List of people from Santa Cruz, California

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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.

• 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

• 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

• ZaSu Pitts, actress
• Ruth Righi, actress, singer
• Adam Scott, actor
• Grant Show, actor
• Lex van den Berghe, Survivor contestant

• 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

• Edmund Kemper, serial killer
• Herbert Mullin, serial killer

• 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

• 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

• 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)

• 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]

• Frank Drake, astrophysicist
• Sandra M. Faber, astrophysicist
• Alison Galloway, forensic anthropologist
• Jim Kent, bioinformatician
• Michael Nauenberg, physicist
• Jerry Nelson, astronomer
• Ted Taylor, theoretical physicist with a focus on nuclear energy and disarmament advocate

• 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, professional soccer player for Sunderland A.F.C.
• 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

• 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

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• 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^[9]
• 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

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