter - Actor
- Robert Rodat - Screenwriter
- Jay Roach - Film director and producer
- Tom Selleck - Actor
- Ally Sheedy - Actress
- Cybill Shepherd - Actress
- Bryan Singer - Film director
- John Singleton - Film director
- Stephen Sommers - Film director
- Robert Stack - Actor
- Eric Stolz - Actor
- Tim Story - Film director
- Irving Stone - Writer, known for biographical novels of famous historical personalities
- Kathleen Sullivan - Broadcast journalist
- Salli Terri - Singer and songwriter
- Marlo Thomas - Actor and writer
- Michael Tilson Thomas - Symphony conductor
- Jack Warner - Movie maker and founder of Warner Brothers Studios
- John Wayne - Actor
- Forest Whitaker - Actor, director, and producer
- Paul R. Williams - Architect, first African American member of the American Institute of Architects
- David Wolper - Film and television producer
- Robert Zemeckis - Film director
Astronauts
- Neil Armstrong - Astronaut, first human on the Moon
- Karol J. Bobko - Astronaut, first Space Shuttle pilot
- Charles F. Bolden, Jr. - Astronaut
- Gerald P. Carr - Astronaut
- Brian Duffy - Astronaut
- Jerry M. Linenger - Astronaut
- Carlos I. Noriega - Astronaut
- Kenneth S. Reightler, Jr. - Astronaut
Business
- Marc Benioff - Founder and CEO of Salesforce.com
- David Bohnett - Founder and former CEO of Geocities.com
- Stephen Bridge - CEO of Frontier Technology Inc.
- Jerry Buss - Owner of Los Angeles Lakers
- Simon Cao - Founder of Avanex
- Scott Cook - Co-founder and chairman of Intuit, Inc.
- Henry Caruso - Founder of Dollar Rent-A-Car
- Ken Dahlberg - President and CEO of Science Applications International Corporation
- Feng Deng - Co-founder of NetScreen Technologies, Inc.
- Daniel Epstein - Chairman and CEO of ConArm Group
- Yang Ho Cho - President and CEO of Korean Airlines
- Bradley Wayne Hughes - Founder of Public Storage
- James Jannard - Founder of Oakley Sunglasses
- Terrence Lanni - Chairman and CEO of MGM Mirage
- Jack Lindquist - Former president of Disneyland
- Mike Markkula - Co-founder and former CEO of Apple Computer, Inc.
- Frank McCourt Jr - Owner of Los Angeles Dodgers
- Michelle Manning - President of Production Paramount Pictures
- Brian Mulligan - Former chairman of Fox Television
- Paul Orfalea - Founder of Kinko's
- Andrall Pearson - Founder of Yum! Brands, Inc.
- Sol Price - Founder of Price Club (now Costco)
- Charles Prince - Chairman and CEO of Citigroup
- Linda Johnson Rice - President and CEO of Johnson Publishing, the world's biggest black-owned publishing company
- D. Kenneth Richardson - President emeritus, Hughes Electronics
- Edward P. Roski - Chairman and CEO of Majestic Realty Co., part owner of the Los Angeles Kings and Los Angeles Lakers
- Frank Rothman - Former chairman and CEO of MGM studios and nationally known trial attorney
- Mark Stevens - Partner of Sequioa Capital
Athletics
- Marcus Allen - Heisman Trophy winner and Pro Football Hall of Famer
- John Allred - NFL tight end
- Keary Colbert - NFL wide receiver
- Curtis Conway - Profesional football player
- Cynthia Cooper - Professional basketball player
- Buster Crabbe - Olympic champion, swimming, and actor
- Charles Dumas - Olympic champion, high jump
- Mike Garrett - Heisman Trophy winner and former professional football player
- Frank Gifford - Pro Football Hall of Famer and TV analyst
- Pat Haden - All-American QB, Rhodes Scholar, NFL Pro-Bowler, TV analyst
- Keyshawn Johnson - NFL wide receiver
- Randy Johnson - Professional baseball player, the "Big Unit"
- Rob Johnson - NFL quarterback
- Kareem Kelly - NFL wide receiver
- Lenny Krayzelburg - Olympic champion, swimming
- Matt Leinart - Heisman Trophy winner
- Lisa Leslie - Professional basketball player with the Los Angeles Sparks of th WNBA
- Zeke Moreno - National Football League linebacker
- Lisa Moretti - Professional wrestler, actress, stuntwoman
- Ronnie Lott - Pro Football Hall of Famer
- Fred Lynn - Professional baseball player
- Mark McGwire - Professional baseball player
- Cheryl Miller - Basketball Hall of Famer, former USC women's coach
- Johnny Morton - NFL wide receiver
- Anthony Munoz - Pro Football Hall of Famer
- John Naber - Olympic champion, swimming
- Charlie Paddock - Olympic champion, track & field
- Carson Palmer - Heisman Trophy winner and professional football player
- Mel Patton - Olympic champion, track & field
- Troy Polamalu - National Football League strong safety, All-American
- Mark Prior - Professional baseball player
- Murray Rose - Olympic champion, swimming
- Kaitlin Sandeno - Olympic champion, swimming
- Bob Seagren - Olympic champion, pole vaulter
- Junior Seau - NFL linebacker
- Tom Seaver - Professional baseball player
- Bill Sharman - Basketball Hall of Famer
- O.J. Simpson - Heisman Trophy winner and Pro Football Hall of Famer and actor
- Antuan Simmons - NFL defensive back
- Craig Stadler - Pro golfer
- Lynn Swann - Pro Football Hall of Famer and TV analyst
- Lofa Tatupu - NFL linebacker
- Steve Timmons - Olympic champion, volleyball
- Quincy Watts - Olympic champion, track & field
- Paul Westphal - Professional basketball player
- Charles White - Heisman Trophy winner and former professional football player
- Barry Zito - Professional baseball player
Politics and Government
- Mary Bono - Member of the United States House of Representatives
- Yvonne Brathwaite Burke - Los Angeles County supervisor, former member of the United States House of Representatives
- Warren Christopher - Former United States Secretary of State
- Chris Cox - Member of the United States House of Representatives
- Dr. James Dobson - Conservative evangelical leader
- David Eagleson - Former California Supreme Court Justice
- Ira Eaker - Former general of the United States Army Air Force
- John Ferraro - Former Los Angeles city council president
- Robert H. Finch - Attorney, former lieutenant Governor of California, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare
- Jim Gibbons - Member of the United States House of Representatives
- Edwin L. Jefferson - California's first African American appellate justice
- Young-Hoon Kang - Former Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea (South Korea)
- Joyce L. Kennard - First female Asian-American to serve as an associate justice on the California Supreme Court
- Jay Kim - Former member of the United States House of Representatives
- Herbert G. Klein - Former White House Communications Director
- Thomas H. Kuchel - Former United States Senator
- Glenard P. Lipscomb - Former member of the United States House of Representatives
- Dan Lungren - Member of the United States House of Representatives, former California Attorney General
- Ralph Metcalfe - Former member of the United States House of Representatives, Olympic champion, track & field
- Juanita Millender-McDonald - Member of the United States House of Representatives
- Geoffrey Miller - United States Army Major General
- Richard Perle - Former assistant United States Secretary of Defense
- Ira Reiner - Attorney, former Los Angeles District Attorney
- Dana Rohrabacher - Member of the United States House of Representatives
- Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf - United States Army Four Star General
- Donald Segretti - Political operative for Richard Nixon; later indicted and sent to prison for involvement in the Watergate scandal
- Gordon Smith - United States Senator
- Hilda Solis - Member of the United States House of Representatives
- Robert A. Underwood - Former delegate from Guam to the United States House of Representatives
- Jesse Unruh - Former Treasurer, State of California
- Ron Ziegler - Former White House Press Secretary
Other
- Ethel Percy Andrus - Founder of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP)
- Peter Arbogast - Radio and television play-by-play announcer
- Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator
- Patricia Nixon - Former First Lady
- Eugene Sekiguchi - First minority member to serve as president of the American Dental Association (ADA)
- Joseph Wapner - Judge of The People's Court
Faculty
- Leonard M. Adleman - Co-Inventor of RSA, Turing Award laureate
- William French Anderson - Genetics professor, dubbed "father of gene therapy"
- Lois W. Banner - Former president of the American Studies Association, feminist author
- Warren Bennis - University Professor, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration; named the "dean of leadership gurus" by Forbes magazine
- Shelley Berman - Comedian/actor/author - Teaches Writing Humor, Literary and Dramatic
- Terence Blanchard - Jazz trumpeter
- Barry Boehm - Software economics expert, inventor of COCOMO
- T.C. Boyle - Novelist
- Drew Casper - Film Historian
- Manuel Castells - Sociologist, played a key role in the development of a Marxist urban sociology
- John Choma - Renowned analog and mixed signal circuit designer
- Antonio Damasio - Physician and neurologist
- Paul Debevec - Renowned graphics researcher
- Caleb E. Finch - World-renowned Alzheimer researcher
- Scott Fisher - Pioneering virtual reality researcher
- Eric Fossum - Inventor of CMOS image sensor
- Barry Glasner - Renowned sociologist, made an appearance in Bowling for Columbine
- David Griffith - Film director, contributed Mise en Scene and various film editing techniques to film grammar
- Solomon W. Golomb - Mathematician, invented the Golomb coding and Golomb ruler
- Jane Goodall - World-renowned anthropologist, known for her famous study of chimpanzees in Tanzania.
- Midori Goto - Violinist and the Jascha Heifetz Chair in Music
- Judith Halberstam - Gender and Queer Theorist
- Jascha Heifetz - Violinist, one of the most famous of the 20th century
- Tomlinson Holman - Inventor of Lucasfilm's THX sound system
- John Hospers - Philosopher, first presidential candidate of the United States Libertarian Party
- Mark Humayun - Opthalmologist, invented the Bionic Eye
- Mizuko Ito - noted cybercultural theorist
- Mark Kac - Eminent mathematician, pioneered the modern development of probability
- Jerome Lawrence - Playwright
- Richard Leahy - Renowned medical-imaging engineer, chief creator of BrainStorm
- Raymond Loewy - Noted industrial designer
- Leonard Maltin - Famous film critic
- Richard Neutra - Modernism architect
- George Olah - Nobel Laureate in Chemistry
- Gregor Piatigorsky - Cellist
- Jon Postel - Internet pioneer, former director of Information Sciences Institute's Computer Networks Division
- Arnold Schoenberg - Composer
- Irving S. Reed - Inventor of Reed-Solomon codes
- Michael S. Waterman - Founding editor of Journal of Computational Biology
- Paul Wehrle - Physician who helped in the development of methods for the prevention and treatment of polio and smallpox
- Darryl F. Zanuck - One of the major figures in the Hollywood studio system