List of University of California, Irvine people

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

Students and 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.

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
• Barbara T. Smith (M.F.A. 1971) – performance artist
• James Turrell - attended, minimalist artist primarily known for his use of light and space installations

Film, television, and entertainment

• 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, known for her work on The Familiar of Zero, Magical Girl Lyrical, K-On!, Love Live, Persona, and Fire Emblem
• Carrie Ann Inaba (attended) – actress/dancer, a 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) – TV 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) – Scottish filmmaker, studied at UCI as an exchange student from the University of Glasgow
• Jeff Meek (B.A. 1983, Drama) – TV actor, Raven, As the World Turns and Mortal Kombat: Conquest
• Windell Middlebrooks (M.F.A. 2004, Drama) – actor, star of Body of Proof
• Crystal Kung-Minkoff (B.A., Biology) — American television personality.
• 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
• Phil Tippett (B.A., Fine Arts) – filmmaker, Star Wars, RoboCop and Jurassic Park
• Brian Thompson (M.F.A. Acting, 1984) – actor
• Thuy Trang (attended, Civil Engineering) – actress, Trini from Power Rangers
• Byron Velvick (B.A. 1987, English) – star of The Bachelor, Season 6

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 and 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

Music

• 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
• Coco Lee (attended) – Chinese pop star
• Till Kahrs (B.A. 1979, Social Science) - recording artist, singer-songwriter, communication skills expert
• 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
• 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)
• Savitree Suttichanond (B.A. 2007, International Studies) – Thai singer and actress, Academy Fantasia Season 5
• Kaba Modern – Asian-American dance group established in 1992; 6 alumni dancers appeared on America's Best Dance Crew
• Teal Wicks (B.A. 2005, Drama) – American 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 (band)
• Members of Farside – hardcore punk band
• Members of Thrice – hardcore/rock Band
• Kei Akagi – toured as pianist for famous jazz musician and composer Miles Davis
• Joseph Vincent – YouTube singer/songwriter
• Members of Milo Greene – indie/pop band
• Members of SLANDER – trap DJ duo

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
• Keston Hiura – MLB infielder for the Milwaukee Brewers
• Doug Linton – former MLB, Korea Baseball Organization (KBO), and Chinese Professional Baseball League (CPBL) pitcher
• Ben Orloff, former minor league baseball player and current UCI head coach
• Bryan Petersen – former MLB outfielder for the Florida Marlins
• Sean Tracey – former MLB pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles and Chicago White Sox
• Gary Wheelock – former MLB pitcher for the California Angels and Seattle Mariners

Basketball

• Scott Brooks (B.A. 1987) – NBA coach and former player; former head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Washington Wizards, point guard on the 1994 NBA Champion Houston Rockets
• Steve Cleveland (B.A. 1976) – former men's head basketball coach at Brigham Young University and Fresno State University
• Kevin Magee (1959–2003) - basketball player
• Tod Murphy (B.A. 1986) – former NBA player and third-round pick of the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1986 NBA draft; former assistant coach for the UCI men's basketball team
• Tom Tolbert (transferred) – former NBA player and former color-commentator for ABC Sports

Olympians

• Peter Campbell (B.A. 1982) – won two silver medals (1984 and 1988) Olympics (water polo)
• Jennifer Chandler – gold medalist in the 1976 Olympics (diving)
• Gary Figueroa (B.A. 1980) – silver medalist in the 1984 Olympics (water polo)
• Brad Alan Lewis (B.A. 1976) – gold medalist in the 1984 Olympics (rowing), author of Assault on Lake Casitas
• Greg Louganis (B.A. 1983) – four-time Olympic gold medalist (diving)
• Amber Neben (M.S. Biology) – U.S. National Road Race Champion, 2005 & 2006 Tour de l'Aude winner, 2008 World TT Champion, and placed 33rd in the road race at the 2008 Olympics
• Mike Powell – world long jump record-holder; two-time Olympic silver medalist (track and field)
• Steve Scott (B.A. 1978) – American record holder for the indoor mile (3:58.7); world record holder for the most sub-Four-minute miles (136)
• Lovre Milos (water polo) (B.A. 2016) – Croatian Olympic Water Polo Team (2020)

Soccer

• Carlos Aguilar – forward for the Rochester Rhinos of USL Professional Division
• Cameron Dunn – defender for the Los Angeles Blues of the USL Professional Division
• Brad Evans – midfielder for Seattle Sounders FC of Major League Soccer and the United States men's national soccer team
• Irving Garcia – forward for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer
• Anthony Hamilton (B.A. 2010, Literary Journalism) – forward for the Rochester Rhinos of the USL Professional Division
• Miguel Ibarra - midfielder for Minnesota United FC of Major League Soccer
• Cameron Iwasa - forward for Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer
• Kenny Schoeni (B.A. 2006) – former goalkeeper for the Columbus Crew of Major League Soccer
• David Sias (B.A. 2008, Economics) – former defender for the Austin Aztex of the USL Professional Division
• Cami Privett (Majored in Sociology) - Former NWSL Soccer Player for the Houston Dash

Other athletics

• Hamid Kashani (B.S. 2001) – Bad Boys of Badminton (1999–2001)
• David Baker (B.A. 1975) – commissioner of the Arena Football League, 1996 to present
• Carl Cheffers – National Football League official. Head referee for Super Bowl LI and Super Bowl LV.
• Shane del Rosario (B.A. Psychology) – professional mixed martial artist
• Darren Fells (B.A. Sociology) – tight end for the Houston Texans. Played basketball at UCI and professionally in Europe and Latin America.
• Jillian Kraus (born 1986; MBA), water polo player
• Joe Lacob (B.S. Biological Sciences) – owner of NBA's Golden State Warriors
• Richard Lubner (born 1967), South African-born tennis player

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

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

Miscellaneous

• Generosa Ammon (B.A. 1981) – widow of Ted Ammon
• Khaldoun Baghdadi (B.A.) – Palestinian-American attorney
• David J.R. Frakt (B.A. 1990, History) – lawyer, law professor, noted for his appointment to defend Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad
• Erin Gruwell (B.A. 1991) – high school teacher whose real-life story inspired the movie Freedom Writers
• Michael Ramirez (B.S. 1984) – 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Editorial Cartooning in the Memphis Commercial Appeal; senior editor for Investor's Business Daily
• Lisa Marie Scott (attended) – Playboy centerfold, February 1995

Politics and government

• Ami Bera (B.S. 1987, Biological Sciences & 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

• Paul Chien (PhD 1971) – biologist known for research on the physiology and ecology of intertidal organisms
• Deanna M. Church (PhD 1997) – bioinformatics and genomics researcher
• Charles Falco (PhD 1974) – experimental physicist whose research resulted in the Hockney-Falco Thesis
• Roy Fielding (PhD 2000) – Internet pioneer, creator of HTTP 1.1, co-founder of Apache Foundation
• Efi Foufoula-Georgiou Prof Env. Engineer on staff
• Bart Kosko (PhD 1987) – hybrid intelligent system expert
• Lawrence L. Larmore (PhD 1986) – online algorithms researcher, faculty member at UC Riverside and UNLV
• 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
• Andrew P. Ordon (B.S. 1972) – plastic surgeon, host of The Doctors
• Cecilia Richards (PhD 1990) - mechanical engineer, first woman to earn a doctorate in mechanical engineering at the university
• Jim Whitehead, (PhD 2000) – originator of WebDAV, UCSC professor
• Richard James Cote, (B.S. 1976) - pathologist, academic and author

Social Scientists

• Noeline Alcorn - education researcher
• Sara Diamond (B.A. 1980) – sociologist
• Kevin Nadal (BA, 2000) - Professor of Psychology, Author, Media correspondent.

Faculty

• Vartkess Ara Apkarian – Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and Director of Center for Chemistry at the Space-Time Limit
• Francisco J. Ayala – 2001 National Medal of Science, 2010 Templeton Prize, Founding Director of the Bren Fellows Program, Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and of Philosophy
• Ricardo Asch – fertility doctor and fugitive, accused of stealing ova from women while a UC Irvine employee
• Pierre Baldi – Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science and director of the Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics
• Lindon W. Barrett – Director of African Studies, professor and cultural theorist
• Gregory Benford – physicist, science fiction author of the Galactic Center Saga
• George W. Brown – Information scientist and dean of the business school
• Jan Brueckner - Distinguished Professor of Economics
• Ron Carlson – Professor of English, MFA Programs in Writing
• Leo Chavez – anthropologist and author
• Erwin Chemerinsky – founding dean of the UCI School of Law, lawyer, law professor, and United States constitutional law and civil procedure scholar
• Robert Cohen – acting teacher and author
• Rui de Figueiredo – Research Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and Mathematics
• Jacques Derrida (1986 – 2004 [his death]) – philosopher
• Paul Dourish – Professor of Informatics
• Nikil Dutt – Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science
• David Eppstein – Professor of Computer Science
• Martha S. Feldman – Professor of Urban Planning and Public Policy, Johnson Chair for Civic Governance and Public Management
• Walter M. Fitch – Professor of Molecular Evolution
• Victor Fleischer – Professor of Law
• Michael Franz – Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science
• Matthew Foreman – Professor of Mathematics
• Robert Garfias – musicologist, awarded the Order of the Rising Sun
• Jean-Luc Gaudiot — professor at the Henry Samueli School of Engineering
• Amy Gerstler – poet, Professor of English, winner of National Book Critics Circle Award
• Michael T. Goodrich – Chancellor's Professor of Computer Science
• Louis A. Gottschalk – neuroscientist, Professor Emeritus
• Nancy Guerra – psychologist and dean of the School of Social Ecology
• Jutta Heckhausen – Professor of Psychological Science
• Elizabeth D. Peña - Professor and Associate Dean of Faculty Development & Diversity
• Payam Heydari – Chancellor's Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• James D. Herbert – professor and chair of the Art History department
• Dan Hirschberg – Professor of Computer Science
• Donald Hoffman - Professor of Cognitive Science
• Hamid Jafarkhani – Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Ramesh Jain – Bren Professor of Computer Science
• Valerie Jenness – Professor of Criminology, Law & Society, Sociology, and Nursing Science
• Wilson Ho – Donald Bren Professor of Physics and Chemistry and discoverer of scanning tunneling microscopy based inelastic electron tunneling spectroscopy
• Murray Krieger – literary critic and theorist
• Michelle Latiolais – Professor of English, MFA Programs in Writing
• Elizabeth Loftus – psychologist, Distinguished Professor in the School of Social Ecology
• R. Duncan Luce – cognitive psychologist, 2003 National Medal of Science, Distinguished Research Professor of Cognitive Science
• George Marcus – Chancellor's Professor of Anthropology
• Athina Markopoulou – Chancellor's Professor of Engineering
• James McGaugh – Research Professor of Neurobiology and Behavior, founding Director of the Center for the Neurobiology of Learning and Memory
• Donald McKayle – choreographer
• Penelope Maddy – Distinguished Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science and Mathematics, famous for her work in philosophy of mathematics
• David B. Malament – Distinguished Professor of Logic and Philosophy of Science, best known for his work in the philosophy of physics.
• J. Hillis Miller – literary critic
• Peter Navarro-Professor of business, incumbent director of the White House National Trade Council
• Bonnie Nardi – Professor of Informatics
• David Neumark – Professor of Economics, expert on labor economics
• Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o – author of A Grain of Wheat, Distinguished Professor in the School of Humanities and director of the International Center for Writing and Translation
• James Nowick – Professor of Chemistry
• William H. Parker, Professor of Physics
• Richard E. Pattis – author of the Karel programming language
• Lyman W. Porter - dean of UC Irvine's Paul Merage School of Business from 1972 to 1983
• Curt Pringle – mayor of Anaheim, former speaker of the California State Assembly
• R. Radhakrishnan – Chancellor's Professor of English and Comparative Literature
• Nasrin Rahimieh – Howard Baskerville Professor of Humanities in the Department of Comparative Literature and the Director of the Humanities Core program.
• Frederick Reines (deceased) – Nobel laureate, Physics 1995; faculty from 1966 to 1998.
• Irwin Rose – Nobel laureate (Chemistry 2004)
• Eric Rignot – Professor of Earth System Science
• F. Sherwood Rowland – Nobel laureate (Chemistry 1995), Research Professor in Chemistry and Earth System Science
• Donald G. Saari – Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Economics
• Dr. William Sears – Associate Clinical Professor of Pediatrics, author of the Sears Parenting Library
• Patricia Seed – Professor of History
• Barry Siegel – Pulitzer Prize winner
• Brian Skyrms – philosophy of science expert, Distinguished Professor of social science
• David A. Snow – Distinguished Professor of Sociology
• Etel L. Solingen – Tierney Chair, Professor of Political Science, former President of the International Studies Association, 2012–2013, author of award-winning Nuclear Logics
• George Sperling – cognitive psychologist, Distinguished Professor of Cognitive Science
• Grover C. Stephens (faculty 1964–2003, deceased) – Professor and dean of Biological Sciences
• Lee Swindlehurst – Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
• Rein Taagepera (until 1991) – Estonian politician and political scientist
• Timothy M. P. Tait - Chancellor's Professor of Physics and Astronomy
• Edward O. Thorp – author (Beat the Dealer: A Winning Strategy for the Game of Twenty-One), professor of mathematics
• Deborah Vandell, Founding Dean of the School of Education, expert on child care and after-school programs
• Frederic Wan - professor emeritus of Applied Mathematics
• Martin Wattenberg – political scientist
• Douglas R. White – social anthropologist and network sociologist, author of Network Analysis and Ethnographic Problems
• Kumar Wickramasinghe – Henry Samueli Endowed Chair and inventor of Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy and other microscopy techniques
• Jon Wiener - historian
• Geoffrey Wolff – co-director of a writing program
• Jenny Y Yang – chemist

Staff and administrators

• Daniel Aldrich - founding chancellor
• Ralph J. Cicerone – fourth chancellor, former president of the National Academy of Sciences
• Larry Coon – basketball writer
• Michael V. Drake - fifth chancellor, president of Ohio State University
• Jack Peltason - second chancellor, former president of the University of California
• William Pereira—original architect of the campus and surrounding city
• Tom Jennings – creator of FidoNet